Mohammed & me :)

the most adorable kid ever :)

List of Prospective cities for Ashara Mubaraka 1431H

As mentioned by Aqa Moula TUS in Dubai here is the list of cities which have done the araz for Ashara Mubaraka 1431H:

1. Banglore
2. Karachi
3. Indore
4. Kolkata
5. Marol
6. Surat
7. Dar es Salaam
8. Poona
9. Mumbai
10. Saifibaad - i dunno where is that.

All the best :)

A new kind of Stock Exchange

yes its really unique, normally when you reward evil you get more evil ...but here the evil-pirates are actually helping the city.....i dunno how long it will last ..coze you can never be sure of em pirates :D

Here http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSGEE5AS0EV you will read, how ppl are investing in this very unique stock exchange which is yielding stupendous dividends :D

Daily show rips Zardari :D

A born fool and mr 20 percent - Asif ali Zardari ....prime minister of Pakistan :D

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Apakalypse Now
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Yeh Mera Deewanapan

Love her voice ..so serenading :D...and the video not entirely good but its ok ....I think the song was the soundtrack of movie - The Namesake ...originally sang by Mukesh.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

Okay, so be well-informed that I am not writing any research paper on this particular law mentioned in the subject. This is a well established law of Economics. Well, I just started reading Superfreakonomics: from the authors of Freakonomics. Freakonomics was one of the first book I read besides, fiction and of course my course materials and comics.

Coming back to the topic, I was inspired by the new section on Freakonomics' blog called Applied Freakonomics. Here readers share their personal experiences of how different chapters in the book inspired them. They just started it today, and the first experience is a very good example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. You can read it here.

Also, if you need an another good example of this law, you can very well look at the Wikipedia entry. It exemplifies that World War II was an "Unintended Consequence" of harsh treatment on Germany as per the Treaty of Versailles.

From Superfreakonomics:
"People respond to incentives, although not necessarily in ways that are predictable or manifest. Therefore, the most powerful law in universe is the law of unintended consequences." And this is exactly what I realized after watching this bollywood movie "Dhoondte Reh Jaaogey."

The movie is about, two characters: a battered movie director and a honest ethical chartered accountant. They decide to siphon money from multiple financiers. Then they would create a low-budget super flop movie, and all the financiers will loose the money. But since they created a low-budget flop movie, they would not have to pay-back. Everything goes smoothly, and the movie is full of ingredients for disaster (at box-office). The climax too was decided such that India would loose against Pakistan, which definitely would not (never ever) fare well with the Indian masses.

Now, the law of unintended consequences strikes. The climax is changed, without the knowledge of the two main characters and hence the movie becomes a hit (super hit). Hence they end up paying profits to every financier and end up in jail. Though fictional and may be not exactly relevant to the law, I thought this movie was a good example.

U2- New Year's Day :)

"and so we are told this is the golden age,
and gold is the reason for the war we wage" :)

Ice Skating Indian Ishtyle :)

Imagine doing this in a real saari :) ..or may be this could revolutionize the entire saari-industry :) .....but a good job ...well done :D

Kapil Dev on Sachin

The Greatest......could have been greater

I have no doubts whatsoever about his performances. His record over 20 years is impeccable. I feel that since I know his ability as a cricketer I can say that for all his wonderful talent and his fantastic ability, Sachin Tendulkar is an under-achiever.
When I bowled to him 20 years ago I knew at once here was a cricketer of extraordinary ability, and he was only 16 years old then. In modern day cricket, according to me, no one can be compared to Tendulkar – not Viv Richards, not Ricky Ponting, not Brian Lara. I can only say that, sadly, Sachin has given an opportunity for people to compare others to him.
There has been no greater breaker of records, no bigger ambassador for India and for the game. For over 20 years he has been a champion, He has kept his mouth shut and shown what his bat is capable of. The cherry on the cake is that there have been no controversies surrounding him. His behaviour is impeccable. I know he broke every imaginable record. I am aware people will criticise me for saying this on such a happy occasion. He made records, but he is not a ruthless cricketer. In fact, he started as a destroyer but somewhere along the way he became a record breaker.
To my mind there are only a few ODI innings in which he played to his full potential. I remember a 138 against Sri Lanka (at Colombo, Compaq Cup final, September 2009) and the175 he made in Hyderabad last fortnight. There are a few other innings that come to mind, but I can confidently assert that, for a major part of his career, Tendulkar has played well below his potential.
Sunil Gavaskar had the ability and the patience to work a bowler till he was tired and then kill him. Sachin had the talent to kill a bowler in his first over. To my mind, Sachin played like Gavaskar. Taking in the totality of his cricket, Sachin had greater talent than what he performed.
Records he would have made anyway. His approach has been ideal to the passing of landmarks, to the setting of new peaks. I must confess that I felt bad about his 194 on the day he was left stranded when the captain (Dravid) declared the Indian innings. But I was not sad that he did not make his double hundred. You will know what I mean if you replay the innings on video.
What the cricketer in me says is that I would be happy had he made 500 to 1,000 runs less in his career provided he had been ruthless in his approach. When I say all this I mean it as a compliment to his talent and a criticism of his under achievement. I firmly believe that for a batsman of Sachin's talent, he should have made 10 Test double hundreds, a 300 and at least one 400.
In the same breath, I would say that I would ideally have liked to see him go from 30 to 50 in three overs and to go from 50 to 80 on any pitch, against any bowling in 5 overs. He may use up another 5 overs to get to 95 and then safely get his century. Here is a man who can hit sixes at ease than anyone else in world cricket but after 50, he usually takes 5 overs to get to 55.
I have not seen Don Bradman bat. But I have seen Viv Richards and Sunil Gavaskar. Sachin is more talented than the two of them. He is a batsman capable of batting on 300 after a day's play in a Test. Today's climate and real feel are such you have to score that quickly to make big scores and kill the opposing bowling. I know Sachin could have done it. In my judgment, has had under performed to his ability in the last 12 years.
I know it's easy to say he should win a World Cup for India off his own bat. But this is not in his control, Winning a World Cup is about teamwork. What I want to see from Sachin in the rest of his career is to bat as he did in Hyderabad where he accelerated every time he lost a batting partner. That's his real ability.
I enjoyed it immensely when Sachin said this was the very best innings in his life. This is what he is capable of. The 140-ball hundreds are for Rahul Dravid and the like. I wish that to do justice to his ability he would sit with the likes of Richards, people with a ruthless approach – not with Geoffrey Boycott, who incidentally also broke all kinds of records.
I remember Sharjah (ODIs in 1998), Sydney double hundred (in 2004), Perth hundred (1992). Sorry to say, I cannot say the same of his last 15 international hundreds. I was very hurt when Ponting said recently that Sachin makes runs. I think the Australian captain dismissed him as an accumulator of runs, a maker of records.
The world bowlers are scared of a batsman like Virender Sehwag today. But they should always have been scared of Sachin. I know for a fact that he can hit the very same ball from the very same spot either to the leg side or the off side for four and he can do so either off the front foot or the back foot. Knowing very clearly that he has more ability and talent than anyone else, he should have destroyed bowlers.
Name 10 top international sportsmen who started shining when very young and you will see they would have suffered burnout by the time they were 30 – for example, Boris Becker, Nadia Comaneci. I admire Sachin's discipline and the passion he has for his sport even now at 36. Hats off to him. I know a lot of sportsmen work very hard on their game. Take Dravid as the prime example. But Sachin did not have to work hard. The only other cricketer I could think of with so much talent was L. Sivaramakrishnan. And look how he wasted it. Sachin did not have to work that hard on his game. What I would like to see in the remainder of his career is that he should dominate the bowling and make runs as he did in the Hyderabad ODI. I would like to see him finish his career as a destroyer of bowlers, as a ruthless cricketer who helped his team dominate the sport.

Henry's Hand :D

This is how France qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. poor Ireland !!!




More details here :)

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/post/The-Hand-of-Henry-Handball-sends-France-to-Worl?urn=top,203537

Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis

a video explaining Aurora Borealis



and a very good capture of the same phenomenon :) pretty awesome !!! this images were captured from the International Space Station :)




more explanation :)



some more pics with Enya's tracks :) ...its been long since I heard Enya :)

creativity at work - 2

After this:

http://jargoneer.blogspot.com/2009/10/creativity-work-d.html

we decided to get more ambitious and created this :)

sweetest thing :) U2

An amazing video as well :D

Yeh Dooriyan

Tera Honey Laga hoon :P

Rio Grande Berger

lol ..and this is the Berger combo meal that you get at River Beach
Cafe ..located right next to Goose Lake (pics in the previous
post)..the berger is yummy ..but like all good things in the world
that comes with a price ..this one too ..it's super fatty thanks to a
layer of onion rings lol ...there couldn't have been a better way of
making a food so calorific :p ....

Goose Lake

some pics of the Goose Lake around Chillicothe, IL, Rome, IL to be precise. I didn't know this place was so close to work. But better late than never :)

Mona Lisa Painting made from Cups filled with COFFEE

Artist assistants stand next to 3,604 cups of coffee which have been made into a giant Mona Lisa in Sydney , Australia . The 3,604 cups of coffee were each filled with different amounts of milk to create the different shades!!

migratory birds

I dunno what the birds are .. cuz I ain't know ornithologist :p .. but
I wa feeding them and they just came flocking...

Daal Gosht :p

this is daal-gosht(goat meat) bohra style... very simple to cook ..
but takes a lil longer :) .. in the end a very delicious and nutrition-
rich food .. :p

Memorable Quotes from "Brick Lane" by Monica Ali - 2

Amma hugged her fiercely. She took Nazneen's wide face between her two palms and spoke to her:" if God wanted us to ask questions, he would have made us men."

She would never, so she said, wear a sari again. She was tired of taking little bird steps.

She longed to be enriched by this hardship, to cast off her childish baggy pants and long shirt and begin to wear this suffering that was as rich and deeply colored as the saris that enfolded Amma's troubled bones.

I am working for bricks.When I am gone to dust, they will be standing.

University is also close down. All students hold protest. They rallying for right to cheat. In my heart I support. Some who afford pay the professor fr tutoring by exam paper. To be fair all must have mean for equal cheating.

People said he was soft in his head, because he was always reading. Books had cracked him and the more cracked he became the more books he read. That's how he earned his name, Makku Pagla, or Lunatic Makku.

Sent from my iPhone

Memorable Quotes from "Brick Lane" by Monica Ali - 1

Regular prayer, regular housework, regular visits with Razia.She told her mind to be still. she told her heart, Do not beat with fear, do not beat with desire.

All the objects of human reason or inquiry may naturally be divided into two kinds, that is, Relations of Ideas, and Matter of Fact.

In this city, a bit of grass was something to be guarded, fenced about, as if there were a sprinkling of emeralds sown in among the blades.

Nazneen tasted some from a spoon and burned her tongue. But it was her heart that was ablaze, with mutiny.


Sent from my iPhone

Gosht Tarkari

Kadai Chicken :p

cooked in a cooker though lol :p

Memorable Quotes from "Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz

Sucks to be left out of adolescence, sort of like getting locked in
the closet on Venus when the sun appears for the first time in a
hundred years.

These days I write a lot. From can't see in the morning to can't see
at night. Learned that from Oscar.

He wrote: so this is what everybody's always talking about! Diablo! If
only I'd known. The beauty! The beauty!

Lola's hair is long now and never straightened; she's heavier and less
guileless, but she is still the ciguapa of my dreams. Always happy to
see me, no bad feelings, entiendes.

Sent from my iPhone

Fatimid Architecture - Masjid Al Jame ul Anwar

This is one of the classic example of Shaan of Aqa Moula Sayedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb TUS. He has achieved major milestone, which cannot even be described. In one of the letters that was written to the Kuwaiti King Sheikh Jabir, Aqa Moula TUS is referred to as someone who was sent to the earth to build Masjids. Indeed, I am amazed, how many masjids have been built under his raza Mubarak and benediction. In America, Canada, Eurpore, Africa, Asia, Autralia, everywhere, Mashallah.

Masjid Al Jame ul Anwar, in Cairo built by Imam Hakim (A.S). This masjid was completed by Imam Hakim (A.S) in 393 A.H. Currently we are in the year 1430, hence the masjid is almost 1140 years old. Amazing aint it. Restoring this masjid was impossible as UNESCO itself had declared it unachievable. But, its nothing when it comes to our Moula TUS :). Once he (TUS) decided to pursue something the zaahir and the baatin come together to help him (TUS).

In 1391 A.H Aqa Moula TUS completed the restoration of Jame-Anwar in just 28 months. The barakaat of restoration was such that it assisted in restoring 4 more masjids: Jame Azher, Jame Lulu, Jame Tuloon and Jame Juyushi.

During the process of construction phenomenal events occurred which were termed as the nine miracles.

1. Water supply to the site was blocked off. But, by the grace of Allah, during the construction, a well was discovered.

2. During the construction process, remnants of old structure emerged and the masjid was rebuilt on the basis of it.

3. An original Fatemi shubbak (window) emerged after 698 years, just as if it was a gift from the Imam.

4. Aqa Moula (TUS) identified Al Mishkat-Fatemiyah from Al Jame ul Aqmar and instructed that its design be used to illuminate Al Jame ul Anwar.

5. A part of a stone inscription with Imam Hakim's name inscribed upon it was excavated.

6. Many Fatemi relics were discovered when a tomb when was shifted from the masjid to another site.

7. A school that had been built within the masjid premises had to be pulled down and as compensation a new school was built on another location within just 110 days.

8. The restoration of this masjid-a gargantuan task, which dissuaded event the UNESCO from undertaking it was miraculously accomplished within a period of 28 months.

9. To commemorate the completion of this masjid, Aqa Moula (TUS) conducted Ashara Mubaraka in Cairo at which 10,000 mumineen gathered from all around the world.

Here are few snaps of the masjid:

Before Restoration















After Restoration



















Rasulallah SA has said in a hadith that:
“Whosoever shares in building a Masjid for Allah , even if it is as small as a bird’s nest, Allah (S.W.T.) will build for him a house in Paradise.”
This is the shaan of our Moula TUS. May Allah Subhanahu grant him life till eternity, Amin.

another of U2's greatest :)

Greatest U2 song ever :)

The original version it just rocks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6IQoOvvc1g

just love this song :)

Harvesting Corn :) - Part 2

So to continue the super long tutorial, which started here:

Harvesting Corn Part 1

It was discussed in the above link how the corn with the help of a combine, is harvested, chaffed, thrashed whatever, in the end all that is left are kernels. Isnt that awesome !!! i think it really is, because I have seen back home in India where everything is done manually, it takes forever. Well, its good in a country where so many people need to find vocation too.

Lets continue , the combine is pretty awesome lol for the umpteenth time :) . What was really fascinating about the combine, is the fact that it had a display in the cab, which monitors the corn real-time. It tells what is the moisture content of the corn, the yield per bushel, quality (grade) of corn etc etc. It generates charts displaying the yield per acre in fact per row which was really precise. So heres how the display looked like:



After the combine has collected enough yield, which of course is known by the load in the above mentioned display, its time to dump the yield into a tractor. Not exactly a tractor but more like a hauler. Like this:




In one of the pic, you will observe that the tractor follows the combine. The tractor dumps the corn (just the kernels) into a truck which then transports it to the storage facility. Lol I am sure you have seen trucks, but wth this is how a truck looks like lol..



Now the kernel rich in moisture, needs to be stored and duh !!! needs to be dried. Yes Genius !!! it needs to be shifted to a dryer. I am sure most you have seen this high-tower building in middle of corn-fields and never knew what it was. But your ignorance ends here lol, thats how I felt :) ...So the kernels are dumped into this underground bunker like ditch:





From here with the help of this conveyor belt that are moved to a high temperature dryers, where the moisture is removed and kept for storage. The moisture is constantly monitored to make sure the kernels don't rot. here is the conveyor belt:



The kernels through the conveyor belts are transferred to these huge dryers:



And we got the chance to climb to the top of the dryer. It was awesome a real exercise. If I was a farmer, I probably would have never had to work out. Few of the views from the top:

Memorable Quotes from "Shalimar the Clown" by Salman Rushdie

"Kashmir for kashmiris, Assam for asamese, Nagaland for Nagas?Why not demand freedom for one's bedroom and call one's toilet a republic? "

"Man is ruined by the misfortune of possessing a moral sense,"

Memorable Quotes from "The Inheritance of Loss" By Kiran Desai - 3

"Romantically she decided that love must surely reside in the gap between desire and fulfillment, in the lack not contentment. Love was the ache, the anticipation, the retreat, everything around it but the emtion itself."

"In this life, he remembered again, you must stop your thoughts if you wished to remain intact, or guilt and pity would take everything from you, even yourself from yourself."

"Indians, yes, in Alaska; a desi owned the last general store in the last town before the North Pole, canned food mostly, fishing tackle, bags of salt and shovels;"

Memorable Quotes from "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini - 2

"Only one skill. And it's this: 'tahamul.' Endure."

"And the burqa, she learned to her surprise, was also comforting. It was like a one-way window.Inside it, she was an observer, buffered from the scrutinizing eyes of strangers."

"She remembered Nana saying once that each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world. That all the sighs drifted up the sky, gathered into clouds, then broke into time pieces that fell silently on the people below"

"She would never leave her mark on Mammy's heart the way her brothers had, because Mammy's heart was like a pallid beach where Laila's footprints would forever wash away beneath the waves of sorrow that swelled and crashed"

Me @ Templar Church, London

Well for starters, this was the only thing I thought was worth visiting in London !!!!

Yes, this is the same church where Sir Isaac Newton is laid to rest. Lol thats what I thought, after reading the Da Vinci Code. And, that is why I dragged my whole family to this place, right in the heart of London. Too bad it was some holiday and the church was closed. Nonetheless I was able to take this pic for my memoirs :P .

And, I think Newton, is not buried here. In fact no Templar Knights were buried here, it only has their effigies. So whatever be the history behind it, I think it was cool. I like the area surrounding the church, the narrow alleys, and medieval architecture reminded me of Uppali (upper) Pole and Nichali (Lower) Pole area of my native town Banswara, Lol, I know its a bizarre comparison, but that's how I felt.

Here is the pic of the church as taken from this site, to prove to you naysayers that I am not bluffing and I really went to the Templar Church, lol I wonder how many of you really care if I am lying or not, but anyways, this adds to my credibility. The site is
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/london-temple-church and it has pretty cool pictures.



So here is the pic, in which the Knight Templar of the age, keeper of the Holy Grail graced the Templar church. Sorry, I went a little overboard, but pun intended, if Dan Brown could create a fiction then why not I, and of course in my creation who else would be the protagonist but me :). Don't you think the church seems radiant now, as its self-proclaimed custodian has glorified it finally.

Harvesting Corn :)

This post might give you a brief idea of how technology has played such an important role in Corn harvesting. Technology in farming is definitely a purposive use of technology, unlike this Toilet Paper News-Feeder lol :)

Sorry for the digression from the main topic, I guess this is something which will never change when I write. Okay coming back to the subject, Last Saturday, I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to go harvesting on a friends farm in Raonoke, IL. Best of luck trying to pronounce Raonoke :). Well It was a real learning experience, reminded me of Modern Marvel show on History Channel. Lol just shows how much I watch that show and beat this coincidence, I am watching it at the moment too, the show is about cold-cuts, lol I wouldnt want to go into more details as it would definitely upset my vegan readers :)

So coming back to harvesting corn, for this post we will assume that the corn is all grown, and ready to be harvested. Duh !!! the topic says harvesting too :P

This is how a fully-ripe-corn-ready-to-be-plucked looks like:



Once ready to be plucked, the field which was uniformly seeded may look like this:



You can see in the pic above, how the farm is uniformly seeded, its perfectly aligned for a combine to work its magic. Yes a Combine, i would consider it to be a Mechanical Engineering marvel for real. It works like a charm, it thrashes, removes the husk , the chafe, separates the kernels from the corn. What you have in the end are just kernels :). Here is a brief youtube video on how a Combine works.



And here is a pic of the combine, I rode in. Actually I got a chance to drive it too, And also, I rode it in on the highway. You must have imagined by now the front part of the combine i think its called the thrasher is definitely removed. Lol otherwise you might end up thrashing the road sign posts, other cars etc etc on the road. This was the view from atop a combine:



This is how our combine looked like:



Here is how a field looked like before we cleared it with a combine:



After running the combine:



To be Continued ....I am tired of writing and even more sick of my slow internet connection......but hold on there is more ...

Continued here:

Harvesting Corn Part 2

Qusad Ainy..by Amr Diab with lyrics :)

Me Riding a Tractor :)

Not really riding but climbing to ride a tractor !!! for all you perfectionists :P

In the background is a corn-field which I helped harvest :P ..real Farmville ppl :P

Bewafa Yun Tera Muskurana :)

Another great one from Aziz Mian :)




"Shukriya, mian, Shukriya,
aapki inayaat ka,
gham ki daulat mujhey ataaa kar di
tumney hus hus key ibtedaaa ki thii
maine ro ro key intehaaa kar diiiii :)"

Creativity @Work :D

Ok so when the Network was down ..this is what kept us busy :) ..

We can call this, first one as a Telephoto view ..lol just because its detailed (zoomed in) ....i didnt use any zoom ...lol just captured it from close !!!




this one could very well be an example of Almost a Panoramic view lol :) ..not entirely 180 degrees but almost 120 may be 130 :)



This one really is an example of a Bird's eye view :) ....either it really is or I might as well like to think so :)