Kashif and I

After a long time, I woke up early in the morning, today.
Reason: I had to go to Secunderabad Railway Station to see-off Kashif.

Today, Kashif has left Hyderabad for Noida. Something, which brought him here, has taken him to Noida. It's the Career...of course. Well !!! I wish him, the best, throughout the Life.

Looking back at the time we spent together, I find there are many small, not-so-small, big and not-so-big things. It's really tough to get all of them in writing, as most of them can't be described. We can only feel them.

Kashif and I, came to Hyderabad at almost the same time. We studied at the same college and almost the same subjects. We worked for the same company for two and a half years and stayed at the same house for the same duration. But we have been very different in our own ways. Though we had different temperaments yet we went along very well. In other words, I feel that we complimented each other too well. I also feel that we will always remember this part of our lives like Rizal, Razi and I, do remember our days at AMU.

So, Here is a wish for Kashif that he may live life happily, accomplishing all the goals and passing all the milestones, successfully. And…a tribute to our friendship – “Salamat rahe dostana hamara...”

"In making others happy" ...A story on Life.....

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs,their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely
lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail,the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it. In his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days and weeks passed...

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside.He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could
not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

Epilogue:

"There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations"

"Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled"

"If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can't buy"


"Today is a gift, that's why it is called the present."

Regards,
Riz.

To “My Mom & Dad”

Today is my Mom-Dad’s wedding anniversary. It has been 31 years since they started walking together on the topsy-turvy primrose path. I sometimes think about the feelings people might have about their spouses after being together for 20, 30 or 50 years.

The kind of understanding I share with some of my friends as old as ten years is amazing in itself even though I didn’t spend all these ten years with them. I wonder what we would be like...after this kind of togetherness with our spouses. May God keep us alive and together to experience it ourselves. I believe nobody can understand this until he experiences it, that is, how is it to be with a person for this long time. It also takes me to another thought, like, my Dad has been working with the the same organization for last 25-30 years. Doesn’t he get bored of the monotony, the predictability, and a sense of deja vu?

On second thoughts, I also question our generation. Are we mad and obsessed with change? We don’t want to stay in the same job for more than 2 –3 years. We want to get rid of our vehicles so soon and we want to changes our houses, locality or even cities like our clothes. I know it’s good to change and "Change" is what should always happen to life to keep it going but... Should it be so frequent and so generic that it be applied to all aspects of life?

Unwillingness to change is bad but unwilling to sustain in an environment for sometime is bad too. Isn't it???

Feeling Lonely?

When a man sets some goals and sets off to pursue them, he is alone. He doesn't like it so he calls some other men to accompany him. For some distinct reasons, none can accompany him, so he is left alone. Desolate and lonely, yet with a fire to Go and a desire to Succeed, he starts off. He hasn't reached far when he hears somebody yelling, "Hey, I am coming with you until our paths don't divert and separate us". Well, what would the man say? He happily agrees, for, they are just a few steps that matter.

(We all are here to walk those few steps for us and then we might cease to be, but Life never ceases. It goes on and will go on until, the Creator, decides otherwise. We must try to walk those two steps of our few steps with someone who wants us or whom we want. We can always take our own path on the crossroad where we take our separate paths to our individual goals.)

While the two were on the way, they were happy but felt there could be more. So, they called up more people to join in. They heard someone saying, "I am already on my way and will join you guys at milestone 'A'. Now there is hope for these guys. Hope to meet this person at milestone 'A' and they have got a short-term goal to reach milestone 'A'.

This is what Life is made of...Short and Long-term goals, Starting-off alone with hope of meeting more people, Going on even when u r alone, with hope...We must never be afraid of starting it, all alone, as looking at your desire to reach your goals, more people would want to join u. I believe, positive attitude attracts. Let's have it.

What do u say? Helloooo!!!! Anybody there? Am I all alone? So what, I hope they would soon join me...

These posts and how it all started........

Ladies & Gentlemen, and dear friends, Good Evening to
you All....(yes, its evening here in Doha, and the time here is 20:29PM, which is GMT+3).
It all started a few days back, when Qais had yet another of his wake up calls , and this time, to start a
blog on the public domain , his latest interest being in writing , which is quite understandable, since he's a quite capable technical writing expert by now...
And cheerfully as ever, i did agree to join him on his discussions, and thats all i did do about that, hoping that he would be quite happily dozing off somewhere, in a nice and cosy place..However, while checking my mails as usual, today evening , i saw a post from qais, that only mentioned about a link to one of his posts here....
Unfortuantely for me, i found out soon that i was the subject of a post on this public domain !!....
Hmm... yet another one of those tricks from the Shahid Hussain school of thought.....So well, thats how this post has ended up...
Qais and I , we are old pals from the AMU , where we were class mates at +2.And it was almost 2 years ago that we met again ,in hyderabad , where i had enrolled for some
technical training programmes in some favourite subjects of mine ( Systems Administration & Networking). We had some nice times there , and in the company of some wonderful guys like Kashif , and his friends there, at 10-5-18A,Masab Tank.
And among other things, we had quite a lot of friendly discussions and talks on a variety of things, some of them being mentioned here, like the Campus Life at AMU,
The 2 schools of thought mentioned here, about The Differing Colours and myriad hues of Life, The experiences it brings along,...etc etc...
I hope this introduction helps, even at the risk of having had to write up such a long intro, and having
to slightly bore my good natured buddies here.
But as Qais says,
"The debates and discussions still go on.So Who says the emails should be kept short ??? "

Cheers...
Riz
(15-June-2004)

Shahid Husain School of Thought !!!

Before talking about this school of thought, let me tell you something about this great personality. Mr Shahid Husain comes from a very noble family of Hyderabad and something that he holds in great dignity is the fact that he worked for the last crown prince of the legendary Nizams, Prince Mukarram jah Bahadur. He had the “Power of Attorney” to act on behalf of the prince in his absence and he was much more than just being a Personal Assistant to the prince. He also claims to have had the keys of the majestic Falaqnuma Palace at Hyderabad. Presently, he holds many important posts in various Non-Profit Organizations including the post of Vice-President, Aligarh Club (AMU Alumni Association).

By now, I hope you must have figured out what all he might have seen. Yes, he has experienced great power in his hands and which is very intoxicating in its own way. He loves to give commands and anybody would take it from him, with the kind of personality he is. Tall built, polite manners, a high taste of life, command over English and Urdu languages, passion for cars, horses, books, pens and cigarette lighters and a voice that could be very gentle and at times, could go on to become a thunder. This is what describes him very briefly. Besides, he is very good extemporary speaker. Usually, he talks using very crisp language but when in a jolly mood, you would find him citing anecdotes from his life, quoting great, renowned poets and garnishing it all with matchless humour. He is too fond of using idioms and analogies in his conversation. To sum up, he never lets his listeners get bored. Rather, he keeps them busy thinking, engaged and mesmerized.

If my description of Mr. Shahid Husain helps you get his picture, then I guess you have already arrived at the "Shahid Husain School of Thought". You are most welcome here.
And...Ifff...You haven’t and are still thinking...then, Bon Voyage!!!...because I am still not as articulate as Mr. Shahid Husain.

Who the Hell iz Riz ?

Two years back, when Riz was leaving India, I was thinking about the nice times we had during his 2-month stay at Hyderabad. He came here to pursue his MCSE and Networking courses err...Actually...he came to have some good time with me, reminiscing the good old past on pretext of training and blah blah blah. We really had a gala time. I used to rush back from Office to a nondescript hostel room where Riz stayed. We went around the streets of Hyderabad, sat by the side of Husain Sagar, watched movies, had Irani chai at most of the Café and tried biryani at most of the popular joints. While doing all these things, we were always in touch with our glorious past stay at AMU.

When Riz was leaving, I was getting the feeling that a chapter has been closed and now we won’t have our never-ending discussions until we meet next. And when would that “next” be? Would it really “be”? This maverick called Riz answered all my queer queries, one by one, over these two years.

When we were parting, we promised to mail each other but I felt that like all other friends or relatives, we would get busy in our lives, slowly. Emails would become smaller and soon we won’t have anything to tell or discuss but I am now forced to abandon these views. All this is because of our exceptionally long emails whenever we get engaged in an email discussion. We think for hours or a day or two and then write emails that would fill mills of pages. The debates and discussions still go on. Who says the emails should be kept short ???

Tariq Sultan School of Thought !!!

Mr Tariq Sultan, a retired IFS Officer happens to be an alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University. He loves to stay calm and his way of explaining things and debating on various topics is very subtle. He always adopts a very practical and pragmatic approach. He uses simple words to express himself, clearly.

Once, Riz and I, were in Aligarh Club (The AMU Alumni Club) along with the great personalities like Mr. Shahid Husain and Mr. Tariq Sultan. We had many discussions and they shared many anecdotes from their lives. All this while, Riz got the time to analyse them. Thus, were invented the "Styles of Thoughts".

I won't divulge about "Shahid Husain School of thought" at this moment because it requires more time. I want to give it more attention as I am the one to identify with him, the most.

An E-mail from Comrade

Monday mornings are usually dull n murky but sometimes they could become as good as what I had today. Guess what ??? I got an email from my good old buddy - Rizal, for short, Riz. Riz and I, share a very contagious habit of sharing ideas, analysing each other and ruthlessly yet mercifully attacking each other with words. Ruthless in the content and Merciful in language. Did u get it why is it both ruthless and merciful at the same time?

I felt overjoyed to know I was successful in getting him out of his slumber chamber but was soon bogged down by subtle, patient, simple, cool, calm and imaginative "Tariq Sultan way of thought" as opposed to tricky and puzzling "Shahid Husain school of Thought" of mine.

Well to know more about these schools of thoughts, keep coming to my BLOG...the Ingredients of Life !!!

Life at AMU

Life at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus used to be great fun and of late , it has become one of my choicest memory lane.

The campus, with lots of greenery and old n new buildings, is a confluence of architecture and natural beauty. The beauty of AMU campus lies in the peace and pace. Talking about the pace, it is such that no one would be left behind. You can always catch on...no matter where you've been...

Sipping tea at the dhabas( Roadside Cafe) was a compulsory act before and after every important or unimportant activity. People riding bicycles and cycle-rickshaws seemed to be in a little (just a Little) hurry. Looking at this, the pace would automatically be set to RELAX mode.

Local people working in Delhi used to come back on weekends and found the place very soothing but the students or people living around the campus would try to rush back to Aligarh whenever they visited Delhi for any work...

The evenings used to be calm. Slowly, the energy level of resident students would rise up. By that time, it would be around 7 pm. Obviously, the evenings would continue as long as 1 am or 2am.

Life Inspires...

Life is full of different hues and shades. In a way, life itself inspires me to live by showing its colours. Sometimes bright, sometimes not so bright and at times, the dark ones...

It inspires me by showing people much powerful, higher, stronger than me and it makes me patient and thankful when it shows stark realities like hunger, impoverishment, illness, disability and loneliness.

Therefore, I believe, Life Inspires ...