Mission copenhagen

boarding the bus for copenhagen last sunday (22.01), some sort of nostalgia took over me. i realized its the first time i am going out of this little town of aalborg, in my over four months here. expecting to enjoy the scerene view outside, i seated myself next to the window. but sleep and nightfall (at 4 pm) marred it all. yet whatever little i managed to see, it was snow, snow and snow. nuthing like 'shujola, shufola, shoshsho shemola shonar bangla'. the countryside of sonar bangla, especially when traveling by train is simple superb. everytime i am travelling through 'gram bangla', the beauty simply beholds me.

three days in copenhagen was some good time spent. met some old friends and made some new. being the capital of denmark, i was expecting it to be somewhat busier, like other cosmopolitan cities, with self centred people rushing against time going about in their daily chores. it wasnt so. people were a bit more relaxed, and didnt have that rush rush rush looks in their eyes. probably its the cold. probably its the scandic view towards life. (scandinavian ppl have embraced modernity, but not urbanism).

january is usually the peak of winter. that meant, many of the attractions, especially those to do with nature, were closed. same with the beach; too cold to enjoy the breeze, let alone a dip in the sea. yet we did manage to go around the city here and there, and get a feeling life in copenhagen. its a city of arts and museums. there was even post and tele museum, probably so that square faced engineers like us feel at home.

you can see it with ur eyes (courtesy of tanim).

a song for you

Got this from a friend. very interesting.

http://kom.aau.dk/~imr/blog/ twinkle_twinkle.mp3


(c) Imad vai

the storm that was

I was at Imad vais place for dinner on thursday (nuthing new), and as usual it was almost midnite by the time we were done with our post dinner tea-adda.
i peered outside only to find out there was a snow storm. The very thought of having to cycle back home in this rough conditions gave me shivers, but i was left with no other options. my only respite was that its only 2 km.
after gaining much courage, i ventured into the storm, expecting myself to be the only living creature out there. a man walking his dogs and another health freak jogging proved me wrong. i wonder if there were in their right senses???
well, i did manage to reach home safe and sound, albeit cold and wet, appreciating the old saying "Home sweet home".
but that was only the introduction to snow storm. the full course was next morning, braving the even stronger storm for three hours at the wee hours of morning!!!

when will the winter pass. thats the only thought in my mind now.... (i no longer have any regrets for missing the first snowfall)

of blogs of anti blogs

aahhhh!!! freedom at last...
with the exams finally over, i now have two weeks of holidays. a much looked forward to holidays...
over the past months, whenever something popped up, it was enthusiastically put away to be completed during the semester break. so yesterday, when i was trying to plan this two weeks, i realised i had a LONG list of to do's.
- clean my room (pending for two months!!!)
- brush up the watever little C programming i knew
- learn MATLAB
- read a lot of stuffs
- get my website running
- overhaul my bicycle
- ...
and the list goes on. but the most important of all...
- ensure 12 hours (min) of sleep daily

may ALLAH bless me...
i am sure i can at least fulfill one target :-)

knowledge vs wealth

(i) Knowledge is the legacy of the Prophets. Wealth is the inheritance of the Pharaohs. Therefore, knowledge is better than wealth.

(ii) You are to guard your wealth but knowledge guards you. So knowledge is better.

(iii) A man of wealth has many enemies, while a man of knowledge has many friends. Hence knowledge is better.

(iv) Knowledge is better because it increases with distribution, while wealth decreases by that act.

(v) Knowledge is better because a learned man is apt to be generous, while a wealthy person is apt to be miserly.

(vi) Knowledge is better because it cannot be stolen while wealth can be stolen.

(vii) Knowledge is better because time cannot harm knowledge, but wealth rusts in course of time and wears away.

(viii) Knowledge is better because it is boundless, while wealth is limited and you can keep account of it.

(ix) Knowledge is better because it illuminates the mind, while wealth is apt to blacken it.

(x) Knowledge is better because knowledge induced the humanity in our Prophet to say to Allah, "We worship Thee as we are Your servant," while wealth engendered in Pharaoh and Nimrod the vanity which made them claim Godhead."

Excerpted from Seeking knowledge:It has to be our national imperative

from a loving father to a dear child

"Seek knowledge, my child, and you will find that it opens many doors—doors that you never even realized were there before."

This are the concluding remarks of a loving father's letter to his dearest daughter. It was a very good read for me, and i believer others would like it too.

here are some notable points...

1. Refrain from spending time unwisely. Instead use your mind for deep thought and contemplation on life and the real issues that affect you as a Muslim.

“Allah says: Son of Adam: Fill your time with My worship and I will fill your heart with richness, and end your poverty. But if you do not, I would make your hands completely busy (in worldly affairs) and I would not end your poverty.“ (At-Tirmidhi; confirmed to be a strong hadith)

"Our purpose of existence on earth is more meaningful than being slaves to worldly gains. There can be no meaningful life better than that prescribed by our Creator Allah. Every act done according to Allah’s way is an act of worship."
(Sheikh Ibn Al-Qayyim)

2. Learn more about your deen, about Allah‘s creation, and about the world outside the very small circle that you live in. Focus on and give deep thought to relarticles on this topics. Try to know about application of islam in our day to day life.

3. After the Islamic sciences, no other knowledge is more critical to the development of your mind than subjects such as science, geography, history, and world politics.

4. Always remember that extremism in deen is not the way of Allah‘s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The believer who takes Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as an example for living life takes the middle path.

5. As you study and learn new things, you must also beware of arrogance. Knowledge gained should bring us closer to Allah Most High, for all knowledge has its beginning with Him. Any knowledge that takes you away from the remembrance of Allah Most High is useless knowledge.

6. If you truly understood the motivation of those who promote and distribute the songs that your generation listens to, the television and movies that they watch, the clothes that they wear, the fads and trends that they follow, and the games that they play, you would easily be able to discern that the motivation is not just to make lots of money. The intentions of these corporations and the people who run them are far more sinister.
They distract us with amusements, games, pastimes, passions, people’s palaces, which is in reality nothing but a false illusion, a disillusionment. All these serves the purpose of distracting the minds from questions ... growing more and more unaccustomed to reflection and forming any opinions of the own.
Dont be disillusioned by this false mirage and empty distractions. Fear Allah alone and He will make things right for you in the long run.

[And whoever is careful of (his duty to) Allah, He will make for him an outlet, and give him sustenance from whence he thinks not; and whoever trusts in Allah, He is sufficient for him; surely Allah attains His purpose; Allah indeed has appointed a measure for everything] (At-Talaq 65:2-3)

"As I conclude, I again caution you against wasting so much of your time. You should get as much benefit from me as you can now because I may not be with you much longer. No, I am not feeling ill, but it’s that kind of time that we live in today.
...
With love,
Your father"

third post of the day

hmmmm.....
finally my baby is back with me. after almost two long months! TWO LOOONNNGGG months!!!

its just three days into the new year, and already so many good things have been hapening to me...
i just hope this good start is not shattered by untoward happeings in the coming 362 days

its the weather man

as in most european countries, it snowed heavily last week. knee deep snow everywhere....
the bright white looks beautiful, but getting around isnt easy, specially for those like us who cycle.

thank God, the snow stopped this week.... but,

the digital thermometer on my way home proudly informed me it was -10 C last night.

i think i prefer the snow........

chronicles of christmas holidays

written on 28 dec '05. posted: 03 jan '06

tanim, a good old friend, and some of his frends from goteborg, sweden came over to spend the christmas break with us. masud, another old friend joined in from helsinki, finland.

so the next couple of days, it was just food food and food...
in the five days here is just few of the things we devoured...
beef bhuna
bhuna kichuri
chingri bhaji
asto ilish bhaja
and special mutton haleem... (mama haleemer cheye hajar gune valo)
[these are just names of some bangladeshi 'finger licking' dishes]

we did little bit of sight seeing (and siteseeing for some) and indoor games during those short gaps when we werent either eating or sleeping!!!

a walk in gistrup forest (a nearby village)
visit to viking graveyard (visits to history page is always entertaining, but at zero C and strong winds.... i would have rather preferred the warm bed with a cup of steaming tea. and better yet, some muri vaja and gorom pianzu)
and some indoor games...

this is all what we had time for...

pictorial update will be soon (yes, its my soon... the undefined soon)