Being

Set me free,
Let me be me!
A particle of dust,
A drop of water,
Burnt coal, ash or fire,
Airborne,
Or nothing,
Like all,

Like none!

Facebook privacy changed yet again

Just when I was comfortable with my privacy settings on Facebook. I read a weird status update saying their pictures are available for anybody to see, who is friends with one of the person who liked or commented on their picture. I kept ignoring the update for a day, till it started mushrooming on other people's profiles and I received notifications of people from my 'limited' lists liking my restricted pictures.

This lead me to check my privacy settings which seemed to be the same as before. But as I checked my photos, I discovered that since after August 12, Facebook allows me to change the privacy of each photo individually on my 'profile pictures', 'mobile uploads' and 'wall photos'. This is a step by step breakdown of how to fix this problem. Pictures uploaded till August 12 have the same old privacy settings. [Earlier we were able to manage the visibility as an an album]

STEP 1

STEP 2

STEP 3

STEP 4

Not only are pictures available, but also images, links, statuses sent from a mobile device are public. I had to go through my timeline till the mid of August to fix this problem as well, earlier ones were customized and were still on the same settings. The rest of the procedure I'm sure can easily be managed. Happy fixing your privacy settings again. I guess for people who are as narcissistic as I am, it would be a hell of a task. 

Rain

The smell of earth,
Drenched with droplets,
Liquid bliss for the parched land,
As sheets of water,
Falling from the sky,
Cleanse dirt, air and flight,
Dancing in rain,
Getting purer by the drop,
Come the rays of light,
Trying to catch the rainbow!

Trippy?

I have this weird feeling, which I haven't been able to totally grasp yet. But.... if you just love to love, it wouldn't matter who is in front. Happiness, you, things, others. Can you think of everything as you and you as everything? It has nothing to do with any god or having a meaning. Until I give meaning to things, they have no meaning, and when they have no meaning, they don't exist. So as long as I exist and give meanings to things, they are a part of me, are a part of my existence, and therefore are me. And as I define things and give meaning to them, I have the power to change their meanings too. You would think it makes me god. If I want what you think to be true, I can call it the truth; giving meaning to your otherwise pitiful non-existence and understanding.

Wandering in the desert

Serenity of the desert,
Embrace me,
Turn me to dust,
Hide those mirages, illusions,
I run after,
Make me one,
Ethereal like you,
So I can look,
And feel the silk of light,
Flowing, flapping in the breeze,
Twisting, turning,
Peeping at the oasis,
Where he hides!

Awakening of the Sufi

Now the sound turns to color,
And objects in skeletal form,
I glance in circles,
With swirlers everywhere!

December 4, 2011

The first time my brain could think in layers. All detached from each other. All one but separate. All individual groups of individuals. 

Condemn 'magar pyar se'

Came across an interesting post recently made by a lady who had a problem with criticizing the Salafi mindset. The point of contention was the use of the word 'fuck' for people who have no compulsion killing, beating, lynching someone from another sect, religion, faith etc. Apparently, murdering people under 'Takfir' is condemnable but condemning that mindset directly can hurt the sentiments of the murderers therefore one must be very cautious. Here's a 'screenshot' of the screenshot which was taken from my twitter account:

Caption reads: This is who we are? So full of hate? None of us are better than the other... How can we say that the people who murder Shias are wrong, when we ourselves never seem to show respect for the other sect! The people who kill shias are from among us... and all of us seem to have these prejudices..

It seems that the 'Salafi mindset' is being equated to a general comment on the 'Salafis'. Also, condemning a mindset is equivalent to murdering people. I guess lack of education and awareness can definitely be blamed for this unreasonable reverence and misplaced sense of morality. The same excuse has been used by many Muslims all around the world when it comes to drawing cartoons of religious personalities or boldly criticizing some practices of the religion of peace. 

As a friend of mine said, "Let's kill all the bastards they say. Hitler was great they say. Let's praise God they say. He who sent us to this world. To tamper with the sexuality of little children they say. To tamper with their brains they say. To conceive heaven and the virgins therein. To love thy neighbour but only if it not be a jew, a christian, a shia, an ahmedi, an atheist....."

I say, "Condemn, magar pyar se..." ;)