Peace in a break... OR Break into pieces?

So how do you know if you have all that it takes to be a companion to someone? I mean not for someone in particular but in general. What if you realise that you are a misfit for the concept? Do you embrace the realisation or fight it?

What if you think you are a decent human being and have many friends to endorse it but no one really special to call your own? What if you are open to accepting people for who they are and let life take its course but others you meet in this context aren't? Will you still keep going single handedly to make it work or let it go on the premise that if it was meant to be, then it would have started kicking?
How long can you keep telling yourself that the its not time yet, and when the time comes you will indeed meet that one person meant for you? What if all this is a farce and there is no such thing as "one meant for you" ?

What if you find yourself toying with the idea of putting a stop to this companion quest and just let it be? Should this bring peace or scare you even more?

What if you think you have found the things you are looking for in principle like compassion, intelligence, being grounded yet fail to find that spark? Would you settle for that or would you not?
What if you find all that and the spark but the other person is not on the same page? Would you then try to make your point of why you think its worth exploring, or just let it go on the pretext that if the other person cant really see why it would be a great fit, is it really ever going to be great fit after all?

So I have moved countries - from Egypt to UK. And by the virtue of the fact that I am now here where there are loads of my fellow countrymen, the pressure of finding someone has started to take its toll on me. I guess I was better off in Egypt , at least I didn't expect anything on this front all this while that I was there - something like being in Civil Engg, when you see all other batch mates from other disciplines of Engg sweating it out for interviews etc but you are at peace knowing no company comes to your college for recruiting civil enggs

I think I need a break - but then again, how do you take a break from yourself?

Lets keep the faith alive!

Bomb blasts in a Coptic church in Alexandria - A suicide bomber killed around 23 people and wounded dozens on the fist day of the new year with this bomb blast.

In the light of the above incident there have been many christian - muslim protests on the streets, creating religious tensions between the followers of these two religions in Egypt. Of course all people with a rational mind are condemning this act of terrorism (Christians , Muslims alike). However whenever something like this happens, the emotional tide runs high. And this time is no different. The whole of social media is full of links to religious philosophies (the good), the videos & news pieces about the atrocities on one religion stemming from some other religion and so on. I have heard from my Muslim friends here that some Christian friends of theirs are taking it too way too personally and are sending smses to the effect of "Dont call me ever again"

With this, the endless phenomena of debates on religious differences have surfaced again, sometimes in the form of a heated discussion and sometimes a calm & civil exchange of ideas - whatever be the case, it stays conclusion-less....... and all this only goes to strengthen my staunch belief in- One world, One religion "Humanity"

Recently a dear friend (Muslim but agnostic) was telling us how a fundamentalist muslim friend of his was asking him if he hates the Christian Cross and how my agnostic friend was a bit agitated by this question, was trying to make his fundamentalist friend see the point (made some very good points!). He wrote an article about the incident and shared the same before publishing the same on Facebook (to check if the volatility quotient of the religious content was too high or passable for a media as open as Facebook), with some of his friends from different religions / countries (I believe). There were some very interesting viewpoints in terms of both the content itself and the expression used to convey authors point of view. I wish I could publish the article and the comments by different people here, however I cant for obvious reasons (no permission from the authors of the comments / article).

So I thought of sharing what I can - My point of view.

Copied & pasted from the comment box on the article.

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Dear Friend,

I totally understand the feeling behind your retort. But you know maybe, just maybe we could just smile at the ignorance of these people who ask such questions.

My two cents....

I think "faith" should be a personal thing and should be treated like that. Dont get me wrong, no harm in opening a healthy intelligent conversation - but I feel it would be much easier if we just have some kind of a social rule about not questioning / scrutinising / opening debates on the topic of faith and just let people be.

Sometimes I wonder how people have no problems accepting & following the social rule of not asking / discussing/ commenting on subjects like income/finances (as an example - among many other such things) when talking to someone as its considered rude... however the very same people dont even bat an eyelid while giving unsolicited opinions on the other person's faith / religion.

What is so difficult to understand in the fact that "my faith" can be "what I want it to be", without having an iota of impact on "your faith" on "what you want it to be" - That, existence of differences is not always bad (Had that been the case, variety wouldnt have any positive connotation, now would it?)

In my opinion, GOD was created because the concept of goodness needed a form, a personification for people to easily relate to.So how does it matter if different people choose to manifest this personification in different ways... as long as it enables you to stick to the path of goodness (You could argue that goodness can be a relative term, but if you think about it, is it, is it really?)

All faiths ultimately boil down to having one guiding principle - some call it love, some call it sacrifice, some justice, some truth / knowledge, some tolerance ... and some call it something else. They are all meant to ultimately do the same thing , deliver the same message - guide you to a better living and to teach you to love yourself and everybody around you.

I guess we should just remind ourselves (whenever we tend to get carried away) that all faiths in some way or the other were created/ to cater to the following human needs
1.Create Hope for the good for people to go on in their weakest moments
2.Create Fear of the bad to ensure a harmonious co-existence between billions of people on this earth.

If you really look closely, the above mentioned (Optimism & Compassion) are the 2 fundamental principles of "Humanity" required fior a peaceful , chaos-less living. So does it really matter who you are - a Muslim, Christian , Hindu , Jew etc .. if you are following the principles of "Humanity" in the end , but just with a fancier / different name?

Sometimes i think that we people have just way too much free time on our hands to indulge in the childish "my-religion/faith- shinier- than-yours" debates.

P.S. - Since the last 3 years (since I moved to Egypt) , the number of times I have been asked this question about which religion i belong to.. is not funny! The funny part is that despite the fact that i am from a country which hosts almost all religions present in the world, this question is still new to me... or maybe its just the frequency of the question.
Not that we dont have religious differences/ propagandas in my country , still somehow i dont remember people asking me about my religion. Then again, maybe our names are perfect give aways of our religions... Any which way, I just wish people would stop asking me / anyone this question!!

NO!!

Me to a female qualitative co-ordinator in my office - "When the consumers arrive for their indepth interviews, please inform Mr Ahmed" (my colleague who is supposed to conduct these interviews)

Qual Co-ordinator : "Mr Ahmed? No!"

Me : "Errrr.... ok..."

(Awkward silence)

Me : "Ahhhh u r kidding... ok ok"

(Qual co-ordinates straight face, no smiles. Me thinking - Good sense of humour, but a smile from her side wouldn't have hurt)

(Me back to my seat)

(Desk phone ringing)

Qual co-ordinator on the other line : "Gina, Mr. Ahmed - NO!"

Me : "Whats, whats wrong?...."

Qual Co-coridnator : "Gina I am telling Mr. Ahmed - NO!"

Me : "Ok just inform me and i shall inform him"

Qual co-ordinator : "we will send a mail to him"

Me : (thinking what the hell did Mr Ahmed do to this woman that she doesn't want to speak to him at all, and is expressing the same so vehemently in such an outright manner) "Dear, what seems to be the problem.I understand that you dont want to speak to him , so i am suggesting that you just tell me and i shall tell him. He might not be at his desk so he might not see the mail for some time"

Qual Co-ordinator - "Gina Mr. Ahmed NO... "K N O W"....."

.... yeah English is a tricky language!!

What will you do?

As seen in London Tube....

There’s an NRI in 180 of world’s 183 countries...

Kartikeya | TIMES NEWS NETWORK

This may well be the ultimate ode to the globe-trotting Indian who, for centuries, has been criss-crossing the world in search of opportunity and adventure: Indian citizens are today permanent residents of all but three countries in the world.

The ministry of overseas Indian affairs has registered the presence of non-resident Indians (NRIs) in 180 of the 183 countries of the world. The numbers may vary from just two in Lebanon to almost a million in the US but the fact is that Indians call the whole world their home. It is only in North Korea, Pakistan and Bhutan that not a single NRI is to be found.

NRIs are Indians, who like steel tycoon Laxmi Mittal, proudly hold on to their blue Indian passports while living in another country. They are also different from ordinary Indian citizens who obtain visas and go abroad to work or study for a limited period of time. NRIs remain citizens of India but enjoy the right to live and work permanently in another country of their choice. Indians can now be found in the remotest corners of the earth. Go to the Republic of Palau, a speck of an island in the Pacific Ocean which is one of the world’s youngest sovereign states, and you will find five NRIs there.

NRIs opening global windows of opportunity

Non-resident Indians are to be found here, there and everywhere. Don’t be surprised to find 20 of them living in the mountains of Bolivia or a 375-strong Indian community living in tiny Djibouti on the Horn of Africa.

Historically, Indian communities have had a major presence in several parts of the world. Be it Gujarati merchants who settled in East Africa, Tamil Chettinads who lived in South-East Asia or indentured labourers taken from Bihar to work on plantations in the West Indies, Indians have been migrating to other countries for centuries. During the two World Wars, they fought for the British army and settled down in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. The NRIs were a post-independence addition to this long list of migrants.

But it is also true that, historically, the NRI’s favoured destinations have been First World countries or the Middle East, where employment opportunities abound. But the latest data confirm that in a globalised world NRIs are making opportunities in literally every corner of earth.

The largest number of NRIs are in Saudi Arabia (17 lakh) followed by the United Arab Emirates (14 lakh) and the US (9 million) but what is more fascinating is they can also be found—albeit in minuscule numbers—in Slovenia (10), Montserrat (10), Iceland (21), Bosnia and Herzegovina (30) and Burkina Faso (150).

Experts also point out that, if people of Indian origin (PIOs)—a term for citizens of other countries who have an Indian ancestry—are included, then both Pakistan and Bhutan would also find it difficult to shake off the Indian links to their populations.

Imagine that....

Imagine that ...

An examiner mistakenly (or otherwise) marks a correct answer of yours as incorrect. You point that out after seeing your marked answer sheet however the examiner is not ready to acknowledge that hes wrong. You keep trying for a while ....get some bumps on the way, but keep fighting rising from all that because you believe in the power of truth & optimism.... but after a long drive of sustained & varied efforts, you decide to give up. And when you ultimately do give up, you are engulfed with the sense of defeat & acute helplessness. Yes thats how I feel at this very moment!

Imagine that....

One simple villager takes his two children to the village fare and somehow loses track of the children in the crowd. The older of the two children takes it upon himself to get himself & his little brother to find their way out. The older one does manage to find his way back to his father after a long tiring struggle of cutting through the crowd while protecting the crying child from the very same crowd. The father is happy to find his kids back with him and automatically turns his attention to the crying child.

The other child wants to scream "Dad hug me, I am scared too" however keeps silent. He is scared that his fathers attention will be diverted from the little child who needs it more. He is scared that he would see the same expression of pain that his father had on his face when he saw the younger child scared & in tears. Not knowing what to do other than just deal with his fear himself, he is still waiting for his father to tell him that its ok to be scared sometimes, that he is going to make everything alright, that he has his father standing there for him when he feels all alone. Yes i feel like that child at this moment!

Imagine that....

You are on a trekking trip with a lot of other people with you. You seem to have a better grip on that tough terrain than many of them. People automatically give their hands out for you to catch them when they start stumbling. You catch each one of that.. and keep moving. And then there is this hand that you really like. So you pay special attention to that. So after the first call of your name , even you are not being called for by the person whose hand you really like , you keep checking that he is doing ok on that terrain.

You see the hand coming you way very frequently then. You are just so happy to hold it that you miss out on the realisation that the person has stopped walking on his own. And when that very hand starts pushing you , you lose your balance out of shock the first time but manage to gain it back quickly, thinking that if you are off balance there is no chance that the person will ever gain the balance back. You get used to that pushing hand and still are happy to just hold it. Why? For one you just love that warm feeling that your hand gets when in that hand. Also, you keep believing that this hand is the strong hand you have always been looking for, the stong hand that will hold you when you stumble along the way. And then you realise that the pushing is becoming way too frequent, actually an inevitable part of this hand holding.

You put all your energies in trying to avoid falling down, losing the balance and holding the hand a little bit stronger than before. You see the hand slipping everytime after pushing you down, sometimes slowly, sometimes in a split second with a jerk. You are told that the hand breaking away from that warm grip is for your own good. You are told that this beacuse while the hand deeply realises its need to be in your hand, it just doesnt know how to stop the pushing. And there you are, after all this pushing, you still dont want to let go of the hand. You believe that this is indeed the hand which is going to support you when need be in future. So you find out the underlying reasons for this pushing down syndrome.. or at least try to.

You figure that the belief on the other side is that the terrain is getting tougher by the day, and so because of you. Yes the belief is that it is so because of the shoes that you are wearing. The belief is that it is so beacuse the shoes have sharp blades which makes it difficult for those close to you on this trek to keep moving smoothly, as once your shoes hit that ground, the terrain is ruined. You are amused at this finding but take it seriously as it is causing serious trouble for your balance hence your ability to provide support to others balance.

You decide to deal with it by simply showing whats underneath the shoes. But you are told that the blades exist even though you have tried hard to hide them. Your faith that you can prove your truth remains unfazed. You offer a thorough investigation of the shoe. The offer is taken but halfway through the process and not finding any sign of the blade, you are told that maybe its not the blades, its just the way you walk.

You try again...and again.. not ready to believe that truth doesnt always win. But then finally get just too tired to try again.Yes I feel that tired now!!

BTW - "Imagine that" the movie : not that great!

Awaiting rebirth...

I want to cry... but my tear glands are way too tired.

I want to sing... but my vocal chords just resigned.

I want to run... but the signs on this crossroad are all messed up.

I want to scream ... but the voices in my head wouldnt shut up.

I want to smile... but someone harvested all my smiles crop.

I want to jump.... but i am stuck with my feet glued to the hilltop.

I want to drink... but the trip i am in, no drink seems good enough

I want to eat... but it just seems a little too tough.

I do want to live... but as of now i am just too dead to try that!

One PIE please ... with some extra "I"

So some of us know what PIE stands for .... yes i am referring to the acronym for Physical, Intellectual, Emotional.

I used to believe that all conflicts/ confusions in a man-woman relationship could be easily explained by the fact that the order of heirarchy among these three needs is totally opposite in men & women. Let me explain. A man needs his PIE aspects to be taken care of in exactly that order - First Physical, then Intellectual and then Emotional. While for a woman, the order is exactly the reverse. For her it is Emotional first , followed by intellectual and then Physical. At least that was what i used to believe (with a few exceptions of course... for me the "I" has always surpassed "E" by zillions of miles..but we are not talkign about me here.)

Was just wondering if this theory still works? I am not sure anymore. 

So is this the new-age world everybody keeps talking about? 

I just hope it means that whatever is the order, its the same for both the sexes. But life isnt that simple, now is it??