Happy Holidays

First of all I'd like to thank all the visitors to my site for the comments and encouragement they have been kind to give. In a little over 1 year of blogging I have come across some amazing people from whom I have gained a lot. Lately I have not been feeling like writing anything, I don't know if its the weather or something else. I am a bit confused these days with everything going on in my life. Also lately I have been mighty busy with my work and some other important things in my life. I will be busy throught the next few weeks as my work does not let me breathe these winter days of Dubai. I will probably continue to blog after a while, I may put up some old stuff if I get time.

For those of you traveling this holiday season I wish you a safe journey. A very happy new year and a happy Eid to all the fellow bloggers. Take care and happy holidays.

Dreams

“The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened."

Life

In all his being he’ll fail to trace,

a single sign of a saving grace.
Blinkered eyes and a wrinkled face,
his trophies from this lifelong race !

New Blog: Global Themes

Global Themes is finally launching its Photo Blog!

Contributors from all over the world, Dubai, Tel Aviv, Stockholm, Boston, Abu Dhabi and more, will post pictures on a weekly theme. This week's theme is Water.

This is a chance to see the world and different issues from diverse perspectives while global music plays in the background like "The Gypsy Girl" by Nikos Kypourgos.

Join us over at Global Themes!

Blogger Beta Woes

Blogger Beta is giving me headaches. For some reason I can not log into my old blogger account when I want to leave comments on blogs that have switched to blogger beta. Lets see if the problem gets solved soon. I am not going to switch to blogger beta untill all these issues are ironed out.

Success and Happiness

"Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others."
HH The Dalai Lama.

What is the measure of our happiness? in today's fast paced world we try and work hard, make money, achieve success in our workplace for what? because we think that it would make us happy, but does it ? I dont think so. Every time we keep looking for more. I think we should measure our happiness with what really makes us happy. The quality time we spend with friends, family and loved ones. Knowing that there are people who genuinely care about us. These things should matter more than money and work. These things bring more happiness than anything else. Sharing a moment of joy with a loved one is priceless and can not be bought. Hearing some good news about someone you care about makes your so happy sometimes that nothing else could compare with that.

I miss the times when people used to really know and care about people around them, when you knew who your neighbors were, when you were there for each other. Life was so much more personal and so much happier. Now we hardly know people and we hardly care.

What do you see

Random Rant

Everyone has priorities in their life the question is when a situation changes how is it that the things that were so important to you change too. I mean one day we sit and dream about a certain thing that we want and the next day something totally different comes into the spectrum and we no longer bother with our first priority. Our entire life takes a U-Turn and we now want something entirely different then we had ever imagined or planned. We as human beings constantly want and need, these wants and needs constantly change how we think and plan our days, our life. We will change our whole lifestyle, our perception of things our efforts for something we believe in, what makes us do things that a year back we never imagined we would do. But sometimes our priorities are too improtant for anything else to get in the way, sometimes our priorities stick till the end and that is when dreams come true. I guess thats why they are our priorities.

Did that make any sense?

16 Day Campaign

" Women! Mighty Goddess of mans dreams and all that he admires!
Why did you consent to become a mere whim to his desires?
The Almighty decreed you a bearer and nourisher of life,
Why did you from your natural role so willingly retire?"

I had written some days back about the 16 days of activism against gender violence, and when I had written that post I had thought I would write a post a day on a related topic. But the fact of the matter is we think a lot and seldom act on what we think. I got busy with my life and did'nt bother to write a single post on a subject I feel about. Today after being absent from my blog for the past 5 days I looked up my stats and saw some one had ended up on my blog by searching for "How do Pakistani men treat their wives?". That got me thinking about the 16 day campaign and I figured I should write something about that.

Gender violence is not a religious or a geographic issue, its a global issue spanning all cultures and religions. From times long ago women have been reffered to as the "weaker sex". Even today, women are harrased at the workplace and beaten at home by their husbands, boyfriends, partners, siblings and parents. Abused physically, mentally and sexually by men close to them. This has got to stop but it won't untill we do something about it. Women should fight for their rights, they should not quitely take anything that comes their way.

Men on the other hand are usually the ones who use their physical strength to abuse the women around them. These men need to be stoped. And men should take steps to change the situation.

This should start by:

1. Mentoring and teaching young boys about how to be men in ways that don't involve degrading or abusing girls and women. Volunteer to work with gender violence prevention programs, including anti-sexist men's programs.
2. Men should approach gender violence as a MEN'S issue involving men of all ages and socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds. View men not only as perpetrators or possible offenders, but as empowered bystanders who can confront abusive peers.
3. If a brother, friend, classmate, or teammate is abusing his female partner -- or is disrespectful or abusive to girls and women in general -- don't look the other way. If you feel comfortable doing so, try to talk to him about it. Urge him to seek help. Or if you don't know what to do, consult a friend, a parent, a professor, or a counselor. DON'T REMAIN SILENT.
4. If you suspect that a woman close to you is being abused or has been sexually assaulted, gently ask if you can help.

This situation needs to be tackled and men and women all over the world need to work together to make amends.

I care. Do you ?

World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the global AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 3.1 million (between 2.8 and 3.6 million) lives in 2005 of which, more than half a million (570,000) were children.

The concept of a World AIDS Day originated at the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. Since then, it has been taken up by governments, international organizations and charities around the world.

World Aids Day

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