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Philosophy of Life: Our pursuits of happiness!

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Philosophy of Life - Our pursuits of happiness!We must all feel good when we help others because a small part within us remembers and connects to the knowledge that we are all one….

By Nazarul Islam

Everyone is curious about what really causes happiness and makes you feel good. And, whether he (or she) can have a slice, every day! And….if we wish to enjoy a symphony of attention from a bunch of caring people, and a harmony of happy sounds during our lifetime, then we must avoid acting like dark horses, saving up our emotions….

Why?

This is an excellent question.

But, I think a better one is…

Why not?

Using your talent, hobby or profession in a way that makes you contribute to something good to this world, is truly the way to find happiness. And for greater joys and deeper emotions, let’s not try to follow trends…why not, create them?  Saying thanks to the world, and acknowledging your own accomplishments, is a great way to feel good and stay positive, every day of life.

Try and see this world, through the eyes of love and you will feel that things of interest become so beautiful. And, on the contrary, if you must see through the eyes of hate…. things will really look ugly. In everyday life, we are pushing away from feelings that we condemn as wrong, painful, or ugly. We hardly realize that in doing so, we are also pushing away from positivity —the very energy that can bring us incredible joy and ecstasy.

All those who may indulge in hatred, for whatever reasons must hold onto the lies they tell themselves— just in order, to feel good. But then do only what you cherish is good and acceptable. This will help you to keep shining, because that’s what you’re good at and it is that hard work, which makes you feel good with an added sense of fulfillment. Because, in doing so you are sure to accomplish something that will reward you with a sense of joy.

In life, I feel that there is nothing that we like to do, that works out for the worst— and which won’t work out for the better. The choice is entirely yours. In the pursuit of happiness and fulfillment, you will know exactly what you need to do.

As we progress in life and age, we like to indulge ourselves into such pursuits of the life-long ‘learner’. This will enable us to keep discovering new and exciting things, about our own selves.

One of my early school teachers, Mr. Nalini Sarker, during an informal meeting, had put his heavy hand on my shoulder, for comfort. He then reminded me: each one of us has a book inside, so why not make your life a great story? I think I listened to him rather intently. Even today, those magic words still resonate loudly in my consciousness.

Obviously, the feeling of guilt dims our light. Therefore, instead of dimming our light to make others feel more comfortable, why shouldn’t we continue to shine and foster the rise of the vibrations of those around us? This is one suggestion that merits your overall consideration.

Being Happy and Feeling Good does not mean we lack in ourselves a sense of compassion, particularly when you see some people living in discomfort, disability or in misery, around you. It simply means you won’t dim your light to make them feel comfortable – instead, you’re going to help light that way, all along. Have this faith in yourself!

At first, the light that you emit through your personality may be a bit too bright for others and it may hurt their eyes, yet it’s far better to shine rather than to turn off your light. When you shield your light for too long, it will likely extinguish itself and you may slip right back into darkness…unable to find your own direction, until someone with another ‘shine’ comes along to light your way and then helps you to find the light you still possess, within your soul.

We are our own best teachers. One way to follow our daily bliss is to let our inner guidance system to imagine and acknowledge all our blessings. This determines the criteria of our day, which is JOY. It puts us in tune with the positive constructive energy and raises our vibration. Making a conscious decision to create our day; and to enjoy feeling good. All this takes some good practice, but the end result is always worthwhile.

In order to live fully we need to be guided by the reality of ecstasy, held inside us—perhaps even more than the maintenance of our daily dose of monotony.

We must all feel good when we help others because a small part within us remembers and connects to the knowledge that we are all one….

The human mind is a wonderful organ, the better you feel, the more you can access new realities. We need never to forget that feeling wonderful inside, is a massive magnet that may attract greater magic of joys.

It’s true that overly negative people actually fear letting go of their negativity, and the reason: because it has become a part of their identity. If this is the case, why not make it a smoother transition in everyday life, by releasing and replacing one negative opinion, at a time. This certainly will look like an identity shift, but it’s one that will bring greater fulfillment and life satisfaction.

Let’s not forget that it is a wonderful world that exists above the clouds. Most of us who have flown in airplanes, will understand what I am trying to say!

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About the Author

Nazarul-Islam-1The Bengal-born writer is a senior educationist based in USA. He writes for Sindh Courier and the newspapers of Bangladesh, India and America.

 

Sindh to kick off Covid-19 vaccination drive from Feb 3

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Sindh to kick off Covid-19 vaccination drive
File Photo

Frontline healthcare workers and doctors will be vaccinated in the first phase

Sindh will receive 83359 doses of vaccine on Sunday supplied to fed govt. by China

Sindh has 170000 registered healthcare workers; vaccination will start in 7 districts including Karachi, Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad and Jamshoro

Karachi: Sindh government has announced kicking off covid-19 vaccination of frontline healthcare workers including doctors, paramedics, laboratory technicians and Covid-19 test collection teams deputed to conduct test door to door from Wednesday February 03, 2021 in ten severely-hit districts of province.

The vaccination will be started in seven districts of Karachi, Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad and Jamshoro in the first phase.

Provincial Minister for Information Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, accompanied by Parliamentary Secretary Health MPA Qasim Siraj Soomro made this announcement in a press conference held at Sindh Assembly Committee Room on Friday.

Information Minister stated that China was providing 5 lac doses of Sinopharm vaccine to federal government and Sindh will get 83359 doses from it. “Sindh government will receive vaccine on Sunday,” he said.

Nasir Shah said that Health department from its own resources has allocated Rs.1.5 billion for the purchase of different Covid-19 vaccines while Sindh government has also allocated appropriate funds for procurement of vaccines but Sindh government requires permission for directly procuring the vaccine.

Minister said that Chief Minister has written a letter to federal government but no reply received yet.

“A private donor group has also committed to provide Astra Zeneca and Pfizer vaccination for 20 percent population of Pakistan,” he told.

He said that Sindh government is trying its best to procure Covid-19 vaccines so that everyone in the province could be given dose free of cost. He said that Sindh government has contacted many companies and donor agencies in this regard.

Minister said that today in a meeting with World Bank Country Head on different projects at chief minister house, Sindh government requested for support on Covid-19 vaccine procurement.

Parliamentary Secretary on Health MPA Qasim Siraj Soomro told that they have 170000 frontline healthcare workers registered with them and added that priority will be given to those working in ICU, laboratory technicians and team members deputed to collect sample from door to door.

He said that ten districts were identified on the basis of data and Covid-19 positive ratio. He said that ratio of Covid-19 positive cases in Karachi is 22 percent, Hyderabad 26 percent and then comes district Shaheed Benazirabad.

To question, Nasir Shah said that they would welcome private sector to support us in vaccination of people of Sindh free of cost but private sector should be certified from relevant authorities.

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Sindh Courier

Anti-Encroachment Operation in Miani Forest Fails

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Anti-Encroachment Operation in Miani Forest Fails - Photo Courtesy Sindh InformationSindh Forest Department could retrieve only 160 acres during 6-day operation   

In Hyderabad district 836 acre and in Tando Muhammad Khan 104 acre forest land is illegally occupied by the influential people

Hyderabad: The Forest Department of Sindh has utterly failed to retrieve the forest land from the illegal possession of the influential people in Miani Forest of Hyderabad district where a six-day operation was carried out recently.

Only 160 acres were retrieved during the operation, which started on January 18, was headed by Divisional Forest Officer Sannaullah Buledi, sources in forest department confided.

The total forest area of Hyderabad Afforestation Division is 25910 acre. The forest area of the division falls in three civil districts namely Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan and Tando Allahyar. The Hyderabad district has a vast area under forest, as according to official figures some 23666.38 acres are the forest land there while Tando Muhammad Khan has 1926.62 acres and Tando Allahyar has only 317 acres.

Anti-Encroachment Operation in Miani Forest Fails - Photo Courtesy Sindh Information-1The area under encroachment in these districts is: Hyderabad 836 acres and Tando Muhammad Khan 104 acres while Tando Allahyar is free of any encroachment, as the officials claimed.

The Forest Department had launched the operation to get the illegally occupied forest lands vacated in compliance of the orders of Supreme Court of Pakistan in Constitutional Petition no. 52/2018 and Sindh High Court, Sukkur bench in connection with Constitutional Petition no. 1115/2009.

The District Administration and Police of Hyderabad had extended full cooperation to the Forest Department for retrieval operation in Miani Riverine forest.

Anti-Encroachment Operation in Miani Forest Fails - Photo Courtesy Sindh Information-2The operation continued for 6-days and during which an area of 160 acres had been retrieved from illegal possession of people besides destroying 32 houses and dismantling 13 irrigation bores.

The tractors and heavy machinery was used during the encroachment vacation operation in Miani Riverine Forest where wheat and sugarcane crops were illegally raised by encroachers.

When Sindh Courier contacted DFO Sannaullah Buledi on phone for updates about the operation and the hindrances faced during the operation, he avoided to divulge any detail. However, it was learnt that he appeared in Sindh High Court during the hearing of petition and submitted the report about the recent operation.

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Sindh Courier

Girl shot dead by her brother over marriage dispute

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Girl shot dead by her brother over marriage dispute - Dadu - Sindh Courier-120-year Saima received three bullets in her head; assassin escaped after the committing the crime

By Allah Bux Khushk

Dadu: A 20-year girl was shot dead by her elder brother in village Ibrahim Laghari in Johi Taluka of Dadu district on Thursday. The reason behind murder couldn’t be ascertained yet as the accused managed to escape from the crime scene however it is said to be over the marriage dispute.

The Pat Gul Muhammad police reached at village Ibrahim Laghari where the girl Saima was found in precarious condition at her father Ghulam Qadir Laghari’s house. The police rushed the injured girl to civil hospital Dadu but the duty doctor Talib Abbasi pronounced the girl as dead.

Deceased girl Saima’s mother Azeema Laghari told police that her son Ramzan shot dead his sister with a pistol.

Girl shot dead by her brother over marriage dispute - Dadu - Sindh CourierWhen this scribe asked about the reason behind girl’s murder, she refused to disclose. The SHO Meer Hassan of Pat Gull Muhammad Police Station also said that till yet reason of girl’s murder is not ascertained because accuse Ramzan has escaped. “The family members have not told yet why the girl was shot dead,” he said.

While, a local source at the village, told that the father of deceased girl tried to get his daughter married as per his own wish but his son Ramzan, being unsatisfied, shot dead her sister.

The local people told that the family, originally hailing from Doar town of Nawabshah district, had shifted to this village just 15 days ago.

Meanwhile, due to jurisdiction issue, as the lady doctor at Dadu civil hospital refused to examine girl’s dead body, the police brought dead body at taluka hospital Johi where postmortem was conducted by lady doctor Altaf Fatima.

The lady doctor told that three bullets were found in girl’s back side of head.

After medicolegal formalities, the body was handed over to heirs.

Till filling of this report neither accused was arrested nor FIR lodged.

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Delhi Chalo: The Kisan’s Karma…

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Delhi Chalo - The Kisan’s Karma...
A photograph of a paramilitary policeman swinging his baton at an elderly Sikh farmer during the farmers’ protest in India – photo courtesy: BBC/PTI

Given that India is still an agrarian-based society, what is taking place can be described as a crisis of a ‘colossal proportions’. This can be explained in just five words: hijack of agriculture by corporations.

By Nazarul Islam

Densely populated India with 1.3 billion souls is arguably plagued by farmer suicides, child malnourishment, growing unemployment, increased informalization, indebtedness and an overall collapse of agriculture.

Given that India is still an agrarian-based society, what is taking place can be described as a crisis of a ‘colossal proportions’. This can be explained in just five words: hijack of agriculture by corporations.

And the process by which it is being accomplished may be described also in just five words too: predatory commercialization of the country. Five more words to describe the outcome: biggest displacement in our history.

Not long ago, in late November 2018, a charter was released by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (an umbrella group of around 250 farmers’ organizations) to coincide with the massive, well-publicized farmers’ march that was then taking place in Delhi.

The specific charter stated:

“Farmers are not just a residue from the past—the ‘Kisan (chashi), agriculture and the village structure are integral to the future of India Andre world”.

The country’s farmers have shared that they were alarmed at the economic, ecological, social and their existential, as well as the persistent state neglect and discrimination against farming communities.

Now in 2020, rather than responding to these requirements, we see the Indian government’s promotion and facilitation of (by way of recent legislation) – the ‘corporatization’ of agriculture and the dismantling of the public distribution system – this may well include the laying of groundwork for contract farming.

Successive administrations have made the country dependent on volatile flows of foreign capital and India’s foreign exchange reserves have been built up by borrowing and foreign investments. The fear of capital flight is ever present. Policies are often governed by their drive to attract and retain these inflows and maintain market confidence by ceding to the demands of international capital.

This throttling of democracy and the ‘financialization’ of agriculture would seriously undermine the nation’s food security and leave almost 1.3 billion people at the mercy of international speculators and foreign investment.

But agricapital’s free-for-all bonanza and the planned displacement of tens of millions of cultivators has mirrored what has been happening across the world for many decades: the consolidation of a global food regime based on agro-export mono-cropping (often with non-food commodities taking up prime agricultural land) linked to sovereign debt repayment and foreign exchange inflows and earnings and World Bank/IMF ‘structural adjustment’ directives.

The outcomes have included a displacement of a food-producing peasantry, the dominance of Western agri-food oligopolies and the transformation of and countries from food self-sufficiency to food deficiency. Little wonder then that among the owners of global agribusiness family firm Cargill 14 are now billionaires – the very company that profited from running down India’s edible oils sector in the 1990s.

It is not that India needs these people. It is already the world’s largest producer of milk, pulses and millet and the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, groundnuts, vegetables, fruit and cotton. This is despite India’s farmers already reeling from the effects of three decades of open policy, and further from decades of public under-investment/disinvestment and a deliberate strategy to displace them at the behest of the World Bank and predatory global agri-food corporations.

If un-repealed, the recent legislation represents the ultimate betrayal of India’s farmers and democracy as well as the final surrender of food security and food sovereignty to unaccountable corporations. This legislation is wholly regressive and will eventually lead to the country relying on outside forces to feed its population – and a possible return to hand-to-mouth imports, especially in an increasingly volatile world prone to conflict, public health scares, unregulated land and commodity speculation and price shocks.

A shift towards food sovereignty – engulfing local people’s right to healthy and culturally appropriate food and their ability to define and control their own food and agriculture systems – is the key to achieving genuine independence, national sovereignty, food security and facilitating farmers’ demands.

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About the Author

Nazarul-Islam-1The Bengal-born writer is a senior educationist based in USA. He writes for Sindh Courier and the newspapers of Bangladesh, India and America.  

 

Contemporary World Literature: Poetry from Italy

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Contemporary World Literature - ItalyContemporary World Literature: Poetry from Italy

A Poem by Stefania Miola

Stefania Miola is an eminent Italian poetess who lives in a small town on the outskirts of Turin. Since 2015, three books of Stefania have been published – “One sky the only true one”, “Violets in the Desert” and “The scent of the white rabbit”.

Contemporary World Literature - Italy - Stefania MiolaThese books were presented at the Turin International Book Fair and all books are awarded nationally and internationally. Her several poems are present in anthologies of various publishing houses. In 2020, she signed the preface of an important catalog of Contemporary Art.

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Beautiful Dreams Fall From The Sky

I see his face looking out the window

 

With a suspended soul

Between a sky and a garden

That awaits the ancient splendor

 

Observes

The pace of every step

Bitter and sweet

 

From there, across the rough road

 

Feels

Still the sea

That rises and falls

With its big waves

 

That woman doesn’t know

That the most beautiful dreams

Fall from the sky.

 

She doesn’t know the whole thing

It dips in the early morning light.

 

That woman gets carried away in the waves

Without ever leaving her hand

 

That woman doesn’t know…

To be the love!

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Read about Italian Poetry 

The ‘Indian’ in the Hollywood soup!

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The Indian in the Hollywood soupHindi cinema, or Bollywood—seem to be increasingly finding mainstream roles in Hollywood. And the way Indians, and India itself, (territory extended to all other countries of the subcontinent), are depicted in mainstream Western movies. And not surprisingly, the TV shows remain another story altogether – and a largely, a problematic one.

By Nazarul Islam

What’s more, while actors from India —mainly Hindi cinema, or Bollywood—seem to be increasingly finding mainstream roles in Hollywood. And the way Indians, and India itself, (territory extended to all other countries of the subcontinent), are depicted in mainstream Western movies. And not surprisingly, the TV shows remain another story altogether – and a largely, a problematic one.

While the Simpsons character Apu – with his grating “Indian” accent voiced by white actor Hank Azaria – has come under great criticism, leading Azaria to stand down from the role last year, the more recent sitcom The Big Bang Theory had nerd Raj Koothrappali speaking in the same heavy, whiney tone that purports to be authentic Indian.

And if that wasn’t enough, there are all the show’s throwaway references to arranged marriages and households with dozens of servants, in humor as subtle as a blow to the head.

All of this is one reason why the 70’s movie “The Party” was so enjoyable. Sellers had always worked, to draw audiences. In this hilarious movie, he develops a character and plays it, for better or worse, for the whole movie. No costume changes. No Napoleon suits. ‘Sellers’ is Hrundi V. Bakshi, a painfully polite actor from India who courteously and delicately sabotages the evening of several dozen guests and an elephant. He is assisted by a hilariously drunken butler….

The story has to do with a party in the home of a Hollywood studio chief. Director Blake Edwards begins in low key, with cocktail music tinkling in the background while everyone nods politely and Sellers’ shoe floats over the waterfall in the living room. The insanity gradually escalates, but for the first two-thirds of the movie the events remain painfully close to life. Who among us, for example, has not waited politely outside the bathroom door at a party, a glassy smile concealing our agony?

“Hollywood has always approached the outside world as something strange,” said a reporter, adding that when there is a story on or from India at all, then it tends to lean towards exotica. “Like Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom (1984) – supposed to be set in India, but actually shot in Sri Lanka – showing our savage culture with people eating snakes and monkey brains,” he laughs.

We may also cite the examples of Eat, Pray, Love (2010), where India equals spirituality, and the very cringey The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), about a retirement home for British ex-pats in Jaipur, “which seems like Indian kitsch to us here, but perhaps to a British audience, it seems like their India dream come true…”

There is of course one film about India that has had a seismic worldwide impact in recent decades: the Oscar-winning, Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Rangan who covered the movie believed that its success was due to the fact that it is a universal feel-good story about a poor man who made it big.

The message: All of us cheer the underdog who wins against all odds.

If it had been set in the heart of Africa or the US’s rust belt, as long as it was a poor milieu, it would have received the same positive response!

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About the Author

Nazarul-Islam-1The Bengal-born writer is a senior educationist based in USA. He writes for Sindh Courier, and the newspapers of Bangladesh, India and America.

Life is full of thunders and storms (Poetry)

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Life is full of thunders and storms (Poetry)-1Poetry Corner

Life is full of thunders and storms

A poem by Iqra Hussain

Life…!!!

Which I had observed is full of thunders and storms

Everywhere in your life at every step you have to face its shock

It’s all about compromising the things

And let it go…

If not then it would make barrier in your mind

Damage your heart

And you’ll feel a lot and become depressed…

So follow the rule

Leave it what happened

Leave it and move on to dwell in present

Don’t make your present worst because of your past

These are too little to ponder on

Move on your life journey

With more strength, courage

And cheering smile on your face

To accept all challenges

And be a warrior to face all.

Free up your mind and live in a fresh air

To enjoy the adventures of life!

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About the Poetess

Iqra HussainIqra Hussain is 4th Year Student of Pharma-D at Peoples Medical University Shaheed Benazirabad (nawabshah) Sindh.

Education System in Sindh has collapsed

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Education System in Sindh has collapsed - Sindh CourierThe education system in Sindh has collapsed. Why the government does not look into the matter seriously, as it direly needs to improve.

Public Opinion

In Sindh, the education system has collapsed because government teachers are least interested in teaching. They just visit schools and colleges for a fun and are not willing to educate the new generation. They’re pride peacocks as being government employees, so it’s not their headache what pupils want; they just want some income to feed their family.

The government sector teachers believed that they’re not capable of instructing and educating their child as compared to the private sector. What’s the fault of those poor people who cannot afford their kids’ education in the private sector? I felt ashamed while being an eyewitness to those teachers who are not able to teach their own child to get credit of being a teacher and a parent too. They’ve some doubt on their own credibility and having a lack of knowledge – it’s a bitter truth and reason.

On the contrary, the students enrolled at government schools are brilliant and have capacity to grasp basic things quickly, but the teachers are busy bee with parlance and haven’t enough time to teach them or give them wings to fly.

On the other hand, private schools have divided a single subject into three portions – English Grammar, English Composition and English General. Do private sector schools think that minor children can understand those things, which are of high level? Why these schools are exerting pressure on the children to read twelve subjects in four and five standard!

I cannot understand the current situation of the education system. The education system in Sindh has collapsed. Why the government does not look into the matter seriously, as it direly needs to improve.

Maria Khushk

Hyderabad, Sindh

Sindh govt. approves 340 jobs under deceased quota

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Chief Secretary Meeting - Sindh govt. approves 340 jobs - Sindh CourierThe jobs were sanctioned in education, health, LG, works & services and other provincial departments

Karachi: Sindh government on Wednesday approved 340 jobs under deceased quota in various provincial departments.

The approval was given in a meeting held at Sindh Secretariat under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah regarding implementation of deceased quota (quota fixed for legal heirs of government employees who died during Service).

Senior Member Board of Revenue Qazi Shahid Pervez, Secretary Food Abdul Haleem Sheikh, Secretary Culture Ali Akbar Laghari and other secretaries of various departments attended the meeting.

The meeting approved 207 jobs in school education department, 34 in Health, 5 in irrigation, 32 in Local Government, 12 in works and services department, 9 in agriculture, 8 in college education, 8 in livestock, 1 in food, 6 in public health engineering, 4 jobs in Home Department, 8 in Services & General Administration, 1 in Chief Minister’s Secretariat and 2 in Revenue Department.

Chief Secretary also sought report from all secretaries and deputy commissioners about District Recruitment Committees (DRC), the issues of death quota, disability quota and regularization of employees and directed that reports with comments should also be submitted timely in court cases.

The provincial government has started implementing the Sindh High Court verdict to make arrangements for providing jobs to children of deceased employees of various departments under the deceased employees’ son quota.

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