Wadiblog

My stance is the stance of one who stands the test of fire.
My drum the raging force of burning, over-come desire.
I march to the beat of my own raging beating drum.
I dance my fire-dance like only few can but inspire.

People dance with fire, yet I dance to my own flame.
My fire is my turban, and my flame is my own name.
In this crazy world, I choose to play yet I refrain,
from playing any game but the one I find insane!

The game I choose to play is the game Allmighty One,
has made for us to learn with every daughter every son.
The game of learning more; of seeking out our truth galore.
The game of finding who we are, whatever makes us run.

This - , my crazy world is seeking not in sanity.
Living mass delusion, preaching MASS insanity.
Thus insane, the game, pulls my burning heart to play.
To seek out my own answers, to make out my own way.

Danced my heart out here - a gift to a friend - click here to see it.

Social networks are transforming the way brands and consumers interact. Leading brands and agencies are embracing their potential — are you?

SWAT Summit looks at how agencies and brands can harness the power of social networks. This conference is for anyone who wants to be a leader in the next generation of marketing and advertising — and for the publishers, developers, and ad networks who will work with them hand in hand.

When: Thursday, July, 17, 2008

Where: Westin St. Francis, San Francisco, Ca.

Sign-up today and get $100 off when using the wadiblog promotion code.

Wadiwallah is a proud sponsor of SWAT Summit.

On July 14th, 2008 Governor Howard Dean address the Pakistani-American community at OPEN FORUM 2008. Following are recordings from his keynote address.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Cross-posted to Siliconstani and OPEN Silicon Valley

Here is an excellent article on Darwin and why his work matters even though there were others before him who presented Evolution in one form or another as an answer to questions about the origins of life.Darwinmania as a write up covers the difference very well.

If number of attendees and their active participation in a program is the litmus test of an event’s success then OPEN Forum 2008, Silicon Valley Chapter of Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America’s annual event, held on June 14, 2008, was hugely successful.

Here you see evening keynote speaker Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, speaking on ‘Leadership and Empowerment.’

See more pictures and report on
http://karachiphotoblog.blogspot.com/

Across the finite chasm of separation - recognition beckons me.
Can thy mind receive me - and _does_ thy heart conceive, see?
Can we give in and allow what can become, to be?

..
This place we stand in now, blessed one - is ripe with opportunity..
How to express the hope, of seeing where this leads?
How to discover, the highest branch of this tree?

Are you the island - souls could find a continent worth exploring?
Have you the waterfalls, that nurse and rejuvenate those who discover thee?
Do you have the desire to explore, to see, where this NOW could lead?

…
Are your passions, and intensities of outrageous proportions -
ready to back against a counter deep and solid in its foundation?
Are your curiosities, the infinite wonder of thee, ready for more - to feel?

Have you suffered enough, my love, to help belittle the suffering of me?
Do you desire enough, aay jaan, to know that I too desire thee?
Do you wonder, as I do, if you should be sitting here with me?

Allow me to rid this game of the mee and the theee, habeebti! *
Enable me to explore the real essence of HOO, ya WaHEE.. **
Permit me the partner, sojourner, on this journey - to nahEEN! ***

~ Aaas (deeply held desire)

(* |habeebti: beloved {feminine specific}, in Arabic.)
(** |HOO: That Which IS. |WaHEE: That ONE. |Ya Wahee: O - that One!)
(*** |nahEEN: Negation of all things, including desire.)
This poem is akin to a response to my first post on this site, below.

Who are the Wadiwalleh, or Valley people? This is the very premise upon which Wadiwallah.com was established. Wadiwalleh are the people who inhabit the region commonly referred to as Silicon Valley. To the most part they are techies working, living, and breathing all things Technology and Business, or so the popular media will have you believe.

Yes it is true that the typical Wadiwallah has something to do with Technology, works at one of the big blues - the Ciscos’, Googles’, and Microsofts’ of the Valley. However, they do have a life apart from their jobs, and a dam interesting one. They are multifaceted beings - passionate about life, very social, and socially aware.

These Wadiwalleh have in recent times started to engage in conversations, both within, and without the corporate firewall. The conversation tend to go against the grain of the atypical “Corporate” mindset - in fact the average Wadiwallah, essentially a cog in someone else’s cube has a very “uncorporate” mindset, though he may not openly show his true colors for fear of loosing his job.

During the day they will have the demure of a “Corporate Boy”, a yes sir type of person - however during the nights, in a social gathering, their true colors come out. It is here that the Wadiwallah will amaze you. These guys have complicated minds - reflecting upon life, and searching for the Truth…

They are passionate beyond bounds - have dreams to transform the world, alleviate poverty, promote intellectualism, and promote grassroots innovation. Left to their own devices, with the appropriate resources, Wadiwalleh have the ability within themselves to transform lives…

The First Black Presidential Nominee….

As Americans, we dream of a President who is honest, personable, intelligent, and wise.

We want a leader with courage and integrity who has known the struggles of an everyday American. A lot of people have stopped believing that may even be possible.

I haven’t stopped believing. I support Barack Obama because he is that leader.

Join me in supporting Barack Obama, by making a donation to my personal fund page.

Still not convinced Obama is the right man for the job ?

Read on…

Top 10 Reasons to Support Barack Obama
by Sabrina Akhtar

1. He is the only presidential candidate who voted against the war in Iraq, his foreign policy record shows he voted for bills that plan to end the war in Iraq, gradually withdrawing troops, engage in diplomacy with Iran not war. He is against torture/abuse of any kind of criminals whether at home or abroad.

2. His campaign did not take one penny from lobbyists or corporate interest groups

3. Provide universal health care, nearly 47 million americans lack healthcare coverage, his health care plan helped 3 million children in the state of Illinois.

4. Obama has plans for our energy independence and creating more jobs from clean (clean fuel, alternative fuel) technology.

5. Tax relief for the middle class by providing “making work pay” tax cut. Expand child & dependent care tax credit as well as expand the earned income tax credit (EIC), which he implemented in the state of Illinois that provided 100 million of tax cuts to families

6. Help small business succeed by cutting self employed tax, providing health care for those who has their own business, eliminate capital gain taxes for start-up business, expand loan programs for small businesses.

7. Create universal mortgage credit which means more Americans will be able to afford to buy a home, for ex: his 10 percent credit will benefit an additional 10 million homeowners, the majority of whom earn less than $50,000 per year.

8. Make math and science education a national priority. Improve our education in schools by providing K12 plan-incentives for good teachers, support college outreach programs, tax credit for college students & their families which will make going to community colleges absolutely tuition free.

9. Invest in sciences & technology: Obama will double federal funding of basic research & innovation.

10. And lastly, he began a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America’s addiction to oil, he’s working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels.

Now more than ever, Barack Obama needs your help. The battle has just begun.

Show your support…

Click to make a donation to Obama Campaign

 

Cross-posting to Siliconstani

In these times when the war on terror is raging high and western analysts are looking for bright spots in the Muslim world, to pin their hopes onto, Musharraf Ali Farooqi’s recently published English translation of Dastane-e-Amir Hamza (translated as Adventures of Amir Hamza) has been received with gusto. This translation has given western scholars a thick body of work to analyze and answer many questions.

“Are these people really evil? Were they always savages like they presently are? Are their folklores full of jihad lessons, misogynic themes, triumphant beheadings of infidels, and of older men getting married to underage girls?

Commentators such as William Dalrymple are exuberant that that is not the case. Reviewing Musharraf Farooqi’s translation, Dalrymple writes:

“At this perilous moment in history, the Hamza epic, with its mixed Hindu and Muslim idiom, its tales of love and seduction, its anti-clericalism (mullahs are a running joke throughout the book), its stories of powerful and resourceful women, and its mocking of male misogyny, is a reminder of an Islamic world the West seems to have forgotten: one that is imaginative and heterodox — and as far as can be from the puritanical Wahhabi Islam that the Saudis have succeeded in spreading throughout much of the modern Middle East.”

Dalrymple’s sigh of relief aside, Dastan-e-Amir Hamza has (or had at one time) the ultimate merit of entertaining early readers. Ten volumes of Amir Hamza were what children of my age read as their first collection of books. Amir Hamza was our first hero; to be like Amir Hamza was our dream –we wanted to go to distant places and conquer new lands, pretty much like how Amir Hamza did. Dastan-e-Amir Hamza gave us a chance to imagine a different, mesmerizing world, and it cemented in our value system the virtues of bravery, loyalty to friends, truthfulness, and steadfastness.

Toronto based Musharraf Ali Farooqi has been touring cities of North America, promoting ‘Adventures of Amir Hamza’. His recent talk at the Stanford University was arranged by the Center for South Asia and other sponsors.