My New Year Resolution for 2021

 Off you go 2020! Quite a year it was, wasn't it? 

It started with the best thing happened to me till date, the journey to the Holy cities of Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia, for 'Umrah. It was overwhelmingly wholesome. Alhamdulillaah! [1] I'm yet to document the experience, but I do have the poetry ready, which you will see on the blogs soon.

Then just about a month later, the covid pandemic started and finally the lock-down. Ramazan [2] came and went by, we couldn't offer prayers in the mosques. Eid-ul-fitr was same. So was Eid-ul-Azha. [3] Sad sad times those were. 

It did bring some positive changes too. We had a lot of free time. People actually started working on things they were passionate about. 

Resolutions

First of all, note that making resolution DOES help. 10/10 recommended. It keeps you focused. It gives you a list to work on. It tells you where to concentrate your efforts. 

When you make one, it might not seem realistic at first, even to yourself. Rather, specially to yourself. But the motivation and consistency it provides easily make you more productive than you were before. 

The key is being motivated. They say, around 90% of people who make resolutions drop them by the end of January. You don't want to be one of them. 

2020

Even when a lot of things which were in the resolution of 2020 are still in pending, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I did finish off. 

The only thing I miserably lagged in was "writing" stuff. I put more effort in development and left the actual writing behind. I miss it. 

2021

• Releasing new apps consistently, many of which are in the queue right now, about ready for production
• Hifz (Memorizing Quran)
• Publishing book-reviews on blogs
• Finishing incomplete Novel, Translations, Books/Booklets etc.
• Magazines - Sarbakaf and Personal Bi-Weekly
• Publishing Videos
• Interviews
• Portals Management
• + Resolutions from last year

Last Words

As I'm writing this, the third decade of the 21st century is on the verge of knocking the doors of times - bringing joys and cries, hope and despair, turning the pages of  everyone's destiny. 

I don't know what this new year will bring, but I am nothing but my dreams. I will continue chasing after them.

________

Footnotes

[1] Alhamdulillah - An expression loosely equivalent to "Thank God", used for gratification/achievement. See Alhamdulillah.

[2] Ramazan is considered a holy month, 9th month as per Islamic Hijri calendar, which is observed worldwide as a month of fasting. See Ramadan.

[3] Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha are the 2 major Muslim festivals celebrated worldwide.

Beginning second half of 2020 — Resolutions?

Yep! That's it. It doesn't stop. 

And sadly enough, the past 4 months we all have been locked up in the lock-down. People like me are in luck, because we don't go out much anyway. Now that we have loads of free time, a lot of my friends planned interesting activities they've been dying to involve in for ages. And guess what? They are actually doing them. I know right?

Anyway! The things I'd planned have really been a mess in my head as always, but writing the resolution actually made me do some work this time. So folks, writing down ideas help. 

Resolutions

Time to see what I did from things I planned in the beginning of this year. 

Maintaining my personal log/diary/rant etc. 

Nope. Never doing that. Because it needs time and I'm busy stuffing my head with new "knowledge" all the time. 😏 It's not a priority anyway. I don't know why I chose this in the first place. 😤

LearnedToday

I started writing this with a hashtag on facebook, and till date I've written 29 of them. In six months, minus 15 days of Umra, It should've been at least a hundred, but anyway. After a long time I did something consistently. And I'm proud of it. 

Weekly – Start posting the stuff I learn every week

Actually a good idea. Did I do something? Nope. Will do? iA. 😁

Sharing – Personal experience + Psychology + Self-help + Philosophy etc.

OK no joking from here. This is actually not on the priority, when I'll be done with the REAL work, I'd start spreading my gyaan. I hope I start it this very year though. 

Works – previous & current (writing+projects)

Red alert. This ranks highest on my priority list. And I'm pretty positive about this with myself. Alhamdulillah! You'll see in the upcoming days.

Tutorials for absolute beginners

Yep, but not unless I find something which has not been done before in the way I'm planning. Have worked on some tutorials actually.

Reading

Finished more than five books of different lenghts. I'm also planning to start writing reviews of them both in English and Urdu. Not quite sure how writing English reviews for Urdu stuff would go. 

Reviewing English stuff in Urdu would be fun. So that ain't going anywhere.

___

That was a little overview. 

Lastly, an exciting news! Urdu Mehfil has completed its 15 years. May Allah keep it alive and make it more beneficial for the Urdu community. 

The birthday celebrations of Urdu Mehfil always push us to contribute. Good for me. 

Rab raakha!👋

[Hindi] Ham aur Ehsaas-e-bechaargi (on suicide of Sushan Singh Rajput)

हम और एहसास-ए-बेचारगी

(सुशानत सिंह राजपूत (अदाकार) की 34 साल की उम्र में ख़ुदकुशी पर)

Note: Consider this a rant or monologue by someone who's frustrated. 

मुझे हैरत इस बात पर है कि क्या हम वाक़ई इतने कमज़ोर हैं कि ज़िंदगी की कशाकश से यूं हार मान जाएं? हम इतने ही बेवक़ूफ़ हैं कि अपने अतराफ़ के लोगों को , उनकी बातों को आसाब पर इस क़दर सवार कर लें कि अपना जीना हराम हो जाये?

ऐवें ही इधर उधर की गप्पें और बकवासों में वक़्त ज़ाए कर लें, लोगों की बातें सन सुनकर अपना दिमाग़ ख़राब कर लें और फिर डिप्रेशन की गोलीयां खाईं। वाह बड़े अक़लमंद हैं आप। 

अजी छुट्टी करें। लानत भेजें उन लोगों पर जो आपको कचरे की तरह इस्तिमाल करते हैं। और नज़रअंदाज कीजीए उनको जो आपके लिए बेहूदा आरा रखते हैं। क्या मुसीबत है आपकी ज़िंदगी में? आप फुट -पाथ पर सोते हैं? भुकमरी से जूझ रहे हैं? फ़ाक़े कर रहे हैं? किसी की मोहताजी है?

फिर किया?

किसी ने गाली दी? तंज़ किया? ग़ीबत की? चुगु़ली की? मुँह पर बेइज़्ज़ती की? किसी आदत का मज़ाक़ उड़ाया?

बस एक-बार देख लें, क्या आप में वो ख़साइल मौजूद हैं? और वाक़ई ऐसी चीज़ें हैं जिन्हें बुरा शुमार किया जाना चाहिए? हैं तो शुक्रिया के साथ क़बूल करें। उनका लहजा कितना ही बुरा सही, उन्होंने आपका फ़ायदा ही किया है। फ़ायदा उठाइए।

और अगर आप में वो आदतें वो ख़साइल मौजूद नहीं तो आपकी सेहत पर किया फ़र्क़ पड़ा? कुछ भी नहीं।

जनाब-ए-मन!

भाड़ समझते हैं? जी हाँ। सबको वहीं झोंकिए और अपनी ज़िंदगी जीनी शुरू कीजीए। अपने लोग और अपनी ख़ुशी वाली ज़िंदगी। क्योंकि जो लोग आपको उजाड़ने में शरीक होंगे वो आपके मरने के बाद आप पर नौहा नहीं करेंगे, बल्कि किसी दूसरे को उजाड़ने में मसरूफ़ होंगे।

ख़ुदारा इन बेवक़ूफ़ों को तवज्जा देकर अपना वक़्त बर्बाद मत कीजीए।मुस्कुरा कर टालीए और हाथ झाड़कर आगे चल पड़िए।

आपके लिए तो दुनिया में बहुत काम हैं, आपने तो अभी नई नई पेंटिंग सीखनी शुरू की है, ख़त्ताती पर हाथ आज़माने हैं, गाने का शौक़ पूरा करना है, तैराकी सीखनी है, वो कराटे की क्लास कब से ज्वाइन करने का सोच रखा है, कुछ अमल भी करेंगे या बस अरतग़रल देख देखकर ख़ुद में जोश ही भरते रहेंगे? वो तीन अधूरे नावल और सीरत उन्नबी वाली किताब पढ़नी शुरू की थी, वो कब ख़त्म होगी

प्रोग्रामिंग सीखने का सोचा था उस का क्या बना? यू-टयूब चैनल बनाने का शौक़ था वो बन चुका? फ़ुलां अंग्रेज़ी किताब का तर्जुमा करने का सोचा था, कर चुके? कुरानी अरबी सीखने का इरादा था, आज ही से ना शुरू कर दें? हिफ़्ज़ कर के अपने वालदैन की आँखें ठंडी करनी थीं, एक-बार भी कोशिश नहीं की? किसी ग़ैर मुस्लिम दोस्त ने इस्लाम के मुताल्लिक़ पूछा था, लेकिन आपने दावत देनी तो कभी सीखी ही नहीं। याद है कितना शर्मिंदा हुए थे। क्यों ना ये भी सीख लिया जाये? पता नहीं कौन कब ऐसे ही अचानक ज़िंदगी से किनारा कर ले और हम अमानत ना पहुंचा सकें? तफ़सीर का प्रोग्राम देखकर पहली बार अल्लाह के कलाम को समझने की कोशिश की थी, पूरी कर लो तो कोई गर्दन से दबोच लेगा कि क्यों मुकम्मल कर ली? दिन-भर वाट्स एप्प फेसबुक पर-अलम ग़लिम पढ़ते हैं, फ़ज्र बाद पाओ पारा क़ुरआन ही पढ़ लें तो क्या बुरा हो। 

सुबह जॉगिंग पर जाना शुरू किया था तो ख़त्म क्यों हो गया? और वो वरज़िश क्यों छोड़ दी? लोग देखते थे तो शरम आती थी, लेकिन अब लोगों की पर्वा करना तो आप छोड़ चुके, तो शुरू करें? ज़माना हो गया , दोस्तों के साथ आख़िरी दफ़ा फूटबाल खेले हुए। चलें कोई तर्तीब बनाई जाये। अरसा गुज़रा कि आपने वो पसंदीदा आइसक्रीम नहीं खाई। ले आएं दो एक स्पून। ज़रा देखना तो वो चाट सैंटर खुल रहा है या नहीं, भाग कर दो कचौरियां बंधवा लाएंगे। बल्कि घर भर के लिए लेते लाएंगे, सिर्फ आप ही थोड़े ही चटोरे हैं। 

अपने आस-पास देख लें। अपनी फ़ैमिली में, आपके हल्क़ा-ए-अहबाब में। कोई बेसकून है तो इस को सुकून दीजीए। कोई गम-ज़दा है तो उसे हंसाईए। लोगों को मुस्कुराहट दीजीए। सवाब की नीयत ही कर लें, दूसरों को ख़ुशी बाँटना सवाब का काम है। यक़ीन नहीं आता तो मुहल्ले के मुफ़्ती साहिब से पूछ लें। 

अच्छा इस सब का फ़ायदा? सादा सा उसूल है बेचारे तब्लीग़ियों का, आप जिस चीज़ की दावत देंगे वो आपके अंदर पैदा होगी। आप भी सुकून में रहेंगे। आप भी ग़म को मुस्कुरा कर झेलने का हुनर सीख जाऐंगे। और आप भी दुनिया को शाकी नज़रों से देखने की बजाय तशक्कुर के साथ देखने लगेंगे। 

और हाँ रोने का मन कर रहा है तो रो लीजीए। इस में क्या दिक़्क़त है। रोना तो अज़हद ज़रूरी है, आप कोई रोबोट तो हैं नहीं। लेकिन ये भी समझिए कि ज़िंदगी वहीं नहीं रुक जाती। वक़्त चलता रहता है, उसे आप रोकने की कोशिश करेंगे तो रुल जाऐंगे। इस के साथ चलीए। 

माज़ी को अच्छी और बुरी यादों से नहीं, सिर्फ नास्टलजया से ताबीर कीजीए। 

हाल को जिएँ, कि यही सब कुछ है जो आपके पास है। 

और मुस्तक़बिल का सामान तैयार रखीए, पता नहीं कब बोरिया बिस्तर बांध कर जाना पड़ जाये। 

शकीब अहमद

14 जून2020، 7:30 बजे शाम

My New Year Resolution for 2020

End of 2019 now. The last post as you can see on this blog was of March 2017. I was in my final year of Engineering then. At the end of the previous year, I bought this domain “shakeeb.in” and thought at least this will motivate me to finally drop a post. But nah! 

A little history of this blog

Let me tell you why I created this blog in the first place. My friends on Facebook, WhatsApp and a few forums, especially Urdu Mehfil, were asking for a place where they could read all my work. (Sounds fancy, doesn't it?) Being a polite person that I am ( :cough: ), I complied. But unfortunately, I couldn’t post anything for the reasons I still don’t. (More on these “reasons” in a while.)

The first thing which finally pushed me to move my lazy bottom (not literally, of course) was a report which I was asked to write. To be honest, I wasn’t going to write anything if that workshop would not have turned that astounding.

I dropped a few more posts and then just stopped posting anything on this blog; wasted a lot of time procrastinating (which I love BTW). On the request of few very close friends, I created the Urdu blog and posted a chunk of my tutorial/essay “How to be a good Urdu poet” as 4 blog posts, then parked the Urdu blog at the sub-domain “ur.shakeeb.in”,  (ur is ISO 639-1 standard for Urdu). I did publish few other posts there too, but still, most of them were not even part of my plan.

In every month or so, I kept checking on this  blog's stats  for some reason, and kept wondering who are these people and why are they reading these 5 posts?

Look at that. Russia? Seriously? I hope they are all bots.

I've had a long list of things to finish in 2019, most of which are still pending, or have made its place at the far bottom of my priority list.

Priorities change. Mine did too. But it’s not reasonable to abandon the tasks altogether, leaving them incomplete for the sake of your new interest. That’s why my new year plan is to do A LOT in the least time possible.

Problems and their possible solutions

Coming to the difficult part. Let me list down the reasons why I couldn’t complete the tasks:

1. Perfection: I have the constant urge to present the things in the best way possible, which is not a wrong inclination in itself, but have somehow kept me from publishing my work. Throwing the work in pending-bucket just because you will sooomeday make it presentable and publish – is pure laziness. 

Solution: 

Present it, then refine it whenever you get the time. And for the urge part, you know you’ll not present it cringe-level-bad anyway.

2. What: The most difficult thing for me is to decide what to post. No, I'm not out of ideas. It’s the opposite. I have too many of them. In fact, as mentioned above, I’ve a lot of them incomplete. So, the issue expands to deciding what to post / complete / begin with. 

Solution: 

Pick whatever appeals you at the moment. Don’t wait. Do it.

3. Where: Each platform (social media, forums, blogging services, Q&A sites) has at least one plus point, so like a normal CS student, I am signed up for almost all of them. Every time you get something to post, the chaos starts in the mind and the post sits back in a corner, frightened. 

Solution: 

Use “length” as the deciding factor. Also, use website as the central hub.

Plans

I'm listing down my plans here publicly, because one –This post will be a reference for me in the coming days, I’ll look for this post whenever I’ll lose my focus; and two – somebody from the readers will keep poking me about something s/he is excited to see completed.

I've not added the specifics right now, and will add them as and when required.

Here goes the list:

• Maintaining my personal log/diary/rant etc. 
• LearnedToday – I learn a lot of things every day, about diverse topics. Will write these things daily, even if it’s obvious-to-the-level-of-dumb for the world.
• Weekly – Start posting the stuff I learn every week
• Sharing – Personal experience + Psychology + Self-help + Philosophy etc.
• Works – Posting previous works/ completing work in progress + Properly arranging and maintaining ongoing projects (Website, GitHub)
• Tutorials for absolute beginners (because why not?)
• Reading – Minimize the time spent on useless crap of Facebook / WhatsApp and read the books I’ve left unfinished for years now

Accordingly, categories would be:

• Personal (blog, interests)
• Nostalgia
• Reviews
• Tutorials
• Self-help
• Religion
• Politics
• Works (My poetry, prose, books, software, apps etc)

We all make plans. The question is, do we stick to it? This time, I hope I will. 

What are your plans for the year 2020? And what are the things you should’ve completed in 2019 but are still left in the to-dos? Share in the comment below.