Logging life

Just finished Franz Kafka's unfinished novel 'The Castle.' In fact, the novel ends mid-sentence. It is a story about bureaucracy or the ideosyncracies of the bureaucratic systems. Fun and disturbing at the same time.

Islam was a revolutionary religion- it gives equal rights to all humans, took special care of women, removed barriers between creations and the Creator, etc. making laws that was needed for a harmonious society. I always wondered why Islam did not abolish slavery, I am yet to find an answer but Islamic concept of slavery was quite different than what was prevalent in the Americas and Europe. Muslims were encouraged to free their slaves and there are numerous stories of companions and other followers freed their slaves on many occasions. Also something unique was the concept of a slave winning his freedom. A slave in Muslim society can ask to be emancipated and upon terms agreed upon by his master and himself/herself the slave can win his freedom. ... And such of your slaves as seek a writing (of emancipation), give them such writing, if you find that there is good and honesty in them. And give them something (yourselves) out of the wealth of Allâh which He has bestowed upon you. ... [A...

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net Since 1980s, globalization has been a much used and rather abused word. But the fact is that trade between civilizations, countries, and continents have been going on for thousands of years. Until the middle of the twentieth century, borders between countries were never well defined. All empires and regimes had areas of influence which was used to tax the population and produce. True, they did levy taxes on trade coming in their region but goods and people freely moved about on land and water. Trade through ocean helped Islam spread to Southern India and South East Asia. Silk route is another famous example of globalized nature of trade over land. The silk route connected China and India to Central Asian and Mediterranean countries. In 1940s the borders that had remained on paper got manifested on the ground. All trade activities came to a halt as a result of border closure. People and goods that have moved in the region for thousands of years suddenly...

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net Urdu daily Inquilab was established in 1938 in the thick of the Indian freedom struggle by Abdul Hameed Ansari. Abdul Hameed Ansari was a freedom fighter and that spirit of freedom is still alive in the pages of Inquilab. Shahid Latif is the current editor of Inquilab and keeper of the 70 year old flame. Though India has attained independence 60 years ago but people still face same kind of problems and difficulties. “The work that Inquilab rendered in its initial days continue to be its mission,” said Shahid Latif talking to TwoCircles.net. Shahid Latif is a man of humble origin but high aspirations. Son of a grade three Indian Railways employee, his schooling was in Khandesh district of Maharashtra. He arrived in Mumbai in 1975 to do his higher studies. He worked as an accountant though cultivated in family tradition of literature and poetry he ended up in the vibrant Urdu poetry circles of Mumbai. From accounting to journalism was a long journey for ...

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net Television journalism is one of the most glamorous jobs of new India. Arfa Khanum Sherwani as principal correspondent and news anchor for NDTV India holds one of those glamorous jobs. Her home in New Delhi is an example of simplicity. She used to be in front of her camera, but this time she was the subject of the interview. I asked her about television journalism in India which is barely a decade old. While Ms. Sherwani is very optimistic about the future of news channels in India, she is also brutally honest in accepting the mistakes made by electronic journalists. Arfa, originally from UP, is a Chemistry graduate. She did a one year course in journalism from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and joined The Pioneer. From there she moved to The Asian Age. Realizing that she is more comfortable in a visual medium, she found herself as a TV reporter and news anchor. Arfa has won accolades and criticism for her courageous and investigative reporting on Sac...

By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net In the budget for 2009-10 financial year, Government of India has allocated 1756 crores, an increase of whopping 74% from pervious year’s 1013 crores. But before one yells ‘minority appeasement’ consider this: it is a just 0.17% of the total budget reserved for 20% of the nation’s population. National Minorities Commission Act, 1992 has notified Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Budhists, and Parsi as minority communities. Muslims form 73% of the minority population. Naturally, most of the schemes for minorities are designed keeping in mind educational and economic backwardness of the Muslims. Annually, the Central Government spends Rs. 5000 crores for minority welfare; it takes into account assets of Maulana Azad Education Foundation and National Minority Development Finance Corporation (NMDFC) and the budget of Ministry of Minority Affairs. Now let’s take – Rs. 5000 crores and divide that by the conservative estimate of Muslim population in India, which is...