
Home is where the mango is
We have been in America for the past six years in a lovely small town (they call them City, in America) called West Springfield, South of Boston. T...
See with your heart blog

We have been in America for the past six years in a lovely small town (they call them City, in America) called West Springfield, South of Boston. T...

We spent two nights at the Karnataka Jungle Lodges & Resorts, Blackbuck Resort in Bidar. Lovely cottages, set in natural forest, on the bank of...

"Tyger Tyger, burning bright, / In the forests of the night" is the opening couplet of the famous 1794 poem "The Tyger" by English poet William Bla...

My father said that he thanked the examiner and told me that it was the most valuable lesson that he had ever learned. “Your first task is to comfort the patient so that he feels he has been understood.”

We must talk about these things. I am not under any illusion that we can turn the clock back much as some of us may wish. But we need to talk about what can be done to slow down the race towards total breakdown of family and society. It is almost over here in the West. But in India and Africa, there is still a chance. If we want to give it that chance.

That morning, I was sitting on the steps leading up to the front door, lost in my grief that I would never see Aunty Mohini ever again, when someone came up behind me and said, ‘Yawar, I think I know what Mohini meant to you. Will you allow me to take her place?’ I looked up to see Ronnie. I deeply appreciated that she understood my grief and so I smiled. That friendship grew and lasted for nearly 50 years.

By a future that looks dark, promising a dawn very bright, By our values, our compassion, our courage, by Islam, By those who lift us when we fall and fight for us when we can’t, By knowing You, loving You, thanking You and worshipping only You, We know You O! Allahﷻ by Your Bounties, uncounted.

The Hope Forum is a place that the injured from Twitter, Facebook and other social media can come, to detox and cure themselves from the negativity of the world. There’s much good happening in the world that gets no lift. Bad news sells. So we’ll give each other good news for free. And you’ll be automatically chucked out if you post anything negative. The rule for this forum will be that only productive and positive things can be shared. Nothing negative. No criticism of anyone or anything. No praising yourself. Praise others and let others praise you. No pontificating, no proselytizing. No promoting of any particular religion, ideology, politics, shop, product, service or yourself. Only appreciating what others are doing. Let others speak about your work while you do it quietly and sincerely because you believe in it and in yourself. The Hope Forum is something that seeks to change the whole culture of social networking which is simply another name for self-promotion and one-upmanship. We have nothing against any religion, ideology, politics, shop, product, service or you. Just that if you want to promote any of this go somewhere else. This is not the place for it.

Ideology defines the goal and the path that leads to it. Skill is necessary to do what it takes to reach the goal. Leaders must always keep the purpose in mind and not allow their ego, personal likes and dislikes, affiliations, or anything else to get in the way of choosing the right people. Nobody can succeed on their own. Right people are critical to success. No matter how talented, skilled, or learned the leader may be, without competent supporters he will fail. Let’s ask how we hire, especially if the person who is fit for the position is someone, we may have a difference of opinion with or don’t really like very much. The ability to work with diverse people and be able to relate to them depending on the situation defines successful leadership. Please see my book, “Hiring Winners”.

If you think success is difficult, try failure. To accept mediocrity is to accept failure at the start. Mediocrity ensures that your failure is permanent. That drug is called ‘compromise.’ I know that there are more mediocre people in the world than those who achieve excellence. But ask yourself who you would rather be – who would you like to emulate?

Finally, please remember that if we, especially the wealthy among us, don’t change our ways, then we will invite the Adhaab of Allahﷻ. It is in this connection that Allahﷻ warned us and told us that we are the architects of our own destruction.

Contrary to ignorantly romantic notions, fasting in Ramadan is not prescribed to teach the wealthy what it means to be poor. Poverty is about insecurity, lack of choice, lack of dignity, compulsion, fear and despair. Poverty is about living on the edge without any safety net. It is not about present hardship but of looking ahead at a life of unending and ever increasing deprivation. Anyone who thinks that he can know what poverty is by merely bringing breakfast forward and postponing lunch with a fridge full of goodies and special foods to break your fast with, is delusional. You will never know what it is to be poor until you are poor yourself. Ramadan is a month which Allahﷻ sends as a boot camp to reset our lifestyles to a way that leads to success in this world and the next. This is the beauty of Islam. Islam doesn’t demand renunciation of this life in order to attain success in the Hereafter. Islam shows us a way of life that guarantees us popularity, influence, love, harmony, peace and prosperity in this life and Jannah (Heaven) in the Aakhira (Hereafter). The key to that is the concept of Taqwa.