http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/543321 Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:14:00 EST http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/543321 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/543309 My mother's first cousin, who is as old as me, from the nda, was posted in kashmir. All he could say was that the people in Kashmir don't co-operate with the army, and are never ever truthful. That its impossible to get a straight answer from them.
What exactly does the average kashmiri want ? I can't it figure out.
And why does pakistan want Kashmir ? Why should Kashmir be a part of Pakistan ?
This issue is being given a whole islamic twist to it, so terrorists are using it as a reason for their attacks.
The following words are attributed to Aurangzeb, the much maligned Mughal king who practiced puritanical islam , but who was nevertheless a very just ruler :
"Three peoples will always trouble India.
The first sindh,
the second the gujratis
and third, bazaat-e-kashmir"
]]> Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:01:00 EST http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/543309 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/513179 taken over by the government. Its an eye wash and a great lie by our government that the displaced people will be rehabilitated. There never has been any rehabilitation. Can you replace the crops growing , their land, their homes. Farmers are best at farming, why take away their livelihood, their lives . Why is it always people who are powerless, who do not have a voice who are oppressed ? Maybe they should demolish some houses and buildings in cities and build SEZs there (or are they afraid of the backlash). Or better yet, demolish homes of prospective SEZ businesses, and build SEZs in that land.
And they wonder why there is support for Naxalites.]]> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:09:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/513179 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/505701 It feels like I am waking up to an alternate reality, one which I wasn't aware of earlier. The smaller the city or town, the deeper the trench, the more profound the divide. It wasn't that I was completely unaware of it. But seeing it played out so visibly in front of your eyes is very disturbing. As a child, my parents had never asked us to differentiate between Muslims and other religions. They were just people, good or bad. But in primary school, in Bidar, there was a stark divide between children, Muslims, who were told by their parents to not mingle with others and vice versa with the Hindu children. Not accustomed to this, my brother, sister and I were surprised and told our respective classmates to join together. After that everyone started playing together.
I feel its parents who feed discrimination and division into minds that do not have fixed ideas yet. Even in later years, there were always a few students who didn't mingle with other religions. But in the face of friendship, all barriers fell. Living in larger cities, and among mixed populations, access to affluence, all of these break barriers. Unfortunately, the current trend seems to be "ghettoisation" of communities. Muslims don't get homes for rent if the owners are Hindu, there are housing societies or apartment blocks that have only Muslim resident, there seems to be some effort to instill fear into peoples' minds that living among your own communities or ethnic groups would ensure complete safety. In smaller towns there are alsosevere caste related differences. Maybe this was an idea perpetuated by the British that Muslims are only a rung higher than Dalits, (I haven't researched it, but I do remember reading about it in Mulk Raj Anand's novel), but this is what is practiced in reality. In effect, there is so much of fragmentation everywhere. Little islands of the same ethnic groups huddled together in anticipation of an attack that may never come.
I don't like to live in a wholly Muslim area. It is stifling. There is more diversity and scope for growth when you aren't forever worrying about what your community in the same neighbourhood might say. Because of the recent spate of bomb attacks lamed on terrorists who happen to be Muslim, there is an increasing pressure on the Muslim community in India, and maybe worldwide too. People take two directions in reaction - they either become fiercely anti-Hindu, become zealots, and go to the extent of communicating, and mingling only with the Muslim community; the other direction that many take is to wear a garb of pseudo-modernism. Where you dissociate with anything to do with Islam, or being Muslim, or practicing Islam. All this negative media on Islam is making many Muslims distance themselves from Islam. I feel one does not have to stop practicing Islam in order to be seen as a law-abiding citizen, or to be seen as progressive, tolerant and most importantly, a good neighbour and helpful citizen to others.
Two years ago, a Canadian had asked me if I lived in a Muslim area or a non-Muslim area in India. To me it was absurd that anyone could think there were specially designated areas for people of a certain religion. I said, 'of course not', but the more I see it, the more reality strikes me, and hard.
All my life I have had friends from different religions, from different sections in my own religion, and these weren't differences that we were aware of. You would think education, migration, "melting-pot" scenarios would solve everything. Well, not in India. Whatever happened to diversity in plurality.]]> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:09:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/505701 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/483263 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:33:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/483263 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/483259 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:27:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/483259 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/483253 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:19:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/483253 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/483247 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:12:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/483247 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/483245 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:07:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/483245 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/482089 I feel each city should have an army or a contingent of pigs housed in a large beautiful park with lots of ponds full of clean water, and give them all the waste that they consume. The rest can be composted. That way we'll have cleaner towns. Well, maybe. But I'm a fan, and I thought "Babe" was the only pig who looked cute, but these dark grey Indian pigs are equally cute. ]]> Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:46:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/482089 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/427169 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:58:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/427169 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/398819 Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:53:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/398819 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/383715 Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:32:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/383715 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/367629 Politics seems like a lot of murky business to me.]]> Wed, 07 May 2008 14:17:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/367629 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/367621 his mind: To be able to run faster than the fastest lion. If he cannot,
then he will be eaten.
Every morning in Africa a lion awakens. He has only one thought on his
mind: To be able to run faster than the slowest gazelle. If he cannot,
he will die of hunger.
Whether you choose to be a gazelle or a lion is of no consequence. It is
enough to know that with the rising of the sun, you must run. And you
must run faster than you did yesterday or you will die.
This is the race of life."
- African Proverb
]]> Wed, 07 May 2008 14:16:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/367621 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/351667 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:47:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/351667 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/351657 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:38:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/351657 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/351655 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:33:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/351655 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/351653 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:24:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/351653 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/340595 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:32:00 EST http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/340595 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/333363 Mon, 11 Feb 2008 01:09:00 EST http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/333363 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/199449

i’m is a new initiative from Windows Live™ Messenger that shares a portion of the program's advertising revenue with some of the world's most effective social cause organizations. Learn more


It's simple to join the i’m™ initiative if you already have version 8.1 of Windows Live Messenger. From the top of your Windows Live Messenger window, click the arrow next to your name and select "Options".

Next to your name, type one of the following codes, including the asterisk, for the cause you'd like to support.

Text Code Cause
*red+u American Red Cross
*bgca Boys Girls Clubs of America
*naf National AIDS Fund
*mssoc National Multiple Sclerosis Society
*9mil ninemillion.org
*sierra Sierra Club
*help StopGlobalWarming.org
*komen Susan G. Komen for the Cure
*unicef The US fund for UNICEF

Click "OK" to complete the sign-up process.
]]> Mon, 07 May 2007 00:50:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/199449 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/192927

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam .. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk . You were shot down!"

"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.

"I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor." Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. He also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory -- he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachutes.

I am sending you this as my way of thanking you for your part in packing my parachute . And I hope you will send it on to those who have helped pack yours!

Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to us without writing a word. Maybe this could explain it: When you are very busy, but still want to keep in touch, guess what you do -- you forward jokes. And to let you know that you are still remembered, you are still important, you are still loved, you are still cared for, guess what you get? A forwarded joke.

So my friend, next time when you get a joke, don't think that you've been sent just another forwarded joke, but that you've been thought of today and your friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a smile, just helping you pack your parachute.......

Have a great day.....
]]> Sun, 29 Apr 2007 00:30:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/192927 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/182697 We moved to this city a year ago, and the contrast in, let's say , "micro-ecology" is shocking. In Bangalore [okk, I admit, that's where I lived previously], there was this sudden spurt of rapid urbanization which I believe has wiped out many insect populations. There were so many apartments/complexes built , all a the cost of the local flora around. And now, here I see that mindless urbanization hasn't yet overtaken the city. Its pure delight to observe beetles and ladybugs and shiny coloured spiders and red and black, magenta and sea green, brown and yellow coloured patterned insects, -- many of which I've seen only in my childhood.
So I see , right in front of my eyes, the effect of depleting green areas can have on nature. We may not realize it, but you start missing it. After living for a few years in an environment so clinical, devoid of the sound of birds, the buzzing of insects , the sudden appearance of beetles, or even the neighbourhood cat peering through the windows, I felt I came back to where I really belonged. To the earth. Its scary when you stop hearing the songs of the birds, and you look everywhere and you cannot hear them, cannot find them, because you cannot find the trees.
I am glad I am here, but how soon until my little paradise replete with crazy bettles and toads sheltering under crocus leaves disappear?
]]> Sun, 15 Apr 2007 11:30:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/182697 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8 http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/182695 I love the series on BBC. I don't think I could have obtained such an indepth perspectve on global warming through any other medium or tv show.]]> Sun, 15 Apr 2007 11:26:00 EDT http://sidsayed.tigblog.org/post/182695 14.5166667 75.814.516666775.8