Ramazan - A month of piety

Well, nowadays It's Ramazan month going on so thought to devote a blog to it. Though I would be covering quite little of it as it's impractical to cover all the things of Ramazan in a single blog.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. Every day during this month, Muslims around the world spend the daylight hours in a complete fast.

Ramadan is a month of countless blessings and virtues. The word Ramadhaan is derived from "ramdh' which means "burning of the feet from heat" This is because of the fast, which burns the sins of a Muslim into ashes.

During the blessed month of Ramadan, Muslims all over the world abstain from food, drink, and other physical needs during the daylight hours. As a time to purify the soul, refocus attention on God, and practice self-sacrifice, Ramadan is much more than just not eating and drinking.

Most important thing of Ramazan is, the holy book Qur'aan was revealed in this night . During the course of these 30 days, Almighty Allah had revealed the Qu’raan on his beloved Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam.

Muslims are called upon to use this month to re-evaluate their lives in light of Islamic guidance. We are to make peace with those who have wronged us, strengthen ties with family and friends, do away with bad habits -- essentially to clean up our lives, our thoughts, and our feelings. The Arabic word for "fasting" (sawm) literally means "to refrain" - and it means not only refraining from food and drink, but from evil actions, thoughts, and words.

During Ramadan, every part of the body must be restrained. The tongue must be restrained from backbiting and gossip. The eyes must restrain themselves from looking at unlawful things. The hand must not touch or take anything that does not belong to it. The ears must refrain from listening to idle talk or obscene words. The feet must refrain from going to sinful places. In such a way, every part of the body observes the fast. Therefore, fasting is not merely physical, but is rather the total commitment of the person's body and soul to the spirit of the fast. Ramadan is a time to practice self-restraint; a time to cleanse the body and soul from impurities and re-focus one's self on the worship of God.

In this month one should fast, perform all Namaz with congregation, engage in recitation of the Qur'aan, perform Taraaweeh, give charity and do whatever is possible to acquire the pleasure of Allah. One should make sure that he does not do anything contrary to the command of Allah and the teachings of His beloved Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam.

Following are the foremost things one should get hold of during this month of piety:

FASTING:

In Ramadhaan, Allah has made fasting compulsory. It is one of the five pillars of Islaam. Just like the flower which outsmarts other flowers in its smell and colour, and like the fruit which surpasses the other fruits in its taste, the Ibaadah of fasting outweighs the other forms of devotions in reward. A person gives up everything whilst fasting, only to please his Almighty Creator. It is one of the most accepted forms of Ibaadah, because Allah Himself will give the reward for fasting.

SEHRI:

Allah and His Angels send Mercy upon those who eat Sehri (Food which is eaten before starting the fast, before sunrise). Allah has made Sehri full of mercy and blessings.

IFTAAR:

Many virtues have been narrated for those who feed others when breaking fast. A person who feeds another who fasted in order to break the fast (at sunset), for him there shall be forgiveness and emancipation from the fire of Hell. Allah grants the same reward to him who gives a fasting person a mere date or a drink of water to break his fast.

TARAWIH:

Tarawih is an Arabic phrase referring to extra prayers given by Sunni Muslims at night in the Islamic month of Ramadan. In this, at Masjid, the priest recites the Qu’raan by heart in the form of Namaz. People get congregated behind them and listen. Taraweeh is sunnah (Sunnah is the way of life prescribed as normative for Muslims on the basis of the teachings and practices of Muhammad and interpretations of the Qu'raan). It is also Sunnah to complete the full Qur'aan in Taraaweeh during the Ramazan.

This is all I could come up with. You shall comment in case if you want any additional information.

A day in Mumbai Nagariya...

At last we had decided to go on some outing. It’s not a kind of jaunt we were planning since pre-monsoon; nevertheless it wasn’t less of fun we wanted to have. We have been planning our next trip since the day we came back from our last trip (to Dapoli beach, Konkan coastal area). All my team members in office were enthusiastic to have a trip in monsoon which includes a night stay, some adventurous activities perhaps trekking/water rafting. However it concluded to this one day trip to Mumbai. The prime impetus factor behind this trip was to watch some movie on 240mm gigantic screen (India’s largest) in a shape of dome at IMAX, Wadala :).

We were sum of 5 people: Me, Sarfraz, Ravi, Vishal and Rakesh (he’s joined from Mumbai). At 6:30 early in the luminous morning of Sunday, we all 4 got together at Pune bus station. As there was a Shivneri Volvo bus (convenient service by MSRTC between Pune-Mumbai route) going to head off at 6:45, we quickly bought the tickets and got in. after an hour or so, bus started running on Pune-Mumbai expressway and after a few kilometers it halted at some hotel . As it was 10 minutes of break we hurriedly managed to have beaten rice (Poha) - Tea.

There wasn’t any sign of rain (at least in Pune) when we started off, however as soon as we were near Lonavla –Khandala, it started drizzling which made atmosphere chilled. We would see the lofty rugged hills covered by the mist. Rain was pouring outside and it was the A.C. of bus which was making us refrigerated, nonetheless we took nap for a while.

At around 9, we stepped out at Priyadrshini, Chembur and caught a Taxi to reach IMAX. Voila! It’s Rakesh there. He had already reached half an hour back from his place Thane. We enquired for the earliest show in the Dome. To our surprise, the dome – for which we had traveled all the way from Pune to Mumbai (Not to forget that we woke up early at 4:30 am, that too on Saturday :( ), was no more there. The dome shape screen was replaced by the traditional huge screen.

We were bit saddened however we decided to watch the movie Harry Potter and the half blood prince (which was the only option to be had for us). We bought the tickets (Guys, 500 bucks for a ticket !) and entered the hall. We sat on throne size sofa (500 Rs. remember…). It was 3D for first 30 minutes which we enjoyed the most. When WB’s (Warner brothers) emblem zooms in towards you, you feel like would it crush you or what. I’m still thinking why the whole movie is not in 3D (Maybe budget limit)?

Post movie, as we had no further plans about which places to visit next, we rapidly decided where to head – it’s Band Stand. Suddenly a jerk happened in our mind; we should reach Band Stand by visiting newly constructed Bandra – Worli sea link…Hurray….!!! It was fantastic experience. Bridge is really futuristic, worth a visit. We then had leisure walk on band stand. It was going to be evening so decided to go near Haji-Ali somewhere. All of us were tried so sat at eatery of Atria mall for some time.

We then came down to Dadar to take a bus. Rakesh moved to his place from there. On a way back, we all were sleeping because of too much fatigue and in fact we had to sleep more for next couple of days to get out of that tiredness.

PHEW!!! Though it was strenuous, this voyage is going to be cherished by all of us for sure.

Teach India... Padho India... Badho India...

While surfing the channels on this Sunday twilight (in hope to get crumb entertainment from masses of channels, u know it’s a big challenge :)) I got a glimpse of Hillary Clinton, Aamir Khan and Arnab sitting on a stage discussing on some topic. After watching it for a minute or two I realized that this is Teach India being aired on Times Now news channel.

Before I write about that program; let me write something about Teach India. It is a social initiative by Times of India. It brings the opportunity to go out and teach young children with the guidance of a multitude of NGOs across India. Sounds motivating, isn’t it? It is based on one simple principle: If you have the desire to teach, it will put you in touch with underprivileged children who are willing to learn.

So coming back to that TV program, which I had watched for an hour or so, was really worth to watch. I really urge you to watch it as it may be kept airing in future.

There were many points discussed about education, current education trends, student’s/teacher’s/parents’ perceptions on education, what needs to be improved/kept away from current education system and many more. Hillary talked on U.S. education system. She has explained how child’s education is carried out in U.S., what is government’s role, how much parents are attentive. She said while her children were being educated; she was much focused. She was keen to give her children the best education. She believes that this is a first and foremost duty of all the parents. Amir consented with her and said parents should not make their children compelled to become what they want. Yes it’s true that they must guide but at the end of the day its child’s interest which should matter the most – he added. He gave his own example – when I had finished 12^th, my parents had asked me to go ahead with the college. However I wasn’t keen on doing that but film making. I disregarded their decision and here I am - he said. Schooling and education is 2 different things, one should not let schooling come on the way of education. Education is what one learns at every minute of her life. Only schooling doesn’t make you paramount; education (of life) is also equally important – He further added. Then there was a discussion on teachers. Hillary said teachers play most significant part in educating the children. They should educate the students in such a way that students honour and aspire to become like them. Khan added that today nobody wants to become a teacher; everybody wants to get into lucrative job. There would be hardly few of them who actually wanted to become a teacher but this number is quite less. There is an obvious reason why people choose different careers than teaching. It’s money. A teacher doesn’t get paid enough than others. He thinks in fact teaching should be the most highly paid job; they are the one because of whom society gets doctors, engineers, teachers.

This session then concluded by the Q & A session, wherein I really liked a question from one girl. She said - she stays near Dharavi slum. She had managed to gather 5 children to educate them. One day all of the sudden none of them turned up for the study. She somehow managed to find out the reason and it was quite shocking. Those children couldn’t come because their parents didn’t want them to study instead they want their children to work, beg at signals. She said she was devastated and felt like not to teach anyone henceforth. She sought opinion of Aamir, Hillary for this situation. Both Aamir and Hillary appreciated that girl for her charitable effort. Aamir said her that you should continue doing this. Obstacles may come in your way but just get over with them anyhow. Try to get those children back to study. She confirmed that she surely would do this.

Overall, I found it quite motivating. We all know that how much the education is important in our lives whether it’s social or professional. We should be a part of spreading the education, making people aware about the same. At the end it’s a society, wherein we leave, will be enriched with discipline, humanity, thoughtfulness, wisdom and all the other GOOD things. If this happens then what else would we want?

Success defined...

Somewhere I read this, perhaps an SMS sent by one of my friends:

What is Success?

- Success is when your signature becomes an autograph.

How true ! In nutshell but says more than thousands of words.