Exclusive right to "Truth"

Message of my class over the weekend was "Let there be no compulsion in religion" and I made sure to drill this in all my student's heads very well. I must admit, lots of what I teach my kids is not something I have known for a long time either, I learn as I go. And it's the best feeling in the world to know that your personal belief matches your religious belief.

I asked my kids if they thought our religion believed in "Exlusivism" and most of them confidently said yes. I don't blame them, ofcourse they think that they've got an eclusive right on Truth because they haven't been told otherwise. Then I brought in the idea of "Inclusivism" and all of the sudden they felt more comfortable thinking that this makes more sense and again majority agreed on the idea of inclusivism. And then I introduced to them the idea of "Pluralism" and I gotta admit that I felt a little discomfort and even disappointment from the class when it was revealed to them that No, they don't have an exlusive right to "The Truth" if there's such a thing.

I don't know if the disappointment was because they lost what they thought they had or because their personal belief didn't match with their religious belief. Either way, I am honored to be a part of their journey to self discovery.

Om like the Islamic blog site Islamicate

When I woke up..

After a night filled with music from Pixies, I went to bed knowing it would be difficult to wake up in an hour but my extreme exhaustion and my strong faith to be able to wake myself up was convincing enough. My faith didn't let me down, I did wake up. Several times. First it was at the Airport for the farewell of a friend. Next to say my goodbye to the favorites. Then at the international house of pancakes. Then outside of a country store sweating like a pig. Next time I found myself in a prison, not a prison but a replica in a prison museum. I woke up again in a shower this time to freshen up just so I can go to sleep without having to wake up again. My sleep was filled with a beautiful lie.

Om likes the Pixies

Escape

Morning drive, hands down is the high point of my day everyday. Being in my car for over an hour in the morning feels like being in a twilight zone, where I am unaware of anything outside of that piece of metal and glass. I have driven down those roads so much that I need not to pay attention to signs, signals and traffic. My radio usually jumps between BBC news channel, morning show with Rod Ryan, local news and weather channel and a cd of my choice. While lost in those radio waves and the thoughts of my own, nothing can touch me, not the guy flicking at me for cutting him off, not the minor accident that is backing everyone up, and not even the slow drivers in the left most lane. Sometime those lame games like "make yo mama curse" make me crack up, that old song "Last Kiss" by pearl jam almost gives me teary eyes, hearing about poverty in Africa and riots in Kashmir rages me. But all these emotions take me away from me. I have everything on mind except for "my life" and that escape I figured is what I enjoy the most. I can't do that in any other part of my day.

Om listens to NPR

Before 30 (another neverending blog)

I must I must I must write it down.

1- Sky dive atleast once. (Done!)
2- Learn another language.
3- Learn to play an instrument.
4- Learn to cook atleast one cuisine.
5- Learn to swim (*sigh*)
6- Get my Masters.

that's it for now.

Godot's got it goin on...

He really does and I don't get it. Loosing hair line, average looks, history of drug and alcohol use, and living with the parents but despite of all that he's the ladies man. Ok, let's list his cool points: umm... cool car, nice house, Educated, good taste in music, adventurous, confident, interesting to hang out with, nice clothes, classy personality, easy to get along and those weird yet cool eyewear... Oh I get it.

Om enjoyed reading Waiting for Godot

All the lonely people.

I just had the most surreal moment at a local super market. At 5:30a I was walking down the aisles, and every aisle had at least one employee with a scanner in his/her hand marking prices and no customers. So I am walking down those aisle and all I hear is the rolling of my cart, synchronized beeps from those scanners and the Beatles song playing the background

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Where do they all come from ?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong ?

Om wishes to know more about Beatles

Grillz!!

Got 30 down at the bottom, 30 mo at the top
All invisible set in little ice cube blocks
If I could call it a drink, call it a smile on da rocks
If I could call out a price, let's say I call out a lot

It has always amused me how people get creative with sealing their commitment of love. Some stick to the traditional wedding ring, but even in that, there are billion choices. You can do so much with colors, cuts, shapes and types of stone that the possibilities are endless. Some have decided to get away from ring tradition and use a wedding necklace or bracelet instead. Some indifferent people even have decided to do away with jewelery completely and get a tattoo instead, hell I know a person who has a ring tattoed on her finger with her hubby's name on it. Whatever way you choose to seal you commitment, it's truly beautiful. But just when I thought I've heard it all on the subject I met Theresa.

Just a little intro of Theresa: I met her last night in a bar for the very first time. She is a pretty chineese girl around 21. She knows curse words in atleast 7 different languages, owns a stuffed mono (Thats right, check out GiantMicrobes.com and it will make sense), Knows all of BJork's music, knows the band members of Fall out boy, likes to crack jokes of sexual nature. In a nutshell, pretty interesting person to hang out with. At the same time she seem to have crushes on upcoming famous rap artists.

So, Theresa catches me by surprise when she reveals that she plans to exchange "grillz" instead of wedding rings when she gets married. Now, me being a little naive about the hip hop culture found it really weird and at first I thought she was joking. But she was totally serious, Specifically 6 platinum caps with her hubby's initials on it and her husband is suppose to do the same with her initials on it. she tells me that it's not even anything new, everybody is doing it.

Now, as much as I am accepting of different cultures and their ways, I don't think I can ever be comfortable with the idea of grillz. I mean who likes to see someone smile and show off their shiny platinum grills instead of nice and clean set of teeth? How far are we going to push the idea of body jewellery? Oh well, I guess I am not that hip!

Smile fo me daddy
(What you lookin at)
Let me see ya grill
(Let you see my what)
Ya, ya grill ya, ya, ya grill

Om is amused by Giant Microbes

Absentee Chachu

I made a quick call to my brother in Pakistan yesterday and this little kid with the softest and most sweetest voice picked up the phone. It was my nephew of 5 yrs, he handed the phone to his dad telling him that its 'chachu'(uncle). This is probably the first time I heard that kid call me chachu and suddenly it hit me, that I have lost 5 years of my first ever nephew's life when he is growing up and learning things from every family member but me. He only knows me from all the pictures he has seen, which hasn't made him feel close enough to me to talk over the phone without shying away.

All of the sudden it made me realize all the responsibilities I have towards this kid and the role I should be playing in his life. Am I always going to be that absentee 'chachu' to my nephew and the rest of the new members of my dear family?

Dobel says...

Dobel says there’s always a person that you see everywhere you go. You don’t know the name of that person, don’t know where he lives or what he does but everywhere you go, there he is. It’s like you both are living the same life. Does anyone else see him?

Om recommends Anything else

Ornaments - Neverending Blog

Ornaments

*Dobel – Why? It’s like anything else
*MD – Almost an imaginary buddy.
*Beautiful Lie – formerly knows as walking piece of Art.
*Godot – still undecided
*Object/s – of my affection!
*My precious – precious.
*The favorites

Situations

*Green Leaf
*Waiting Room
*Uncle Sam