Genuine Leather

One evening around five years ago, while exploring the markets of Karachi during a business trip, I came across a small road side stall selling leather wallets. I loved one wallet but was a bit hesitant to buy it because I was not sure if it was genuine leather & whether it deserved the price he asked. He showed me a trick, he took out his lighter, clicked it to life and touched the skin of the wallet. It did not catch fire.  I was convinced. I bought the wallet.

That wallet is still with me, it has been with me through thick & thin. It was with me when I hit rock bottom & now I feel shy to let it go.  

I wish I could say the same about people in my life too.

Let The Shoe Do The Talking?

Everybody around me seems very happy because an Iraqi journalist tried to hit Mr. Bush with his shoes. But I am not amused, in fact I am sad. The way people have reacted only gives one impression about us Muslims, that we are people who in fact do love violence & yes we are intellectually bankrupt. Well at least this is the impression we give to non-Muslims.

All of a sudden, that journalist has become a hero overnight. But does he really deserves that hero status? The amount of reaction this incident has generated in the arab media is truly amazing. I was wondering what would have been the reaction in our part of the world if one of our leaders received a similar treatment from one of the journalists in America? Perhaps burning of flags in our cities, destruction of public & private property? Yes, this is what we are only good at. Have we forgotten the art of civilized debate?

Yes West has double standards, but then we are also not much different either.

Tagged Again

Notorious tagged me, and I am confused because I find myself in a very difficult position :-)

The tag says I am supposed to write about one blogger & then tag 5 others. What I plan to do instead is write about 5 UAE based bloggers & no, I am not tagging anyone. These five bloggers, guys if you come across this post & if you feel you want to become a part of this tag, you are welcome to do so :-)

So here we go. 

One of the first blogs I came across & still one of my favourites is Dubai At Random, it looks at life in the Emirates from a humourus point of view, although I am not sure if that is intentional or not :-)

I really admire Fujairah in Focus for his effort in highlighting the often neglected but beautiful Emirate of Fujairah. It was one of his posts which really motivated me to go to Fujairah & witness the Bull Fight :-)

The Emirates Economist is another blog I regularly read. As the name implies, it is an economics focussed blog, quite serious & very informative.

The Lost Dot is one of the blogs that started around the same time I started blogging. Her posts are interesting, especially the Jar of Dots series :-)

Yearning for Something is another blog I found interesting & also motivating at the same time. She was one of my regular commentors but I guess she is in "hibernation" mode now :D

Thats it guys :-)

A Different Eid

First of all, I wish all of you a Happy & Blessed Eid. I know its a bit late this time, but as they say, its never too late :-)

Secondly, have you guys also noticed something different about Eid this time? Don't you think the element of festivity is not there this time? The night before Eid, roads appeared deserted, as if it was a mourning occasion. Is the UAE population so much dependent on bank credit to lead their lives? Well at least that is the conclusion I have drawn. 

And if it is true, then I guess it is a good thing in the long term. People need to learn how to live within their means. We don't want a consumerist & materialistic society, something which unfortunately we had become.

Another thought is circling around my head. As all of us know, UAE & Dubai has become known for things tall, long, large, etc. But can they really come up with a new financial system that will be different from the current system of exploitation, and that includes the so called Islamic banking system? Can they do it? If they achieve that, I think that will be the real progress & development. What do you guys think? :-)

Want to feel rich? Curb your desires

This post is somewhat related to the previous one. Today morning I came across this interesting article in Gulf News. I can relate myself to what the writer said, and from personal experience I can confidently say that what she said is very much true.

Wealth is relative to desire.

Every time we yearn for something we can't afford, we become poor - regardless of our resources. It's when we are satisfied with what we have, that we become rich. The hard part is understanding that and adjusting accordingly.

We know there are nicer things and we see people who have them. For this you can blame television and magazines.

Through them, we can see easily what others buy and own and wear. Every new thing whispers its promise of happiness then gradually slides into the background of everyday life. Then we notice that someone else has a different or nicer thing. And we suddenly need it, too. This isn't the same as ambition or reaching for a goal; it's more about tweaking how we think about what we want.

This is why many of us recall feeling better when we were younger. We felt as if we had enough because we hadn't yet begun to compare ourselves with others. We didn't expect that we should have a lot more. It's our expectations that trip us up. We substitute one material desire for another, convinced each time that the next whatever will make us happy. And we then seek out that happiness through spending money.

But what we need is less desire, not more money. There are two ways to make a man richer, writer-philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau reasoned: Give him more money or curb his desires.

The solution this year: Expect less and want less. Perhaps the way to sort a real desire from just wanting is to wait a few weeks and see if the want changes. Or maybe to listen carefully to the dialogue inside. Is the inner voice saying "I like this"... or "They will be impressed"?

Source

What about you? Do you agree or disagree? Do you consider yourself rich or poor? :-)