كتب (Kataba)

In other news...

2008-05-21T10:14:00.005+05:30

They say, "Oh, poor girl, you're so beautiful you know
It's a shame that you cover up your beauty so."
She just smiles and graciously responds reassuringly,
"This beauty that I have is just one simple part of me.
This body that I have, no stranger has the right to see.
These long clothes, this shawl I wear, ensure my modesty.
Faith is more essential than fashion, wouldn't you agree? This Hijaab!

...and so goes the song by well-known poet, musician and singer Dawud Wharnsby Ali. Well needless to say, I love it!

Well, today went off to quite an amusing start; AOL had an intriguing news headline that read "Imams to help keep Muslims away from terror outfits". Hmm... —I thought to myself, as is obvioys— since when has joining a terror-outfit become such a thing of interest for us Allah-fearing Muslims that pious and knowledgeable Imams are being roped in to stop us from falling into the gutter of addiction that makes blowing up people look so irresistible!...? Somehow to me, the headline sounded more like "Pope's speech on helping people abstain from alcoholism" Now that would atleast make some news considering that Alcoholism is one of the worst things men & women indulge in and that we Muslims can easily lay an un-challenged claim (and win hands-down) at being the single largest community which abstains totally from Alchohol as if it were poison for us (yes there might be a few black sheep here and there in our midst, but then they stick out of the community like sore thumbs!), however the statement that Muslim Imams have to take extra efforts to keep Muslims away from turning into heartless monster-like killers looks like way too much of a desperate attempt by AOL in order to get people clicking on that one link!

I mean, doesn't it also quite suggestively-conceal the fact that AOL (like MOST other western media) believes that Muslims have always been drawn towards terror outfits like frogs in the rainy season (which actually is also one of THE most amusing of metaphors that I've used to describe America's obvious colonization of Iraq: "...soon American soldiers, straight men and others, started pouring onto the land of 'opportunity' (read OIL) that is Iraq by the tonnes; their arrival most aptly described by the distinctly vivid metaphor spelt as 'frogs in the rainy season'")?

Ridiculous! The actual news-story we're talking about, is a bit too far from the misconception-generator of a headline that it came with on AOL; it speaks of a resolution by a board Muslim clerics and scholars in India who have sent letters to Imams in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh asking them to stress on the fact that Islam is indeed a religion of Peace which in no way promotes or legalizes terrorism and the killing of innocents in the most sacred of its scriptures that is the Holy Quran and the teachings and lifestyle of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), in their sermons. A well-thought out move by the board I'd like to call it, to combat the mass-propaganda going on in labeling all Islamic institutions as pro-terrorist, Jihaadi and what-nots (By the way Jihaad means "to strive" or "to struggle", and not "Holy War", the Arabic word for which does NOT even exist in the Holy Quran. I bet most people didn't know that! Thank you AOL and friends!). Wouldn''t a headline on the lines of "Muslim Clerics resolve to fight inappropriate label by media" sound like a better and more decent proposition instead? I guess AOL is being a bit too AOL in its workings these days and we should learn to take its words with a pinch of salt rather than swallow everything it has to offer straight down in one big gulp!

—Abd elAzeez

P.S. Besides the red underlines in the image show that the company is still bent on keeping its niche in 'the industry'.
P.S.2. The lines I quoted above, should actually have been two posts earlier but then again, its the song in your heart that comes out in your posts.

The 15th day of May, 2008.

2008-05-15T12:15:00.012+05:30

Today is the 15th of May, 2008. For many people who frequent this blog (as well as many who don't) it is turning out like just another day

Clouds against a blue sky,
Dotted by birds flying high,
Bright, sunny, airy and roomy,
This is my life, my life's free for me
—Abd elAzeez

... and so forth I may rap about the joys of living in a free country. The thoughts can keep going on and on and I could keep counting my blessings all the day long , saying Alhamdulillah (All praise is for Allah) like I try to do everyday.

But alongside this feeling of happiness and gaiety, is a throbbing pain in my side. A pain that's turning chronic now, since I really cannot remember when it actually started and neither can I see a relief in sight. Of course if Allah wills something He merely says "Be" and it is (which incidentally is the literal translation of the one-liner verse numbered 40 in Chapter 16 from the Holy Quran attached on the right side of this article), and that would definitely put an end to the pain InshaAllah, but, for now the pain persists in my side!

But brother Abd elAzeez why are you in pain? you might ask me; and I am quick in quoting the Hadith (i.e. teaching of Prophet Muhammed Peace Be Upon Him) when he (PBUH) said "The Muslim Ummah is like one body. If the eye is in pain then the whole body is in pain and if the head is in pain then the whole body is in pain". That, stands as one of the finest examples of proclaiming unity and brotherhood amongst people yet many of us do not know!

Today, my dear brothers and sisters, is the 15th of May 2008; today is the yawm al-nakba (an Arabic word meaning 'the day of the catastrophe'). Events around this day in 1948, –in simple human terms– saw the mass deportation of a million Palestinians from their cities and villages, massacres of civilians, and the razing to the ground of hundreds of Palestinian villages! In stark contrast to this, war is looked upon by Israelis as the "fulfillment of a historic ideal of the Jewish people to establish a homeland for the Jewish people." We've already posted something about the conflict a few posts back, here's what happened over the course of a few days surrounding 15th of May 1948.

May 14: State of Israel proclaimed in Tel Aviv at 4pm.

Haganah launches Operation Schfifon for capture of Old City of Jerusalem.

May 15:

British Mandate ends.

Declaration of State of Israel comes into effect.

President Truman recognizes State of Israel. First Egyptian troops cross border into Palestine and attack colonies of Kfar Darom and Nirim in Negev.

Three Transjordanian Arab Legion brigades cross Jordan River into Palestine.

Lebanese troops retake Lebanese villages of Malkiya and Qadas (on Lebanese border), attacked and captured earlier by Haganah.

May 17:

Haganah captures Acre

Plan Dalet, or Plan D was a plan that the Haganah had out during autumn 1947 to spring 1948; according to some sources it was conceived with the purpose of conquering as much of Palestine as possible and to expel as many Palestinians as possible. All events mentioned above (and sourced from here) are only executions of the infamous Plan D.

Today, is the 15th of May 2008; exactly sixty years ago, was laid one of the (most-fruitful, as I call it) seed of injustice, oppression, division, man-slaughter, rapes, genocides, carpet-bombings, invasions and the so-called war-on-terror in Israel!

Imagine, if tomorrow morning you were made to leave your homes, your property, your lands everything and leave your country under the the orders of a tyrant ruler who had laid foot on your soil just yesterday! Imagine what it would have been like had the British given the control of our beloved country India into the hands of say the Chinese, the Americans, or some other people who didn't even belong here... people whose sole intentions were to kick us out of our cozy little homes into a life of destitution and wandering... a life of trying to fight back against heavily armored tanks, thousands of fully armed soldiers, tyrant governments, unfair UN resolutions, automatic guns, powerful bombs, missiles, grenades, with only stones and swearing women on our sides! A life with absolutely no security... a life with no freedom as we feel it right now!

Today, on 15th of May 2008, I, Abd elAzeez Shaikh, say a silent prayer for the millions of innocent Palestinians driven out of their homes, the thousands killed, raped, tortured and put behind bars in their very own country as part of the execution of this notorious Plan D which continues its operations under various different names still.

I pray that Almighty Allah bless all those affected, and give them peace. I pray that Allah the most Merciful grant paradise to those martyred in trying to re-gain their own lands. I pray that Allah, the Creator, Cherisher and Sustainer of everything that we know of and everything that we do not, give these people the patience to withstand this great trial without losing their faith in HIS Divine Decree and in HIS justice to be served on everyone the Day of Judgement. I pray that we all realize the truth and I pray that we all see the blatant reality which is the very basis of the conflict in Palestine, just like these one hundred and six prominent British Jews who have proclaimed that they will not be celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Israel in this letter titled We're not celebrating Israel's anniversary. —Ameen

All that, is what brings the incessant pain in my side and the tears that drown my heart each time I see the word Israel on TV or in the papers...But then, all is still not lost, hope lies beneath the rubble of broken homes and dead bodies too. For we Muslims have been taught to have faith in Allah the Most Kind and the Most Loving, and to put our complete trust in HIM and whatever HE decrees. The verse 40 from chapter 16 of the Glorious Quran which I've quoted above, is succeeded by the following verses:-

41. To those who leave their homes in the cause of Allah, after suffering oppression,- We will assuredly give a goodly home in this world; but truly the reward of the Hereafter will be greater. If they only realised (this)!
42.(They are) those who persevere in patience, and put their trust on their Lord.
43.And before thee also the apostles We sent were but men, to whom We granted inspiration: if ye realise this not, ask of those who possess the Message.
44.(We sent them) with Clear Signs and Books of dark prophecies; and We have sent down unto thee (also) the Message; that thou mayest explain clearly to men what is sent for them, and that they may give thought.
45.Do then those who devise evil (plots) feel secure that Allah will not cause the earth to swallow them up, or that the Wrath will not seize them from directions they little perceive?-
46.Or that He may not call them to account in the midst of their goings to and fro, without a chance of their frustrating Him?
47.Or that He may not call them to account by a process of slow wastage - for thy Lord is indeed full of kindness and mercy.

Today is the 15th of May 2008, and I only say Alhamdulillah.

—Abd elAzeez

Liberated or Live::B-rated

2008-05-07T12:46:00.020+05:30

[Yes, following my last post, there IS a pending announcement to be made out here on Katabaa! I'll be posting something out about it soon InshaAllah. Meanwhile, there's a quite serious thing that caught my eye this morning (and caused me to ask HIM for forgiveness instantaneously) and I thought it'd prudent enough to make a mention of the ramblings in my head.]

Well here I was this morning, trying to Login into AOL to check my emails, and after entering my username-password combo there appeared the 'Today on AOL' page —a webpage specially designed to give you a small peek into the plethora of information about what's going on in the world today (a.k.a. NEWS) and how well-versed AOL's servers are with it.

So I see 4 tabs on that page (I'm in the 'basic' view which doesn't hog too much of memory from my web browser, and hence I have tabs instead of a Next/Previous button toolbar) namely News, Sports, Entertainment and Videos. (See screenshot of content in the last tab here). Now, as if the link titled Austria's real-life sex horror story caught on amateur camera on the Videos' tab wasn't revealing enough of the America On Line mindset of 'sex sells' (fathom a news headline that spells P.O.R.N.), I decided I 'd rather check out the News that they have for today (news would definitely NOT mean free porn, I thought to myself ); and VOILA! with what are we greeted with on the very first page!

Astaghfirullah! (Forgive my sin Oh Lord!) THIS is what is news to the world? Women revealing themselves to the state of when there is NOTHING left to hide at all? I fail to realize how the 'Model way to protest...' can create awareness about anything at all (err... almost anything)? 'Sex sells' they say, but does it bring about any just cause if you're naked on the street calling for some attention? In doing so guaranteed a LOT of glances and attention (for all the wrong reasons!) from the passerbys, a lot of whom might even move closer just to have a better look (at your protesting-placards you might want to claim now? Who do you think you are fooling?), but does it help solve the problem you are protesting about? Are hungry kids being fed in Sudan? Homeless elders being taken back in? Rape victims given better treatment? Is G.W. Bush going to stop his reign of terror in Iraq and Afghanistan? OR are women now going to be given a better position in society??? (sheesh! the last one was a little too much of an irony BTW).

Think about it, a few years down the line, when your kids (that is, if someone marries you after all this and legitimately has kids with you) see these pics of yours on the internet or somewhere else, will they love you more, love you less or be downright ashamed of the worthless tramp you've been? And what about when they also discover these pics besides many similar others, hidden deep inside password-protected folders on their friends' hard drives and the likes?

Now there is an organization in this modern, liberated, non-conservative world that we live in today (if 'conservative' is being exactly the opposite of what they are doing here, let us proclaim conservativeness and atleast live a life that assures the dignity of our mothers and sisters!). An organization for ethical treatment of animals which has time and again used disgustingly cheap tactics (of course there is BIG money in it, but then money's not what actually defines cheap right?) like these to draw attention towards itself and its so-called heart-felt activities. 1.8 million members and still counting, this US-based organization (name withheld to prevent ANY advertising and also to save you people from doing a google search and getting pics like these in front of your very eyes!) seems to specialize ONLY in making women believe that they are doing excellent service to animals and humanity by taking off their clothes and posing (semi?) nude in front of people and their perverted cameras! They make women believe that if they do so, people will start treating animals more kindly because each time they see a mis-treated animal it will remind them of a naked woman?

Imagine your grumbly sweaty neighbourhood guy petting his doggy late morning tomorrow, giving it a nice juicy piece of bone and telling it in an unimaginably sweet voice “Coochie Coochie Coo... Today I'm gonna give you the love you deserve because a long-legged naked woman was holding a placard across her hand that said Love your doggie and be a better human in the eyes of God. If it weren't for her intriguingly nude anatomy, an heart-warming sight out there in the cold morning, I'd never have realized that there was a placard about being kind to dogs in her other hand. So go on eat this piece of bone my sweet little doggie; who knows that very lady might just be passing by and might chance to see me treating you kindly. Oh I'm gonna go to heaven for thinking of a naked woman while I'm feeding my dog. This life is simply great!”.

Wake up ladies, it ain't happening that way. Because the way I see it (and any other human being of sane mind would), the only animal that you're doing service to is the beast in the heart of the man! That's the only one which is going to derive gratification from the fact that he didn't have to do any effort at all in order to get you to drop your veils! What service to humanity indeed you have done! You say a free-minded, bold westerner you are eh? You think veiling up the woman is just part of an "old-fashioned fundamentalist religion" that's bent on degrading her status in society? Have you had the chance to have a read of your own scriptures? (Anyone making a claim from Judaism?).

Think about it, a world where Satan has spread his evil tentacles so far, corrupting the minds of men and women to such an extent that the women —the ones to be kept safe from evil prying eyes (for we all know how much damage even a casual glance you know where can cause to a woman's dignity and self-respect)— are themselves ready to take it all off in the name of liberty, freedom of speech, protests for equality etc. etc... In reality, all that these contaminated terms do is to degrade the woman's position in the society to mere objects of lust and sexual gratification. Is this the new idea of freedom and equality? Is this how we shall gauge our successes, on the basis of how easy it is to make a woman shed her clothes and still not let her feel bad about it? Are we progressing ahead towards uplifting the woman or are we going backwards into the dark ages again?

The Greek civilization is still considered the most glorious of all ancient civilizations by many a people. Under this very so-called ‘glorious’ system, women were deprived of all rights and were looked down upon. In Greek mythology, an imaginary woman called Pandora is supposed to be the root cause of misfortune for all human beings. The Greeks also considered women to be subhuman and inferior to men. Though the chastity of women was precious, and women were held in high esteem, the Greeks were later overwhelmed by ego and sexual perversions. Prostitution had become a regular practice amongst all classes of Greek society! Doesn't this seem a lot too closer to where our world is headed too?

As an emminent speaker Dr. Zakir Naik once put it, “the western talk of women’s liberalization is nothing but a disguised form of exploitation of her body, degradation of her soul, and deprivation of her honour! Western society claims to have uplifted women, but on the contrary it has actually degraded them to the status of concubines, mistresses and society butterflies who are mere tools in the hands of pleasure seekers and sex marketeers, hidden behind the colourful screen of ‘art’ and ‘culture’.”

Race towards the your recognition in society because of your talents and skills my dear sisters, and not because of how much of skin you are willing to show for some justifiable cause. An interesting >article has a very nice answer the oft-asked yet very rhetorical questions on why muslim women cover themselves up. It says “...by covering our beauty, we are evaluated for our intelligence and skills instead of looks and sexuality. Many women who cover are filled with dignity and self-esteem and are happy to be identified as Muslim women. By wearing hijab the woman is concealing her sexuality but allowing her femininity to shine...”

—Abd elAzeez
Feel free to reproduce/post this article anywhere you wish. Even if it be without giving any credit to me. Who knows, InshaAllah it might make someone think.

Make Way!

2008-04-21T15:09:00.005+05:30

Something's coming up on Katabaa...

And it is coming real fast!

—Abd elAzeez
Watch this blog for an exciting update soon InshaAllah :)

H(u)mm... What came first?

2008-04-04T10:56:00.011+05:30

Sometime before this post was written, Fly, the flagship brand of Meridian Mobile, launched a mobile phone named Hummer in India (the very same place where this blog was launched from. hmm... seems to be quite a happening country :). This design has been styled after the Hummer SUV . What makes news this bloggable is the like our hero holds for the HUMMER (what font is the original logo made in BTW?)

The phone is priced at a modest 9K Indian rupees (yes, I KNOW that quoting current market values tend to make blog-posts seem outdated after a while. Nevertheless, one can only pretend that most readers will eventually be finding out how much it actually costs once they hit the road looking for it).

Besides the large touch screen, there's not a very brilliant array of features lined up in this one, and from initial reviews it seems that it might not be able to beat our very-bloggable, personally-modded-cameraphone at photography after all. But then again, how many SUV-themed gadgets could you fit into your pocket for just a fraction of the originals' prices?

That makes us wonder and imagine a time when a kid walks upto his father and asks "Dad, what came first, the Hummer or the phone you carry around so proudly?", and daddy dearest in all his witty humor replies "Of course the phone son, coz we don't have the 'finances' to get the SUVi".

—Abd elAzeez

P.S. As with all posts on this blog, click on the images for a full-sized view.

...and keep secure thine neighbours.

2008-04-02T10:43:00.016+05:30

Well, I just received an email from a friend with subject line that said 'Biggest Robbery!'. No I am not a blogger-of-daily-emails (as is evident from the history of this blog; I don't blog from emails and I definitely do not blog daily :), but then there was something about this one that made me log onto my account on blogger and start typing all this out.

Beside the blatantly glaring truth in the picture it had attached in it (which I've duly posted here for your viewing pleasure as well) the email also contained a line in bold font with the words '...soon this will be forgotten' ending it.
Hmm... now where have we heard of something befitting that line before? The first few questions that came to my head were, true message of Peace? Our responsibilities in being vicegerents of Almighty God on this earth? (err... vicegerent anyone?) Teachings of our beloved Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) endorsinglove for our neighbours? The thoughts just kept coming on and on and on...
The point is, this email made me think; it made me think about a lot of things at one time and a whole lot of others in quick succession. To the lay man this picture might seem like the truth, whereas to the knowledgeable researcher of world history (naah, I'm not claiming to be one) it would seem to be precisely the same.

—Abd elAzeez

...the insistent beating of my heart

2008-03-12T18:14:00.015+05:30

Well well, it seems that this hiatus has indeed been a particularly long one; but nevertheless I must admit that it has proved to be a very enlightening experience in itself. There have been a lots of Ups and Ups in this period of a few long months, with a few (inevitable?) Downs too scattered somewhere in between.

I've made some big decisions during this time, some of which might have seemed to people around me similar to counting chickens before momma hen even saw her prince charming in a bout of day-dreaming; I, on the contrary, prefer to owe them to my far-sightedness. I've realized that setting a goal for life (a well-thought out one at that) is the most important thing to do, and following it with passion should be exactly next on the list. I've set mine for this life, and its solely aimed at leading next one in a happy place. Some things in life I have understood quite closely while some others seem yet farther away now... aah, I guess I want to keep that distance for some time though.

A heavy realization of truth has dawned upon me in the past few days, one which says that the only people who stick around with you in all your big decisions of faith are some of the ones you knew you could always count on; moreover 've also realized that the ones who don't stick with you are the ones you had presumed to be always by your side whenever you need them, and whenever you don't too. There's a lot of wisdom in the statement that some people will never be yours unless you adopt their ways. In these past months I've figured out that these people do exist, and that they're much closer to you than you'd ever expected. But then there is also an excellent guidance in the statement which goes like 'The believing men and women, are associates and helpers of each other. They (collaborate) to promote all that is beneficial and discourage all that is evil...' (Al Quran 9:71). Truly, the 'Author' of the best book on earth, knew what is in the hearts of men and women. And thanks to HIM alone, I guess I'm in really company still.

I got mocked behind my back some people whom were expected to understand my rationale, but I guess it wasn't much of a surprise for me considering their mentality ―which I've been accustomed to for quite some time through my own meandering experiences in being with them― the only difference was, this time I didn't agree with most of it. Well, one can't help but deduce that some relationships only last a lifetime, and if you want them to last more you must ensure all of you go to the same 'place' later on (something that is decided based on your deeds, if you know what I'm trying to hint at).

Music, something which used to rock my world some time back, now has proved itself to be just a distraction from the true goal of this life; in fact it turns out to be just an easy path to a place fueled by stones, people and fire. Now the closest I'd want to come to music is a-capella stuff like Nasheed, Hamd etc. Seriously if we'd just back enjoying this world, when are we going to prepare for the hereafter? How many exams do you recollect appearing for wherein your only thoughts were to go and relax in the examination hall, enjoy the scenery outside the window, smell the paint on the walls, drop a pen – pick it up – drop it again – pick it up – drop two the next time, then maybe ponder over how many trees might have been cut to create that stack of papers everyone is writing that exam on, and how many more for the question papers' stack, then probably you'd mock the fellow sitting beside you while he tries to complete as much as possible of the questionnaire while the very last bits of time run out just so he could score an extra mark or two, OR when you'd probably toy around the notion that there is actually no exam going on and surely there won't be any result too; all there are (and will continue to be, are) more halls, benches to sit on, blank sheets of paper passed with questionnaires accompanying, a new name, a new roll number, a new pen and a bunch of other crazed individuals trying to attempt all they can with the belief that there might be a result sometime... Darn, its a funny world we live in!

"Then what is true relaxation for you", someone asked? Well, it is said (or rather 'writ') that 'Only in the remembrance of God can the heart find peace' (Quran 13: 28), so if I feel the need to put mine at peace, a recitation of the Holy Quran is what I love to lend my ears to. (You should try it too) An Englishman —A. J. Arberry— in a preface to his translation of the Holy Quran says "Whenever I hear the Koran chanted, it is as though I am listening to music; underneath the flowing melody there is sounding all the time, the insistent beat of a drum, it is like the beating of my heart." [Linked Here See Preface 2] From these words as well as from the rest of his preface he sounds like a devout Muslim, but no he wasn't.

All said and done, a long-awaited long-pondered lengthy blog entry typed out and posted, I think its time to wrap this one up with a small thought that just in case this is the last you hear from me (or 'of me') (which InshaAllah I don't intend it to be, but who knows what God has planned for any of us), I just hope you'd remember me as ONLY a humble devoted servant of the ONE Master, and nothing more please. And definitely nothing less either!

There's so much to do to attain my goal, and I've passed by 25 swift years already. Here's a silent prayer hoping that before I have to take my last ride, I've spread enough of peace (God-willing of course) to last a lot of people including me, a whole lifetime... the next one that is. [Ameen]

—'Abd el'Azeez

Damn Plagiarism!

2007-11-16T01:31:00.000+05:30

Breaking News: Posts from this blog found elsewhere on the internet... STOLEN!

Aah, the joys of blogging and creating works that you think are worth sharing with the world (after God's will of course :). The gentle pleasures of posting the posts you've meticulously written one after another like a house of cards created with the utmost dedication and sincerity. And then comes the truly amazing feeling of exhilaration that hits you like fresh air in the face after a long dark stinky tunnel, when people comment on your posts.

The serene silence of the first page of the blog, and the steadily increasing hits in the sitemeter counter at the bottom of the blog. Aah, THIS is peace on the internet! A man could be so happy with just all this... Well happy a man can be with anything ELSE but finding out that his posts are being plagiarized and posted by someone else on her blog (without even a single mention of the author!).

Yes you guessed it right, posts from this blog are being stolen (in the literal sense of the term), and posted on some stupid (matrimonial?) site by a lady called Sohini. Our investigative team found the miscreant doing this and tried commenting on that lame blog to warn her... But it seems that silly site requires a registration before one can comment! (This could also seem like one of those scams we see when people want to make you join a site in order to increase their own points/earnings there... nevermind the 'apparent motive(s)' though). Well we didn't comment there, but comment we are doing on our very site here and hope that through it we might be able do away with all the frustration tingling in our fingers right now. (Well, typing on the keyboard definitely beats pulling the trigger in the miscreant's face, doesn't it :D)

Here's the link to that imposter's blogpost (don't know how many more posts she's stolen from us though):-
http://mad-b.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/11/the-other-side/comment/877012.htm

Ardent readers of our blog might recognize her post to be a (stupid?) combination of two of our earlier posts:-
a. http://abd-elazeez.blogspot.com/2007/09/lil-somthing-to-think-through.html
AND
b. http://abd-elazeez.blogspot.com/2007/09/to-destiny.html

It seems that people who've read that post on her blog did seem to enjoy it, as is evident from their comments (although its hard to figure if they understood any of it, as is also evident from their comments :)

B.T.W., Sohini's also present on Orkut from where we found her blog's link after she had scrapped Mr Write another portion from one of the popular poems on this very blog! (Man, this lady's incorrigible!)

Dame, if you're reading this I really hope you've got the brain to at least not steal this post :P

—Abd elAzeez
[Current Thought: Man this is crappy! But am I really THAT popular on blogger?]

Make it in!

2007-10-30T19:24:00.000+05:30

"You are the very best" she said to him,
The boy, he only smiled and restated anew
"I don’t know if that adjective suits or not,
But I really love hearing all that from you

It makes me feel like king of the world
Though all my elaborate plans are yet to unfurl
My eyes, my mind, and thoughts they have you
Yes my dear, I love being able to love you"

She said "I wish you won’t leave me ever,
For a prettier face or a love that’s fairer"
"YOU are my world" the boy, said he
"And how could I ever think of betraying thee?"

"My boy’s the best" she continued yet again,
"And I couldn’t ever live peacefully to see him in any pain".
"Troubles and misfortune they come and go", replied the boy
"But if the LORD wills, united we’ll overcome any devilish ploy"

She said "You are the right one I’d always been waiting for
And how I wish that we’d have met before,
All these years when people tried courting me
Oh how I’d have loved to have been courted by thee"
"My love", the boy said with his teary eye
"How I wish that back in time we could fly
And probably save us both the trouble
Of living without each other, these decades double"
"We’re both a little older than that!" the girl she jokingly exclaimed
"You’re smart" he said, "but wouldn’t you believe if I claimed
Myself as a happy kid when I’m in the company of thee
Coz at these times I’m much younger than I ever could be"

Her pretty black eyes seemed to well with tears
As she re-iterated her own restless fears
"What if we can’t be together forever?
What if we aren’t made for each other?
I’d surely be forlorn if you were to go away
And would it not hurt to look back at this on another day?"
"My dear don’t you worry" the boy consoled her
"If the LORD wills our love will win all over"

Years later when they looked back at that bygone eve
All those years of love together they could relive
And later even when the people laid them both down to rest
The couple were content the LORD had blessed their lives with the best
Working towards the heavens they had always believed in
And their desire to take each other there had helped them both make it in!

—Abd elAzeez
[Current Thought: Isn’t true love about caring for one’s life in the hereafter as well?]
[Another Current Thought: Well, everything happens of course only if the LORD wills! :-) ]

Unfinished! (Or not quite so?)

2007-10-26T18:54:00.000+05:30

This song is for anyone a little capable, a little insecure
A wicked little lineup to bring you all up to the fore
Crying out loud, but tis ain't a new anthem
Rhyme rhyme rhyme into the new millennium!

Bang bang shoots out the wicked gun
Killing another teary-eyed mother’s beloved son
These chains of anger, ignorance and bliss
Millions have perished and billions more to follow this

Bam! Out comes the impious tank, rolling rolling rolling on the river bank
Ha! Huh! Ha! The mixed sentiments rang
Oh crap! They’re back at us again!
Run! Shouted the commander,
Soldiers, half-bare, in their broken armor

Deafening screams, their pathetic cries,
The young, blue, wide and dreamy eyes
Shattered dreams, dead expectations
And whatever happened to those promised nations?

—Abd elAzeez
[Current Thought: There, listen 2 ma poetry!]

Two blocks down the road...

2007-10-17T19:05:00.000+05:30

There is something called as writer’s block which —as a growing up kid— I thought to be a situation in which writers usually block the door so that no one can to disturb them while they are happily writing away — in their very merry writers’ land! Now—as a grown-up kid—I’ve been taught that it means a time when a writer faces a mental block!

This still appeals to me as an apt definition because I can now think of it as a time when the mind blocks the writer out so badly, that the poor guy cannot enter into his merry writers’ land and get some happy writing done!

Given a chance to re-define the word I’d like to call it a place or a block (on a street) where all writers live! (ahemm…) Fathom this address: 1011 Writers’ Block, Al-Kitab Street, Madinah. Hmm… maybe if we become a lil more famous writing this little pretext of a blog, we could think of calling the shots around the Queen’s language!

—Abd elAzeez
[Current Thought: Hmm, wonder what it will do the real-estate business though]

An Inspiring True Story! | a.k.a. Of brick(ed)bats!

2007-10-05T17:11:00.000+05:30

It happened once again… for the N^th time in about a year now, I managed to brick my gorgeous w750i phone (for the uninitiated, Bricked = Rendered completely useless whilst trying to modify the firmware)..!!

I figured that the phone wouldn’t start after my latest modifications and heaved a heavy sigh of despair (now that’s a new term for you all… :-). As it has always the shock this time was devastating as well! Now before this starts look too technical and most readers lose interest in the post right here (leave alone the inclination to comment on the blog), let’s get down to the main topic for this piece of written material. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is about patience and perseverance...

I’ve realized —in the numerous times that I have been through the ordeal of having converted my dearest (modified) k750i into a mere paper-weight— that there is always a learning experience behind every failure. I still remember the many beats my heart almost-skipped the first time I had bricked the phone trying to change the sound quality, the worry that engulfed me throughout the night thinking of how I had voided the warranty by modifying the firmware and how I’d now have to pay for getting all the mess fixed; all that coupled with a sense of failure and dejection which told me that maybe I wasn’t so smart and geeky after all… and not to mention the enormous amount of research on the internet that I had to do trying to figure out what exactly goes on in the firmware that causes it to fail in such a beyond-repair-ish manner (BTW I still haven’t figured that one out completely, and yet I continue to live on and on, marveling at the amazing things that I’ve done with my phone… and the enormous possibilities that lie ahead, if only I’d be ‘brave enough’). I still remember the time when I fixed the phone after that very first failure, within 1 day, and on my own! I was exhilarated beyond words! And I had learnt that there are more than one ways to get things done from electronic devices! It was then when I got my first first-hand lesson in using failure as a stepping stone to success! (And it also strengthened my belief that sincere prayers ARE answered :-)

Yesterday brought by another evening of tribulation as my dearest phone refused to let me in… Being the ardent phone-addict that I am, it WAS indeed a test for me to be deprived of my little thingamabob. Was trying to fix it using my PC at office and it simply wouldn’t budge! Thought I’d do the software repairs from home but couldn’t leave office coz it was just 5:30PM; there was work to finish and the obligatory evening and night prayers to offer before I could reach my humble dwelling place… And so I reached home after a torment-filled period of 4 hours, only to find that there had been an electricity failure in the area since morning! So there I was, holding my precious gizmo (yes, sure there might be better cell phone models out there, but this one has a charm of its own which I guess is far from over for me) just hoping the lights would come back. Had switched my simcard into an older Nokia handset which I keep at home for emergencies (a.k.a. times like these :-) and could use that one to receive/make calls, but how I wished my w750i would work! (yes, it’s called w750i because it is now a cross between the k750i and the w800i). No lights until about 11:30PM when I had retired to bed and almost reached the gates of slumberland… 11:35PM and the lights came back! I jumped out of the covers and into the computer room (mind you, do not think ‘Eureka!’)... Used many of my super-powers (:D) coupled with all the thinking that I had been doing for about 6 hours now, to get the thing fixed. And Hallelujah, it all worked! The truly amazing w750i turned ON! Could even use the phone to get onto the GPRS, read my email, scrap people on Orkut, play music, click a few pictures and do all the usual hullabaloo that my phone is all about… My phone’s working fine now, and I’ve figured out that a file named EPIUSB.SYS was missing from my PC at office, and that caused most of the data corruption… (“what the heck is that file?” one would say… and that is exactly what I would have said too before I had known the trouble it puts people like me into). Bottom line, I’ve learnt something new last evening, and that is sometimes things are supposed to trouble you for a certain period of time, you’re supposed to wait it out patiently thinking of possible solutions, pray well, think of alternate ways and work-arounds, and when the time is right things are back on track just as they’ve always been supposed to be…

—Abd elAzeez
[Current Thought: What super powers?]
[Not-so current thought: A title starting-off like that is a sure way to get a lot of views!? :-) ]

Testing... Three... Two... One!

2007-10-01T16:48:00.000+05:30

Stuck between the Devil and the Dead Sea I’d only take the swim;
simply because that Evil dude’s not a companion that I chase

Had I to choose between the Rock and the Hard Place, I’d pick the rock,
and try to devise it into a stepping stone for a better place.

There could be many times when you’re faced with complicated–looking choices in life, but the essential thing to remember is that most of them would not appear as tricky if only you’d just look at them from a different perspective… We (the humble beings that we are) are so used to looking at things from a specific angle, (or should I say we are taught so by our system) that many a time we fail to see the hidden good in most trying situations.

I happened to read a very beautiful email forwarded by someone a couple of days ago; it was titled ‘That’s Allah!’ The entire content of the email was excellent but the one line that that caught my attention the most was ‘Have you ever been in a situation with no clue how it is going to get better, but now you look back on it? That’s Allah! HE passes us through tribulation to see a brighter day!’ [please overlook the mistakes in quoting the line from memory]

That line just helped reinforce my beliefs that everything that we go through is but a test. Some tests are easy and others not quite so… but what matters in the end is how well you stood your ground with faith in all of them. And trust me; the rewards for passing with flying colors are really really good in this case… :-)

—Abd elAzeez
[Current Thought: The countdown in the title… does it seem so apt?]

A lil somthing to think through

2007-09-28T20:41:00.000+05:30

Somethings in life are meant for you to hold on to, while others are supposed to be let go of,
Others yet are meant to hang onto you, while the rest are supposed to let you go!

—Abd elAzeez

[Current Thought: That’s a quarter of a century's experience speaking… more updates/refinements expected as the years keep on ticking :-) ]

And it's been a while...

2007-09-23T06:20:00.000+05:30

The fact that this place hasn't been updated for quite sometime might seem like too much of a hiatus to all you ardent readers out there. (Well NO, the author is still alive... although not 'kicking' if you were to consider the literal sense of that term :D)

BTW a few days ago I was actually thinking of what would become of this blog in case I happen to 'move on to a better place', and the answer that came out after some amount of self-deliberation was simple: 'It would be the same thing that would become of all the other stuff that was a part of this life of mine'.

You see, when the 'time is up' for people in this world, everything that was part of this life no longer binds or matters, and the only things that matter are those that have been 'sent forward' by them (if you know what I mean...); and hence I've started concentrating more on the preparations these days. And that's because I believe the smartest of people are those who begin preparing for the afterlife as early as possible... [NO, my doctor hasn't perused through my health checkup reports while telling me that supposedly ill-fated Bollywood movie line that most 'Bolly-docs' are supposed to tell the protagonist, if that's what you're thinking having read this far :)]

Yes I've been busy for some days now and the fact that we're passing through (or rather, 'piously observing') the Holy Month of Ramadhaan, has made updating this place a kind of rarity for me. I do however promise InshaAllah that I WILL be posting more stuff here soon and also hope to keep the audience (that I feel honored to have) out here, hooked to the place as always.

Please do keep visiting back again and again and again and again and again and again... (OK, I guess you got the point! :-)). And in the meanwhile please also feel free to browse through the archives that we have created out here over the months.

—Abd elAzeez
[Current Thought: Maybe I should be sharing the password to this place with someone :D ]

To Destiny!

2007-09-14T23:25:00.001+05:30

I met somebody today who made me realize
That in being not a fool, lies the essence of being wise
LORD I’ve been brought to understand and I can only thank THEE
For making me realize all that happens is simply destined to be!

—Abd elAzeez

[Current Thought: Subhan-Allah! The LORD sure works in mysterious ways!]

The 'Right' Time!

2007-09-12T19:21:00.000+05:30

Quite contrary to popular belief, there ARE some times in life when things go just right! Fathom this, you half-wake up in the morning (we all know that state of waking up :) and as always recollect the events of last evening to know what to expect next… you realize you’re expecting an important call at 10:30 AM… and its 9:30 AM already! Besides you also have to reach office (where work starts at 9:30 AM incidentally)… realizing you haven’t got much time (to get late by?), you decide you’ll take that call via your trusty cell-phone head-set en-route to office (so you can finish the call, as well as reach office by 11). Your morning routine surprisingly takes away quite a lot of time and you realize its 10:15 already… AND you are yet to have your breakfast (the ONE meal that’s designed to provide the start to most of your day’s energy)! In between minds you decide you’ll skip breakfast and substitute it with an early lunch… 10:26 and you’re still at home, so you decide that you’ll take that call before you leave for office… 10:31 and there’s no sign of that call… being the devout person that you are, you say a silent prayer asking for only what HE thinks is right for you… Your favorite wrist-watch shows 10:32… The ring-tone of your cell phone breaks the silence of your mind (those sound drivers that you’ve put into it play pretty loud and clear :)… It IS the call you were waiting for (talk about punctuality)! The call goes very well, you get EXACTLY what you wanted out of it… last night’s dream come true you call it… you thank HIM for HIS never-failing mercy. You share the good news with your family whilst having a quick bite, and they are all ecstatic.

It’s 11:25. You’re worried about the consequences of reaching work after 12… you recollect that your bike is punctured from last night’s ride and so you have to use the services of an auto-rickshaw for conveyance. The journey seems never-ending, and you reach work at 12:15 (having encountered one of the worst traffic jams of your life… and praying all throughout the way). You step into office, apprehensive of facing your boss, and Lo! he’s right there near your desk. You begin to think of an explanation, and before you can utter a word your boss starts off “It’s a very great thing you could make it in by this time, I was afraid the large oil tanker spill near office would keep you stuck in traffic for more than half of the day! I AM impressed by your dedication!”…

Before that big smile of exhilaration manifests itself onto your face you recollect the subtle choice of the rickshaw-driver taking a slightly longer route to reach office saying it’ll avoid more traffic (and you’d thought he was doing it just so he could get a bigger bill out of your pocket)…

Things do go right at times, and when they do the feeling of joy is just un-describable! Though the first impression of a certain situation might make it seem otherwise, things eventually fall into their proper place… in fact they sometimes fall into place so well that you just cant believe it were possible that way too!

—Abd elAzeez

[Current Thought:]

I don't get no TV!

2007-09-11T16:55:00.000+05:30

I wonder why they put those flat television screens inside elevators anyways. You know, the ones that are fastened to the elevator wall with steel fittings and they keep playing random channels all the time… I wonder if it could be another of those silent invectives that are hurled at us every single day by the system that we all live in.

Seems like with these TVs they (the diabolical beings running the system) mean to say to us “Sure this TV’s got a clear screen, amazing picture clarity coupled with superb surround sound… Besides there’s an awesome episode of your favorite program coming up next on this channel. But YOU (Mr. regular-human-being) are NOT going to get to watch it! AND that FACT is reinforced, coz we’ve made sure the elevator is fast enough to reach any floor before you can even get a small peak at the first scene!”

The point is, I don't get what a person is supposed to do with that TV anyway... He cannot watch his favorite show, he cannot talk to the person next to him because that darned TV is blaring right behind his head, and he certainly cannot change the channel coz the buttons are just not there on that TV! Which should also remind you that the TV remote is not inside that elevator! And that at times makes me speculate, could it be that the remote has been (cunningly?) placed in another elevator where there is no TV at all?...!!!

—Abd elAzeez

[Current Thought: Now that's called taking the Idiot Box to an all-new level (via the elevator!)]

The copyrighted [mini?] series titled Abd's takes, is a collection of humorous blog posts comprising of completely original but wierd/ obnoxious/ unfathomable/ and seldom-light-hearted tid-bits of humor that are a product of my own twisted mind.

Feel free to use them where-ever you want to, just don't forget to 'quote the author' (in simpler terms, mention me!). Coz if you don't, then bad things might happen to you; things like forgetting the punch-line when in the middle of an elaborately told joke, or meeting an audience-member who knows the answers to all of your original 'amusing-riddles'.

:-)

A little medical terminology - by Jerry Seinfeld

2007-09-07T18:41:00.000+05:30

Jerome “Jerry” Seinfeld is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning American comedian, actor and writer. (One of my favorite stand-up comedians of all time, I might add.)

I'm Telling You for the Last Time was one of his most famous stand-up performances, which was recorded at the Broadhurst Theatre, in New York during August 6-9, 1998. Here's a hilarious little snippet from the same:-

A friend of mine is going in for a nose job next week. Guy.
You know what the technical term for a nose job is?
Of course you do... Everybody...
Rhinoplasty! [is the name of the term]
Rhino!
Now this guy is aware he has a bit of a problem… he's obviously sensitive about it, that's why he made the appointment. Why do we need to compare him to a rhinoceros?...!!!

When you go for a hair transplant the docs don't say: "We're going to perform a cue-ball-ectomy on you, Mr Johnson… We feel the chrome-dome-ia has advanced... to a level we term skin-head-ia… These are all medical terms, if you don't understand…"

—by Jerry Seinfeld
[From I'm Telling You for the Last Time, Live on Broadway, 1998]

—Abd elAzeez
[Current thought: ROTFLOL]

Slow down [that camera! :) ]

2007-09-05T21:39:00.000+05:30

Well, by ‘popular demand’ [you won’t believe how many people actually asked me to do this!], let me present here another of my collection of tips for the everyday photographer! This time we’ll see how to take an interesting picture in an otherwise mundane setting.

Now we all know that there are a lot of situations where you CANT really figure out a decent enough object to snap your camera at. The roadside is one such example, and it is even more of an example if it is not properly lit [thereby making it almost a pain in the photo-clicking-finger to even think of taking a picture there]. But fear not! (for you are a reader of this blog :P)…

A different angle, coupled with a simple setting of the shutter speed + ISO and off you’re ready to go. We’ve already covered ISO in an earlier post, and this time we’ll hint upon ‘shutter speed’.
In the most layed of man’s terms shutter speed is simply the speed at which your camera clicks a picture… a (s)lower shutter speed thus could mean you’ll probably get a picture that’s got a blurry or in-motion kind of effect.

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL (2-megapixel) SIZE]

Check this out. Picture 1 above was taken on a dimly lit road, (at an unusual angle) with only the ISO set to 100. We’ve got a fine looking picture of a car’s headlights there. Now add to this combination, the power of a slow shutter speed and the next car that passed by (in the opposite direction), seemed like more of a rocket in action in Picture 2 below.

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL (2-megapixel) SIZE]

As always. the results ARE but interesting :-)

—Abd elAzeez

[Current thought: Could I be good at this? :D]

Talk 'bout da good times!

2007-09-03T20:48:00.001+05:30

Life’s going good I always say and a lot of my friends wonder why…
There’s just so much pain and anguish in my life at times that they just can’t help questioning me why I still smile and say “Things aren't as bad as they seem to be!”
Well the answer is simple I say; sometimes you HAVE to go through adversity and brave the odds without complaining. Sometimes its best you walk the narrow thorny path rather than sit down and weep over your freshly wounded feet.

You NEED to go through hard times just so that you can realize how gifted you are when you go through the good times again. If life were just a bed of roses we’d all eventually start taking it for granted wouldn’t we?

A few really painful thorns in your way today, and tomorrow when you cross a rosey bed you KNOW you’re having a great day!

—Abd elAzeez

... ... ... ...

2007-08-31T22:35:00.000+05:30

Woke up this morning missing all my smiles
Been sleep-walking for miles and miles and miles
My dreams are apprehensive; they’ve a fish-eyed view
By the way I just tried to say that I need you

—Abd elAzeez
[Current state of mind: Perplexingly Optioned]

A sad state of affairs

2007-08-29T12:58:00.000+05:30

Condemnation
Eradication
Condensation
Here lies their son

Reparation
Compensation
Cost-infliction
Not all in fun

Syndication
Congregation
Convocation
A dying nation

Hesitation
Consultation
Aspiration
No Ambitions

Here lies their son
Not all in fun
A dying nation
With no ambitions

Reminisce the passed times
Churning out these fast rhymes
Because your motherland dies
Amidst destruction, rubble and lies

Deaths, suffering, anguish and pain
Streets wetted with the crimson rain
Terror, wounds, and flowing eyes
The body rots away, the soul still cries

—Abd elAzeez
[Current thought: It could have been anybody... Damn!]

...a test of friendship

2007-08-27T00:51:00.000+05:30

How often do we feel good when our close friends they do
And how oft are we sad when they're feelin low too?
For although the former may seem like an easy thing to do,
The latter is but the actual test of true companionship for you!

—Abd elAzeez
[Current state of mind: Apprehensive Exhilaration]

Following this post I've decided to record my current state of mind in each post. That, I believe, will give bring some more insight for ya'll into the twisted workings of my grey matter as well as provide me with some record-keeping for future reference (just in case this place becomes too darned famous and some big business tycoon proposes buying it out from me... in millions :-)

...worth dying for!

2007-08-25T02:33:00.000+05:30

Why do we have to die?
Life kills you in the end doesn't it?
Life is about being alive...I wish it would last forever!
...and many such clichéd statements prove to be an indispensable part of our conversations everyday, and we humans keep fooling ourselves into believing that probably some miraculous discovery of science(?) would save us from dying! ...something which our fore-fathers and their fore-fathers and their fore-fathers in turn, pursued just as much, but (as is evident :-) never attained.

Someone asked me what I thought about the whole hullabaloo, and I replied (with analogies as always):
---When you go to sleep at night (into the elusive dreamy-world) do you wish for eternal sleep and never to wake up again to the reality anymore?
---Do you appear for an exam hoping it would last forever without any results?
---Would you ever –on arriving at the start of a bridge– think to yourself, "I want to keep walking on this bridge forever and never ever reach the other side, because this bridge looks so damn pretty to me"?

NO you and I don't say all that! We realize all that goes up has to come down and everything that starts has to end. Then whydo we trick ourselves when it comes to Life?

The truth is, this life's just a test to see if you're fit-enough to 'fit in' to a good place.
Do well in this and you'll be given stuff that's 'worth dying for' ...in the literal sense of that term!

—Abd elAzeez

The Lonely Fish

2007-08-22T22:58:00.000+05:30

There are certain times in life when you don't need to be alone to feel lonely.

[CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL 2-Mega-pixel SIZE]

With almost a quarter of a century's experience of being alive, I'll tell you what I've learn't about situations like these. The trick in those times is to keep doing your thing as you always did AND never lose hope even in the least bit... eventually things will fall into place... well atleast they'll all fall into that place where they are 'supposed to be' according to HIS will, and THAT my friend, is what's the best for you and the best for everything else.

—Abd elAzeez

Picture Titled: The Lonely Fish – Oil on Canvas effect

...accept the whole package.

2007-08-20T17:07:00.000+05:30

[CLICK TO SEE FULL 2-megapixel SIZE]

Here’s one of my favorite quotes on love.
This one was pinned onto a colleague’s desk and never failed to amuse each time I visited him.

A little history to introduce this picture:- It seems this colleague had 'inherited' the picture from another dude who’d left the company a few weeks ago, who himself had inherited it from another person who in-turn had been shifted to a different location in the building. All this, within a span of 6 months; and the pic’s seen em all come and go at the same desk. Besides no one ever wanted to take the picture down from right infront of them.

Now having a camera equipped phone can be a very handy thing when you’re ‘out there in the wild’ as I like to call this world (yes everything is ‘out there’ for me because I believe we are all just travelers out here on our way to a better place.. and that could very well be a topic for a new blog post). So as I was saying, having a good camera-phone at hand is immensely amusing, and if that camera is our very own super w750i with modified cam drivers to get that awesome macro-mode pic, what can one do except keep clicking everywhere :-)

This pic never fails to inspire whenever I’m down in the dumps or feeling low about something in life, simply because in the end most things that we ever feel sad are about those which we love aren't they?

—Abd elAzeez

Break the Language Barrier

2007-08-17T19:39:00.000+05:30

Abd's Takes

You know you're writing a popular blog when...

...the only comment you get on your blog in quite a long time (apart from the numerous personal emails and telephone calls from your own close buddies praising your writings) is from some random dude who you haven't met yet... one who's into selling funnily customized t-shirts... on some fanciful Portuguese website.

Now that's called 'reaching out to an international audience'. :D

P.S. The uninitiated may check out the (sentimental?) post below this one
P.S.2. While the others may comment on this one :-)

—Abd elAzeez
Amigo aqui vindo

Feel free to use them where-ever you want to, just don't forget to 'quote the author' (in simpler terms, mention me!)If you don't, then bad things might happen to you; things like forgetting the punch-line when in the middle of an elaborately told joke, or meeting an audience-member who knows the answers to all of your original 'amusing-riddles'.

:-)

A little more time for me please…

2007-08-13T18:10:00.000+05:30

Oh well it’s been but a long boring day
Weather’s cold and the sky’s been gray
The workplace’s dreary and my eye's getting weary
Couldn’t I’d be anywhere except in this friggin’ chair?

Yet I’m happy and content in a tranquil way
Not feeling as lifeless and dull on this protracted day
Grateful at being alive just to pull through it
For surely THAT gives me some more time to prepare for the grave

—Abd elAzeez

In Disparation...

2007-08-10T19:18:00.000+05:30

Aloha people, today I'll post a couple of pictures taken with different camera settings and lighting conditions. The differences in the output I believe, are very profound.

To begin with, the flower in the first picture was subjected to the LED Flash light from my W750i, thus causing a yellow-ish green tinge to the picture, as also some shadows behind it. The ISO setting on the camera was at ISO 100 which meant that the time the photo-sensor would take to capture an exposure was quite less (in lay man's terms), thus leading to an under-exposed picture with the given lighting conditions. The white-balance setting was at 'Daylight' for this one, causing a mellowed overtone.

The second picture however, used only the lighting from a tube-light right above the subject (yes, it pays to turn off your own light source i.e. the flash at times), and a slightly higher ISO value of 125 (a subtle looking deviation, but very powerful in the given situation) which caused better exposure than the one on the left. This one however was shot in 'Flourescent' setting of the white-balance.

Note that there was no digital editing on any of these pictures.

Click on images for full (2 mega-pixel) size.

—Abd elAzeez

Both pictures taken with my modified w750i [i.e. K750i flashed with W800i firmware] Sony Ericsson cell phone camera .

To companionship!

2007-08-03T19:01:00.000+05:30

With the advent of the internet, we've got more days to celebrate than a year could hold even if it leaps twice each time it comes around. Why we've even got weird sounding days like got 'Drop Some Ice-cream on your Partner Day', and 'Give your Cat a Love-Pill day' and 'Smile at Really Stange-looking Strangers Day' and what nots.... the list is endless so to speak. But well, whether you believe in these days or not, you gotta believe that someone somewhere could be observing them.

That said, perhaps the most celebrated and to-be-remembered-or-else-you're-out kind of days (except your Anniversaries and your spouse's Birthday of course...you'll be kicked out even before you can think of forgetting those, if you know what I'm hinting at :-) is Friendship's Day. A day even well known by words like 'Friendship Day' and 'Best Friends' Day', (even weird ones like 'Love-ship Day'...yes, there are people who've coined that term too...at the spur of the moment probably... Fathom over-hearing this in a local coffee shop "Susan, I don't want to have Love-ship with you yet, I am asking only for your hand..in Friendship..." Damn you dude, what on earth is Loveship? and what in love's name do you ask for in that, a toe from Susan's left foot?]. There's so much hype around this Friendship day (well-deserved of-course), that people have even begun celebrating Friendship Week...that is a week before Friendship's day actually is... AND in fact now it is so much, that we even celebrate Friendship Week after Friendship's Day. But the fact remains, the day does deserve its moments. [Every single one of the 24x12x60 of them]

Absurd humor (a trademark of this blog?) apart, just around the corner is one of those days when people love to tell their best buddies that its been wonderful knowing them and having them around when they were needed the most.

And yes, with the buzz around friendship these days (no puns intended), we thought we'd post out here today, a (very small part of the) collection of some of the best friendship quotes that we've selected from (the plethora of quotes that comprise) the internet.

So here goes... This post is dedicated to the best of my friends, the ones who've stuck with me through thick and thin, through the times of despair as well as the shadows of joy, believing in me and supporting me on every other step ever since they were revealed to me by destiny... You people have made a difference in my life and I simply love each one of you for being there with me. These are some of my dedications for you

—Abd elAzeez
P.S. Please click on images for bigger size

At work!

2007-08-02T13:36:00.000+05:30

If the comedy of errors of sharing a common extension at work didn't provide enough material to blog for, it seems that our hero's Clark Kent-ish alter-ego has something else to brag about.

There's been a spate of unusual visitors at his desk in recent times, and he doesn't seem to waste even a micro-second in pulling out his famed mobile phone cam (Sony Ericsson W750i now with updated cameradriver 1.3beta9 by SPU) and taking that one precarious shot at them before they escape into the eternal oblivion from whence they all seemed to have come from (that is, assuming his boss isn't around right then :)...

OK. OK. Ridiculously framed sentences apart, here we've posted two little visitors from tiny-land that Abd's captured in his cell phone. The 8-legged wonder at the top is called 'Arachnid at Work', while the reptile down below is named 'Thin Lizzy' after the Metallica cover of the track called Cowboy by the band Thin Lizzy (anybody got brighter ideas for a name?)

P.S. Don't mind the image quality please, there's just this much time to pull out the cam, frame the subject, reduce the shutter speed, (possibly) change the ISO level from 100 upwards for that perfect exposure, focus the lens and then shoot... in MACRO-MODE!

P.S.2. Clicking on the pictures will open them up in full (2 mega-pixel) resolution.

Step Away From That Thing!...?

2007-07-30T18:26:00.000+05:30

Abd's takes

on Safety Warnings

Safety warnings Safety warnings, everywhere, everywhere
Safety warnings Safety warnings, here and there!

With all due respect, it is still at times a matter of amusement to find an odd safety sign hanging around in the most unusual of places. At first glance, some of these signs seem really out of place and incomprehendible to the (lay?) man… the one who knoweth not much about their necessity. [Why is he called 'lay' BTW? And why a man at that? (That thought may call for another blog post it seems)]

Anyways, there was this one sign our hero —Mr Katîb of course, who else did you expect?— saw on the left wing of the Singapore Airlines plane during his flight from Mumbai to Singapore earlier this year. It said right there, ‘No Step’.

Now why on earth (or should it be ‘why on air’ since everyone was flying?) would someone —happily sitting in the coveted window seat— want to step out onto the wing? Or why would he look for a step when all he could see was a flat white wing? Would it be termed stepping onto someone’s foot if he wanted to step out and use the wing as a stepping stone to reach a better place? What did the plane-makers think of when they put that sign on there? And could there be another such sign on the other wing as well?...

Alas, the universe is filled with baffling mysteries like these and more baffling is the fact that not many people actually realize what silent mockery that is made of them every single time they sit on that window-seat, pull out their camera-equipped cell phones, take a picture of the wing (because that is all you can see there…), and quietly think to themselves ‘yes I am not going to step out there no matter how tempting it is, or how ugly the air-hostesses be’… Speaking of, right after that picture was taken, one of those dames actually asked our hero to turn off his beloved w750i phone ‘for safety reasons, or please step up to speak to the captain’. I guess that is when he realized the ‘no step’ could have been to remind camera-phone wielders that there is a captain on the plane…

—Abd elAzeez

As always, picture taken from Abd's modified Sony Ericsson W750i

____________________________________________________________________

:-)

Focus!

2007-07-18T21:59:00.000+05:30

Sometimes all we need do is set focus on the one thing that is most important to us.
More often than not we are so engrossed in gathering other 'details' that we tend to lose sight of our main goals, and at times that engrossment is so much that try however we may, we cannot get ourselves to see the main object in 'the big picture' clearly. The best practice to thus follow is set priorities in life, and then focus on them with our best.

—Abd elAzeez

Picture taken from Abd's modified Sony Ericsson W750i (i.e. Sony Ericsson K750i flashed with W800 firmware, customized with W810i sound drivers and Super Camera driver 8.5.2 by ChengRong)

Blocked Writer?

2007-07-09T17:56:00.000+05:30

Calvin: Want to see my latest Invention?
Hobbes: What is it?
Calvin: It's a writer's block! You put it on your desk and you can't write there any more!

Calvin: I must be years ahead of my time.

—by Bill Watterson

And we see Katib's been absconding in his entirety for as long as we can remember [and THAT, sounds like a really long time]. Seems like the poor dude's got some 'sorting-out' to do in life, and that's eating away most of his time and head. But fear not, for we shall drag him back here once again after his stuff's done!

VerbatiM

2007-06-28T23:04:00.000+05:30

Abd's takes
On Speech-to-Text.

Ever wondered what would happen if our existing speech-to-text converters (became smart? enough and) started typing down exactly how we said something? Have a look at this:--

Slow-gun of the day:
Safety starts with U
Hey, [the word] safety starts with an ass!
huh? aass... esss.... WHAT THE $^*#^%^^$^^&!
I meant essS!... S! S! ESSS!... Safety starts with an essss!!!
OH GOURD!
WHOA! heeere we go again... GAAWD! GAAOD! GOD! GORD!

[*bangs down microphone, heads for the keyboard*]

—Abd elAzeez
[Thank God, the good ol' keyboard works]

______________________________________________________________________

The copyrighted [mini?] series titled Abd's takes, is a collection of humorous blog posts comprising of completely original but wierd/ obnoxious/ unfathomable/ and seldom-light-hearted tid-bits of humor that are a product of my own twisted mind.

Feel free to use them where-ever you want to, just don't forget to 'quote the author' (in simpler terms, mention me!)
If you don't, then bad things might happen to you; things like forgetting the punch-line when in the middle of an elaborately told joke, or meeting an audience-member who knows the answers to all of your original 'amusing-riddles'.

:-]

the comfort zone

2007-06-18T19:29:00.000+05:30

How comforting is the warm hand of a friend in a time of distress
And so relieving it is when you have someone to whom you can confess
So very simple do the daunting worries and the maddening pain become
After a true friend has supported you with truly sympathizing kind words some

—Abd elAzeez

Retrospective...

2007-06-16T23:18:00.000+05:30

An old friend called up the other day
You know it’s been long since she’d gone away
Some years plus a few months more
It’s been a while since you’d closed that door

Things changed, and you moved on,
You never realized when the nostalgia was gone

Someone you knew, passed away another day
There wasn’t even time for a last goodbye, they say
A crushed bike, some broken glass
Some candles in time, burn out too fast

'To each his own, and life waits for no one'
Reiterated this to yourself, and the pain was simply gone

Yet another day when someone broke your heart,
Did you realize once you too played the same part
With a good friend, and too long ago not
Your own mistakes you easily forgot?

Time changes, and a lot of people do too
Second chances for no one, why crave one do you?

Did you once ever even stop to think,
Your story's fading away like some delible ink?
You’ve come so far, do you know if there’s a road back?
These miles you’ve crossed, do you remember the track?

Is it possible to stop here, and hope to start anew?
It seems a little retrospection will do good to you…

—Abd elAzeez

etiquette?

2007-06-08T22:54:00.000+05:30

Abd's Takes
on Telephone Etiquette

At work we have to share a common telephone [extension number] between people in the same cubicle. This is due to the company’s policy of getting people to ‘relate’ to each other (You know, when you say, “Oh you want Susan’s number, here take mine, I’ll connect you to her whenever you want” :-) ).

Absurd humor apart, of late there have been a spate of funny incidences because of this (seemingly un-comprehendible?) setup, since our callers somehow believe that the person who picks up their call is a) either the very person they intended to call up (talk about pot-luck!) OR b) the telephone operator in the cubicle, who’s only job is to wait for their call and hand it over to the right person; or so it seems, since many of them just seem to call up and say ‘Smith!’ or ‘Hi Smith!’, and expect the person picking up the phone to dutifully, without asking any questions, hand over the phone to good ol’ boy Smith and he’ll take it from there. At times if I pick up the phone —yes one of the two telephones sits on my desk… (privileged?)— and even so as make the (intimidating?) mistake of asking who the caller on the other side is, they forget all they had to say and start blabbering gibberish (quite literally) as if someone forgot to write the lines they had to say after I had said mine…

Fathom this, just this morning someone called up:-

Caller: Hi is this Mr XYZ?

Abd elAzeez.: No THIS isn’t, but let me hand it (the phone) over to him.

Caller: OK… err… thank you… will I ask you to call him when he’s back… err… [Click]

[Note: There are no typos in that dialogue]

Now did he, the caller, think that this was Mr. XYZ’s hotline number or something, or did he just forget the reason that he had called up for after that (witty) one line of mine? Well I guess we’ll never know; but I sure couldn’t help laughing loud in my mind, as I decided to give up looking for the answers... And it was only after those moments of ROTFLing -in-my-head subsided, that I realized Mr. XYZ had left the organization just two days ago[sheesh!].

Besides, there is no Smith in our cubicle too, none yet in the organization as well.

—Abd elAzeez

...my powers can be only used for the good!

2007-06-07T01:09:00.000+05:30

_________________________
Breaking News!

According to the Which Superhero Are You Quiz, our hero, Mr. Katîb 's ways most closely resemble those of The Green Lantern!

Having answered a series of (daunting?) questions of the types "Do you wear thongs?", "Do you get in many physical fights with girls?", and "Do you like redheads?", the creators of the quiz (finally) decided to confer upon Mr. K., the title of The Green Lantern.

Now instead of having our readers rush to the nearest search engine, intrigued by this mysterious character, thinking about Mr K. all the while, we thought we'd give a small introduction to this super hero right here ourselves.

For starters, although there have been many Green Lanterns, the one most notably close to Mr. K. is the Silver Age Green Lantern.

According to wikipedia, "This Green Lantern was unique in several ways. He was the first DC superhero (of the DC Comics fame) to use his powers selfishly (in his romance with Carol Ferris), and he was also the first DC superhero with a family. He was given a power ring and battery (lantern) by a dying alien named Abin Sur, whose spaceship had crashed on Earth. Abin Sur used his ring to seek out an individual who was utterly honest and born without fear to take his place as the Green Lantern".

Hmm... Fearless, utterly honest, a(n almost) hopeless romantic, and a family guy, now where have we heard those before?

—Abd elAzeez

Purrrr (?)

2007-06-04T14:41:00.000+05:30

“You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this?

And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.”

—Albert Einstein

oh Vanity...

2007-06-02T23:53:00.000+05:30

When was the last time you stopped,
to take a good look at the person in the mirror

How long has it been since you last noticed,
the disparities between you two are growing dearer?

–Abd elAzeez

A few Unanswered Questions...

2007-05-24T16:33:00.000+05:30

All this while, since your life began
You've always yearned for a loving hand
And now you've got your prayers answered
Isn't it time it’s your heart's voice you heard?

Uneasy it is you've always been
For evermore, the other side's seemed green
These days the tide, it seems so changed
Isn't this the reason that racing pulse seems strange?

Time they say, heals all that hurts
In your life you've faced the worst of flirts
The day you found someone you could love
Why's your throat dry, your tongue stuck in its cove?

You've had your highs, and you've seen many a low
You've seen dried rivers that once used to flow
Now your demons are dead, the pain's subsided with your hate
So what is it that now makes you apprehensive of the upcoming fate?

—Abd elAzeez

…and the madness takes over again

2007-05-21T11:31:00.000+05:30

Another day for his ailing psyche it is, another wretched sunrise it is
What goes on inside his twisted mind, he cannot explain
He wants to eliminate the sea of insanity that feeds on his brain
He lies weary, on the path he has been walking again and again

His nightmare has come true, and he wakes up screaming in the night
Another love of his is dead, and he’s left alone in the cold hard rain
Crazy thoughts of insanity, like maggots feed on his decaying brain
He tries to fight them, but ends up surrendering to the sickness… again

Stripped to the bone, on the dungeon floor he lies shivering
His wounds hurt, the tears in his eyes wet the blood stain

He struggles against them but the evil thoughts drive him insane

He wants to get back into humanity, yet he just cannot take the pain

In his senses he feels, the depraved world taking over
His mind he sees, wandering in the decadence just like Caine
Corruption, lies, debauchery, sin… the evil tugs at his sleeve again
He tries to resist, but ends up surrendering to the madness… again

Twilight comes around, the sky outside turns crimson

Another nightmare seems true, and he wakes up yet again
He sees the madness take over, and he knows he’s gone insane
He knows not what to do; and has finally given in to the sickening pain.

—Abd elAzeez

...tHe sIcKnEsS

2007-05-13T14:19:00.000+05:30

Silently he waits, in this cold dry place
Waits with nothing, not even the wind in his face
Kneeling down on the hard ground
Broken, sad and with face that’s frowned…

The sickness has gotten into him,
There’s no escape in this place where he lies
The demon has woken inside him
And is lurking in the shadows nearby

You left him, so close to dead and decaying
Silently you left, not a word you were saying
He should have known you were a snake from the start
A snake; O yes a snake! One with an evil heart
I wish he never fell to your deathly charms
And in no way trusted your thorned arms

He looks at his reflection in a murky pool
And he sees it’s slowly changing,
Changing with a silent and steady gloom
The sickness has now entered his room

This sickness has gotten over him,
There’s no escape either in the earth or sky
The demon is now lurking inside him
And there are more approaching nearby…

Walking alone and still he's waiting
He's loved you, and now it’s you he's hating.
He's seen his psyche completely changing,
Like a thunderous dark storm that’s been raging

He's lost his soul, and now he's all so cold
It's a horrifying story, that’s still untold
Your words, his silence, all embracing
Like a slit wrist, with warm blood stream pacing

The moon comes around to light up the freak
And pours pale light onto the crimson streak
Tied up, bound in chains and chokingly-gagged
He lies limp on the ground, like a doll ragged

With nothing but the warm air flurrying
He waits the certainty, his vision blurring

The sickness has powered over him,
There’s no escape when it says "Die"
The demons have stopped lurking in him
And gone looking for another psyche to dry…

—Abd elAzeez

Heartburn

2007-05-11T01:07:00.000+05:30

The day I stumbled upon ya, I knew I was fallin
T'had never been this way; looked like I'd found ma callin
My head was turning and my heart started burning
I'm gonna go up in smoke, if you don't end me yearning

You've got what it takes to get somebody thinking about you
You've got that charisma to make someone miss you
You've got the right words to have people remember you
Baby you've got everything, and my heart is on embers for you

Baby I've been missin you, now I can't take control
You've arrested my heart and locked me outta parole
You've got everything baby, you've got everything
And to you only, I'd always wanna cling

Abd elAzeez

Just the usual

2007-05-01T23:31:00.000+05:30

It was but, just another day
In the sun, some people made their hay

For sometime, it had also rained
And some people, they got wrongly framed

Some people came closer, some drifted away
Today was but, just another day.

—Abd elAzeez

Waiting for his Lady

2007-04-29T01:20:00.000+05:30

He's been waiting for his lady,
He's sitting nigh beside the sea
Her blue eyes, sweet perfume,
and the affection he wants to feel
With memories of their love affair,
the sweet nothings that they've shared
His mind is in a state of glee,
and the boy he's waiting by the sea
In that old place where they used to meet,
by the tall green palm tree discrete

He inscribes in sand his amour's name,
in a lettering that's not always same
Gently the sea washes it away, and he writes yet again
he knows the hours that've passed, aren't going in vain
She must be on her way to that place,
picking up flowers or tying them a lace

Her favorite sweets he has got today,
a romantic tune he's humming by the bay
His old six-stringer guitar lies by his side,
today he's learnt two riffs and a slide
He's brought it to sing her a blues song,
a song of his love for her golden hair so long
Of her blue eyes, and graceful moves,
her silken clothes and their lovely hues

Butterflies in his pockets, an old cap for the sunny day,
and that suit he'd inherited after grandpa went away
"Fame and fortune" she says, "are things sublime."
"What matters is I'm yours and you mine"

'She must be on her way' he thinks,
with a twinkle in his eyes each time he blinks
He thinks of what to her he'll say,
and how they'll spend that lovely day

He's waiting for his lady, singing songs beside the sea,
and he'll sit all day under that very palm tree
He is waiting for his lady, thinking about her is he,
for them love isn't easy, just like for you and me.
He's going to wait for his love the whole day by the sea,
and soon she'll come to him, and so believes he...

—Abd elAzeez

Kazaam! This one's about Spam!

2007-04-27T00:26:00.000+05:30

Abd's Takes
on Spam Emails!

Word under perusal: spam
Pronunciation: 'spam
Function: noun and verb
Meaning: unsolicited usually commercial e-mail sent to a large number of addresses

Well well, that's the formal part of it, and so to speak, the only formal part of it. Yes ladies and gentlemen, there are neither boundaries of formalities, nor the shackles of communication etiquette when it comes to spam. Nothing beats the inventive minds behind each uniquely crafted and (personally?) sent out spam message.

Each day, we receive a large amount of spam in our inboxes; and at times one can almost guess if a message could be spam or not by just looking at the subject line, but then there are cleverly crafted ones as well that don't let us get away so easily.

Soliciting emails from companies selling 'medication', to delirious singles from the same city as you are in, coupled with far away 'relatives' from some unknown desert in southwest africa trying to give us half their wealth, added with some lonely and disparate (that's not a typo :-) housewives waiting for the perfect man who they co-incidentally? think is you, with help from a few exercise evangelists who somehow know you're worried about a weight problem, accompanied with banks and finance companies ready to give you that house loan you can't remember applying for ever, alongwith lottery promotions telling your email won a million dollars just because it had an extra 'edge' in it and stock-brokers who've got the best practical insight into your financial situation, and not to forget the love gurus who claim to know the answer to the eternal question of what women really want from a man (you mean there's more in that list?), clutter millions of inboxes like ours each day.

In all this mindless plethora of genuinely fake emails, one question that arises in my head is "do spammers ever get anything sold?" I mean, with kazillions of spam emails sent out every day, spam tactics should have 'evolved' much faster than uncle Darwin with his bunch of baboons [no offence intended to any monkeys (evolved or under-evolved) please].

Jokes (?) apart, one continues to be amazed at the fact that spammers think we will be able to sieve through all their un-decipherable gibberish and figure out the no-doubt sensible practical and financial advices contained therein.

Imagine, starting off an email with a line like "The window is useful, but accumulates scratches incredibly fast because of the extremely sensitive latex material it is made up of", and then describing stuff that's unmentionable for family blog viewing, and then finally onto the main part of all this painstaking write-up with "CHFR is climbing steady all week. Up over 23% since Monday, investors are enjoying the solid climb. Read CHFR's recent news, and get on it.
China Fruits Corporation
Symbol: CHFR
Price: $0.42".
Yes sir Mr Spammer sir, I definitely see where you are getting at with that.
And there was one email from Wynona Woodsworth (name sound familiar anyone?), with the subject 'RE: did we speak on orkut today?' and before I can get excited about the prospects, I find the email is actually for some William (hmm...), and it seems Wynona is penning down her thoughts on which 'medication' is selling cheapest and how it will help good ol' billy save his taxes. Nice stuff to discuss in Orkut scrapbooks, people.

Sometimes you can almost see a pattern in the methods which spammers have adopted in order to make up that one eye-catching subject line. Seems like there could be very well be a B-school out there churning out spammers in thousands in batches differentiated only on the basis of the methodologies taught in them. Like for example, some spammers these days seem to have adopted the approach of having (arguable) witty one-liners as their email subject, for instance 'best way to get a dog, donate a bone', [yikes!] 'Look no further, eat that toe-nail' [ouch!], 'From the desk of WagMy FatTail' [I swear I want to speak to his man, just so I can pronounce his name on his face once] 'Get your life back, fill that prescription' [whoa! which one?], 'Extra large round juicy sweatshirts' [or was it sweaty juice shirts? nevermind]...

Others still have taken to the business tactic of impress your target with profanity. They churn out email subjects like '@!#@$@ you in ^&$%@!' and 'With stuff like &$%%^&' and '$@#%% $^#% all the way upto the @*&&^' [Oh sorry spammers for umm.. whatever I've done to annoy you that much...] [And yes, I've got word-filters in place on this blog :D].

Recently there's been a spate of emails from people who's deceased relatives had somehow before passing away, told them about contacting me for taking care of their billion dollar fortune for them. [Oh how I wish that were true, I'd buy all those shares from CHFR that's climbing the stocks so well]...

And so spam continues to clutter our inboxes hour after hour, and day after day. And gathering from how the well their industry is doing, it seems that as long as there is email communication on the internet there will be spam.

Come to think of it, with the new era of voice email, and net to phone (and vice-versa) communications coming up in full swing, do we envision spam in visual form too? Could spam ever cross the boundaries of text and cross over to the realms of voice and video? Will spammers now begin recording personalized messages or will they use the silly sounding text-to-speech converters to do their job? And do we think I might ever get to 'hear' from Mr WagMy FatTail? [damn! I'd even considering buying what he has to sell with name sounding like that]

I for one, just cant wait for the next level of spam advertising. Seriously, there has to be intelligent life out there, [no offence O ye existing spammers,] just waiting for the opportune moment to start smart spamming, and when it does, I guess we're in for a hilarious riot! Until then, we'll have to live with those that have no name, but just the power to spam!... in text mode!

—Abd elAzeez
______________________________________________________________________

The copyrighted [mini?] series titled Abd's takes, is a collection of humorous blog posts comprising of completely original but wierd/ obnoxious/ unfathomable/ and seldom-light-hearted tid-bits of humor that are a product of my own twisted mind.

Feel free to use them where-ever you want to, just don't forget to 'quote the author' (in simpler terms, mention me!)
If you don't, then bad things might happen to you; things like forgetting the punch-line when in the middle of an elaborately told joke, or meeting an audience-member who knows the answers to all of your original 'amusing-riddles'.

:-]

A soldier of the coming years...

2007-04-24T00:36:00.000+05:30

Do we know how it feels to lose a loved one?
Do we know how it feels when nothing can be done?
Except bury the pain inside, and let the tears subside?
How does it feel when one night's journey seems the longest ride?

They plunged into the war, to protect their village, their dignity
Rode away into the desert, to face their deadliest enemy
Had to save their women, the adversaries were taking away,
And the children who's fathers they'd executed the other day

They rode on horses as fast as they could,
Laying a trap for the foes who were taking the loot
Attacked them with their best, with everything they had
With their swords, their rifles, on horsebacks, and white robe clad

Not the perfect match, against the enemy's machine gun
Still they fought from all sides, attacking as one
The adversaries they too were very well-prepared
All arms and ammunition they promptly bared

Our heroes fought bravely, driven by just one goal
To save the captive prisoners from perishing into a dark hole
With their war cry out loud, they attacked
Like mad men, they tore upon the enemy's pack
A bloody battle between them ensued
In that desert part, the one seclude

By the Grace of the Lord, they then overcame
The foes, they were all now a campaign tame

Then they returned back to the village in victory
Everyone rejoiced as the horse-riders returned in glory
People of each household rushed to welcome their men,
while others thanked HIM for the safety of their women

There were drums beating a victory beat everywhere,
The heroes were returning, there was glory in the air
With bated breath the womenfolk awaited their men
And seeing them, they ran to welcome and to hug them then

The children too, their tiny lips and their tender hands,
Praying for their fathers' safe return from the desert sands
And when each came back, his children rejoiced
The wife was thankful, her eyes were moist

All prayers seemed answered that day, but not little Ali's
His mother, she then began dreading what it is
At last his father's white horse it returned
But atop it, was no white-clad figure to be discerned

Only one horse returned empty that hot afternoon
And the little boy just couldn't figure out why
Although two dry monsoons have passed without a boon
He stil can't understand what made mamma back then cry

His father he thinks, is still somewhere far away
Fighting with the enemy, or gathering lambs gone astray
His mother has now learnt to hide her tears
Since now he is to become the soldier of the coming years...

—Abd elAzeez

Believe

2007-04-20T18:17:00.000+05:30

Hey friend, hey friend… Do you know;
That you shall reap every seed that you sow?
Hey friend, hey friend, don’t you go
Don’t you go to that place where there’s evil by the brow

How I wish I was, in the land of the good
Where no one ever killed another for matters of food
And I’d never cheat my brother, my kin?
Just because I couldn’t fight the temptation of sin

When the clouds are out, and the Sun’s gone
Do not be sad, and be not forlorn
Forget not that each one of us is bound to die
Those who passed away, didn’t even have the time to say bye
Do not feel sorry for your state, you do not have to be
Like The king he sang, “I am the way the Good Lord made me”

Hey friend, hey friend, lead a life that’s humble
Do not ever on the path of righteousness, stumble
Hey friend, hey friend, come hold my hand
And if God wills, then by you in this life, I shall forever stand

Open up your heart, open up your soul
The truth is out there taking a stroll
Just waiting to be seen, it’s light don’t you leave
The signs are there for those who believe
Never ever will you regret this new life,
It’ll take away all the worry; it’ll take away all the strife
There’s something for everyone out there
And the joy you will find it boundless to bear

Hey friend, hey friend, let me advise
Let me show you this new premise
Hey friend, hey friend, don’t cry if life’s falling over
Hey friend, hey friend, don’t cry if it’s getting over

Remember these words in the summer
In the winters, the spring, and when the waters glimmer
Someday each one of us will get our worth
Oh yes, its true and t’was written long before our birth

Together we will live through this night
We shall emerge victorious from this unending fight
The darkness will soon be gone,
Soon there will be a new morning to call our own
Together we will survive this holocaust
And the good times are arriving fast
Oh yes the good times are arriving fast

Take the rhythm of the singing spring bird
Let your voice in the new morning be heard
Regret and repent on yesterday’s sins
And move steadily towards the heavens

Hey friend, hey friend, this life will soon end
Yes, this life will soon end, but there’s a better one just round the bend

There’ll be a better one only if in this one, you’ve been good
This is a test, yes a test to see if you’re content or do you brood
With the state that you’ve been put in now
Just remember all you have to do is to see, hear and know

Open up your heart, open up your soul
The truth is out here taking a stroll
Just waiting to be seen, it’s sight don’t you leave
The signs are there for those who believe

Hey friend, hey friend, this life will soon end
This life will soon end, but there’s a better one just round the bend
Hey friend, hey friend, fear not, farewell
And if God wills, then in heaven you will forever dwell…

—Abd elAzeez

A feeling of pensiveness

2007-04-15T01:33:00.000+05:30

These days, I see my thoughts seething
Thinking of the time when it'll all be over
When my heart, it shall eternally stop beating
On my face will be the expression real sober

I'll be six feet under, then everyone will walk away
And there it won't matter anymore if its night or day
I can't stop the notion that keeps returning
Will I be in a safe place or will it be burning?

—Abd elAzeez

Fathom this...

2007-04-12T19:35:00.000+05:30

.
Patient : Doc I can't sleep at nights, I guess I've got what they call Amnesia

Doctor : Umm... I think it is Insomnia you mean?

Patient: Nope! Amnesia it is. I sometimes forget to sleep.
.

—Abd elAzeez

The Aficionado

2007-04-11T15:46:00.001+05:30

Alone he sits with his face to the wind
His eyes on the horizon, his mind in a bend
Sniffing the air, looking for her scent
The woman, her charm, the affection he's just felt

Listening to steam engines, they're blowing a horn
Here sits the dude, a little sad a little forlorn
Utterly desolate? truly miserable? you think he is?
Or is he so just because away from him she is?

Back when he met her, a time in the recent past
Got awed by her dignity, he loved the woman so chaste
He thought of his amour, through night and through day
If she had been a doctor, he could keep all the apples at bay
Thankfully she's not, and he still loves the apple pie
And does he thank his luck for that, my oh, oh my!

Says he, "Keep smiling, and today's sadness do not portray
For tomorrow will surely bring out another day"
And so he retires to bed, within his heart a small prayer
that says, "Let the LORD guide us, and let HIM be our story sayer"

Some rhymes keep getting funny
And in poetry there is not much money
Learn to love each other, let it grow everyday
And there's absolutely no need to keep ANY fruits away!

So sleeps he the protagonist of this tale
The two decades plus a few years young, the Indian male
The night sky's slowly fading away, the earth hast turned
GOD's in his heaven, and all's well with HIS world

—Abd elAzeez

:-)

2007-04-10T16:27:00.001+05:30

Pseudocode is code to demonstrate a concept, not designed to be run. Like certain Microsoft software.

—Robert's Perl Tutorial

As the vagabond sings...

2007-04-09T23:12:00.000+05:30

Walking silently on the highway

thinking of nothing but how time flew away
remembering all the good times we had
i never knew why things would stop being glad

Its a long long walk here and i'm alone
with emptiness all around and inside me
how can i ever live now when all is gone
why does it always have to be so...

And now the times seem to change
why is everything looking so strange
but has the pain gone away
and will life ever be the same...

Seems to me it never might,
looks so, but ain't such a big fight
why am i still looking for answers
why is this world so cruel

So i call out to you my old friend
and i say 'ahoy there, will you help?
i'm a lonely vagabond on a road with no end
with no one to call my own. O please help

This wicked cruel place is not what i desire
I need you to save me from the fire...
The fire, o yeah the fire
Which burns all that is alive
And scars all that isn't

The fire divides, & then burns all together
as if hunting the people now running helter skelter
The very people who started it,
who fueled it, who raised it
with their own men & women,calling them names
Just looking for reasons to throw them into the flames

And now everywhere they all run,
But there's no respite under the burning hot sun
In some time it is all over
With the scorched earth looking for cover
And darkness decends...

Walking silently on the highway
thinking of nothing but how time flew away
remembering all the good times we had
i never knew why things would stop being glad

Its a long long walk here and i'm alone
with emptiness all around and inside me
how can i ever live now when all is gone
why does it always have to be me...

—Abd elAzeez

Weblog Hues

2007-04-08T17:27:00.000+05:30

Just yesterday I found this page on BlogThings.com, which boasts of a quiz that judges your personality and accordingly tells you what color theme (they think) would suit your blog or live internet journal.

A small set of multiple-choice questions greets one on this page; questions like for instance How would you describe the tone of your blog? and the likes. Check out the quiz at here, and do post your results as comments for this article, if you get the time that is...

Oh yes, by the way, the quiz results said my blog color should have been purple.

And I find it all so amusing...

2007-04-08T13:43:00.000+05:30

Well yesterday could have been one of those laid-back Saturdays, with not much to do, laze around at home, catch a book or a movie (or probably a few of both), and then later maybe finish off a few 'pending' tasks from the whole week and prepare for another week of work ahead. To make the point, there was nothing very particular planned for it. But, a couple of close friends of mine had a different plan alltogether (yes they're really close friends as well as a very good couple too). We decided go off to a water-themed park on the outskirts of town to, "beat the summer heat" as we all called it, and so off we went! Well, we did reach the place, asking for directions a lot of times (whoever said men don't ask for directions and women can't read maps, well take that!) and after loong journey lasting about close to an hour on our bikes, under the raging hot sun and the sweltering summer heat. But, all the effort was worth it, since the park turned out to be one Awesome place! One of the best of attractions that it has is called the Wave Pool, which (you guessed right) has tons of waves of water in it. Just loved every bit of it. Now I for one, am immensely in love with the water, be it a pool, or the river flowing closeby my office, or so to speak, even the sea. I can sit beside it (or more likely, in it) for hours and hours without getting bored. The sounds of the flowing water, coupled with its breathtaking, and awe-inspiring power at times, can keep me hooked with no end. Sometimes it even brings out the budding poet inside me. I either compose poetry or play 'deep' songs inside my head. Today Frank Sinatra was on the playlist and one of his most famous tracks 'My Way' got the most attention.

Ironically enough Frank neither composed the song on his own, nor did he himself ever rate it high amongst his other tracks. However for the general public, the song has become sort of iconic with him. In one of his famous chart-topping tracks called 'It's my life', Jon Bon Jovi also makes a strong reference to the song when he says 'Like Frankie said, I did it my way...'.
Now 'My Way' was written by Fred Brott and it was adapted into the English language by Paul Anka. The original version of the song was originally in French, written by Claude François and Gilles Thibaut and titled Comme d'habitude, of which Paul Anka has retained just the melody and re-written the lyrics. The reason for it becoming so 'related' to Frank Sinatra, was solely because it was released in his 1969 album titled 'My Way', and was (and still continues to be) a huge hit.

Many other artists have covered the song in their (in?)imitable styles, the best of which I like is by Elvis Presley in his live-recorded album from February 1973 titled Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite. Speaking of covers, Paul Anka has covered Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" on his 2005 album named Rock Swings. In this version, Anka has made one (subtle?) change to the original lyrics where he sang "Frank said, He did it my way." In other words he meant to say Frank did it Paul's way. The line since then has also become, for many, an anthem of self-reliance.

The lyrics from Paul Anka's original 'My Way' go like this:-

My Way

And now the end is near
So I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full
I've traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

Regrets, I've had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exception

I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
Oh, and more, much more than this
I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you know
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it my way

I've loved, I've laughed and cried
I've had my fails, my share of losing
And now as tears subside
I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way
Oh, no, no not me
I did it my way

For what is a man, what has he got
If not himself, then he has not
To say the words he truly feels
And not the words he would reveal
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way