Sufism under attack in Islamic world

“The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.” 
― Rumi 

The gleeful verses of the 13th century mystic, Jalaluddin Rumi, is still much loved and enjoyed across the world. Rumi’s school of religious studies was way different from the regular ones. He taught that religion is less a matter of external observance than an intimate personal relationship with God.
But unfortunately, across the Muslim countries Sufism is being targeted of late. Yes, Islamic zealots are smashing up their own religious heritage. What a pity?  
Considering the fact that even partisans of two prominent Islam sects, Shia and Sunni, bombed each other’s mosques in countries like Iraq, Syria and Pakistan, no wonder both of them derive a wild, hysteric bliss bombing Sufi places of worship.
The shrine of al-Shaab al-Dahmani, a revered Sufi Saint, was bulldozed by militants even as security forces haplessly watched the barbaric act in Tripoli, all in broad daylight.
Sufi shrines have been razed and set on fire in Egypt since the fall of Mubarak.  Even Sufi chanting ritual called zhikr has been banned in many areas in Egypt.
Islamic fanatics were on a rampage, demolishing museums, libraries and universities in Timbuktu last summer. Sufi shrines were targeted and even thousands of Sufi followers were jailed for their unconventional views on religious practices.
Only in last month, several Sufi shrines were destructed in Libyan cities. Sakhi Sarkar shrine in Pakistan was brutally attacked, during the annual festival of the Sufi saint where 41 devotees were killed in cold blood.
It is becoming increasingly intolerable for Islamic fanatics to see Sufis’ perception of gentle form of Islam. Sufi practices initiated and practiced by Rumi himself, use music, dance and spiritual recitation as tools to awaken the God who according to Rumi say is asleep in the human heart.
Where is the world heading to? I’m utterly shaken by what is going on around the word.

Threat to lives of Pussy Riot! Act Now…

Not only that the three punk band members – Pussy Riot - are languishing in a remote penal colony, they are getting death threats too.
Their crime? The girls, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Marina Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, sang songs in Red Square and in Moscow churches that criticized the Russian premier – Vladimir Putin.
In a civilized society, don’t people have the right to stage a revolutionary protest? Is death is the punishment for such bold acts?
According to reports, a lawyer for the group has been receiving threatening letters from the penal colony, hinting that the girls' safety would be in danger there.
And if you did not know what happened after a Russian court sentenced the girls for two years of imprisonment a couple of months ago, here is the shocking report. When the girls were taken to the far-off penal colony, more than 20 people were packed into cars meant to carry four people. And more shocking is that the trip took several days.
Russia's prosecutor general was reported as saying that over 2,000 prisoners have died in or en route to Russian prisons over the last six months, barbarous, or what else?
In the case of the punk girls, the saddest part is two them are mothers of young children, who would have to travel for days to see them in the remote colony.
Their lives are in danger. Let’s all join together to urge Moscow officials to consider the girls' safety and allow them to remain in Moscow.
Sign in the petition.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/554/377/562/dont-send-pussy-riot-to-dangerous-penal-colony/?z00m=20424657

Restrain children from internet

My son miserably failed in two entrance exams that he wrote in the beginning of this academic year.
I knew the reason. He didn’t get even one single hour during the one month he got for preparation. He was busy with internet.
Another girl whom I closely know almost broke her four-year-old marriage only because her husband lost his cool over her spending too much of time on internet and caring less her 3-year-old child.
I can hear people swearing when their servers get slow or power supply is abruptly interrupted.
There are boys who would prefer more online games than food and sleep.
And they are called internet addicts.
According to reports, web addiction will soon be classified as a mental illness.  The newly revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM-V) for 2013 has already added “Internet Use Disorder” in their list.
According to experts, unfettered and unhealthy use of internet should be a serious cause of concern.
According to Steve Williams, a passionate supporter of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) rights, human rights, animal welfare and health care reform, Internet Use Disorder (IUD) presents itself in many ways that are standard for addiction. Symptoms include but are not limited to:
A “preoccupation” with the Internet or Internet gaming
Withdrawal symptoms when no longer able to access the Internet
An increasing tolerance to the stimuli which means they require more time and greater Internet use in order to achieve the same high
A loss of other interests
Using the Internet to replace or make up for a lack of human relationships
Failed attempts at quitting their Internet overuse
Using the Internet as a tool to escape or improve general depression and sadness.

A published novelist, poet and a scriptwriter for computer games, film and web serials, Steve Williams says this abnormality is rare in adults, but the children who are suffering from IUD have been known to become angry and violent when their supply of Internet time is interrupted.
Recent studies have shown that there are physical changes in the brains of adolescents suffering from online gaming addiction — and these changes are remarkably similar to those presented in the brains of adolescent drug users.

Let’s limit our children’s online activities. Why should our kids suffer from mental maladies?

Rowling’s adult stuff zooms ahead

She decided to stop writing for children world over and instead penned a fiction that’s meant to stimulate the older ones. Parents across the world, to their utter consternation, found their children demanding Rowling’s new release not knowing what is inside.
Even as literary circles were abuzz and apprehensive about J K Rowling’s latest erotic fiction ‘Casual Vacancy’, the children’s beloved author did the magic.
Despite innumerable reviews from critics, The Casual Vacancy landed at No. 1 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list on Thursday.
Putting a step ahead of another adult novel that hit the market recently, E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey, which has been No. 1 for 21 of the past 23 weeks, Rowling is all set to pass her over.
Sara Nelson, editorial director of books and Kindle for Amazon.com was quoted by a website that he wasn’t surprised at Rowling's top ranking given the strong pre-orders over the past few weeks.
A report says that Michael Pietsch, executive vice president and publisher of Little, Brown, Rowling's publisher, said that the Casual Vacancy had exceeded their expectations in its first six days in stores, selling 375,000 copies in all formats.
The novel, Casual Vacancy is all about the aftermath of the death of a local politician in a small English town. However reviews from across the world terms the novel with all adjectives - positive and negative - from brilliant to dull on both sides of the Atlantic.
It may be noted that it's the ninth time Rowling has entered USA TODAY's list at No. 1.That includes six of her seven Potter novels, as well as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2001) by Newt Scamander (aka Rowling) and The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2008).

Good Samaritan bags prestigious award

All good works will get rewarded. While it’s in the form of recognition and honor for some, for many others it is just happiness, satisfaction and soul’s content.
For 30-year-old Rajesh Kothwal, who has been untiringly struggling to extend a helping hand to the homeless and the destitute, it came as prestigious award. Rajesh Kothwal was one among the 15 eminent personalities who won the inaugural edition of India Positive Awards in glittering ceremony held at The Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi.
The award has been constituted by CNN-IBN in partnership with Jaypee Group. India Positive Awards delves into India’s hidden resource that cradles the wounded, makes peace among communities and improves lives of others with their selfless acts. These awards bring to light stories that celebrate the basic goodness in every Indian. For nearly two years, Rajesh Kothwal has been saving the lives and providing shelter to several destitute in Bharathi Memorial Foundation in Hyderabad. Rajesh finds satisfaction in helping people lead a life with some dignity and medical care. It may be noted that most of the inmates of his ashram suffer from terminal diseases like HIV, Polio & Tuberculosis.
There are 70 destitute and 14 children in his ashram.
"The doctors, nurses and the ward boys used to the neglect the destitutes and treat the ordinary people. The patients were untidy with human excretion on their clothes and hair grown. They were completely neglected and hence, I thought I will treat them. I requested the nurses and the ward boys and learnt how to inject. It took three to four months to learn. I learnt how to do it but I needed a legal certificate, so I took special training in the male nurse training course from the Indian Red Cross Society for 1 year," Rajesh said in CNN-IBN interview recently.
"I thought why I should start an orphanage or old age home when there are many. Hence, I took up the mission of serving the destitute. Before Independence and after Independence, there was only one organisation for the destitute called 'Nirmal Hruday' started by Mother Theresa. That is the only home which is still running. There is a need for destitute homes here, so I started one," Rajesh told CNN-IBN.

It’s not erotic fiction, it’s hardcore porn!

Call it midlife blues or sheer perversion, I tended to pick up ‘Fifty Shades of Gray’ on a star-crossed day from the local bookstore.  Until 100 pages things were smooth. And OMG, what the fuck! Suddenly, what was supposed to be an ‘erotic fiction’ turned out to be hardcore porn!
I wonder why everybody is reading E L James. See the statistics published in the Guardian: EL James has now sold 4 million copies of her Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy via her UK publisher, Random House, to add to the 15 million that have been shifted in the US and Canada. In three months. In the UK, it's the fastest-selling book ever in both physical and ebook incarnations. There's just been an extra print run for the UK market, to meet demand: 2.75 million copies. It's the fastest selling adult novel of all time. By which they mean "it's the fastest-selling novel of all time that isn't Harry Potter".
Anastasia Steele, a 20 something graduate is enamored by a handsome billionaire Christian Grey, who doesn’t ‘make love’ only ‘fucks hard’. What the hell? The trilogy deals with sex, more sex, sadism, masochism, sex torment, and all dirty and scary sex games.
See the dialogues: "I'm a very wealthy man, Miss Steele, and I have expensive and absorbing hobbies." "Holy hell, he's hot!"; "No man has ever affected me the way Christian Grey has, and I cannot fathom why. Is it his looks? His civility? Wealth? Power?" Yuh huh. Civility puts me in a blue funk too.”
Now I say: Holy shit!
Why don’t they ban such stuff instead of Lajja, Last Temptation of Jesus Christ and Satanic Verses?
If they could ban Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar, What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Alice (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy by Dori Hillestad Butler, The Hunger Games” trilogy by Suzanne Collins, The Color of Earth” (series) by Kim Dong Hwa and “ttyl” series by Lauren Myracle for insensitivity, nudity, racism, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit , offensive language blah blah blah…  in just one year, why not this one?
Holy shit!
This is yucky, contagious and horrendous!  

Save small farms if you want good food

I grew up as a child in a middle class agrarian family in Kerala, a state that lies in the extreme south of India. Well, in my fond memories, still vivid are the days I helped the rural women who were sowing, transplanting and reaping paddy. There were small farmlands all along in the hamlet. Rural Kerala was abuzz with farming activities throughout the year. And there were farms aplenty.
After a very long gap, I recently visited the place, and to my utter dismay I found all the farms missing and elegantly designed duplexes all around. Yes, most of the state’s men migrated to middle-east and amassed money working overtime, only to construct houses in those farms!
Something needs to be done urgently to retain at least the remaining farms. In the other end of world, in the United States, singers and artistes are performing Farm Aid stage shows since 1980. The concert, the longest running benefit concert series in America, was held last weekend in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
In India, small farmers are ending their lives due to reasons innumerable. High cost of production, huge interests on loans, lack of hybrid seeds, extreme weather conditions, pests, low productivity, cheaper prices… there are umpteen reasons for them to resort to the extreme steps.
Governments should wake up. High-thinking people should unite. Farmers should be made aware. Now with the Central government’s decision to go ahead with FDI and all, people are confused as to whether it will help farmers or trap.
With bigger players are all set to enter farming sector, the chances of survival are bleak for small family farmers. A recent article in The Guardian says, “Traditional farmers of Africa and Asia are urged to give up growing food for their own people and raise commodity crops for us.” It says In India, hundreds of thousands have committed suicide, but most flee to the cities to join the estimated billion rural exiles who now live in urban slums.”
Everyone knows that food scarcity is imminent all over the globe. We have to do something to prevent people dying of starvation in huge bungalows and  on the roadside huts at the same time. Think guys, and let’s do something.
A fellow blogger Jan Cho wrote recently: “The decline of small family farms is not just a problem for the families losing their land. It’s a problem for individual consumers, society and the environment. “
Just remember that!