Success

Success is how you collect your minutes. You spend millions of minutes to reach one triumph, one moment, then you spend maybe a thousand minutes enjoying it. If you were unhappy through those millions of minutes, what good are the thousand of minutes of triumph? It doesn't equate. Life is made of small pleasures. Hugs from a child and his/her unbridled laughter. A moment of closeness with a friend. A phone call to cheer up a despairing soul. An email from the heart...not a pre-packaged e-card. Happiness is made of such tiny successes. The big ones come too infrequently. If you don't have all those zillions of tiny successes, the big ones don't mean anything.

Parting

Parting is inevitably painful. It is like an amputation. A limb is being torn off, without which I shall be unable to function. And yet, once it is done, I find there is a quality to being alone that is incredibly precious. Life rushes back into the void, richer, more vivid, fuller than before. It is as if in parting one actually did lose an arm. And then, like the starfish,one grows it anew; one is whole again, complete and round--more whole, even than before.

Peace of Mind

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your family & friends feel that there is something in them. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only of the best, to work only for the best and expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements in the future. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. To give so much time to the improvements of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Wrote this as a teenager (15 years) in an exercise book that I just found. So why am I putting it here? So that my son can read what his father had passing through his mind in his teen years. Ideas that prevented me from slipping in the wrong direction (alcohol, drugs, the party scene that leads to hell). Ideas that felt so good then to a young mind and feels so fresh as I type them again. Its like planting seeds again in this old soil. Will it flower for me like it did then? Even if it doesn't then my hopes are in my son. Peace be with you.

Reminiscing & Hoping

Small billboards like these were posted at the National Park during Carifesta (for the Muslim Evening). I thought these billboards should have been kept there with a fee paid to the Park. Or instead of flying the "Islamic flags" at the MYO ground the least they could have done would have put these on the fence to draw the attention of the thousands of students who traverse that area during school days.We at Zamals participated thru CIOG and did brochures to be distributed. Also planned to show our Islamic Musical dvd, which is a big hit, on a big screen but because of the rain we canceled that. All in all it was a wonderful evening...but I didn't know there was someone there who would come to be a HUGE influence on my life several months later. Missed her presentation because again we Muslims are poor at disseminating proper information (hey a map of the area explaining what was taking place would have been nice; or what about periodic announcements to visit this booth or that.) O well next time. I felt this Evening should have been held indoors from the inception because the weather was extremely wet during that time. Can remember a boring qaseeda or two. The fashion show...nice but too long...and what else? President Jagdeo's speech was ok...Br. Ayube's presentation... Moulana Siddiq's speech...So the organizers need to add some spice to a show like this next time...Muslims do have fun, don't they. Not just sermonizing about hijab and prayer and all the do's and dont's. Why for heaven's sake was there no comedy (don't need to add "halal") Yes, laughter would have lightened the atmosphere.

I remember very clearly the President of CIOG saying in the heat of the moment that an event like that should be held yearly. Ok six months later can anyone tell me how that PLAN is going. O I'm all for an ANNUAL Islamic Convention...we can do wonders with such an event...but hello...anyone listening to themselves speak...or are words hollow. Pie in the sky...fanciful notion...ludicrous concept. Hello CIOG...Hello GIT...oh sorry...Salaam CIOG...Salaam GIT...how are you people coming along with your plans. How about you surf on over to ICNA's website and see what theme they are using for their annual convention this year May 23rd-25th...and let's join hands together. Want ideas...they are aplenty...if you listen to young people.
So what can you have at this convention:
1. Speeches (yes we must have those)
2. A Comedy Show
3. Bazaar
4. Award to a Muslim Doctor, Journalist, Engineer any professional
5. Award to the best kept Mosque and environs (like landscaping) in the different regions of Guyana
6. Award to the best blog by a Muslim Guyanese
7. Award to the Best Muslim Student
8. Table Tennis, dominoes, Scrabble competition
9. Islamic Poetry
10. Debate on some topic between two well educated groups
11. Creating a Muslim hospital, Muslim bank...ideas needed and ideas implemented urgently
12. Creating a database of everything Muslim...to be maintained ONLINE
13. Creating a Printed magazine...and an Online one too.
14. All parts of the Convention...streaming live on YouTube
15. Add your ideas

Water & GWI

Guyana Water Inc. (GWI): Did you know that you could set your watch in the evening to 10:00p.m. (that's when they cut off water). They're so exact, precise, on-time. But you and your watch would be in total confusion if you try to set it in the morning as they do not have a set hour/minute that they put back on the water flow. Now how annoying is that. So you wake up at 4:30 a.m. and most times you get that gurgling sound that makes you groan in despair. The groan is two-way (one for the fact there's no water and the second is for the fact that only GWI knows when we will get that most precious of liquids). And a few mornings lo and behold water is running at that hour. Did the guy wake up early, you wonder. Someone told me that 2 weeks ago they were on TV stating that we're on the threshold of One of the FEW wonders of Guyana (24-hours running water). Oh my gosh...that will be the day...and the night.

Newspapers

Stopped reading trash a long time ago...let not this be interpreted as "completely" stopped. on some kind of instinct I would pick up the papers and browse the headlines or like today scan all, yes all, the pages. And then realized why I stopped reading it. Trash.!!! This cannot be news. Rape, shootings, guns, cops and all this only on the front page. Crap like that shouldn't even make it into the pages of any reputable newspapers. And some conehead will proffer the "bright" idea that this "Sells." UnHoly s...t. So a good friend stops by from Canada and leaves me this magazine. Name: "Islamica." Wow and wow again. I was blown away. Top quality in all respects. Articles, layout, and pages. Amazing. Just go to islamicamagazine.com to find out about quality. Also check out zinio.com for online magazines and books. It's the way I read computtershopper, pcworld etc. On my screen and if I see something good I click away to the website. Now what can be better than that.

Still on Customs

It causes great pain to keep writing about negative stuff. Try it for a while, you'll see. You run out of adjectives trying to explain "stupidity." I decided to go to the airport to clear my goods. Here's what happened. My decision wasn't made because I'm brave to face the personnel at Customs. A friend that I have and works there was going to show me through. The way they "look" at you causes shivers down your spine. Gosh I'm not bringing in parts for the assembly of weapons. Shucks I'm a small businessman dealing in Computers for the last 25 years. Treat me as if I'm first and foremost a person. As my friend and I walked into the area to start the process the "ugliest" person stopped us and asked us in a gruff tone (the ugly) where we're headed. When she was told that I had goods to be cleared she roughly told us that we had to wait until a flight that had just landed had cleared. We walked away for her looks was like a bat outta hell. Now, tell me, wouldn't you like to ask a few questions: like can you tell me how long this would take; how would I know that the flight had cleared...I mean really how would I know that the flight had cleared...would a light be blinking; would a neon sign let us know the state of Customs... Ok got me. So here's where my friend comes in. He took my documents and went into pay. Now how hard was that. Couldn't I go in and paid just as he did? Then he comes out with the documents and we head on over to the Amerijet bond where the goods are held. We met a guy at a desk sleeping...woke him up with some artificial coughing and tapping on the desk. With bleary eyes peering at us he took the documents. I got the goods and opened the boxes and then we had to wait on Customs officials to inspect. Time speeds on as it is wont to do. And we're waiting and more people come got their goods and opened it and waited. Then lo and behold they appeared. Then in an ad hoc manner they started to check. Not in any order. I was second there and almost last to be checked out of about a dozen persons. The Customs woman went to one guy and brazenly took "one of this" and "one of that" from his boxes of hair and other accessories. Amazing. But I guess the guy took this "loss" as payment for not completely doing an "inspection. She told him to close the boxes and proceeded to the next person. Realizing there's no system I approached her and she said after looking at one box "I'll be back in five minutes." Five minutes took over one hour. Then the two customs officials reappeared and did what they considered their "job." After the inspection my documents were taken and then amazingly took over another hour till it was signed (a 30-sec job) and given to me. With this kind of "work" is it any wonder that we're a third-world country.
So how can it improve.
1. Deal with people in the order they come. Inspect their goods and immediately have the documents sent to the customs office where you have another customs official doing his documentation. No accumulation.
Try to respect other people's time. We cannot afford to spend a whole day sitting doing nothing while you do things in a slow and time-wasting manner.