All by Myself

I just love to listen to this song when it is raining heavily. It gives me goose bumps. Love the tone and the feelings. I guess one of the best songs I have ever known. I love the 1975 version of the song sung by Eric Carman. Just love and cannot resist to listen over and over again. Here it goes.

When I was young,
I never needed anyone.
Makin' love was just for fun.
Those days are gone.

Livin' alone,
I think of all the friends I've known.
But when I dial the telephone,
Nobody's home.

All by myself,
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore.
All by myself,
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore.

Hard to be sure,
Some times I feel so insecure.
And love so distant and obscure,
Remains the cure.

All by myself,
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore.
All by myself,
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore.

When I was young,
I never needed anyone.
And makin' love was just for fun.
Those days are gone.

All by myself,
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore.
All by myself,
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore.

All by myself,
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore.
All by myself,
[Fade.]
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore.
All by myself...

What really went wrong ?

I met her during the annual holidays in 1999. She is one of my cousins who live in the other end of Maldives. Her dad migrated years ago due to family conflict I suppose. She was nice, friendly but reserved person at first. I roamed with her often to the phone booth but did not know who she was calling until one day she told me that he was her boy friend. He seems the only person who cherishes her when she was depressed due to her dad’s second marriage. Since she left my island, we do not regularly keep in contact, but she invited me over to her island in 2003. It was during Eid. We met after long and had lot to talk about and I was enjoying some new varieties of foods they introduced me too. I still remember ‘Kopeefai masuni’ which I loved so much and could not stop talking about it. She was still in a relationship with her long term boy friend. It was not shock for me as I knew how much he loved her. But things started changing when they got married in 2005. My cousin sensed that he was having an affair. She was pregnant that time and when she found out he promised her that he will stop seeing that lady. But later she again discovered that he was still continuing his affair. When she told me that I suggested her that she should get divorce before its late but she hesitates saying that her parents would not like it. She is a mother of two now and still with the cheating husband. She told me that, they have not talked properly since she discovered his little secret, but they are married. She is frustrated and depressed but did not want to get divorce. She thinks that he might get married again. She is suffering inside but does not want to be rescued from the cottage since it may affect her family status. She is hurting herself and her two kids, but does she have other option?
It seems that the relationships are broken due to various reasons, which are 1) unchecked emotional baggage 2) dishonesty and deception 3) Emotional clip wrap 4) Fairy tale fantasies. I do not know where the tale of my cousin fits here.
It is true when some of the writers say that [ in early days it is tempting to see the world through rose coloured glass but to make the partnership last take them off and be alert to warnings of trouble]. My cousin could have been little cautious when she married to him.

Rastafarians in Maldives

Some argued that the dependency in our societies is caused mainly due to the import based economy. From the basic needs to the entertainment we have been depending on other countries. The songs, movies even the way we dress shows aspects of the other cultures. These days I do not see a Maldivian unique culture and it is hard to explain a foreigner where we are located without telling them about India and Sri Lanka. It is true that there is no country free from the influence of their neighbouring cultures but unlike other nations, we have finally achieved the importation of cultural aspects from the other end, African countries. The recent of which is Rastafarian. The young teenagers of Maldives have idolised the way of Rastafarians. It began with the music of Bob Merely. The music then leads to the use their life style and recently caught the attention due to the speech given by current president where he talked about ‘Ganga’.
The Rastafarian or Rastafarianism is a new religious movement emerged in 20th Century in Jamaica, where the people accept that spirit of Jesus had been incarnated in Haile Selassie, the former Emperor of Ethiopia. Haile Selassie is seen as a Messiah among the believers. The other characteristic includes the use of cannabis, rejection of western society, and afro social life style like dreadlocks, and political aspirations. The Rastafarian claims that when they use drugs such as Cannabis, they are able to pray more close to the god.
Hence, I want to believe that the Rastafarians in Maldives are simply the supporters of the Bob Merely’s music, if so then they should stop calling themselves Rastafarians to avoid symbolising them as followers. Otherwise if they are more involved than just music, the days of violence are not so far. The history of new religious movements has not been very successful other than few of them like scientology. Maldives should give a thought to these fan groups when it is in its beginning stages. As a Maldivian I am worried about the ignorance of our society.

Cogours

I could not stop wondering why some people thinks that it is unethical when older women start dating younger men and finally brand them as cogours while the whole world accepts the relationship between older men and younger women. Some believes that this is more fashion trend which is among celebrities. But in reality, some part of the world it is a cultural belief or newly motivated rather influenced thinking. The older women get involve with young men mainly due to older men dating younger women. Unable to find the partners of same age (batch mates) persuaded the singles to opt for alternative solution. The bunch of single people left in society started dating no matter what the age is. Some, against all odds, starts relationships but due to the pressure from society their relationship end up in disasters. Having said this, there are couple of people who have a healthy relationship with the huge age differences. I saw an interview of a couple who has been dating for 6 years. The woman who is aged 56 and the guy who is just 26. They met each other through internet and are happy. The woman has a child elder than her boyfriend and she is even older than her boy friend’s mother. But this did not affect their relationship.
The divorced middle aged women were inspired by few brave women and learned to move on instead of sobbing over their ruined married life. In some part of the world, the part of the society are using various approaches of match making, like Monday night parties where you can interact with single people. This is to encourage the divorced middle age people to overcome their stress and find a new life.
I personally think that everyone deserves to be loved exclusively. If they are happy together then their relationships should be accepted by society at large. In our small society recently, we also started experiencing it, but unlike other societies, the age still matters. The sad thing is that the people take it for granted. People tend to misuse it. That is the reason why large part of our society still opposes these kinds of relationships. Divorced people are reluctant to move on due to the pressure from the people around them. But everyone deserves to be happy and loved. Societies should stop pointing out this part of society as black sheep when they are trying to reach for their happiness.

mY lIL nEpHeW

It was early in the morning of 16 April 2009, when i received a call from home. I was half sleep when one of my sisters broke the news that our sister gave birth to a cute little baby boy. I was surprised as there is still a week left for her due date. First I thought they were fooling me. I was in dilema. But I could not stop smiling that day. The feeling of being a Aunt for the first time was amazing. My nephew is such a cute lovely baby. I wish I am at home now. Its really bad that when i see him he will be one year old. He may not even have any idea that he has got a one lost cute Aunt. I wish he will recognise me when i see him after one year when he is one year and something.
I just cant wait to go home and make him cry.

Relief vs Grief

Feels relaxed but worries
Finally saw glimpse of success
Finally compiled one hard works
A lesson from laziness
struggle of clumsiness
unhappiness to be student again

Going through loads of Readings
skiming and skipping notes
cursing my lectures
eagerly waiting to close the books
Struggling to be student again

Oh no another 6000 words to go
I am screwed :(

STORY OF JESUS IN OTHER FAITHS

Attention Readers: This is just summary review of a documentary I watched and do not include any of my idea. I thought I should share this with you.


A British Theologist, Robert Beckford travelled around the world to investigate the ‘Story of Jesus in other Faiths’. He gave a briefed on Christian faith. He said that Christians believe Jesus is a son of god and was crucified and resurrected. He did not separately investigate the belief of orthodox, catholic and Protestants.
He then travelled to Israel which is Major Jew’s state. He found out that Jews deny Jesus as messiah and son of god. According to Jews faith Jesus was born due to an illegitimate act of Mary (Mother of Jesus). Jew opposes the beliefs of Christians. They compare Christians as Nazis which reminds them of Holocaust in World War II. Documentary also showed a group of young people who was campaigning for ‘Jesus for Jews’, who said that they are Jews but believes Jesus is a Jew and was born in Israel. But people who believe in Jesus in Israel cannot live peacefully due to the public oppression. A couple who faced various threats due to their faith was showed as evidence. In an interview, they talked about the threats they received like ‘to kill them like Jews crucified Jesus a century’s ago’ and they also mentioned that every night people gathered in front of their house but did not get much help from police to stop this cruel acts.
Then, he travelled to Kashmir, Srinagar where he met controversial Sufi professor Husain who argued that Jesus escaped the crucified attempt and migrated to Kashmir. In Kashimir Jesus was known as Yosuf. Professor Husain showed some of the documents from 2nd Century as an evidence, which seemed more like as novelist writings. He also claimed that Jesus was buried in Kashmir which is now a holy place for Muslims. Mr. Robert managed to visit the Tomb but was escorted by another person as government prohibits Professor Husain entering into this Holy place due to his controversial stories. The person who escorted Mr. Robert told that the Tomb is not of Jesus but a Tomb of another prophet.
In search of more stories, he then travelled to Palestine, Egypt, India and Europe. He met with Rector of Azhar University of Egypt which is the largest Muslim University in the world. The Rector answered his question in Arabic which was translated to English. According to Rector, Jesus was not crucified but taken by Allah and will save the world from Anti Christ and rule world for 40 years before judgement day. In his interview he did not give reference to any holy book, however mentioned about the cruelty of westerners towards Muslim world giving Iraq and Afghanistan as an example. To add more evidence Mr. Robert questioned a Sheikh from Palestine, who answered with reference to Quran and gave more evidence comparing the believes with books of people (Christians and Jews) but again here the language was a barrier. But Sheikh said that Jesus ( Issa Alaihi Salaam –PBUH) is not son of God in fact is a messiah (prophet) of Allah from Israeel ethnicity who was send to spread Islam, but people of Israel opposed him and group of people went against him. He also mentioned that Jesus (Issa alaihi salaam) was not crucified instead the leader of the group was crucified and Jesus will be send to Earth before the judgement day. When Mr. Robert asked when is judgement day, the Sheikh replied saying ‘no one knows only god knows’. Mr. Robert however, said that he finds similarities between the signs of judgement day (dooms day) mentioned in the Bible and Muslim beliefs.
He also managed to research ancient findings on Jesus and studied the documents found in 1945. He said that the documents do not mention birth, death and resurrection of Jesus but gave insight ideas of the teaching of Jesus. He questioned the librarian if these documents will be a threat to the traditional belief of Christian and she strongly agreed. He then compared with the Ghandi philosophy of non violence with Jesus teaching and other non violence movements. It felt to me that Mr. Robert wanted to tell it is not the story or the traditional beliefs which matters but the teachings.