12 Muslims fined for Malaysia Hindu temple protest

A Malaysian court Tuesday fined 12 Muslims and sentenced one of them to a week in prison for illegally protesting the construction of a Hindu temple and parading a severed cow's head.

The protest last August stoked tensions among Malaysia's three main ethnic groups the Malay Muslim majority and Chinese and Indian minorities, most of them Buddhists, Christians or Hindus who have complained that their religious rights are often sidelined in favor of Islam.

The 12 men were among scores of Muslims who marched with a bloodied cow's head from a mosque to the central Selangor state chief minister's office on Aug. 28, 2009 to denounce the state government's plan to build a Hindu temple in their largely Muslim neighborhood.

Some of the protesters also stomped and spat on the head and made fiery speeches that deeply offended Hindus. The cow is the most sacred animal In Hinduism.

All 12 pleaded guilty in a Selangor district court Tuesday to a charge of illegal assembly and were fined 1,000 ringgit ($320) each, said defense lawyer Afifuddin Hafifi. They faced up to a year in prison and a fine for the charge.

Two of them who brought and stepped on the cow's head also pleaded guilty to sedition. Both were fined an additional 3,000 ringgit ($960), and one was sentenced to a week in prison, Afifuddin said.

Sedition, defined as promoting hostility between races, is punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine.

The conflict highlighted frustrations among minorities about strict government guidelines that restrict the number of non-Muslim places of worship, partly based on whether enough non-Muslims live where a church or temple is to be built.

Authorities in Selangor eventually found a new site to build the controversial temple.

The protest was among the most high-profile in a string of interfaith disputes in recent years that threatened decades of harmonious ties between Malays, who comprise nearly two-thirds of Malaysia's 28 million people, and ethnic minorities.

Early this year, a string of firebomb attacks and vandalism hit mostly non-Muslim places of worship following a court verdict that allowed Christians to use “Allah'' in Malay-language publications.

Some Muslim Malaysians insist the non-Muslim use of ``Allah'' would confuse Muslims and tempt them into converting. Minorities say this is an example of institutionalized religious discrimination, but the government denies any bias.

Allahabad women go to the gym, in a burqa

It is all about being fit and this universally appealing statement has now inspired some of the Burqa clad women in Allahabad to get into shape. Their trainers are men but that doesn't deter them. Amazingly, the Imam in their area is all for it.

"We follow our religion, we keep our 'purdah' when we do our workout. Our family doesn't have a problem. I would say more girls should join us," said Saifee Parveen, one of the gym-goers.

Many others like Parveen come to Sehat Gym in Allahabad's Kareli Mohalla every morning and evening.Their families too are extending their full support.

"There are people who say that Muslim women should not come forward. We don't think so as they should come forward through education, or in sports, then parents and brothers should only encourage them," said a Aabid, Perveen's brother.

Imam Sayyed Zaffar Zaidi said," No one should have an objection to it. Islam does not stop this. If someone goes to the gym in purdah, it's alright. If it is for improving one's health, Islam allows it."

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/these-allahabad-women-go-to-the-gym-in-a-burqa-39728?cp

Success Story

Four friends meet at a party. One of them had to go to restroom after drinks. The remaining three started taking about their kids.

1st man : My son started working in a company . Now he is the President of the company and he became so rich that he gifted a brand new Mercedes to his best friend for his birthday.

2nd man : My son started working in a big airline and then became a partner in the company . He is now so rich that he gave a new jet to his best friend .

3rd man : My son became an engineer and is a billionaire now . he gave a 30,000 sq. ft . large mansion to his best friend .

Just then the forth man returns from the restroom and asked : what r u guys discussing . one of them replied : We are talking about the success of our sons . what is your son doing .

4th man said : My son is a gay and makes a living by dancing as a stripper at the nightclub.

The 3 friends said : What a shame….

4th man said : I am not ashamed of him and he hasn’t done too bad for himself . It was his birthday a week back and he received a Mercedes , a jet and a 30,000 sq. ft . large mansion from his 3 boyfriends

Never Experienced Air Travel

Exams are like wife :

Exams are like wife :

1)Too many Questions.

2)Too difficult to understand.

3)More explanation is needed

4)Result is always unexpected..

This is Dubai

Petrol is cheaper than water

Vaastas are more powerful than money

Getting license is more difficult than car

Building construction finishes in 3 months

Difficult to get a bed space for Bachelor

Bachelors are shifting builings every 1 year

Unqualified get more salary than the Qualified

Watchman has more Rights than Owner of Building

Peon has MORE INFLUENCE ON BOSS than the Manager

Cleaners have more vaaasta then officers

Dubai climate changes so fast, in one hour u can see it raining, u can see dust, u can experience heat and u can experience cold too,

If some one cant earn money in Dubai, he cant earn in any place in the world

In Dubai time passes very fast, Friday to Friday comes u never know, its so fast

Every bachelor has a dream of getting married and buying a house in India

Being at home is more painful than being at work

Labourers are paid less than what they can earn back in their country

Dubai is located in desert still you find greenery everywhere

Theatres are full with the nationals whenever there is a movie of Salman or Shahrukh

Dubai girls sing Hindi songs but don't understand anything

Food/Grocery is delivered right up to the car

A ladies hair salon every 5 meters

A Starbucks every 10 meters

Left lane of the highway is for slow drivers

Smashed cars more than bugs

Ways To Achieve Unrealistically Realistic Success

“Realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity”
– Will Smith

When a little boy says “I want to be an astronaut” – we smile at him and say, “Sure, honey, you can be anything you want to be!” When a twenty five year old man makes the same statement, we say, “Hey, be realistic!” Which basically means, “settle for something that brings you no satisfaction, just because you know you can get it”.

What happened in the 15 years that made a perfectly capable human-being turn into perfectly incapable grown-up, whose only choice in life is to get a degree in a highly- demanding field, find a regular job, work 30 + years and hopefully save enough money for retirement? It is as if in the course of our adulthood years instead of perfecting our skills, tripling our IQ, gaining valuable experience we are somehow getting dumber and less talented.

Common sense would suggest that if we could have accomplished everything we wanted at the age of 5, we are even more capable of doing it at the age of 25 or 50.

And since you and I are sensible people, let’s forget about the most depressing, demotivating, dream-killing cliché’s of our time to “be realistic” and go for something that we actually want and can accomplish!

Here are 9 ways to start achieving unrealistically realistic success:

1. Readjust your goals. Believe that success starts or is based on luck, intelligence, determination or some extraordinary talents. It starts with a big vision that is worth working for.

Take a look at your goal.

* Is it motivating?
* Is it inspiring?
* Is it the greatest goal ever?

If not, then perhaps you have made it too realistic. Psychological research shows that challenging goals lead to increased motivation and improved performance. It makes sense – the bigger the goal is, the more strongly we want to achieve it.

2. Think differently. If you do whatever everyone else is doing you will get the same results as everyone else is getting. Which is fine if this is what you want, but if you feel that you could do more/ be more/ achieve more, why settling for less? All of the greatest discoveries, multi-billion dollar companies and break through- accomplishments were done by people, who thought differently from the rest of the world and were not afraid to put their vision into action.

3. Ignore the “realistic dudes”. They say that you should not go to a doctor whose office plants have died. Just as you should not ask a person who has achieved very little, advice on success. Before listening to “kind-hearted” advice to give up on your goals or think smaller, consider this – most people who claim to “be realistic” spend 95% of their time worrying about things that will never happen. There is a huge difference between having your feet firmly on the ground and making Murphy’s Law “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong” your life credo. Do not let the “realistic dudes” dampen your self-confidence and prevent you from going after your goals. Listen to yourself! You already know all the right answers!

4. See everyone as your equal. Two of the greatest fears: fear of failure and fear of success are caused by our unconscious need to compare ourselves with others. As a result we consider some groups of people to be “lower” than us and others to be “out of our league”, because we believe that they have something we have not been given. Here is the truth – no one cheated you at your birth. God did not send you to this Planet to demonstrate to you, your inferiority. You have all the intelligence, skills, tools and perfect circumstances to learn your lessons, develop and succeed. But it is up to you to figure out what success means to you and to make the maximum out of what you have been given.

5. Let go of what is holding you back. It does not matter what you have done to get where you are right now, because you cannot influence this. What matters is what you do today to get where you want to be. Let go of everything that holds you back and creates friction in your progress, be it past failures, pessimistic people or negative beliefs. They rob too much of your physical and mental energy.

6. Whatever you do, do something! Over time anything we do or do not do on a regularly basis turns into a habit. If we do not consciously try to change our behavior, our life style, opinions, and even relationships lose their excitement and become sedentary. Similar, no matter how great your ambitions are, if you do not do anything about them for a certain period of time, you develop a habit of constantly postponing your dreams for later Momentum is the key to breaking free from the evil spells of stagnation and making your life more exciting and satisfying.

7. Know when to quit. Being unrealistic and striving for higher goals is not the same as being unreasonable and stubbornly sticking to projects that have absolutely no chances of success. Learn to concentrate on your winning ideas and drop quickly the ones that do not bring any results.

8. Use Pareto principle to amplify your achievements. The Pareto principle (also known as 80-20 rule) states that around 80% of the effects come from only 20% of the causes. It means that 80% of your achievements are direct result of 20%of your efforts. And vice versa, 80% of your problems and negative situations are provoked by only 20% of causes. Think of what events/actions/beliefs are responsible for the majority of your distress and negative emotions and which ones are making you happier and more successful? Then amplify your accomplishments by eliminating the main “negativity” triggers and concentrating on those things that bring you most joy and greater results.

9. Choose the path of least resistance. As strange as it may sound, achieving bigger goals usually takes just as much time and effort as accomplishing mediocre goals. There is simply less competition at the top. Aim higher than majority of people and you will not have to waste your energy competing with 95% of the population who are going after “realistic goals”.

And if someone tries to breed doubts in your heart instead of listening to them listen to Michelangelo who said that, “The greatest danger for most of us in not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it”. He obviously knew what he was talking about!

Mohammed to Johny Transformation

Mohammed, a Pakistani child, entered his classroom on the first day of school in Ohio (USA)

"What is your name?" - asked the teacher.

"Mohammed". . .. - answered the kid.

"You are in America now. From now on your name will be Johnny,"
-replied the teacher.

In the evening, Mohammed returned home. "How was your day, Mohammed?"
- asked his mother.

"My name is not Mohammed. I'm in America and now my name is Johnny."

"Ah, are you ashamed of your name, are you trying to dishonor your
parents, your heritage, your religion? Shame on you!"
- and she beat him.

Then she called his father and he too beat him.

The next day Mohammed returned to school..

When the teacher saw him with all the bruises she asked, "What happened
to you little Johnny"?

Well madam, 4 hours after I becoming an American, I was attacked by
two Pakistani's At home."

Boys will always remain boys

A new lady teacher came to teach 8th standard students. As it was the first day, she gave her intro, and asked all the students to introduce themselves with name and hobby.

She said, Lets start with the boys first.

Boys start giving their intro...
First boy: My name is John, and my hobby is to see bubble in the bathtub.

Teacher was confused to listen but said, Interesting. Well, Ok. Infact, we must be honest in telling the hobby. And after all there is essentially a child in each of us. So its ok John.
Yes next.

Second boy: Myself Peter and my hobby is to see bubble in the bathtub.

Teacher now got surprised and said, Good. I like the spirit of supporting a friend. Ok next.

Third boy: Im Smith and my hobby is to see bubble in the bathtub.

Teacher: Guys are you joking or what? Please be sincere. Ok next.

This continues...
and the last boy stands up Im Harry and my hobby is to see bubble in the bathtub.

Exhausted, the teacher said, I dont think I will be able to teach un-grown boys for long.
Anyway, now the girls please.

First girl: Im Julie and my hobby is to see birds.

Teacher: Good. At last I got something different.
Ok next.

Second girl: Im Ruby and I like to collect perfumes.

Teacher Now its like educated grown up girls. Ok next.
You sweet girl; Yes you...

Most beautiful girl of the class:
Mam, my name is BUBBLE, and my hobby is to take bath three times a day.

Priest's Retirement Dinner

A Priest was being honoured at his retirement dinner after 25 years in the parish. A leading local politician and member of the congregation was chosen to make the presentation and to give a little speech at the dinner.

However, he was delayed, so the Priest decided to say his own few words while they waited:

'I got my first impression of the parish from the first confession I heard here. I thought I had been assigned to a terrible place. The very first person who entered my confessional told me he had stolen a television set and, when questioned by the police, was able to lie his way out of it. He had stolen money from his parents, embezzled from his employer, had an affair with his boss's wife, taken illegal drugs, and sold his sister's jewelery to buy a gun. I was appalled.

But as the days went on I learned that my people were not all like that and I had, indeed, come to a fine parish full of good and loving people.'....

Just as the Priest finished his talk, the politician arrived full of apologies at being late. He immediately began to make the presentation and gave his talk:

'I'll never forget the first day our parish Priest arrived,' said the politician. 'In fact, I had the honour of being the first person to go to him for confession.'

Moral: Never, Never, Never Be Late....

Lion goes on-site

In a poor zoo of India , a lion was frustrated as he was offered not more than 1 kg meat a day.

The lion thought its prayers were answered when one US Zoo Manager visited the zoo and requested the zoo management to shift the lion to the US Zoo.

The lion was so happy and started thinking of a central A/c environment, a goat or two every day and a US Green Card also. On its first day after arrival,the lion was offered a big bag, sealed very nicely for breakfast.

The lion opened it quickly but was shocked to see that it contained few bananas. Then the lion thought that may be they cared too much for him as they were worried about his stomach as he had recently shifted from India .

The next day the same thing happened. On the third day again the same food bag of bananas was delivered.

The lion was so furious, it stopped the delivery boy and blasted at him, 'Don't you know I am the lion...king of the Jungle..., what's wrong with your management?, what nonsense is this?, why are you delivering bananas to me?'

The delivery boy politely said, 'Sir, I know you are the king of the jungle but .. Did you know that you have been brought here on a monkey's visa !!!!!

Moral of Story :
Better to be a Lion in India than a Monkey elsewhere !!!

Two-Headed Calf Born in Egypt Expected to Survive

An Egyptian farmer this week said one of his cows gave birth to a two-headed calf, after two hours of strenuous labor. The farmer, Sobhy el-Ganzoury, called it a "divine miracle." The animal is expected to survive.

El-Ganzoury is feeding milk to the calf with a baby bottle, and he told the AP that the animal is a reminder that "God is able to do anything." A veterinarian told him that the calf is in stable condition, despite having weak legs from the difficult birth.

Vying for those perfect abs?

Ninety thousand rupees will fetch you a brand new six-pack. Ask Dr Mohan Thomas, a senior cosmetic surgeon and consultant at Mumbai's Breach Candy hospital.

Dr Thomas gets 20 to 30 people every month who want six-pack abs the easy way (by a surgery called injection lipolysis - see box). And a lot of men do want them the easy way, because, face it, working to get a six-pack is very hard.

But it's also apparently very desirable to have one. Blame it on luck, blame it on fate. actually, blame it on Shah Rukh Khan, who kicked off the trend less than three years ago with Om Shanti Om. And on Aamir Khan in Ghajini, Shahid Kapur in Kaminey and more recently, Imran Khan in I Hate Luv Storys.

The consensus among the people who do matter is: if you ain't got a six-pack, you ain't fit!

Fortunately, that kind of thinking is usually restricted to models and film people. "Sixty per cent of the people who come to me are aspiring models," says Dr Thomas.

"Everyone comes to Mumbai to try their luck in the world of glamour and naturally, they all want to look the best they can. I think people looked at SRK and Aamir and thought 'hey, these two went from being regular guys to being 'ripped,' so why can't I?'"

While the other 40 per cent of Dr Thomas's clientele comprises older men struggling with mid-life crises, it's primarily men in the glamour industry who are obsessed with six-packs.

"It's simple: an aspiring model who does have a six pack certainly has an edge over one who doesn't, even if the other person does have a flat, toned tummy," says Pranav Awasthi, who runs Glitz Model Management, a leading modelling agency.

"That's not to say that models don't require other skills. But at the end of the day, they're expected to be fit and today, the definition of fit includes having a six-pack."

Fashion designer Prasad Bidapa is one of those people who welcome the trend and take it seriously.

"The '50s and the '60s were the years of the prosperity paunch; the '90s were the years of the bulky macho man with huge shoulders. This decade, lean is in," he says.

Bidapa thinks that having a six-pack is a reflection of our changing perception of health and beauty. "I see it like this: sporting a designer bag with a six-pack works. Sporting a designer bag with a flabby body doesn't work. It's that simple," he laughs.

"So every model that comes to audition for me has six-packs - the serious ones have eight - and that's because the competition is so intense."

So is having a six-pack the be all and end all of making it big in the glamour world? "Unfortunately, that's exactly what the newbies feel," says Awasthi.

"But ultimately, acting skills is where the real money is because unless you become a supermodel, you're probably just one of the 10-15 guys walking the ramp."

Redefining fitness Some filmmakers believe that there's no novelty in actors having six-packs anymore. Shahid Kapur didn't flaunt his abs in Badmaash Company even though the film did have the mandatory beach scene. Director Parmeet Sethi claims that this was a conscious decision.

"Shahid Kapur has not shown his physique in my film because both of us came to the conclusion that it looked extremely pretentious, a been-there-done-that kind of a thing, you know. I mean, let's face it - Shahid's character is supposed to be your average kid from the '90s and at that time, abs were certainly not in vogue."

Sethi is point blank when airing his views about the trend. "For some strange reason, the younger generation today feels that having a six-pack somehow means you have arrived! I think actors today are competing in all the wrong areas - you know, abs, hair, dancing skills, rather than things that matter like the kind of films they do and the roles they play."

Having six-packs is not bad, he sums up. "But having only six-packs most certainly is." Punit Malhotra, the director who presents young Imran Khan in a most un-Imran Khan avatar in I Hate Luv Storys too claims that he "only wanted the actor to look fit and getting washboard abs wasn't a conscious decision at all.

But of course, by today's definition, 'fit' equals six-pack." It's a trend, not a requirement, says Malhotra, but adds, "I'm not sure if it's a healthy trend." It certainly doesn't seem very healthy. Even gym trainers warn people off it.

"Sometimes, Aamir used to shriek in pain and cry doing the stomach crunches while training for Ghajini, but he did not skip a single day," says his trainer Satya. It took Aamir 13 months of intense four-hour workout sessions daily and a carefully monitored diet regimen to achieve his look in the film.

"I'm not sure how safe that is for normal people to attempt," says Satya. The real meaty issue is the fact that at the end of the day, washboard abs are a modern-day, machine made construct (ever saw yesteryear wrestlers and even bodybuilders flaunting their six-packs?).

The odd part is that most females find them positively gross and claim that a six-pack is certainly not what they're looking for in their guy. But showbiz has its own rules - most of them made by men!

The trend

2007: Shah Rukh Khan, of all people, kicks off the trend with Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om. The actor's six-pack creates much buzz around the film.

2008: Aamir Khan follows in his footsteps and unveils a pumped up new body and a brand new six-pack for the Hindi remake of the action flick Ghajini.

2010: Imran Khan is the latest entrant on the six-pack scene in the just-released romantic comedy, I Hate Luv Storys.

Prayer carpets take mosques to Saudi World Cup fans

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em: Saudi Arabia's religious police, who once used staves to prod people to the mosque at prayer time, are taking the mosque to football fans for the World Cup.

The Islamic morality cops began rolling out prayer carpets this week in front of popular coffee shops on Riyadh's central Tahlia street, where Saudi men are turning out nightly for the matches broadcast from South Africa. The "mobile mosques," as they are called, make sure the faithful don't miss the sunset mahgrib prayer, which by chance falls just at the end of regulation time of the daily first match in the World Cup's current round of 16.

On the other hand, on Tuesday the call to prayer began just as Japan and Paraguay entered extra-time. Abiding by Saudi religious rules that require all commercial establishments to close for prayers, the big-screen TVs were shut off in La Caverna coffee shop and customers herded outside.

There a team from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), as they are formally known, laid out carpets facing Mecca on the broad sidewalk, and mounted a microphone for the imam. Large loudspeakers broadcast the imam's call from the mobile mosque truck; it also had pop-out water spigots for pre-prayer ablutions.

Firas Douglass, a Jordanian resident of Saudi Arabia and a Netherlands team fan, said he didn't mind missing Japan and Paraguay's extra-time battle. "It's not a big matter, it's only five minutes. We are losing around 90 minutes doing nothing" but watching football, he said.

"We are making it convenient for everyone to pray," said Khalid al-Rusais, the CPVPV team leader. Long despised by many Saudis for their rough enforcement of Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic morality, the CPVPV have in the past year gone on a charm offensive, curtailing some of their more controversial actions.