Praying for alternate paths?

Often times a situation comes into somebody's life where prayers are the only hope towards achieving something important in the world. When nothing else seems to work, praying seems to be the last resort.

The concept of praying becomes very ambiguous at times, specially when you have strong belief that things will go on as written in fate or if one believes the saying "what is written will happen". To me, this is somewhat conflicting at times: What'll happen is already written, then why pray? Will prayers lead to alternate paths in life? e.g. if I had to attain a degree and this is written as my fate then whether I work hard and get it with flying colours or I don't work hard and get it for the sake of just getting it, I'll get it.

If I were to do something and its quality depends upon my effort and concentration, then what role does prayer play? Or to be exact of the conflict I am in right now, what if I am not certain of getting something I really want, do the prayers play any role?

It's not certain that: "If you pray for something it's just a matter of time that you'll get it" because of the reason that it might be good for you but not for everyone. Again this is logic and my question still remains the same: What do prayers do?

If we limit this discussion to the result of the prayers as: "I will get it or not" rather than "I will surely get it, but I pray that I get it with lesser obstacles", etc. If we are to think upon whether prayers really make it happen or not, we can come up with the following combinations, after praying:

• You get it IF you pray, not otherwise
• You get it regardless of praying
• You don't get it regardless of praying

The last two combinations are solely based upon logic and prayers don't work. Let's talk about the first one, can this be true? If yes, then this statement: "Whatever happens, happens for the best" becomes false. And if this becomes false, then the alternate path which occurs after human praying is better than the original path. This implies that human path construction is better and leads to a weird state of mind.

Coming back to the last 2 points above and assuming that our last paragraph is just false, then we arrive to a conclusion that praying does nothing. Again, a weird state of mind.

All these questions can be answered if we think of this:

• This world and its events are based upon humans, but God's intervention is there whenever required. Requirement is posted through praying.
• There's no such thing as fate, everything is done by humans, except for maybe a few things such as birth & death? Maybe a few more?

The Software World..

Software Engineering, a term commonly used nowadays and easily comprehended by most of the people in this world, is a world in itself. Just for the sake of mentioning, it means to develop software or a program which models a subset of reality onto a machine. The skills required for developing software are not only the analytical ones but logic plays a major role as well. On the other hand, creativity is required as well as the empathetic sense relating to the user. Hence we can easily say that Software Engineers are one of the most skillful people around, in this world.

When I say “Software Engineering is a world in itself”, it means that it’s a virtual world and not a real one like Earth. The mapping of the real world onto this one is what Software Engineers do. Let’s limit ourselves to the design & coding phases of Software before we move ahead, generally termed as programming. The difference between the task of a software engineer and other engineers is the presence of this virtual world. If one is good in this virtual world, this means that he’s doing his job well.

Coming from a different direction, I would like to highlight that when a person indulges into some environment, he develops some familiarity initially, moving forward he becomes smooth and then he gets used to it. One gets so much used to it that sometimes it feels like it’s the only world (or sub-world) and he’s not able to comprehend the situation (or environment) outside it. For example, I used play Unreal a lot (sometimes more than 5 hours a day) and it happened many times that I dreamed about it during sleep.

Now, if a software developer works for many hours a day, spends a few hours in sleep and spends the rest of the time in the actual world, there seems to be a high probability that most of the developers would confuse these 3 different environments.

Putting all of this on the plate of our discussion, is Software development changing the lives of the Software engineers by making them used to this virtual world? After working for more than 10 years in this arena, can the developers manage to segregate the virtual & the real world? One extreme example of this world is the game development line, supported by the statement that game is a modeled virtual world which is derived from reality or illusions, and is closer to being called a world than any other software.

Some updates..

Ah, finally passing time in Karachi for 2 weeks, 1 week to go. The weather is pleasant and as usual I have got used to the atmosphere in a week, now I am starting to enjoy. I'll return to Isb on 21st, InshaAllah. It's good to see a lot of roads being constructed in Karachi, but at the same time the ever-increasing traffic remains a problem. Though I've been to some areas within Karachi in the mean time, I haven't seen any relief camps here as yet, wonder whether the relief work is carried out as required or not. Meanwhile, LMKR is still into the relief work, may Allah bless them for their work.

If you are interested in the stock market business, have a look at BlogShares. It's a virtual stock market, but on a very initial stage. A tip for making quick money right at startup (once you have registered and are playing) is to get chips by answering the survey questions on the right side of the home page. Once you have some amount of chips, register on the forum and goto the Chip Auction House and auction your chips or sell them to some willing buyer. You can easily get 50 million per chip, at least :). A neat site for business minded people and also for those who like to understand the stock business.

I'm gathering my thoughts to write about something which might derail the thoughts of some of the readers, just waiting for the time to come and being patient, thoughtful and observative. It'll be a post which'll try to unveil some things which are covered by our society carelessly, related with Islamic teachings. If you can, have a look at Tanzeem-e-Islami headed by Dr. Israr Ahmed. I hope to write it soon..

Show The Objective..

Often times you tend to be aggressive or get into bad mood, get into difficult conversations at the company or in the family, can't get over something you really miss, are confused or into any other state of mind in which you really don't want to be, but due to human nature, you find it difficult to control your emotions.

Keeping the objective in mind is the key. No matter what you do, you have to know what you are getting from it. You might think that this seems materialistic and only applies to materialistic actions e.g. by helping someone you are not getting anything. But, you are getting something and that is the internal satisfaction, the happiness which comes when you make someone else happy. This is by no means materialistic, and if it's then everything is.

Aggressiveness is one of the wide spread negative habit which most of the humans have, at least most of the people I have seen. Aggressive nature, esp. at work is quite harmful to none other than the aggressor himself. Not only at work, but in family dealings as well, this may result in disruptions in family relationships mainly due to both parties being aggressive. What can keep you from getting aggressive? It's the objective!

Nonetheless, being cool-minded all the times is not that easy, but it's not that hard too and it's necessary for one to be successful and this applies to every aspect of life i.e. there are lot of advantages. After all, who likes a person who offends and charges other people every now and then?

Whenever you are in a bad mood, you need to remember the objective..What’s the use of being into such a mood? You are just wasting time and energy, which could've been utilized in something more important to you. Controlling your emotions is one of the main elements of leading a leader's life and realizing the fact that others don't like to be taken up by someone, an element of respect has to appear in everything you say or anything you perform.

Everyone is unique or at least wants to be, distinction attracts every human. So, realizing the fact that you are in a state of uselessness is the first step towards realizing that you need not be in that state most of the time. Don't you think everyone does the same when he's in a bad mood or when he loses his temper? So, you either want to be the same as others or you indulge into something which makes you distinct.

You might want to read about EQ (Emotional Quotient), plus there's a book which you might have heard about "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and the sequels to it as well.

Something off-topic, a 3D First Person Shooter named Commando 4 has been developed by some FAST Karachi students.

Imagine..

Imagine a 10 year old girl with two pony-tails, with lots of oil on her hair, a lolly pop in her mouth goes jumping, hopping along a street carrying a megaphone and calling out the table of 2, 3 & 4 in a loop, at 6 pm.

Unconventional uses of Sack

Sack (known as "bori" in Urdu) is one of the most commonly used containers for multiple things, at least in Pakistan. It's commonly used for grains, coal, wood, metal utensils, etc. It can also be used to cover slippery floors and is also used in sack racing where a team of two people put their legs in it and run towards the finish line, a sport usually for kids. A sack full of sand is somewhat bullet proof, so it can be used in that way as well e.g at smaller posts.

But, there can be other unconventional ways to utilize it as well, some of which can be:

• You can cut a sack into pieces and use instead of tissue papers in case you catch cold
• You can make an umbrella out of it, which won’t last long though
• Since there’s an increase of population of pick-pockets, you can create internal pockets out of a sack; at least it’s difficult to cut
• A mobile pouch
• A hat or a bed sheet or a rug, which can be useful in winters
• Can be used for cleaning glass
• Clothes for yourself or your pets or for a scare crow
• You can punish your kid by keeping him into it for an hour or so, do make sure that there are enough holes to breathe though
• Car cover, seat cover, or any other cover
• One can try constructing a bridge all made with sacks

It’s upto your own imagination what other uses of a sack you come up with.

Business business

I've always wanted to be a businessman and have tried a few things on a pretty small scale, and have been extremely successful. After a few months on job right after graduation, I've been thinking hard to setup my own business in parallel, but haven't tried at all.

This urge is getting to the point where I think I'll just start something on a very small scale (this time the time-scale won't be small). According to my analysis and imagination on an initial level, I have arrived on a few tips for a person to start a new business, specifically speaking of those who are on a paycheck and don't have much finances to invest. I am the rookie of rookies in business, so it's pre-mature to list down the points now, but here I go, hoping to get some comments:

• You have to have a very vague starter vision
• Try a smooth transition from job to business. Setup the business in parallel to your job, don't quit your current job to start it
• Try to cover finances with knowledge & talent, try starting from something which doesn't need much financing
• Consider starting something from a very small scale, but which can be scaled lower or higher as the need arises e.g. service provider business
• Find references among your family, relatives, friends, colleagues, etc. who can guide you towards anything, ranging from advice to clientele to suppliers

Plus, you need to have the following positives to start something:

• Motivation
• Time Management
• You should have a thing about numbers
• Effective Communication Skills
• Thinking in terms of customers & finances
• Long term planning skills, yet having short term planning skills for bonus seasons/events

Have a look at Life without a paycheck, I've read it, so I assume anyone can read it :)