Aal Iz Naat Vell

I strongly disagree with the idea of conducting formal examinations to test students' proficiency in a particular field. I think it is rather unnecessary.

I believe that it's laughable when people try to pass exams just to get the marks, myself included. We're all chasing after a false reality because in the end, our knowledge is what is really put to test in the real world, not our marks.

This is not my conclusion after watching 3 idiots, because TBH, I was thinking about this for quite some time now, after my move to Cambridge, to be precise. 3 Idiots just happened to further reinforce these thoughts in my head.

I believe the whole education system is deeply flawed. I mean c'mon! Look at it!
Every single thing that i've learnt so far from grade 1 uptill now, overlooking, let's say grade 9? I've forgotten all of it! I can't even answer basic scientific/geography questions unless I've recently read about them on my own. That's because we've always been taught to get the highest marks in school and be ahead of everyone else in the race, whilst turning a blind eye to what really matters: KNOWLEDGE!

I mean what's the point of learning everything, solving a paper, taking a huge sigh of relief after you've passed and then forgetting every single thing that you've learnt, the next academic year? I frankly don't remember a thing that was taught to me.

I believe the American education system is still somewhat better than the British curriculam that I study in. That's because it's visual/practical learning applicable practically, and not just limited to theoretical "knowledge". Theory-oriented curriculams have a lot of implications; maybe some people can't seem to write that much in a limited amount of time. For some, there is the language barrier. Some people can't explain themselves through the right choice of words. There are many problems that hinder you from getting the marks that you're capable of.
What really matters, or rather SHOULD matter, is that we remember this knowledge later on and are able to put it to practical use.

Knowledge should be such that it hones our capabilities and makes us much more intelligent. Everyone is capable of achieving brilliance in whatever they are capable of.

However, the sad reality is, the whole world relies on the grading system, overlooking practical intelligence. Infact, we've all become victims to the modern civil education system. Schools are breeding brainwashed robots that have no idea how to apply their knowledge in the real world, myself included.
And I feel ridiculous about it. It's easy to show in the movies how, without studying, you still rank highest in university. Dear reader! That's not how it works in the real world. Atleast that's not how I've witnessed it work in this world ever in my 17 years of existence.
In this world, you get turned down for jobs even when you've had a consistent 4.0 GPA from a renowned university in USA.
In the real world, babies that are still-born don't come alive when you say "aal iz vell".
It's just now how it happens.

What we need is a revolution-- someone to change the whole education system, the whole concept of success, the whole concept of knowledge and brilliance.
Knowledge does not equate to straight As.
Success does not equate to a Harvard education, a Ferrari and a private jet parked on a priceless property in some exotic location.
Brilliance is again, not scoring As consistently throughout your education.

Those are not the definitions in my world, but sadly, they are in the real world.

The real question is- HOW?
How do we bring about a revolution in this deeply flawed education system?
There goes...some food for thought ladies and gentlemen!

5 Most Annoying Questions People Ask You

1. OMG! Tum itni moti kaise hogaeeeein?!

A giant balloon tore through my throat and settled itself in my belly ._.
I mean SERIOUSLY! WTF IS UP WITH THAT?! What do you mean HOW?! Either, I have a hormonal disbalance, or I stuffed my face! HOW ELSE DO YOU THINK I BALLOONED UP YOU FAGGOT?! More importantly, why do YOU care if mein moti hogai! You don't just go up to people and say that, that's just moronic and unethical! Oh the sheer stupidity of human kind is going to make me old before age *sits with hand on heart, stooping stature*

2. Alllaaaaaaah! Itni barhi kaisi hogaein tum?!

*pulls hair out* My mommy grabbed me from one end, my dad from another and pulled me together. Or maaybe, JUST MAYBE, a bug crawled its way into my biological system and SCREWED IT ALL UP!

3. Are you okay?

My friends are backstabbing me, my parents practically disowned me, my dog died, why yes, I'm perfectly fine thank you :]

DO I FREAKIN' LOOK OKAY?!?!?!

4. Are you hurt?

Now why would you be moronic enough to think I'd be hurt if I just fell on the middle of the freakin' road on broken glass?!?!
I FELL ON A GODDAMN CEMENT FLOOR! MY KNEES ARE FREAKIN' BURNING!

5. -"Yaar, I'm really thirsty."
-"Do you want some water?"

No, I want to chug down a bottle of acid

._.

I mean really now!

Sans Bénéfice

I dream,
Begging to be inspired
Throw that bigotry out the door—
A fire has come alive.
I dream,
Begging to be inspired
Care not I for a moment’s worth of insipidity;
I refuse to let it harbour within me.
I dream,
Begging to be inspired.
Prosaic minds absoluting prototypical notions—
Nay sir, I abjure—I cradle not mine in a bridled casket.
I dream,
Begging to be inspired
Breathe-in an air of avant-garde;
Senses ignited by revolutionary flames.

You dream
Aiming to discipline my abstract complexities
Blame not I you sir;
You breathe in a world curbed by conformity;
Bigotry the skeletal structure of your borrowed notions.

But I abjure.

I abjure.

You!
Oust your bigot roots up from the ground;
And march like revolutionaries
For trees of antagonism
Reap no fruits.
Sans bénéfice.


12.1.2010
Tuesday
Arfah Shahid Siddiqi

Rosseau

"The passage from the state of nature to the civil state produces a very remarkable change in man, by substituting justice for instinct in his conduct, and giving his actions the morality they had formerly lacked. Then only, when the voice of duty takes the place of physical impulses and right of appetite, does man, who so far had considered only himself, find that he is forced to act on different principles, and to consult his reason before listening to his inclinations. Although, in this state, he deprives himself of some advantages which he got from nature, he gains in return others so great, his faculties are so stimulated and developed, his ideas so extended, his feelings so ennobled, and his whole soul so uplifted, that, did not the abuses of this new condition often degrade him below that which he left, he would be bound to bless continually the happy moment which took him from it for ever, and, instead of a stupid and unimaginative animal, made him an intelligent being and a man" -Jean Jacques Rosseau's Social Contract (1762)

I Was Afraid This Would Happen...

...me not posting until Jan 1 is over. AND IT DID!
Oh look! A PROPHECY!
._.

Aaaaaanyway. Resolutions shezolutions!
I'm not one who's been high on the whole resolutions things, but this year I do have some pretty determined resolutions that I aim to follow.
For some bizarre reason I'm not so excited to write this entry anymore as I was on 31st Jan :/

Anywho.

1. Lose the chub! I mean it! Before college, I wanna get into shape.
2. Read more-- be more informed and intellectual (HEY IT'S NOT SHALLOW!)
3. Get organised
4. Stay motivated
5. Be more hardworking.
6. Be exactly who I want to be. It just requires patience and persistence, and ofcourse, consistent motivation.
Therefore, #
7. Persistent & patient.
8 Regain the creativity
9. Improve vocabulary and English
10. Last but not the least, be a stronger person with more willpower, and a good practising Muslim, i.e. strengthening of the/increased Eman.

May Allah bless you all with a prosperous New Year and succeed you in your endeavours! May we all stay strong, challenged, motivated and determined to be better individuals, and strive for happiness, success and spiritual/religious well-being, and ofcourse, be guided to the Right Path, inshAllah.

Oh and seriously people, GET OVER THE "OH-LOOK-I-SKIPPED-AN-ENTIRE-NEW-YEAR-BWAHAHAHAHAHHA-31ST-JAN-09-TO-1ST-JAN-10-BWAHAHAHAHAHA"

I mean SERIOUSLY people that's SO 2nd grade.





















OH LOOK I SLEPT A WHOLE YEAR--SLEPT ON 31ST JAN 09 AND GOT UP ON 1ST JAN 10! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


Teeehehe. Uhm, yeah. Okay.
._.

EDAAAAAAAAAAAT!

You know what...I forgot things..

11 Be happy..
12. Enjoy life.
13 Start being more grateful
14. Start appreciating the little things in life-- to stop and click the beautiful moments that are rushing by, and to record them in a journal

You know what else I forgot?

15. To live life a little...

Aiming For The Stars?

Yesterday, I learnt that if I want to reach great heights, I don't have to compete with people; I have to do everything before they even think of doing them.

I have to make sure that I have given everything my 100% without letting them set a benchmark for me; I have to be the benchmark.

And the cherry on top came in the form of DannyBoy's blog entry I read today:

"People look up to the sky, hoping to count all the stars. I look up to the sky, hoping to one day shine brighter than them" -Danish A. Arif

Yes, I Started Jane Eyre

"Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack
the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the
Pharisee, is nt to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns. These things and
deeds are diametrically opposed: they are as distinct as is vice from virture.
Men too often confound them: they should not be confounded; appeareance should
not be mistaken for truth; narrow human doctrines, that only tend to elate and
magnify a few, should not be substituted for the world-redeeming creed of
Christ."

***

"Children can feel, but they cannot analyse their feelings; and if the analysis is partially effected in thought, they know not how to express the result of the process in words."

-Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre.

We're Individuals For A Reason

I used to think as a child that to be able to find a bestfriend or a soul-mate, for that matter, they have to be just like you.

I realize now that not everyone can be the same.
Everyone has different shit on their platter. Every person has their own problems, different reasons for existence, different paths to follow.

Moreover, a soulmate is like that missing piece of jigsaw puzzle in the centre. The picture is complete, yet, unless you find that one piece, there's an empty hole, something lacking, in that entire puzzle. And what one lacks, the other completes.

In that way, we're all different. And we have to be. We are called individuals for a reason, you know.

"I’m a satellite heart
Lost in the dark
I’m spun out so far
You stop, I start
But I’ll be true to you."

I used to be afraid of being alone, being different. Being an alien.
It's silly how the littlest of moments become so deeply etched into our souls that we forget they were once never a part of us. Demand characteristic; the need to conform, the need to belong-- genetically ingrained in every human being.

Or is it?

Moulded and shaped into the perfect fucking sculpture of human lies.
Perfection-- a pathetic fallacy.

When a sculpture is moulded, pressing the clay and shaping it to your vision of perfection, certain permanent dents are constructed on its surface.
And they don't go.
We think they do, but it's just an illusion. Maybe delusion.
Or would ignorance be more appropriate a word?
Humans cannot, no, should not, be sculpted that way. First, they don't all share your vision.

"Paint my face in your magazine
Make me look whiter than it seems
Paint me over with your dreams
Shove away my ethnicity.
Burn every notion that I
May have a flame inside to fight
And say just what is on my mind
Without offending your might"

Second, and the most important, they are fucking born to be individuals. Hear this, loud and clear.
So when you do shape them, realize, that your illusion of perfection? It's just dystopian, destructive, self-destructive perfection.
You'll never succeed. Don't try. Don't.
Just don't even fucking bother.

"Cause this life
Is to short
To live it just
For you
But when
you feel
So powerless
What are you gonna do?
So say what you want."

The Average Man

Danish and indirectly, Duct Tape Nation aka Sarmad/Sam brought this to my attention.It was rather creepy actually. It's like I opened DannyBoyLove's page, and it's like right there, in my face, speaking to me.

Ladies and Gentlemen! You've read about it in the papers! Now witness, before your very eyes, that most rare and tragic of nature's mistakes! I give you: the average man. Physically unremarkable, it instead possesses a deformed set of values. Notice the hideously bloated sense of humanity's importance. Also note the club-footed social conscience and the withered optimism. It's certainly not for the squeamish, is it? Most repulsive of all, are its frail and useless notions of order and sanity. If too much weight is placed upon them... they snap. How does it live, I hear you ask? How does this poor pathetic specimen survive in today's harsh and irrational environment? I'm afraid the sad answer is, 'Not very well'. Faced with the inescapable fact that human existence is mad, random, and pointless, one in eight of them crack up and go stark slavering buggo! Who can blame them? In a world as psychotic as this... any other response would be crazy!"

Joker - Batman: Killing Joke

Alan Moore, [although I've never read any of his works], proves to be a genius by this dialog alone. :/

Old IS Gold

Averting away from the gloom that's been surrounding my blog for the past few days, I've been thinking about this: Generations before us had a far better life than what we lead today.

It's true. Think about it. The simplicity with which they did things is something to be envious of. Sure, we have all the latest technology, we have everything made easier for us and dished out to us on a plate, but that's precisely why we're so lethargic, stressed out, depressed.

When I compare my father and my brother, there's quite a bit of difference b/w the way they do things and their skills.
See, my brother is in touch with the latest technology and knows the short-cuts to everything, which is useful in a way and gets things done quicker.
But my father, he'll know the functioning of the object- in- context, inside out! He'll know WHY it works that way, how it works that way, and it's pure knowledge of the subject. He'll know exactly WHAT to fix, which gets the job done more efficiently. Obviously, they're more hardworking because they didn't have all those tools as we do now in the age-of-convenience.

Convenience-- that is exactly why we look for an easy way out. Not saying it's always a bad thing, but it's made us less hard-working. Also, we're so into technology, that the more important things such as socializing has been left out. Many argue that Facebook, Twitter, Myspasce, etc. are the ultimate source of communication. But what good is this sort of communication when you don't meet with those people in person, or worse still, forget your own family/extended family because of your cyber-socialization.



Also, all this social-networking craze that's taken the world by storm, little time is left for books, recreational activities, arts & crafts, learning useful skills, etc. Everyone's Twittering away or punching holes through their cellphones!
People argue that e-books are being more efficiently used, but really now! If we're being honest, how many people actually do use them?
Moreover, sometimes, I feel, people sort of force themselves subconsciously to go online and feel it a duty to communicate with people ONLINE, even if they don't really feel like it. Contradictory as this point maybe, it still is sufficiently true and proven.

In the olden days, family-time was given much importance. Brothers and sisters used to go out and play together. Now, as soon as the child turns 7, PSP and computer games top their wish list. Individuals in the earlier times were more active, energetic and hard-working, whilst in today's world, we the younger generation are much less active, finding short-cuts and wanting to get everything done quickly, getting impatient if the computer delays the operation by just one minute.

Even now, as you compare younger generations in the technologically-advanced nations to those who're not, you'll spot the difference immediately.

Of course, technology brings about a lot of positive things too, such as increased education, new skills, global interaction and cooperation, accelerated learning, etc. A person stays up-to-date with the latest news and stays informed about the world around him. There aren't good enough excuses to be purposely ignorant. But with power comes great responsibility, and it's very, very easy to abuse power, which sadly, a lot of us are doing these days.

Earlier, healthy food was consumed but now, since the 1950s/post industrial-revolution, mass-production method has been applied to foods and we're eating artificially-grown fruits, vegetables, etc. Seasonal fruits/vegetables are now available all year round. The quality of life that today's generation enjoys is luxurious and comfortable. Which although a blessing, should stir some worry in us because increasingly, we're becoming dependent on machines to do our jobs for us.
Our thinking abilities are diminishing and this directed learning [televisions, music, computer games, etc.] are slowly making us robotic. Not to mention the countless health problems being faced; obesity, weak eye-sight, BP, diabetes, RST, back problems, posture problems, to name a few.

That's your food for thought. Happy musing! As a wise man once said:

"Baby this a new age, you like my new craze
Let's get together maybe we can start a new phase
The smokes got the club all hazy, spotlights don't do you justice baby
Why don't you come over here, you got me saying

Ayo!
I'm tired of using technology."

[No seriously, man! There's depth in these words!]