Whoever transmitted this translated message to you is irrelevant, and should remain anonymous in your mind. It is what you will do with this message which matters ! > Each one of you wishes to exercise her/his free will and experience happiness.  These are attributes that were shown to us and to which we now have access. Your free will depends upon the knowledge you have of your own power. Your happiness depends upon the love that you give and receive. Like all conscious races at this stage of progress, you may feel isolated on your planet. This impression makes … Continue reading Alien ‘Mork’ writes an email to YOU! “DECIDE WHETHER WE SHOULD SHOW UP!”

A zero contribution An unconventional way to combat petty corruption Jan 28th 2010 | From The Economist print edition 5th Pillar A ZERO-SUM game is one in which the gains of one player are exactly balanced by the losses of another. In India a local non-governmental organisation has invented a new sort of zero sum which, it hopes, will leave everyone better off: the zero-rupee note. What on earth is the point of that? The note is not legal tender. It is simply a piece of paper the colour of a 50-rupee note with a picture of Gandhi on it … Continue reading An unconventional way to combat petty corruption in India, Pakistan should also issue such a note

Jeff Bridges opens up his Crazy Heart The celebrated actor claims to turn down most offers and is staggeringly laid-back, yet here he is, up for an Oscar again <!– Remove following to not show photographer information –> (Mario Anzuoni) <!– Remove following to not show image description –> Jeff Bridges <!– Remove following to not show enlarge option –> <!– –> // Tom Shone <!– –> The sixth floor of the Casa del Mar hotel, in Santa Monica, is crammed with movie stars. Tall, willowy Maggie Gyllenhaal strides down the corridor in slingbacks and blue eye shadow, discussing schedules … Continue reading Jeff Bridges – The Seriously Cool Actor!

We British are such a bunch of drama queens The hysteria over swine flu made me sick Barbara Ellen The Observer, It’s probable that you are not reading this wearing a “swine flu” surgical mask, but if you are, please take it off for two reasons. The first is that the “swine flu pandemic” (which cost Britain an estimated £1bn, with fewer fatalities worldwide than regular flu) is now deemed semi-officially “over”, with the UK’s 24-hour helpline closing this week. The second reason to take the masks off is that people who wore them, even when they weren’t at international … Continue reading The British hysteria over swine flu made me sick!

Sarah Palin: queen tea party Sarah Palin’s tub-thumping speech gave a foretaste of her campaign for the presidency, with divine help from God Sarah Palin, queen of the tea party. Photograph: Rebecca Cook/Reuters When someone bounds on stage before a roomful of conservatives and shouts “I’m so proud to be an American! Happy birthday Ronald Reagan!”, it can mean only one thing: Sarah Palin is running for the presidency. Normal people don’t begin conversations with those two sentences, but presidential candidates do, all the time. Palin was speaking on Saturday before one of the nascent (and probably evanescent) tea party … Continue reading The Wicked Witch of the West : Sarah Palin ?

Stagnation in the Middle East A western journalist writing about the Middle East’s problem with apathy and corruption has hit a raw nerve in Egypt Joseph Mayton guardian.co.uk, Lying, cheating and stealing. It is a perception that many foreigners have of the Arab Middle East. In Egypt, Mr White Man is seen as a cash cow – and when so many Egyptians live in poverty, who can blame them? But when Tim Sebastian, the prominent journalist, host of the Doha Debates and former presenter of BBC HARDtalk, talked about Cairo’s rip-offs in a New York Times article, Egyptians were infuriated. … Continue reading A western journalist writing about the Middle East’s problem with apathy and corruption has hit a raw nerve in Egypt

Over the top Masood Hasan You may recall the story about a man who wandered into a Jinn’s lair. Seeing the man, the Jinn laughed happily and then started weeping profusely. The perplexed intruder asked the Jinn why he had laughed and then cried. The Jinn replied, “I laughed because I was so happy to see a man after such a long, long time.” “But,” persisted the man, “why cry?” The Jinn sighed, “Because I am going to eat you.” This is the quandary in which ordinary citizens find themselves every day, as they open newspapers and get slapped with … Continue reading Dance of the baboons – Pakistani Lawyers!

Aakar Patel Every day, after lunch, I sit at a desk and translate a page of Rumi’s Masnavi. I have been doing this since last year — which is something a man can confidently say in February. I use the version of the poem translated from Farsi to Urdu by Qazi Sajjad Husain, principal of Madresa-e-Alia Fatehpuri, in Delhi. It is six volumes of thick, handmade paper and printed legibly, which is rare for cheap Urdu books. I translate it from Urdu to English, copying each verse first and then writing my translation under it. I write in a notebook … Continue reading Reading literature in another language