Shaikh Ashraf's Blog: Shaikh Ashraf Writes, page 13

30 August, Hi there!

I am writing after many days, even months, because I was so busy with my ongoing novel and my college studies and the books to read that I hardly forgot any time to spare for this blog. Sorry for that but I am back, and now with consistency. I am going to discuss my days and my writing and also the things that I am reading.

I am writing a novel series based on the idea from the show “The Mentalist” I have just written 85 pages of the novel and I am looking forward to writing it. When I got stuck, I sent Mr. Patrick Jane to my village to Kalikiri to find the killer, it seems fun and exciting and also thrilling. About chess, I haven’t played it for a while but I am also looking to make it a habit, I have tried to salvage myself from myself, I imagine myself as my own opponent while deciding something, I imagine that the opponent me tries to trap me into a trouble and I come up with a strategy to avoid that at any cost.

So let’s start with today, I woke up and went to college, came back and I watched F.R.I.E.N.D.S for some time and then I started to read “Go set a watchman” by Harper Lee, the other book that I read from the same author was “To kill a Mockingbird” it was very beautiful and also thought-provoking and it made me think about the prejudices that happen in our societies, then the British council called and they brought the book that I had ordered. “Ted Levitt on marketing” & “The Warren Buffet Way”  “Ted Levitt on marketing I read some of it today.

In the book Ted explains how the companies innovate a product, then other companies copy their product or imitate their product by adding a little distinction of their own in it.

Although this day went like all the days and what I am facing from many days is a  withdraw from writing, as I have been writing so much these two weeks that I ended up not writing anything for days. Right now I am working on the ending of my novel and then I will be editing its draft, then I will talk about the book later.

Thanks

The Muslims of TheWorld

Raghuram Rajan

 

The Muslims of TheWorld

What is happening in today’s world? Everywhere you look, every direction you turn to see, you only see violence, pain, anger, frustration, and anxieties. Yesterday, I read in the news about the Medina blast, a day before I read about the Dhaka and Kabul attacks and some days before that I read about the blasts that happened in Istanbul, at the airport. All these attacks were carried by the so-called “Representatives of Islam” but the question is “are they really the representatives?” They have attacked the Muslim countries and they even attacked the holy city of Muslims and the world considers them as the representatives of Islam, why?  Islam, in my thinking and experience, as I am a Muslim and have read the Quran and understood it, Islam is the most beautiful and peaceful religion, in the world, it doesn’t guide anyone to kill, the cliché word, “Jihad” that is misunderstood today, “is struggling with our own inner demons, in Allah’s way, to reach heaven”, “Jannat”. Many Muslims in the world are brainwashed by people, they are provoked by the people who misinterpret Quran and its meanings and they train them to do violence and kill people, and many Muslims are misguided that by making believe that jihad is the other way round, i.e. killing people, who are not followers of Islam. But why am I writing about it? Why? Because I am a Muslim and sometimes people point fingers at me, by wrong means and blame me and my identity for what is happening in the world. The Muslim countries, like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, where the radical Islamism’s proportion is the most are also the countries with acute poverty. The people in these countries do not have the right education and thinking and they are driven by an urge to have enough to spend and  eat, so people in these countries do unlawful, violent and criminal activities to feed themselves and their families.

What do you think when you look at me? | Dalia Mogahed

Many Muslims are worried about the way they are perceived around the world, “just because some people of certain religion do violence, is it right to consider the whole religion and the followers of that religion as “Terrorist”? “Just because some people misguide and misinterpret Quran and brainwash people into violence, is it right that we consider that religion and the followers of that religion are“Terrorist”? Do consider it, “if your friends are bullies and stereotypes then people also think yourself as bullies and stereotypes”, the same falls into the people’s minds in the world today. In today’s world, Religion is the identity of a person, not his name or anything. Now that the “Representatives” have really declared openly that they are not the “representatives of Islam” by their brutal and devious acts, then you might like to reconsider the face of Muslims and the term Islam in the real sense.

See people as who they are, not what they are and what they follow, some people have golden hearts with ugly faces, but they are still humans, right? Some people have bitter hearts with beautiful faces, but they are still humans, right?

Shaikh Ashraf.

 

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Journal of June.

There is a, sense of calm here. It’s still, slow and beautiful, the Rocky Mountains have the setting sun in between them and the birds are flying leaving their only shadow in the light. The wind here sweeping through my ears telling me its tale of travel and the coconut trees making a sound of beach by crashing with its own leaves and I am here standing and appreciating the sense of calm, in a beautiful scenery and stillness, it feels like everything in life that I have been through was just a passing wind sweeping through me and making me learn from my mistakes.

Everything in life is made to pass out and nothing lasts forever, and if you feel that it lasts then it is in you carrying it in your mind and heart.

Looking at the past with regret won’t give me anything but learning from the past will bring me wisdom. So what if I didn’t get the love I wanted, so what if I am didn’t achieve what I wanted but I have had a good start and I have also realized the power inside me and the power of love. I have learnt, I have lived and I have realized me and my potentials, now by failing at least I know how much capable I am and how far I can go. Thank you, life for teaching me.

Someday

It is the night time in my village, and the wind here is a little cold and breezy, it almost feels like I am sitting near the beach. Now I am here at 8:30 pm sitting outside the house, and in the dark. In my village at 7 pm the whole place itself goes dark and it looks like it is midnight. My house is in the end of my village so there is always silence. So back to the weather, the clouds are thundering I think it is about to rain and the breezy wind is passing through me and making me feel lighter, calm and contempt. There is the sound of night crickets coming and the coconut tree leaves are dance leaving their sound behind.

It is always good to live in such a beautiful place. Calm, contempt and peaceful. I would have thought my whole life here if this village was of a more developed. The 3 g network doesn’t work here, there are no one here who is my friend and even there is nothing to do mostly. But I do find peace here. The weather and the place itself is  good, I think people find peace when there is nothing going on in their mind and that they just feel and enjoy the presence. In Mumbai I always plan about my next blog post, my next scene for novel and my life forward and it make me go thinking the whole day and writing and reading and doing stuff without reflecting peacefully. Well after coming here I finally have a peace of mind and nothing going in my mind.

Raghuram Rajan

I read today that Raghuram Rajan the governor of RBI is not going to continue his fourth tenure and it saddened me. When I came here in 2013, the rupee value fell down and it created sadness among people At that time, he was appointed as the governor of RBI and every now and then I have been reading his policies about markets and his ideas regarding infrastructure, and I thought he is a very brilliant and talented economist but he has decided to go to the US and continue his academia. Many people are blaming the current government for it, and I think it is somehow true, the “party”, which has a complete domination in a country, and disregarding his policies. Subramanian Swami’s hate against him, all this led him to leave his three-year tenure without continuing for his fourth year. He is well known for his open-to-public attitude and his policies. He is the world renowned economist and he is respected globally. A person like Rajan is a must for our nation’s institutions, or let me get this straight; a person who thinks progressively and without molding himself into politics does what he feels right. I don’t know why but I don’t want Rajan to discontinue his fourth term as R.B.I’s governor. Rajan has been very good these years, he had changed banking system and made it secure, he is well known  for his policies and open criticism of the government, we must need a man like him, who can criticize right if the face of the authority if something is wrong. I don’t even know about Subramanian Swamy, he might be good and qualified, but his comment of Rajan being “Anti-national” is not good. Anyway, I don’t want to criticize anyone or anybody’s point of view in that matter, I have just written what I feel about Rajan.

There have been very few governors of RBI, who has completed their five-year tenure, and many left after two or three years. I here want to raise the question that, “Does he himself wants to leave?” (As he stated in his letter to his colleagues) or “He is forced to leave?”

Just Thoughts.

Shaikh Ashraf.

Only To Free My Soul

I open my eyes to see you,

There are you standing, with love and peace,

Here I am standing with hate and war.

I tell myself that I will never meet you,

I tell myself that I am not for you,

Deep inside I still believe that I wanted you,

But my mind tells I did not wanted you.

I ask myself the same questions,

I get different answers,

When I stand in front of the sea, feeling at wind passing by,

When I sit in the most beautiful garden looking at kids playing,

When I read the most beautiful texts,

All that I do,

I get caught with your thought,

If I could ever get to meet you,

If I could ever get to talk to you,

Only to free my heart,

Only to free my soul,

Only to free myself from you,

I don’t know that you love me or not,

But I do know that I loved you enough,

That day when I meet you,

I will tell you how much I loved you.

I won’t even want to listen whether you loved me or not,

I won’t even want to listen whether you someday thought about me or not,

I won’t even want to be there after I tell you this.

I tell you just to free myself,

I tell you  just to free my soul,

I tell you just to free my heart.

I want nothing else than that,

I don’t want your love nor you hate,

I don’t want you,

I only person I know is me,

I have to free myself,

Then I will tell you someday,

That I loved you,

And won’t ask anything in return,

Only to free my heart,

Only to free my soul,

Only to free myself from your thought.

Little Idea – big book

Someone on Quora asked, “How can I turn a simple idea into a full novel?” and I wrote him answer as shown below-

Well, ideas are shorter to turn into a novel. But you can expand your ideas and make a novel out of it. I wrote my first novel, “Friendship, Love & Sacrifice” out of an idea of writing a novel about Friendship and what happens if you fall in love with a friend.

But also, Idea expansion is the key, you have to have more and more ideas, or 100(s) of ideas before you start that novel. First you have to figure out your Main idea, the main idea is what you want readers to understand or learn after reading your novel. Then you have to figure out a plot for it. You also have to Plot Ideas so that your main idea doesn’t fade away. So it goes like this, first you have to figure out the main idea. Then you have to plot the story according to that Main idea, and also you have to create sub-divisions in  the Main Idea so that you can present it in your novel in various parts. Well, it is boring process but once you figure out, you can turn your idea into a novel or even a series. but you have to have a lot of ideas before you start.

And Characters are also important, the character must be new and vivid and interesting. The character are the people who move novel in a progressive way. You have to create a character who is strong and weak altogether. and other characters and explore them. Presenting character and giving them depth in novel is also important. Writing from you main character’s point of view, what he thinks, why is that? and what have to be done?

10 ideas a day

Every morning, when You wake up and before Your day starts, list at least 10 ideas or solutions for anyone of your problems, or write at least 10 ideas about the topics that You always wanted to write about.

If Your website is based upon a subject or niche You follow then, list ideas about that subject. Read about that subject or niche as much as You can and write it.

Brainstorm and Be open-minded:- Question Yourself “what is that You always wanted to share with everyone but You didn’t?” Write it. Question Your surroundings and think creatively about the solutions for the problems the world faces then write Your ideas or solutions. Free write, sit in front of a blank document or a blank paper and then think about Your problem or solution and write it. Whatever comes to Your mind write it, the idea automatically develops as long as You continue writing whatever comes to Your mind. Until Your mind goes fully blank read what You have written then underline the ideas that You can write. It might be Your thoughts, feelings or Your memories just write them.

Mind-map:- It is a great tool to develop ideas, arrange them hierarchically to write about, I don’t recommend it, but try to mind map if You are not into free writing.

Thanks For Reading.

Focus of a 16 Year old

Some days ago a boy asked this question on Quora, “What should a 16-year-old boy focus on in his life?” and I found this question quite enthralling. There are many people who do not know why they are going through life in an auto-pilot mode. Some know what to do with life, some do not, and some just wander their whole life. As the boy asked this question it was upon me to answer it or not, and I answered. This answer is not only for 16-year-olds but all kind of people of all age groups, struggling to find focus areas in their life.

Here’s is what people can focus on

Studies:- Study as much as You can, any topic, any subject read and study it. Make Wikipedia articles Your friends. Search about Your subjects in Wikipedia read it when You finish reading it, then click on references to read about it more. “The more you read in your teens the more you can absorb” my science teacher would tell that and I have followed it gracefully.

Career:– Read articles or magazines that are based on career, in India its Career 360. So read articles or magazines based on careers and continue to read about as much as careers You can. You will come to a point when You have to opt a career then, You will be too confused where to go. So, first make knowledge Your friend and read about careers and it’s prospects, when You have to decide what You want to study ahead, then You will already know what to study as You know each path, where it leads, You just have to walk the path and make wise decisions to move ahead.

Read books:- It is my favorite, every month I buy a Fiction along with a Non-Fiction, it builds my vocabulary and also my communication skills. So, read books, go to the nearby store find any book and read. Go to library and read. Read and Have depth of what you already know by reading more and new about the subject.

Build Your Intellect:– Yeah, build it, play chess, it makes You a better strategist of your problems and solutions. It also increases I.Q and builds Your critical thinking skills and makes Your a better decision maker. Play for at least 30 minutes with Your computer or Your friend. I suggest You play more with computer as it’s algorithm and logic can challenge each step You take and improve you game.

Get a Hobby:– Write, Play an instrument, Dance, Sing. I write mostly and read. So, get a hobby. Learn new skills and master them. If You have hobbies then You will never die in poverty. Master hobbies and entertain people around You.

Invest:– Invest monetarily and also psychologically. Invest psychologically, read books about self improvement then apply principles given it in. Investing in Yourself is the best investment You can find. Change Your habits, Your thinking, Your perspective and become better each day.

Invest Monetarily, I haven’t done that but looking forward to. Warren Buffet started investing in his early age before he became rich. So start investing early and spending less. Invest money in you bank account and begin saving, save big and increase it. Then invest in securities which are profitable and that assures regular income. Invest in long-term fixed assets. “You don’t need a degree, or education to become rich you just have to apply right thinking and make accurate investment decisions.” Don’t follow this advice but mark it.

Thank You.

Diary Consistency

Someone on Quora asked me a question about writing diary consistently and while reading all the answers and I thought that there are many more people out there who are trying to write about their day and reflect but they do not find any time. So, here’s my answer to it.

It’s a really good habit to keep a diary/journal. You’ll see the benefits of it with time, once you develop a habit of self-reflection. We’re too tired or fed up mostly, at the end of the day, to recapitulate the events of the day and think about them.

This 10-15 minute habit will help you do that in a systematic manner and also help you collect all the good memories and work on the loose ends.

Writing a dairy consistently, daily can be hard, but it can be developed into a habit. A diary is, what You feel about some people, Your day and Your memories after the end of the day. So, that’s what dairy is and it is also helpful in building a good memory and improving Your writing. You can be consistent only if, You write daily,

Reflect- When Your day is finished and You are about to go to bed, before You sleep, an hour or half and hour before the sleep, reflect about Your day. How did Your day went? Did it end up good? How were people to You today? How You were to people? Did you finished Your work completely? Come up with these answers and write what You feel about Your day, write Your memories and events that happened, may be positive or negative, write it.

Write Your ideas- When Your reflect and you end up feeling about Yourself, for the way you spent Your day, then come up with ideas to improve Your day from tomorrow and write those ideas down, it maybe waking up at 4 am to exercise and reading an hour more, write it in Your dairy.

Observe and ask- Observe and ask, any type of writing involves observation and curiosity, a writer is who asks questions. Observe Your surroundings, Your work place, Your home and people outside. Observe them and the way they act and the work they do. Ask Yourself questions why do they do it? How are they different from us? Why are they different from us?

Find time- Always find time to reflect aboutYour day and write, as I have written earlier before you go to sleep an hour or half an hour before spend time reflecting about your day and write.