Why I don't have new year goals but Habits target

 Happy New year to everyone!!

Like every year, when we reach December, we start making plans for our new resolutions. Most of us don't go beyond 2 weeks of January with these resolutions and entire year is spent waiting for new December and new dates to start things again.

There is some addiction with planning, because it gives you the feeling that you have taken action. However a lot of us just plan and then never execute. We get the feeling that we are on track, but we never are. By the way planning is important but its only important to the extent of making aware our goals, process to achieve it and marking milestones. Post planning, action is what makes bulk of the things.

Lets come to goal based planning now. Goal based planning is awesome, because it gives you an end goal. In your mind, you have an image to aspire to and you have a visual which you can feel and which can drive you. e.g. If I aspire to have 6 pack abs, I can imagine myself in that body and visualize which can motivate me to put full efforts.

It gives you an adrenaline pump which drives action.

The only problem with this adrenaline pump is that its short lived. We have our mood swings, motivations go haywire, we start questioning if its even worth it...The solve for this which I figured out is focus on process and habit formation. Take a target on habit instead on final goal. e.g. a salary hike or a new job is a goal, finishing to-do lists everyday is a habit, networking once a week to industry peers is a habit, learning 2 hours every week is a habit.

With habits most things are controllable and internal however with goals most things are uncontrollable and external.. Hence when you take a habit or process oriented targets, it will invariably be more easy for you to stick around.

All the best!!!

Confessions And Questions

I am a person who talks love,
but then why my heart is filled with hatred?

I am a person who talks peace,
but then why my heart is filled with violence?

I am a person who talks practicality,
but then why my heart is filled with emotions?

I am a person who talks of morality,
but then why I am so immoral?

I am a person who understand people fast,
but then why cant I understand myself?

I am a person who is surrounded by lots of friends,
but then why I feel I am alone?

I am a person who talks of smile,
but then why my heart is filled with sadness?

Why "Zubair" is not Zubair anymore....
Why "Zubair" is not Zubair anymore....

Why is All India Muslim Personal Law Board worried about Homosexuality?????

Hello guys,

I woke up this morning and was shocked to read on TOI that All India Muslim Personal Law Board is moving Supreme court against Gay verdict. Here is the link.

I was amazed to see a body which represents most of the Muslims of this country wasting their time to revert a verdict which doesn't have any religious, social or economical significance to Muslims in particular. Muslims leaders wake up!!!!!! You don't need to fight for this verdict and waste very important cash and time on it.

My question to AIMPLB is very simple - How many times have they come forward and said we are in favor of Modern education?? and even if they have said it, what kind of actions have they taken?? How many times have they come forward to modernize Madrassas and revise their curricula to include modern subjects like English, Maths and Science. I simply do not understand what does AIMPLB wants to prove by filing such cases in supreme court???

I just pray to Allah that Muslim leaders work for the development of the community....

An Unconventional solution for Babri Masjid - Ram Mandir issue!!!!!

Hi guys,

This time the topic which we are discussing is a bit controversial and very important to our country. I won't talk much about the history of controversy because I presume that most of us know it "by heart" - thanks to our media. VHP, Bajrang dal, RSS and other Hindu outfits are fighting to build a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya at the place where the demolished Babri Masjid is located.

What should Muslims do at this cross road where this conflict has alienated them further from their fellow Indians? What should they do to sort out the problems which has taken lives of thousands of people and which continued would definitely take more lives again and again?

I had a talk with some fellow and well aware Muslims and they said that the problem is not only Babri Masjid but more than this. VHP has in their list some 1000 mosques and other pilgrimage places which they allege were built after demolition of Mandirs and they want all of them back (They include Idgaah at Kashi and a Mosque in Mathura too). They say that if they give their claim on Babri Masjid, controversy will start on other mosques too. As per my opinion their fears might be justified in some sense.

But I still believe that if we can work out a deal with our fellow Hindu brothers that we are ready to leave Babri Masjid but in return we need assurance against other places of pilgrimage, we will be able to save some thousands of lives which will be lost in future. Moreover this would lead to a better goodwill of Muslims in the Majority community.

I personally feel that when we say "Allah is Omnipresent" then why can't we forgo a piece of land. Moreover, the Babri Masjid has been closed since 1949 (Not much sure about it but definitely between 1946-1950) and it was opened only when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister of India in 1989.

We-Muslims are lucky that we are born in a country as great as India. If we would have been in Switzerland then forget about claiming a demolished Mosque, we would not have been even allowed to build Mosques according to our wishes with Minarets. And Nauzubillah or God forbid, if we were born as minorities in Pakistan then we can imagine what kind of life we would have lead. This is the time to show goodwill to the majority community.

Masjids are not as important as lives of people. A layman Muslim who doesn't have food to eat and a shelter to sleep is more concerned about these things than fighting on roads for a Mosque.
He would better wish to have his children educated than fighting a case which even if we win in court is not actually realizable. (I am sure that everybody would agree that even if we win case in Allahabad High court, we would still not be able to build a Mosque)

Worst is yet to come, if we win the case, anti-Muslim riots will follow across country. This would force the existing government or BJP government to pass resolution with 2/3rd majority of the parliament to revert court's order. This is absolutely possible. We cannot even imagine the consequences thereafter as it will follow second round of riots from Muslims against Hindus. We will end up breaking the social fabric of the whole country.

Instead it is better to gift a place(which is never gonna be yours) and earn goodwill. We need to build a India which is devoid of riots and hatred. Muslims should focus on other important issues like education for both men and women, health care etc. We need to make Muslims educated and competitive enough that they also are able to enjoy the fruits of progress of India.

Let us focus our energies and efforts in building a community with a democratic attitude and strong intellect.

A Muslim woman drinking Alcohol!!!!!

Hey guys..I am back again with a little post of mine..

Most of my friends drink but I still refrain from drinking. Today I saw a senior of my college. I wont name her. She is a Muslim gal and she was drinking "bottoms up" (if I am using the right term). I don't know why did I feel odd. Maybe because I didn't like her drinking alcohol. Maybe I am gender biased. Maybe I close my eyes when I see a Muslim man drinking but when I see a Muslim woman drinking, I start feeling something different.

Something is wrong with our upbringing right from our childhood which encourages men to do all sorts of bad things without us making a fuss out of it. While when a women does the same thing, we suddenly start shouting about moralistic values and culture and blah blah blah...

Why do a gal need to answer odd questions if she wants to smoke or drink???

Why can't we have same laws and same rules (Rules and Laws here are in moralistic sense and not legal sense) for both the sexes???

Why do all men crave to have a "Virgin" wife when they are themselves not virgin???

I must say something is definitely wrong with us or our culture.......

PS: This post is not for Muslims but for all Indians to look inside them and try to identify the biases they have.......

Taliban : Rise, Fall and Rising strong again

Hello everyone

First of all, I want to apologize for updating my blog after a long time. I was busy in my college studies and other stuffs. This article is based on my recent research about Taliban, How they were formed? Why it was formed? Is Taliban and Al Qaeda same sides of a coin?

Talib is an Arabic word meaning "one who is seeking" but the word has evolved to mean "someone who is seeking religious knowledge." The Taliban Militia (Students of Islamic Knowledge Movement) rules approximately two thirds of Afghanistan. It was established in 1994, shortly after the Pakistani government announced its intention to establish a trade route through Afghanistan to Central Asia. At this time, Afghanistan was in a state of chaos and under Mujahideen rule. The Taliban Militia's aim was to disarm Afghan warlords, return law and order to the country and enforce Islamic law over a united Afghanistan. By February 1995 the Taliban Militia had captured half of the southern provinces of Afghanistan from mujahideen rebels and in September 1996 it took Kabul, the capital city, establishing a strict Islamic rule of law.

Initially Afghan people supported Taliban movement and lot of Afghani joined the movement against Mujahideen - who were fighting amongst themselves for the control of the country. Mujahideens were hailed as heroes when they were fighting against the Russians, but as soon as Russians left the country, the country was divided by mujahideens who fought amongst themselves to get control over the country.

Talibanis first won Kandahar and then slowly and slowly managed to get control over every city of Afghanistan. They almost faced no resistance because of support of people (They thought Taliban will bring security to the civil war-torned nation). Mullah Omar was the head of Taliban and it was he who started this movement of Taliban to establish a pure Islamic state in Afghanistan. He claimed that Prophet Mohammad (SAW) had come in his dream and he is destined to become the ruler of Afghanistan and establish a Islamic state. Except for small resistance from the northern parts of Afghanistan where mostly Tajiks lived, Taliban had became the ruler of whole of Afghanistan. One fine morning when Talibanis had almost conquered whole of Afghanistan, Radio Afghanistan announced 30 point edicts which included women covering themselves with veil, ban on lipstick, Alcohol, Movies, any kind of sports etc.
The worst nightmares of Afghanistan became a reality when Talibanis became cruel and started killing people publicly who disobeyed them. E.g. they used the football stadium of Kabul to kill people publicly.

Now let us talk something about the most wanted man in this world "Osama Bin Laden". He is from Saudi Arabia and is from a very rich family. During the Russian war he helped Mujahideens by money, by training them and thus was respected by Afghans. When Osama Bin Laden expressed his desire to get an asylum in Afghanistan, Mullah Omar readily agreed and treated him as guest. Thus Al Qaeda leader got asylum and raised its cadre based to plant attacks on USA (Whom he considers the enemy of Islam). Osama Bin Laden in return of asylum given to him, provided various Engineering skills and knowledge to Mullah Omar on how to run economy of a nation.

On Sept 11, 2001, World trade centers were attacked by Al Qaeda and the world changed forever thence. USA asked Talibani government of Afghanistan to hand them Osama Bin Laden, but they refused citing that USA didn't have enough proof against Osama Bin Laden. Mullah Omar vowed that Osama bin laden is their guest and according to Pashtun tradition they will fight till the end of their life to protect Osama Bin Laden.

So we can acknowledge one thing here is that Taliban and Al Qaeda are two different organizations. Taliban protected Osama because USA could not provide adequate proof of his involvement. Today Afghanistan is a war ripped country. Karzai government which promised to bring peace to the people of Afghanistan has failed. Everyday there is some bomb attack in some part of Afghanistan. Afghanis are again turning to talibanis as at least they provided them security and peace if not individual freedom.

Taliban is an idealogy and not a group of people. You can kill a militant group, but not an ideology. Moreover until the logistical support by Pakistan continues, it is difficult for the Allied forces to gain victory in Afghanistan. With days passing, chances of war being lost by Allied forces is increasing. Once the Allied forces leave this country, this country will again plunge into civil war and again Taliban will come to their rescue.

It will be in the interest of the world and Afghani people, if their can be some peace agreement with Taliban, so that they get their share of power and people get their share of freedom. The whole world should work towards the development of this country which is under the civil war for 3 decades where average age of a person is hardly 42 years.

Indians: Do we have the right to call other people as racist????

Hello everyone

There is a very strong notion in the minds of people of India that we are racially discriminated all over the world or at least in some countries. Indians till today are present in almost every country in the world. Recent attacks on Indian students in Australia and not to mention SRK getting detained for some 2 hours in a US airport (Although many say it was discrimination against him for being a Muslim and not an Indian). Well it does not matter, because what ever may be the reason of discrimination against SRK, why do we need to start reacting so aggressively against US. Do you think that we are so pure and so innocent(in terms of racial discrimination) that we never did things like that?

Lets go to the history, we are the people who created caste system (One of the notorious gifts by Indians to the world). We divided our society into 4 varnas(castes) according to the birth of child(although initially it was only on the basis of profession). Brahmins and Kshatriyas started considering them as superior to other castes. Condition of shudras in India was pathetic because they were not allowed to pray in the same temple, were not allowed to drink water from the same well which brahmins used to drink and were regarded as untouchables. If they touch you(if you are a brahmin) then you were supposed to take a holy bath to make yourself pure again. This is not just my opinion but recorded history of India. Then came Muslims and Christians, and mind well they did not bring about any considerable change in India, but added a new dimension to discrimination i.e. religion.

Till today, there are numerous villages in India where untouchability is still prevalent. People are discriminated according to their religion, caste, ethnicity and you may not be surprised if you are discriminated on the basis of the state you belong. Once I was travelling in a train from Pune to Vadodara, two people were talking in English with each other. A third person started saying something offensive to these two people (English talkers) because he was offended as they were not talking in Marathi-- A new dimension to discrimination: Language.

India is a country where you can find reservation for almost everything. All the educational institutes and government offices have reservations (sometimes even more than 50%) for Scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and backward castes. Don't you think we are racist when we are teaching our children, to which caste they belong, right from their birth (Our School leaving certificates expects us to right our caste and subcaste). What about children who has seen riots from their childhood? I come from gujarat. When 2002 riots took place, I was in 9th Std. This was the first time in my life when I consciously came to know that my religion makes me different from my fellow classmates.

At least in United States, every men and women are equal not only constitutionally but also practically. At least they are only xenophobic, and not like us who will violate human rights of thousands of people and will still say "My India is Great". At least they are not like us, who never introspect and start shouting when ever there is a small incident in some foreign countries.

The question comes again: "Do we have the right to call other people as racist?"