Oh my God !!! ......... GOD???

'Does God really exist? Is my prayer every morning justified? Am I being foolish in imparting all the mysterious things that have happened in my life to God?' These are some of the thoughts that started bombarding my mind while I was reading an article about atheism in Quora. I desperately wanted to find an answer. So, I started thinking ......'Is he there?'

Though it is not the first time that I have fathomed this question, this time I have felt really helpless in order to convince myself of His existence. This is because deep down I know that there is some magnificent force maintaining the universe. But I want to reaffirm it like I have never done before - by writing down my thought process. Since the time I have started reasoning out the things around me, I have been reinforcing my mind with the concept of God by recounting to myself the extraordinary things that happened to me but cannot be attributed to my actions alone. Even as a child I used to tell myself that God is great, and whatever happens, happens only because of him. I never really looked back once I had formed this mindset. Whenever I am in doubt I used to fall back to the same logic that when you cannot explain what happened to you in terms of your actions then you have no choice but to believe in the action of some unknown force, which is God. It is only now that I have started to question this  and I hope that I reach a solid conclusion at the end of this. So, I want to put forth my basic understanding of life here and from that understanding I would like to know if I can find an answer to this perennial question.

I believe that our life consists of two types of things, in other words, everything in our life falls into either of these two categories: one, things that are in our control and two, things that are not in our control. The first category contains things that are as simple as being able to slap yourself(provided you have a hand and a cheek) and as difficult as slapping your professor in front of the entire class. The second category contains more important things like your parentage (you don't have the privilege to choose them) and your human form (once you are born human you have to stay human till you die, you cannot become a cat or a rat no matter how strongly you desire). There is nothing special with the first set but the second set may give some insight into our dilemma. Now, the things that are not in our control are usually defined by the word 'luck'. If things work in your favour then you are lucky or else unlucky. No matter how logical and analytical one is, one cannot deny the role of luck in success or failure. There are times when we don't work enough but get astounding results and there are also times when we work our hearts out but still achieve mediocre outcomes. Luck accounts for such difference. It is one of the most enigmatic and cruelest of concepts in life. What if, Luck=God? The next question would be 'if Luck is God then what is Bad Luck? Is it bad God?' I am not a believer of Satan (bad-God) because I believe that if God is present, he has to be omnipresent. At any given moment or place, there can be either good or bad but not both. Since God, if at all there, has to be everywhere, I have ruled out the possibility of  Satan. So, 'bad luck' has to be something else.

After some thought, I have found that the answer lies in the adage 'everything happens for good'. I feel that 'bad luck' is God's way of saying 'I have better things in store for you' or 'Your are still not prepared to handle it'. We think of it as 'bad' because it goes against our 'the then-state' of aspiration. But once you get past it and look back at it you realise the beauty and necessity of it. This is the magic of life, a stupendous creation of God.

 Yeah! Got the answer ...... err ......  God the answer !!!

God bless all of us ........:)

Always truly yours,

Ghouse.

Bustling Bangalore .....

I am from Kakinada, a peaceful semi-urban and semi-rural coexistence that is often publicized as a city but actually suits the definition of a town better. So, my first reaction to the idea of living in Bangalore was that of fear due to my preconceptions about the life in a metropolis. Although I had lived in Hyderabad for four years at BITS Pilani doing my undergrad degree, that experience wouldn't count much because I had seldom ventured out of campus to explore the city. I used to think that people in cities didn't care about one another and treated strangers with disdain. For this reason, I was averse to living in Bangalore - the Silicon Valley of India. But my fears were allayed when I got to know that my friends would also be staying with me as all of us were allotted Bangalore as our Practice school station, which is the name given to the place where Bitsians (that's what we call ourselves) do their internship for 6 months. Thus, I left my hometown with just uncertainty and not fear.

I intruded Bangalore on the fourth of January, 2013. My first impression of Bangalore exactly matched my presupposition. There was heavy traffic even in odd hours. People lived in their own cocoons and did not let the external world disturb them by blocking their visual and auditory senses with smart phones and ear phones respectively. Every day I used to spend at least ninety minutes in the bus travelling. I used that time not to listen to songs like some of my friends did but to observe the people on the bus. My observation turned out to be both a revelation and realization. The realization was that most of my presumptions were actually misconceptions. I realized that I was too naive to prejudge things.

Now coming to the revelation, I have found that the core values of the people remain more or less same no matter which city you consider. The basic moral urges like pity, empathy and sympathy have always been there in the hearts of people. Apathy, which one can make out from the actions done or not done by the city dwellers, is largely because of the severe constraints they are faced with each day. They have so little time and so many things to do. You can see it in their eyes how concerned they feel when they come across someone in a bad situation. Just when they are about to lend a helping hand they are reminded of their time-impediment by either the mobile phone or the wristwatch on their hands. These are common people we are talking about. But there are others who always manage to find time from somewhere or the other despite being as busy as their peers. They are champions in their own right who go the extra-mile to help others, and it is people like them that today's Bustling Bangalore desperately needs.

I salute to all such Samaritans and henceforth going to be one among them.

I'm back to this after a long time. I don't want to explain my inability to continue writing stuff in here as frequently as I would have liked. But, as they say, better late than never and better now than ever. Well, at the outset I want to brief my present condition. I have completed my Engineering Graduation from BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus. I am currently working as an Associate Software Developer at Sabre Holdings, Bangalore. I am staying with four of my friends in a 2 BHK at Kundanahalli Gate, Bangalore.

Life has been extraordinary in parts till now. All happiness has been brief periods of joy and bliss. This stage of the journey is going to be pretty crucial and life deciding. I have always believed that destiny is something that is to be realized deliberately not something that is to be waited for. I have already decided my destiny and it is up to Him to help me in this endeavor. I am aware that I may have to handle some situations along this journey. The only sad aspect is that I am still unable to thoroughly enjoy the situations I encounter everyday. I want to stay calm and cool while it happens, but sometimes I get carried away by emotions. I definitely want to change that.

What else .... People are awesome. They make a great time pass. They respire, transpire, inspire, perspire, irk, go beserk, make a mark, eat a shark, bake a cake, drink a shake, read, write, calculate, find a mate, pamper, lose temper, change diaper, prosper, laugh, cry, try, care, share, bear, marry, feel sorry, grow, stagnate, procastinate, hesitate, create, recreate, retreat, establish, relinquish, gain, inflict pain, bemoan, trust, deceive, receive, give, take, look, see, observe, hear, listen, taste, relish, speak, shout, talk, touch, feel, love, die, experience......Yeah! ..... Experience .... it is ! .... That is why they are here.

Come, fall in love with Life once and I bet you won't have time to complain...........

lovingly yours,
forever always,
ghouse.

I have come across the complete story of Malala Yousafzai today. (I have read numerous articles about her and have watched her video-interviews today). To just say that it was inspiring would amount to belittling the impact she had on my mind. She kind of altered my perception of Pakistan completely. I started to develop a  soft corner for Pakistanis - especially for the plight of the girls there - thanks to Malala. Her passion for education, her love and concern for her fellow girl students, her audacity amid adversity, her patriotism towards her motherland, her vision to become a politician, her confidence and faith in herself, her profound understanding of the religion and her innocent-looking cute face make her truly unique. The conviction with which she spoke in those interviews amazed me. The Talibans, who shot her in the head, they can't even be compared to animals, they are Satan's army not Allah's. They are not in the least eligible to even utter the name of Allah.  Allah will never forgive them. The fact that they are doing all this in the name of Allah makes this holocaust even more sinful. Violence inflicted on the innocent and the righteous can never be justified. I pray to the Almighty-my Allah to bless Malala with quick recovery and protect her from all sorts of evil. I heart-fully pray to Allah that she returns to Pakistan as quickly as possible and continue to imbue the minds of girl students there with hope - a hope that one day under the leadership of this wonderful, thoughtful and zestful girl all the Pakistani-girls can go to school, unleash their potential and achieve their dreams.......... insha Allah!

I have learned a very important lesson today: There are a lot of things in this world waiting for us to be explored. Whenever we find some spare time in our daily schedule, instead of passing the time uselessly by watching movies and doing other aimless stuff, if we read and learn new things then we get more pleasure and satisfaction. Till today I was under the wrong impression that one should have interest to read something during free time but I realized that the best thing to do is to start reading even if you don't have the motivation to do so, because once you start reading something new you tend to develop interest in it and in the process you learn a lot. Reading is the best way to know new things and to upgrade ourselves continuously. Knowledge is power indeed and reading is the method of acquiring it. I want to make a habit of 'reading during spare time'. I write this article as a souvenir to my commitment.

language is the best thing our ancestors gave us.......
reading is the best thing we can give to ourselves.............
writing is the best thing we can give to our posterity................  

The urge to write has always been there. But till today I have kept most of  my writings to myself barring a few articles that got published in my college magazine and some essay writing competitions I participated in. From now on I am going to continue with my writing as always but I am not going to keep it just to myself. I will maintain this blog and flood it with all my opinions. I will express my honest views and feelings on almost all aspects which I will come across. I hope I feel proud of this blog when I look back at it sometime in the future. 

             Many sweet memories on the way............

                                                                        with unbridled enthusiasm and intense passion I start.......