Talking of culture

Racism today has been eradicated from most part of developed and developing nations. However among the forms and types, new forms are arising while few are being tackled.

We have a disease as most call BEYFULHISM grown and watered till today.
People are discriminated according to their professional status, family, island, atoll etc..
We say "vadaigannava" to a person and "aadhey" to the person next .

Categorising people and communicating with them with so called different levels of speech is a disgrace.

The dialects, Addu, Fuvahmulah and Huvadhoobas do not have the levels of speech. For "aadhey", "bai" is used in Huvadhoo and addu other words with same meaning (hinga,
e-ya-vii) is found but no levels or forms at all.

Apart of this linguistic discriminality the treatment follows. People are distinguished by their home island. Rajjetherey and Male'. This shows how whole heartedly we believe in this system. Shows how truly we mean and differentiate "aadhey and Vadaigannava".

Theres ample evidence in our political arena, till today the basis of a major political party (hurricane encircling an epicenter) was that people of such and such charm, and style should rule us. Those who don't follow a particular dress code are not eligible as rulers.

In an island the politicians talk of an island harbour, island school etcc. They never talk of the bills in parliament or foreign relations with a new country except in Male' and Addu.

These people also dream of a national university and impatiently awaits their kids given much needed rehabilitation instead of a 25 year jail sentence who was busted with less than a gram of hash.

Reasoning to upold this linguistic mistake might be for cultural reasons, but why then did we throw away our own naming system. people were named rekibeyya, seedhi, mahakalaminja, goyye. They prove to have influence of from trips to Ceylon and other karakara's but these were our names and our unique age old culture. I believe few are aware that for son and daughter we have specific dhivehi names "soru" and "dhiye" respectively. After the entry of islamic scholars we completely copied the arabic names. Without realising even in these arabic countries they do have their own unique naming system.

We also copied their dress code. Not because of any social or political pressure but just because its the culture of Arabs. Urrg! The holy arabs! Our moderate Islam is being spoiled and ridiculed. Today we see rasonings from their side only. Not a single word from our side not to mention the efforts of minivan news on exposing such matters.

The procedure parents have to go through when naming their newborns is ridiculous. If the name is not arabic enough and with an established meaning its rejected. This is utter arrogance and preventing us from practising our freedom.

People need to be educated in linguistics and culture. This is our identity. We are a unique country not only separated in a map but from other cultures and linguistics.

We have got to bring back and uphold our culture and traditions. But ours only not of the Arabs or Indians. Not in the fundamentalistic way but the rational and reasonable way.

Indian bureaucracy, the worst in Asia

Referring to a 12 page report by Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Reuters reports, Singapore the most efficient bureaucracy while India ranks worst.

Report Quotes

India's "suffocating bureaucracy" was ranked the least-efficient by the survey, which said working with the country's civil servants was a "slow and painful" process.

"They are a power center in their own right at both the national and state levels, and are extremely resistant to reform that affects them or the way they go about their duties," PERC said.

Thailand, despite four years of on-off street protests and a year of dysfunctional government was ranked third.

"For all the country's troubles -- or perhaps because of them -- respondents to our survey were impressed with the way Thai civil servants have been carrying out their duties," PERC said.

It is important for a nation like us who just witnessed dawn of democracy under a new constitution and an independent civil service commission for the first time in history to learn from examples of Singapore and Thailand. At the mean time prevent the scenarios in India where corruption is wide spread and speed of bureaucracy is unbelievably slow.

Indeed it is no surprise for me to hear this since my three years of stay here has given me first hand experience of how they work. I hate to generalize but 99 out of every 100 Indian has the potential of becoming a parasite. They can instantly become brokers or dealers.

According to my personnel experience and other foreigners the most frequent phrase Indian civil servants use is - DO ONE THING, COME TOMORROW!

(Reuters news article)

Just a thought on politics.

It’s been a while since i have been waiting for the dust to settle, but it seems that its not going to happen.

I would like to focus on the three musketeers, KF Nasheed (not King Fisher beer or Airlines but Kulhudhuffushi) and Dhiyaana Saeed.

The Three Musketeers

Yes I am talking about the three doctors who were the first to invent a method to pressure a dictatorship from inside and outside so that it turns to democratic means. This method includes arresting peaceful protesters and commenting on international media that MAG is the Father of Democracy in Maldives.

Dr Hassan as misconceived by many is not in anyway thriving for people’s interest, he came to Maldives quite recently and joined MAG's government and has always been in the circles of the "kamu voshivegenvaa meehun" since then. From then till today trying for the highest office. There is no fault in it but those cheap shots like resigning on 100^th day, such n such nauseate me.

This Dr parted from DRP just because MAG wanted to run for the office for the 6th term instead of letting him. If for reform why not resign before. Why not just before that historic debate in which Dr Jameel was booed down.

Today Dr shaheed says DRP is going to walk back in the path of democracy. To say the least Dr shaheed and the trio were the ones who made this party such a strong hold to such an extent that anyone who wants to remain as a government employee should have the good quality membership card of DRP.
This is 2009 and no more can you pressure which ever way you like.

Talking of Dr Jameel i would like to tell a tale;
A kind hearted bird saw a turtle high up on land and inquired about his situation. After the good will talk the bird insisted on helping and bit a long stick and asked the turtle to bite the other end so that it can fly to the coast to leave the turtle at sea. As they flew turtle wanted to show off a bit and tried to speak to animal folks below, which birdy cautioned not to do. Too bad the turtle fell and died before reaching its destination.

It is sad to see young ambitious women to cut short her career like that. Yes she was the attorny general when she left but could not she be there for a full term and done a better job. Anyway you just cannot eat while biting the feeding hand.

KF Nasheed;

An advocate for smooth talking. A card holding member of DRP, who says he is an independant. I am ashamed of my fellow people who believe such crap. And now a motion to curtail president from directly appointing police and army chiefs but to appoint them through parliament, Its just a little too late for this since Nasheed and DRP advocated for a presidential form rather than a parliamentary form of governance.
However Nasheed’s bill on reducing Mp's salary deserves applaud.

To sum up

Why do we still believe when MAG and the likes say we are a small nation with little resources so this is all you are going to get! All these years we felt we are well versed just because an area less than 2km² has sky scrapers and some basic facilities. Now we realize that even this 2km² bit has more problems than solutions . Its time we erase MAG from the equation.

Does alternate medicine work?

If homeopathy can cure mere fatal diseases using infinitely diluted solutions of salts or sugars and spirit seekers can communicate with the dead, Fanditha and all related witch crafts should effect the recipient.???

Some prescribed medicines in homeopathy are labeled as 12C or 13 c solutions and so on. 12c is equivalent to a pinch of salt in both the North and South Atlantic Oceans and 13c is a pinch in all the water on the planet. After all the medicine patient takes is mere absolute water. Still this works and patients get cured.???

The spirit seekers bring the dead and communicate with them. Help loved ones to communicate with the deceased and convey their feelings. Of course with code reading and manipulating the so called spiritual minds and with luck they often guess correctly.

For example if fanditha is done to make a person fall sick the very first strategy is to let the recipient know that something is being done to make the person sick which automatically leads the victim fall for the fanditha. Specially people who believe in it.

I recently consulted an Ayurvedic doctor from Kashmir who diagnoses just by feeling the patients fore arm using her finger tips (stone age doc i guess ). When i asked her why she do not use a stethoscope which would obviously help her to diagnose better the answer was simply- " this is how its done and i know what i am doing".

According to this doc we are made of three elements:
vata- air and space element. Inbalance in this leads to muscle and bone related sicknesses
pitta- fire element. Inbalance leads to digestive system related disorders.
kapha- water & earth element. Inbalance leads to allergies of all kinds.

I had imbalance in the latter two elements and had a hard time leaving without buying the prescribed medicines.

So how do these alternate medicines work. Do they work at all??

The conclusion i arrived to after much surfing is the placebo effect. The phenomenon in which the dummy medicines giving psychological assurance which triggers positive immune response alleviating minor symptoms. The same way we feel symptom free just by wearing a thaweedhu .

To sum up, its all just placebo and there is no supernatural element involved in any of these so called alternate medicines and sorcery kind of stuffs.

Yoga-shankria

I have posted till part of the exercise from the first day of the workout and here follows the continuation. (read previous post )

Sitting in the current position hold the hip bone from both hands and keep the palm parallel to the ground. Take deep breaths as mentioned. ( breath in till 4 counts, hold for 4 counts, exhale for 6 counts and hold for 2 counts.) Repeat the cycle 6-8 times.



Rest hands on thigh and relax with normal breathing.



Raise hands to armpit and hold chest allowing thumb to be in armpit, as before keep palm parallel to the ground. Take deep breaths on 4-4-6-2 rhythm.

Rest hands on thigh and relax with normal breathing.

Fold hands back and let palm rest touching back at the shoulder level. Take deep breaths in 4-4-6-2 rhythm.





Rest hands on thigh and relax with normal breathing.

Raise arms slowly while inhaling and lower the arm all of a sudden with forceful exhalation ,while lowering the hand clench the fist and lower till shoulder level. Repeat 15-20 times.


Rest hands on thigh and relax with normal breathing and take position as shown .

Take 20 long breaths, 40 medium breaths and 40 short breaths continuously and when finished, start with 20 long breaths and repeat the cycle thrice.



Rest hands on thigh and relax with normal breathing.

Lie down facing the ceiling for 10 mins ( shivasa) and roll onto right side and rest for 10 mins while norming breathing.

Sit up and take the above mentioned position and open the eyes slowly becoming aware of the surrounding.

This is the exercise carried out through out the 4 day course and with practice its easy to master the breathing techniques.

Summary of the lectures through out the program:

I'd love to share moral lessons of the program but since its very general and is same through out i'l skip the mumbo jumbo.

These exercises do really change the state of mind and hope it will benefit every one who tries.

http://www.artofliving.org/intl/

Can Animals Sense Natural Disasters?

On December 26, 2004, an earthquake along the floor of the Indian Ocean was responsible for a tsunami that claimed the lives of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa. In the midst of all the destruction, wildlife officials at Sri Lanka's Yala National Park have reported no mass animal deaths. Yala National Park is a wildlife reserve populated by hundreds of wild animals including elephants, leopards, and monkeys. Researchers believe that these animals were able to sense the danger long before humans.

Animals have keen senses that help them avoid predators or locate prey. It is thought that these senses might also help them detect pending disasters. Several countries have conducted research on the detection of earthquakes by animals. There are two theories as to how animals may be able to detect earthquakes. One theory is that animals sense the earth's vibrations. Another is that they can detect changes in the air or gases released by the earth. There has been no conclusive evidence as to how animals may be able to sense earthquakes. Some researchers believe the animals at Yala National Park were able to detect the earthquake and move to higher ground before the tsunami hit, causing massive waves and flooding.

Other researchers are skeptical about using animals as earthquake and natural disaster detectors. They site the difficulty of developing a controlled study that can connect a specific animal behavior with an earthquake occurrence. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) officially states: Changes in animal behavior cannot be used to predict earthquakes. Even though there have been documented cases of unusual animal behavior prior to earthquakes, a reproducible connection between a specific behavior and the occurrence of an earthquake has not been made. Because of their finely tuned senses, animals can often feel the earthquake at its earliest stages before the humans around it can. This feeds the myth that the animal knew the earthquake was coming. But animals also change their behavior for many reasons, and given that an earthquake can shake millions of people, it is likely that a few of their pets will, by chance, be acting strangely before an earthquake.

Although scientists disagree as to whether animal behavior can be used to predict earthquakes and natural disasters, they all agree that it is possible for animals to sense changes in the environment before humans. Researchers around the world are continuing to study animal behavior and earthquakes. It is hoped that these studies will help to aid earthquake predictions.

Sermon of an independant prayer group!

With all these fundamentalists and jihadhists grabbing headlines I'll write about an event very related to these headlines.

Last January, when i was in Male' for holidays the day after i arrived was a friday. Sice it was the first friday for me after the new regime and new Islamic Ministry i was longing to hear the new styled friday sermons which are preached live without being stamped prior by the Presidents office.

I was wondering and looking forward eagerly to hear a lively sermon instead of those miskithun kunaanegun and beyrah kulhujehun type sermons. On my way to Islamy Markazu i passed by the mosque near CHSE infront of moonimaage where we used to go during our school days.

I saw bunch of guys with thick beards wearing kurtha type gowns at the entrance of the mosque tearing down the notice pasted on the wall by Islamic Affairs Ministry. Later i found out that the notice states not to proceed with the Friday prayer since the ministry have not allocated an Imaam.

Out of curiosity i wanted to listen to their sermon and pray with them. As i entered i thought i was entering a madarasa or a camp in Afganistan since almost all were thick bearded and gowned. Luckily i wasn't the odd one out because of the presence of some Bangladeshi laborers.

Anyway lets get to the point. The sermon stated that we being muslims have to follows our prophets teachings and Gods word from word to word.

Being an Islamic country should mean that its administration and all of its affairs should be islamic and according to Hadhis and Quran by all means. So in the sermon he questioned if our coutry is islamic. And stated that a country cannot be accepted as a Muslim country unless and until it does justice as stated in Quran and Sunnah, thus an adulterer in marriage should be stoned, blasphemist beheaded, stealer's hand amputated and so on.

And as a conclusion he stated that since our administration does not carry out such acts of justices and allow nude women to dance on roads, kuffars to mix with our people and so on Thus our administration is at the worst in islamic scale. They are thowooths.

Therefore such an admistation should be brought down through Jihad. Don't go to them to fulfill any need. Not even to register a vehicle nor for marriage. Dont send children to corrupt schools where kuffars are hired as teachers. And stated that It is obligatory for them to initiate this war since for those paradise is longing where rivers and streams follow beneath.

Iam sure those who go pray their friday prayers in that mosque and listen to those sermons would be higly spirited and would not hesitate a split second for jihad and accept orders from their leader who ever it is.

So today here we are Terrorism and tourism mixed. white sandy beachers with sleeping terrorist cells .

Mind you these sleeping cells are no longer asleep. With democracy and freedom evryone has shackled the fear including them.

http://www.minivannews.com/comments_analysis_detail.php?id=6258

http://www.minivannews.com/news_detail.php?id=5793

http://www.minivannews.com/news_detail.php?id=6267

Experiencing Hindu rituals.

Art of living is an organization founded (1982) by an Indian Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The art of living organization conducts courses of various lengths and types which are composed of Hindu religious practice of meditation and yoga which helps to relax body and mind. According to the organization more than 300 million people world wide has taken part in this program and tell the tales of them selves being transformed.

Few days back I took part in the program-1 sudhashankria and would like to share my experience. Each day the programme is conducted between 4 to 9 pm for 4 days. I am going to summarize each day’s lectures and sudhashankria exercise.

Day 1-

Lecture points

-breath is effortless and we often fail to recognize it thus is beyond our consciousness.

- We always tend to link our happiness to things that will or is going to happen some time soon. We always look forward for something to happen in near future. Thus we are not happy at the time being and at the moment. We tend to forget what is there at present. Try to get out of this mindset and try concentrating on the present situation which will help us to appreciate it.

- Minds needs are unlimited while they enter through limited sense organs. Think of this when ever you feel the need for something.

- Observe things and nature which helps you realize there’s not only past and future but present.

Exercise:

Sit on your legs bent from the knee and front of it touching the floor.

Hands on the thigh facing the sky (always on receiving mode)

Breathe deeply concentrating the down end of neck. Try controlling breath from this region of neck and observe that belly moves in and out as air is forced in and out.

Breathe deeply for 6-10 times and close right nostril with thumb while touching in between eyebrows with index finger, breath out heavily through left nostril and gush in then close left nostril with middle finger and open right nostril and breath out and let air gush in deeply now and let go through left nostril. Repeat with both nostrils for 6-10 times.

Rest the hand on thighs and relax with normal breathing.

Not the end of Day 1.(will continue on next post)