The spirit of the WARRIOR

Years ago, I cherished a dream of being a warrior. The stories of Nuh (Noah), Musa (Moses), Ibrahim (Abraham), Isa (Jesus), Aadam (Adam), etc. peace be upon them all, has always fascinated and inspired me. They fought not just against bad but also established path for truth and intellectuality. One of my favourites was, how Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) asks his father, who was an idol seller, about how the idol that cannot protect itself, be the God of this creation. Later, he destroys the idols and finds the true God. However people refuse to agree to his ideas and decide to throw him in the burning fire. When he was just about to be thrown in the fire, Jibrael (Gabriel, an angel) tries to protect him, for which Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) questions Jibrael whether Allah has sent him. Jibrael says, he has come on his own and Allah hasn’t sent him. Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) refuses to take the help of Jibrael. Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) was convinced that, Allah’s help would arrive and the heat of fire would do no harm to him. In my opinion, that’s the true WARRIOR spirit. No matter what the situation is, one shouldn’t give up hope on God. God’s delays his help to test, but ultimately the help would arrive. The greatness of Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) or for that matter all the great warriors that have existed, is that, they believed that God’s help would arrive and never gave up.

We all are born with the spirit of warrior, however, the survival of that spirit depends on the decisions we make in life. Life, somehow, throws up a situation, where nothing appears possible. That’s when the true spirit of warrior comes into picture. Many of us, give-up and choose an alternate path. But few show conviction that, God’s help would arrive. 80 years back, an Albanian Nun came to India with a dream of providing the shelter to millions of homeless people and she was convinced that God’s help would arrive. It was the true warrior within her, that shaped her conviction about God’s help. She wasn’t rich… she didn’t have people… yet, she believed that God’s help would arrive. And indeed God’s help arrived… from little known Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, she became Mother Teresa.

Such is the power, in believing that God’s help would arrive. Merely having the spirit of Warrior isn’t enough. A warrior relentlessly fights against bad. The fight is not against bad people… but it is against cause. Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) fought against falsehood, Mother Teresa fought against poverty, Galileo fought against ignorance… A warrior always fights for a cause…

I feel incredibly blessed to have parents, who shaped my dream. I must have been about 2 years old, when my father told me the life incidents of not just prophets such as Ibrahim, Nuh, Musa, Isa, Mohammed (peace be upon them all) but also about several great people who existed on this planet. I don’t know whether, they (my parents) meant to create this dream within me… but it somehow got created. While growing up, I was a lost in the windless of ignorance and wrong-pursuits… but the days of adolescence reconstructed that dream and put forward a cause that I need to fight for. But the question remains, do I have that spirit of warrior? Do I have that unparalleled conviction that God’s help would arrive?

Some say you got to be chosen by God to succeed in life. I believe, we all are chosen. It is our actions that decide whether we retain the hand of God over our head or not. I know, I have done nothing special in life… in fact, I find myself in the pits of sins and ignorance. Sometimes, I cry for death and forgiveness … sometimes I find I have already broken the bond between God and me. But there are times, I realize, nothing breaks the bond between God and His devotee. Little things in life, remind that there is still time to purify the soul and walk on the path of wisdom. The warrior within is still not lost. I am trying to perfect myself. I am not yet there… but I shall be there soon. I am going through the phase of purification. Something within me, says, the Allah’s help would soon arrive.

Being a Muslim and an Indian gives me a unique cause to fight for. Centuries ago, Indians walked on this planet as the most powerful race. Not just we contributed the highest GDP of the world… but we also showed unprecedented inclination towards science. But as it happens often in history, the divide among people led to decline of India. Today, only the ruins remain. Recently, at International Congress of Mathematicians, someone questioned me, ‘what’s the point in discovering zero, if you become one?’ I didn’t have an answer for him. In last 100 years, none of the Indians have contributed anything worthwhile in the field to mathematics to win a Field’s medal. In last 100 years, we have got less than 10 Nobel prizes for our contribution to advancement of human excellence. We have million excuses and thousand reasons to convince ourselves that we are not at fault. So, what should I reply to him? He was a mathematician and he wanted an answer that is based on numerical proof.

And then, being a Muslim in 21^st century has its own set of challenges. In last two years, I have been on short business visits to nations of three different continents and I very well know the opinion of different people about Islam and its followers. Similar to Indian race is the story of Islam/Muslims. When Islam arrived, it took the world by a storm. We conquered continents and Islam rapidly spread to every region of the world. The Islamic Golden age began. Baghdad became the hub of scientific discoveries and intellectual conferences. It bridged the gap between east and west… and initiated, what I would like to call, the true scientific revolution. Undoubtedly, Al-Hazen is called as the world’s first true scientist. But, as it often happens in history, the decline of Islam happened as the followers of Islam became disconnected from teachings of Islam. Today, every Muslim is seen as a potential terrorist, someone who would cause damage to the society and innocent life. I understand, we have been used by nations to fight proxy wars and lot of injustice has been done. However, our actions have been completely against the teachings of Islam. Terrorism is neither an invention of Islam nor it is allowed.

My cause is to change the mind-set of the people towards my race and religion. The cause is to bring the glory back to my nation and religion. The cause is to earn respect for my nation and religion. And why I want to do it? I have a very simple answer and that is ‘I can do it’. And I know my path won’t be easy. There are numerous challenges and barriers. Yet, the spirit of warrior within me says, God’s help would arrive and the cause shall succeed.

Now, you might ask, why am I writing this all down? Why don’t I first succeed and then say all this? There are two reasons why I have written this down. While, I have high conviction that God’s help would arrive but I also know, I am much distorted human being. I have committed grave mistakes and as I said I am still going through the phase of purification. If at all, I fail to succeed for some reason, I don’t want the cause to remain unknown and unachieved. I want people to fight for this cause in parallel along with me. Someone among us would receive the God’s help and the cause would succeed. The reason two is, I want the people around me to understand, that whatever I am doing, I doing it with a vision. I want them to trust me and hold on to me, until the help of God arrives. It’s going to be very difficult and I know, it’s ambitious and virtually impossible. I wish to say, stay by my side… even if I don’t reach my destination…this journey itself is going to be worthwhile.

Our actions echo for centuries, if they are done at right time and the right way. This is undoubtedly the right time and I believe I have found the right way. The spirit of warrior says me, Allah’s help would soon arrive and the cause shall succeed.

Reserved India

India, as a civilization has had a long history. Like any other civilization, there have been historic wonders and blunders. One grave defect in Indian history is the division of people based on their profession and imposing a hereditary system that forces the offspring to continue his/her father’s profession whether he/she likes it or not. This historic blunder eventually resulted in what we now refer as ‘caste system’. More than 90% of the people in India were considered as ‘lower-caste’ and weren’t given equal human rights, almost all throughout the history. Given the fact that, at no point in the history there has been a notable rebellion against caste system by the people, it would be safe to say, most Indians have got adapted to ‘caste system’. For many of them, their ‘caste’ gives them a sense of identity of being part of a particular community. It was this sense of identity among people based on their caste that posed a threat to India being as a single nation post 1947. If Jinnah can incite a group of people of his faith to fight for a separate nation, why can’t another leader from a particular caste incite the people of his/her caste to demand a separate nation? Such a rebellion can take the nation apart. Though, never expressed, this question lingered the best minds of India while defining the Constitution of India.

As India was on the verge of receiving independence from Britain, majority of the people including future Prime Minister who controlled the power belonged to the elite ‘upper caste’. It became increasingly evident before the people that, independence was only for ‘namesake’, the power still remains with the same class of people, albeit in a different form. The situation was such that, all it needed was one capable leader from ‘lower caste’ to start a civil war that would break the nation into pieces. The fear was evident but was unspoken in open. Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was one such leader, who represented the educated voice of ‘lower caste’ people of India. He openly criticized the ‘way of life’ of people, raised his voice against customs of untouchability and demanded power for ‘Dalits’. Moreover, Dr. Ambedkar was one man who had guts to criticize even Gandhi in public and get away with it. He once quoted ‘Don’t call Gandhi a saint. He is a seasoned politician. When everything else fails, Gandhi will resort to intrigue’. Also, Dr. Ambedkar made his intension clear in his book The Untouchables: A Thesis on the Origins of Untouchability, in which he quotes ‘…the Hindu Civilization is a diabolical contrivance to suppress and enslave humanity. Its proper name would be infamy. What else can be said of a civilization which has produced a mass of people... who are treated as an entity beyond human intercourse and whose mere touch is enough to cause pollution?’.

Top politicians in India were intelligent enough to sense the gravity of the situation. If Dr. Ambedkar was allowed to propagate his agenda, the nation would witness war for the rights of ‘lower-caste people’ and the power would go away from the hands of elite few. How can the elite upper class (caste) remain in power and yet give assurance to lower-class that there is a future ahead of them? Something had to be done before it becomes too late.

Just when the doubts were being raised, Indian National Congress demonstrated its political acumen by making Dr. Ambedkar the Union Law Minister and Chairmen to draft the Indian constitution. The point to be noted here is, Dr. Ambedkar was not the member of Indian National Congress (INC) and had contested elections against INC during 1946 elections. Now, the ball was in the hands of Dr. Ambedkar. He is the one now who is drafting the laws of the nation; he can do all he wants to make the laws in favor of lower-caste people. Had Dr. Ambedkar not accepted the government post and fought for the rights of suppressed classes of people, today, he would have been considered the ‘Nelson Mandela’ of India and probably would have been the first Prime Minister of India with Dalit background. Instead, he accepted the post of Union Law minister and drafted the Indian constitution.

Dr. Ambedkar had several challenges before him. The foremost being, he wanted to abolish the caste system in India however, he soon realized, if caste system is abolished, then he cannot demand for special privileges for ‘lower-caste people’ for the years of discrimination. That’s when he came up with the idea of classification of castes in terms of economic positions. He called the upper-castes as forward castes and lower castes as backward castes. With the new classification, it was easy for him to defend special privileges for backward castes. Dr. Ambedkar took the idea of reservations (the idea of reservations for certain castes existed in some parts of India since 1900) one step further. He drafted the constitution such that it allowed up to 50% of the public jobs and admissions to universities reserved for the people from backward castes. Obviously, Dr. Ambedkar knew the repercussions of ‘reservations’ but for him, it was the safest way he could safeguard the rights of backward classes and project himself in good light. I say this especially because Indian constitution could have easily defined reservations to ‘backward people’ instead of ‘backward caste’, which would have also helped in abolishing ‘caste system’ in India. But Dr. Ambedkar felt, it is easier for him to justify reservations for backward castes than backward people. In all his technical work towards Indian constitution, Dr. Ambedkar failed to realize, the precise reason why he was granted the position of Union Law Minister of India even though he wasn’t from Indian National Congress. In the end, all he did was, solved the thorn for INC. With ‘reservation system’ placed, Dr. Ambedkar made sure that - there is no uprising against the forward classes, who controlled the power.

For last sixty years, no one has dared to remove the concept of reservations in Indian constitution; instead politicians have only strengthened it by using it for political gains. Flaws of ‘reservation system’ have been openly discussed in public forums, internet chats and media. Narayan Murthy, the founder of Infosys and a potential candidate for President of India once remarked ‘We have become, perhaps, the only nation in the world where people fight to be called backward rather than forward’. It sounds all good for Narayan Murthy to give such quotation but no politician or people’s leader in India is dare enough to put forward the unspoken truth before people. It still remains- it is the reservations that have kept our nation as a single entity in last sixty years. Remove the reservations, the nation will break apart.

In such a scenario, what best we can do for the development of nation? The answer is simple. The task is to create a path for development within the framework of reservation system. As politically correct as I may sound, that’s the only way going forward. Also, ‘reservations’ is not the actual problem, the problem is, how long will it continue? I humbly request all those people who aren’t ‘backward’ anymore and yet continue to take advantage of reservations, to think about two things:

(i) No religion discriminates people and it’s the people who are culprits. Now, the time has given opportunity to everyone to follow their religion in proper sense. From the scriptures of Santana Dharma (that’s the actual name of Hinduism, I bet more than 50% people who claimed to be following Hinduism doesn’t know their religion’s actual name). I have read, it clearly states every human being is equal before God. It’s time for the followers to read their scriptures and follow their religion in true sense. And when you truly start following the religion, you will realize that ‘you need not force your children to be of your same caste’. A Hindu can be a true Hindu without being part of any caste.

(ii) Constitution of India grants you the right to choose any religion you want. If you still find yourself suppressed by caste system then you have the right to free yourself from it. You are free to choose any religion that gives you equal human rights or not follow any religion at all.

In the end I want to say, if you are not economically backward, it is ethically wrong to take advantage of reservation system

At-Tariq–Chapter 86, Holy Quran

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

By the Sky and the Night-Visitant (therein)― (1) And what will explain to thee what the Night-Visitant is?― (2) (It is) the Star of piercing brightness― (3) There is no soul but has a protector over it. (4) Now let man but think from what he is created! (5) He is created from a drop emitted― (6) Proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs: (7) Surely (Allah) is able to bring him back (to life)! (8) The Day that (all) things secret will be tested. (9) (Man) will have no power, and no helper. (10) By the Firmament which returns (in its round), (11) And by the Earth which opens out (for the gushing of springs or the sprouting of vegetation)― (12) Behold this is the Word that distinguishes (Good from Evil): (13) It is not a thing for amusement. (14) As for them, they are but plotting a scheme, (15) And I am planning a scheme. (16) Therefore grant a delay to the unbelievers: give respite to them gently (for a while). (17)

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At-Tariq is one of the special chapters of Holy Quran, that makes an explicit mention about the scientific aspect of creation of human being. In verses 5, Allah questions the human beings to think, from where were they created. In the following verses, Allah says, a human being was created from the drop emitted, from the backbone and the ribs. Indeed, this is scientifically true. We know that, origin of a human being takes place from the drop of semen, which originates at prostate gland that lies between ribs and backbone.  And then, in the verses 8 and 9, Allah makes a statement that, on the Judgement Day, He will bring the human being back to life.

I think, one of the important message of this chapter to all the human beings is to realize how they were created. We see people around us, who after gaining little bit of fame and wealth, won’t keep their feet on ground. This chapter is a reminder for those people to think. Someday, everyone is going to die… and after death, we are accountable to what we do on this planet. If Allah can create us from a drop of semen, He can definitely keep an account of everything that we have on this planet… and definitely will bring us back to life on Judgement day. Let us prepare ourselves for that day. Let our lives be in the direction shown by Allah in His Holy Book and the actions of Prophet Mohammed (Peace be Upon Him).

May Allah grant us wisdom, intellectuality and peace.

Cloud Computing – Overview

The latest buzz word in IT world is ‘cloud computing’ and it’s been hailed as the paradigm shift for the industry. Before I elaborate further about cloud computing, let me clarify for those who aren’t familiar with IT industry, ‘cloud computing’ hasn’t got to do anything with either ‘clouds’ or a new form of ‘computing’. As you know, IT folks have a habit of adding fancy words to their computer vocabulary, apparently ‘cloud computing’ happens to be the latest. The word ‘cloud’ is being used here to refer ‘internet’ and the term ‘cloud computing’ means ‘computing services delivered via internet’.

‘Cloud computing’ is neither a new invention nor something unknown to IT industry. Ever since internet came into existence, it has existed; it’s just that we know it with other names. Yahoo Mail & Messenger, Hotmail, Gmail, Facebook, etc. are all examples of cloud computing. In fact, every internet application can be considered as an example of ‘cloud computing’. You might ask, then, why is it being considered as the next big thing? The answer has to do with something called ‘marketing’. In recent times, most of the software giants have realized that, small companies (both IT and non-IT) are unable to afford and maintain IT infrastructure for their online applications. This is due to increasing costs of reliable software, maintenance and administration costs along with additional costs such as space, electricity and high speed LAN connection. Note, here IT infrastructure refers to the datacenter, not to be confused with physical client computers.

As a solution to this crisis, several software giants such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, VMWare, IBM, etc. have proposed the idea of renting IT infrastructure to companies on pay per use basis. However, unlike traditional renting of physical assets, IT infrastructure renting is slightly different. Here, companies don’t pay for the IT infrastructure per se; they pay for the processing capabilities of IT infrastructure. Here’s how it works. Company engages a service provider to host their web based application. Depending on the request, service provider allocates servers (computational resources) to the subscriber in the data center, while taking the entire responsibility of maintaining servers with latest software, data security and energy needs. Also, the subscriber is provided with the flexibility to reduce or increase the servers on the fly. Depending on the usage of the servers, subscribers pay to the service providers.

For example, Microsoft’s cloud computing model is referred as ‘Microsoft Azure’. Azure allows companies to host their applications on Microsoft datacenters on pay-per-use basis. A company subscribing to Azure need not own IT infrastructure to host their application, all it needs to do is… specify Microsoft about their IT infrastructure needs and Microsoft would be providing the same. The responsibility of maintaining the IT infrastructure, software upgrades, reliability, security and legal compliance of servers rests with Microsoft. This gives a good deal to subscribing companies, as they just have to take care about their application rather than all their IT infrastructure needs. Similar models have been proposed by Amazon, Google, VMware and IBM.

If you still don’t understand the model, let me give you another example. Let’s say, you along with your friends want to play Cricket. Logistically, you would need a cricket kit and a cricket ground. Of course, you can purchase a cricket kit as it is affordable but what about a cricket ground? Would you purchase a land, hire a curator and create a cricket pitch or just rent a slot in a nearby cricket ground? Unless you have lot of money, purchasing a land, hiring a curator, and creating a cricket pitch for playing cricket doesn’t make sense. It’s just common sense to rent a cricket ground for playing cricket and pay for the time-duration you use. Similarly, for a company (IT and non-IT) to host its applications over internet, it’s just common sense to take IT infrastructure on rent for hosting their applications and pay for the processing capabilities they want.

If you look at the cloud computing scenario, you might question, why isn’t this option available right from the beginning? It makes no sense for non-IT companies, who want to host web based applications to purchase and maintain IT infrastructure. Why wasn’t this idea of renting IT infrastructure thought earlier? The answer to all these questions has to do with ‘dependence’. Just like, playing cricket on rented ground makes the game dependent on the pitch conditions, hosting their applications on the rented datacenters make the companies dependent on service providers. Each service provider of cloud computing model will have its own limitations and the subscribers have to comply with those limitations. Another reason that I see has played an important role in delaying the entry of cloud services in the industry is ‘data security’. What if the sensitive information stored on IT infrastructure owned by service provider gets compromised? Does the service provider give the guarantee of data security? These questions often play a major role in deciding on whether a company has to subscribe for cloud computing services or not.

In the end, I want to say, cloud computing (or whatever other name we used to refer it) is here to stay and there is nothing too special about it. If implemented properly, it will be beneficial to everyone.

Halloween over Diwali?

There was a time, when Diwali was supposed to be the most joyous festival celebrated in India. The darkness of night was conquered with ‘anars’ and ‘diyas’. The skies were lighted with rockets. The atmosphere was dominated with the uproar of ‘pathakas’ and ‘sutli-bombs’. Where has it all gone? What a quiet Diwali it has been.

I was talking to one of my friends online… after I wished him about Diwali, I asked him about, what are his plans about celebrating Diwali tonight. To my surprise, he says, this Diwali is being celebrated as ‘Green Diwali’ with no crackers… a total pollution-free night. I was like … dude… without burning crackers… it’s no Diwali. And why the hell are you linking the celebration with pollution? And he started lecturing me about ‘how much pollution the crackers cause’, environment affect and inconvenience it causes to people of other religions. I was like… WTF! Inconvenience to people of other religions??? Who the hell even complained? During Ganesh Chaturthi, for about 10 days, at every street end, a big Idol of Ganesh is kept blocking the traffic and loud music is played till mid-night… yet nobody complained. People of India are sensible enough to understand the celebrations of each other. Nobody in India has felt Diwali as inconvenience… Diwali has always been celebration of light and love.

Anyhow, yesterday night (5^th Nov), I waited for the evening when the sky would light up with rockets. At about 7 PM, I stood in the balcony to witness the charm of the Diwali (I am currently in Bangalore, staying at a hotel). Unfortunately, it wasn’t like the Diwali I have been witnessing over the years. Occasionally, there was sound of a cracker, but the whole night was so quite. It was as-if it wasn’t the occasion of Diwali. At about 9 PM, there were few burning of crackers and rockets for about 5 minutes... and that’s about it. Damn it! Five years back, we burned more crackers than that, whenever India defeated Pakistan in a cricket match!

You might ask… why am I feeling so bad about it? It isn’t part of the religion I follow, so why should I be bothered about it? So, let me say, Diwali isn’t just about a particular religion. Over the years, it has become part of culture of India. It’s has its uniqueness and that’s makes it special. Imagine Christmas without Christmas tree, imagine Id without ‘sheer-khurma’ and biryani… it doesn’t sound joyous! It’s neither that Christianity says, you cannot celebrate Christmas without a Christmas tree… nor Islam says, you cannot celebrate Id without sheer-khurma and biryani. It is the culture that makes to celebrate certain festivals certain way. For example, imagine celebrating Holi without colors? Imagine celebrating Raksha-bandhan without rakhi? It doesn’t makes sense. So is, celebrating Diwali without crackers.

Also, what adds to my anger is that fact that, few days back, Indians in all metropolitan cities celebrated Halloween with lots of passion. I wonder why! In Hyderabad, virtually every pub/restaurant had Halloween party and there were all these people with weird costumes. Indians celebrating in Halloween in US can be justified as an attempt to mingle with American people… but Indians in India celebrating a festival which has nothing to do with India is bizarre. Anyhow, I am not against celebration. But what I really against is, if the people have time and budget to celebrate Halloween… why don’t they have time and budget to celebrate Diwali the way it is supposed to be celebrated?

Saying, burning of crackers during Diwali causes pollution and hence, one is not burning crackers to avoid pollution is bull. It’s ridiculous argument. Think about it… there are numerous other ways to reducing pollution that we ignore. Diwali happens once a year… it’s a moment of joy. From centuries, we have been celebrating it through lighting up the light… now, all of a sudden… not celebrating the way it is supposed to be… shows the hypocrisy . Someday, this hypocrisy will result in losing our uniqueness. Common Indians… wake up! We need to retain the good things in our culture… our festivals are one among them.

I apologize if this has hurt anyone. But the truth is, I wanted to express my mind. As a citizen of a nation that supports freedom, I am allowed to express this.