The Alchemy of Happiness

'...a mistake of an opposite kind is made by shallow people who,
echoing some phrases which they have caught from Sufi teachers,
go about decrying all knowledge' - Al-Ghazzali (The Alchemy of Happiness)

The Alchemy of Happiness (Kimiya'e sa' adat), originally written in Persian by Imam Al-Ghazzali, is a book based on Sufism in Islam. Rather powerful usage of words, Al-Ghazzali is enlightening for the distressed spiritual soul looking for inspiration from a world beyond.

Having learnt Al-Ghazzali's quote (italicized above), to review 'The Alchemy of Happiness' would be a paradox. Such that the desire is to extract abstract, echoing partial knowledge...

Knowledge of Self - the highest faculty in him is reason; as regards, to his mere animal qualities, man is inferior to many animals, but reason makes him superior to them.

The Knowledge of this world - the world is like a table spread for successive relays of guests who come and go... the wise guest eats as much as is sufficient for him, smells the perfumes, thanks his host, and departs.

Begum Benazir... Ziddi Madam

Some might say 'Brave', others may simply say 'Foolish', Benazir Bhutto being - perhaps - both.

Her death has been haunting. The intensity of a public figure whom, for the babies of the 80s, would probably have been a household name since the day they were born... living through the world events as it happened to the shake from the waking news last December (a day after the anniversary of another shocking natural calamity: Tsunami).

Being the Ziddi Madam (Stubborn Madam) that she was, Marhumma Benazir was determined to leave a legacy be it in living form the political throne, or just a simple imprint - "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West".

The predator or the prey?

"Lady Madonna

...children at your feet
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet
Who finds the money when you pay the rent
Did you think that money was heaven sent?"

Far from Cat Stevens with his 'Lady D'Arbanville' (inspired by Yusuf's love at the time), Paul McCartney would definately have to be a psychic if his Lady Madonna were a tribute to dearest Heather Mills, as the lady struggles. Take a queue from the lyrics of Lady D'Arbanville... 'I loved you my lady'...

Alas! I have my very own 'Lady Madonna' [Lady boss! literally; putting aside Snoop Dogg's metaphoric description of his wife (another pretentious cow)]... she manipulates, shows false compassion, though not so much a hard-headed woman.

Lady Madonna is a bit of a coward, with no sense of reality. She has made me lose faith in Her Majesty for rewarding so-called good citizens with OBEs, MBEs, etc. Sometimes, Cruela De vil gets rewarded for making nice coats from dalmations. Similarly, Lady Madonna has an OBE gong for ?????

My Lady and I both work on a virtually non-existent project. She has all the money, it was sent to her from heaven, or may be the blackhole "Enron-style".

I have the perfect gift for my lady - 12 feet sari for 5 feet 2 inches lady madonna. Okay, may be another foot (including the blouse piece part attached). 13 feet sari for 5 feet 2 inches fat lady madonna.

Shatranj ki Khiladi - The Chess Player: A tribute

The first blog: lost virginity. The namesake of this blog, "Shatranj", comes from Shatranj ki Khiladi (i.e. The Chess Player) - a film by Satyajit Ray (apparently, one of Ray's most overrated films, although the title in itself is kind of pretty and sounds important). Hence, a tribute to the one of the wisemen who brought wisdom and intellect on planet earth.

Shatranj - the word itself means 'Chess', an old form of chess mostly popular in Persia.

Following the christening session/introduction of this blog, Shatranj will - from this day forth - be pronounced by strategy, beauty (hence, the Greeen Shatranj), and alot of vomiting (thoughts).

...go Kosovo ;-) less ethnic cleansing, and more soul purifying.