Archive | July, 2012

Thoughts on the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony

28 Jul

To compensate for my absence the entire last week, I decided to write another post today on the 2012 Summer Olympics. On a side note, I don’t think the Winter Olympics get as much recognition or even media coverage as the Summer Olympics. Last night, I watched the entire opening ceremony for four and a half hours (including those sentimental yet annoying commercials by American companies advocating consumerism) on NBC.

The 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony was worth spending four and a half hours watching! I loved every minute of it (including the hours when the athletes walked in). Last summer, I visited London for a few days, and I hope to visit it again soon. One thing for sure, it’ll be a revived city.

From the snapshots of English industrialization to the cheerful dances of doctors, nurses, and children; from the amazing collaboration of James Bond and Her Majesty to the great, recalling acts of Rowan Atkinson; from teenage athletes lighting the Olympic cauldron to Paul McCartney singing one of my favorite songs, Hey Jude, the ceremony was nothing short of spectacular.

I really appreciated how they got real doctors and nurses to perform in the dancing acts. Oh, I almost forgot the ever-so-handsome David Beckham’s appearance. I thought the opening ceremony sent an inspiring  message from the Great Britain to the world. Under the direction of Danny Boyle, the ceremony was beyond dynamic. Now, I really have the urge to watch the opening ceremony of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and see how my city fared in wooing the world.

This was actually my second time watching an Olympics opening ceremony, with the first one being the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. I missed out on both the Athens and Beijing ceremonies, but I lucidly remember the one in Sydney even though I had barely turned six when I watched it.

Contrary to how excellent the ceremony was, there were several distasteful things that struck me; though those things should be blamed on the obnoxious American commentators on NBC and not the ceremony itself. There were several occasions where the American commentators pronounced the countries’ names as they wanted without any regards to how the names are actually pronounced.

Either they weren’t professionals or they were too overwhelmed being at the Olympics to act like professionals. One of the guys actually said the athletes were coming too fast (suggesting he was having a hard time keeping up). No shit Sherlock — these are Olympians.

Also, two specific incidents really bothered me. One of the athletes (not sure from which team..there were 200 teams) had dyed his hair bright pink, and the NBC guys just had to comment on his hair. One of the commentators abrasively disparaged his hair by saying, “Memorable? Yes. Beautiful? No.” Beauty is nothing but our own perceptions, so he had no justification to sit there and make fun of a well-deserved Olympic athlete’s appearance. Honestly, we don’t give a crap about what you think is beautiful. Sorry but that comment really irked me.

The second incident was just personally embarrassing for me, and it’s perhaps not anything worth ranting about. When the Bangladeshi athletes walked in, the commentators announced Bangladesh as being the nation with the largest population that had not won a single Olympic medal yet. Bangladesh was basically referenced to as the “largest” loser. Speaking from an objective view, however, I guess it wasn’t that bad. If it were any other country, I wouldn’t think twice about it, plus it was a true statement. It’s rather pitiful to see a nation of over 16 million people (8th largest in the world) only sending 6 athletes. If there were to be a ratio of a nation’s population to the number of athletes it sent to the Olympics, I believe Bangladesh’s ratio would be the very lowest.

Yes, the commentators did take away from the evening, but overall, I think it was an iconic event! I loved Danny Boyle’s creativity and direction. I also loved how the ceremony highlighted Britain’s diversity (in terms of the performers being of different ethnicities). The ceremony expressed the unique identity of the British.

I look forward to watching the events! On a relevant note, so much respect for the Muslim athletes who will continue to fast as they compete in their respective events.

One more thing added to my bucket list: to attend an Olympics opening ceremony!

Also, have a good laugh…

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Improv Video I: Useless Things in Our Rooms

27 Jul

With deep sorrow, I realized that I haven’t posted in seven days (my original goal was to post at least twice a week). So, this is quite unacceptable as I am committed, and I need to make time. I’ve been fairly busy with scheduling classes for the fall; I have some interesting classes in mind!

Anyways, I’m enjoying the Olympics Opening Ceremony right now (hosted by one of my favorite directors, Danny Boyle). I’m actually not going to write a lot as I should run back to the living room…yeah, I don’t have a TV in my room. The commercials on NBC are probably over by now.

I actually have a surprise! I made an improvisational video! Check it out! Please excuse my pathetic attempt to entertain you.. I promise it’ll get better with practice. Thanks, and enjoy life!

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Ramadan: What and Why?

20 Jul

It’s that time of the year again. Today marks the beginning of Ramadan. I’m currently sitting in my cubicle at my internship and pondering on the purpose of Ramadan, and everything else that goes along with this sanctified month. Oh, by the way, I’m not ignoring my responsibilities; things are kind of slow in the summer plus it’s a Friday so I don’t have a lot to do.

What is Ramadan?

Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic lunar calendar, and everyday of this month, Muslims around the world refrain from eating, drinking, and other physical needs from dawn until sunset.

This holy month is venerated by Muslims because of several reasons. Fasting during Ramadan is the fourth pillar of Islam. The Holy Quran was revealed in this month. Rewards are given and sins are forgiven for those who spend the days fasting and the nights praying. The gates of paradise are opened, the gates of hell are closed, and Satan is fettered. All rewards and sins in this month are believed to be multiplied.

The practices in Ramadan include: fasting, increased prayers and recitations of Quran, and charity. We offer iftaar (the evening meal with which we break our fasts) to those who are fasting.

What is the purpose of Ramadan?

Ramadan is much more profound than simply abstaining from eating and drinking. It is a time of spiritual reflection and worship, a time to purify the soul, refocus attention to God and our faith, and practice self-sacrifice.

In this month, we re-evaluate our lives under the light of Islamic guidance. The underlying purpose of Ramadan is to strengthen our powers of self-control, so that we may resist all evils.

Every part of the body must be restrained during Ramadan. The tongue must be restrained from backbiting and gossip. The eyes must be restrained from looking at unlawful things. The hand must not touch or take anything that does not belong to it. The ears must refrain from listening to idle talk or obscene words. The feet must refrain from going to sinful places.

It’s 1:00 PM right now, the last time I had food/drink was at 5:00 AM, and the next time I will have food/drink will be at 8:45 PM tonight. So, here in America, it ends up being over fifteen hours. Ramadan, however, is not merely a physical sacrifice. Ramadan is the total commitment of our body and soul to purify ourselves.

My personal take on Ramadan is that it’s all about sacrifices and self-growth. It’s about being able to resist the pressures in life. It teaches us to appreciate what we have. It shows us what hunger feels like, and to be thankful for the food and luxury we take for granted. I plan on doing some interesting things this month that will require stepping out of my comfort zone. Reports on that will be coming soon.

Until then, Ramadan Mubarak everyone, and have a blessed month!

P.S. Read this great article on The Huffington Post about making Ramadan more than an exercise in empathy.

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Controversies Concerning Contraception: Part II

17 Jul

This is a continuation of my previous post about the controversy on contraception. Now, the second development that helped me to realize the critical issue of contraception.

Philanthropist Melinda Gates, wife of Bill Gates and co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, recently found herself to be under diatribes for supporting a contraceptive plan. Melinda Gates–someone I have immense reverence for–supports a plan that will make birth control available to 120 million women worldwide, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Why is this a problem? Because Melinda is a practicing Catholic, and the Catholic church denounces birth control. The church is completely against any forms of birth control whatsoever. Interesting fact: according to a May article in The Denver Post, up to 98% of Catholic women have ignored the church’s stance on contraception.

Melinda continues to be criticized by the Catholic world for doing such a “horrendous” thing. After visiting areas where contraception is not readily available and doing decades-long study in Bangladesh which started in the 1970s, Melinda decided to focus on family planning as a part of her work. She says, “(In) the community that had access to contraceptives, the women chose to use them, the families grew up wealthier, fewer women died in childbirth.”

I truly respect religious freedom, and everyone has the right to believe in the religion of their choice, or not to believe in a religion at all. I am perfectly fine with that. What I fail to understand is why some Catholics are “hating on” *** Melinda for helping impoverished women plan their families. Also, the focus of this initiative will be in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, places where maternal and infant mortality rates are high and contraception use is low. The overwhelming majority of these people are not Catholic, so it technically shouldn’t even concern the church.

Religious views on birth control were quite interesting to read about. Let’s start with Christianity. Prior to 20th Century, contraception was condemned by all of the major branches of Christianity. The Catholic church is completely opposed to any form of contraception. In general, liberal Protestants and Anglicans accept use of contraception, while debate is ongoing among conservative Evangelicals.

There is no ban on birth control in Hinduism. Because India has such a large and dense population, the discussion of birth control is focused on the issue of overpopulation rather than ethics or religion.

In Islam, the Qur’an does not make any explicit statements prohibiting contraception. It should be noted that coitus interruptus, or the withdrawal method, a primitive form of birth control was a prominent practice at the time of Muhammad, and his companions practiced it. It was never prohibited, and the Rashidun caliphs actually defended the practice. Muslim scholars explained that birth control should be used with the consent of both the husband and the wife as offsprings are the right of both. Just a personal note, but I find it exceedingly ironic that Islam is the religion rebuked by the western world to be infringing upon women’s rights. And yet, it gives women more right to decide what to do with their bodies than the Catholic church.

In Judaism, the view on birth control varies between the branches of Judaism. Among Orthodox Judaism, use of birth control has been considered acceptable in “some” instances. Conservative Judaism has been rather lenient and more willing to allow exceptions to fit better within modern society. Reform Judaism allows followers to use birth control according to their own judgment.

According to the Gates Foundation, increasing access to contraception for more women could reduce newborn deaths by nearly 50 percent. There is no controversy in saving newborn lives. If all women had access to contraceptives, 100,000 maternal deaths would be avoided each year. There is no controversy in protecting mothers. Will you take the pledge?

Every woman and girl deserves the freedom to determine her own future. Let’s remove the controversy from contraception.

This video explains a lot of things!

This post is in no way a criticism of Catholicism (that rhymes!). Rather, I wanted to see how religion could have the possibility to hinder us from helping someone who we could certainly help. I consider myself to be religious, although I wouldn’t say devoutly.

What if our religion or faith prohibited us from helping others or doing something “good” for others? What’s more important: religion or humanity?

I wonder…

*** Hating on is defined on Urban Dictionary as falsely accusing someone of doing something wrong when in fact that person did nothing wrong.

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Controversies Concerning Contraception: Part I

12 Jul

I should really stop with the excessive uses of alliteration, shouldn’t I? Interesting anecdote: I was at the World of Coca-Cola this past weekend, and the tour guide was telling us about the origin of the name Coca-Cola. The name Coca-Cola was created by John Pemberton’s (the inventor of Coca-Cola) assistant, who thought two capital Cs looked great next to each other in terms of marketing. After considering Coca-Cola’s incredible global success, I decided to try not two, but three capital Cs in my title.

Before starting, I want to say that I am not really looking forward to sparking up a political, ethical, or religious debate; however, I do believe and will defend what I write. I am not exactly a fanatic for feminist issues. Frankly, I never really cared. So, why am I writing a post about something that I never cared about? Because of some recent interesting developments that caught my eyes.

After doing much research and reading, I finally took a stance on the issue of abortion. I have decided that I am definitely pro-choice, and the decision will help me in coming November when it is time to vote in the presidential election. Shoutout to President Barack Obama! (I haven’t made my decision yet, but you know, I’m getting the feeling).

During my research, I was shocked to learn that about half of the pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended (fact from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Yet, several safe and highly effective methods to prevent unintended pregnancy are available.

There were two recent developments that have both captured my attention. The first one was an instance where Fox News, America’s pro-life newsroom, attacked President Obama for referencing the “evil organization” Planned Parenthood in his speech in New Hampshire.

Fox News and several other media outlets blamed Obama for “pushing abortion” and “talking about contraception and Planned Parenthood to high school students.” Let’s clear out some things. To say that he was talking about contraception is too far of a stretch while he only mentioned it in one sentence. Although the event was held at a high school, the crowd of 1200 people was filled with workers of all ages. So, his audience was not strictly high school students.

In his entire speech, Obama said only one sentence concerning contraception and/or Planned Parenthood. He stated, “You can decide that instead of restricting access to birth control or defunding Planned Parenthood, we should make sure that in this country, women control their own health care choices.” I don’t know about you, but I honestly don’t see where Obama was “pushing abortion” or “telling high school students what to do with their sex life.”

Yes, we all know the media–in some instances, especially Fox News–is full of crap, but this is just pitiful. Women should and must have the choices and options they deserve to control what is going on with their own health and life in general. No one should be mandated to be pregnant, especially if it is not their choice. Therefore, contraception should be made available for all women all around the nation and the world. I am not saying women “should” use contraception or anything; I just want them to have the option.

Conservatives not only want to obliterate the option of abortion, but now, most want to limit access to birth control as well. I find this issue to be at least just as big of a threat to freedom (if not more) as the SOPA Act, and I kind of wonder why there wasn’t the same level of protest.

If you’re interested, check out this very interesting post from my fellow blogger, Athena Writes. Athena offers her opinion on contraception in American politics from a female’s point of view.
http://politerate.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/someone-pass-the-birth-control-please/

I will be discussing the second development (even more interesting than this one) that captured my attention on part II of this post. The second part deals slightly more with religion and its impact on contraception in the modern world.

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Doing Something For the First Time

9 Jul

Something popped up on my Facebook newsfeed a few weeks ago. Well, that’s remarkable! As if things don’t always pop up on our newsfeeds. This “thing”, however, was probably one of the most intriguing things I’ve seen in recent times. Then again, it was nothing special, just a simple picture from tumblr or something. A simple picture with twelve resplendent words: “When Was The Last Time You Did Something For The First Time?”

I simply looked at the picture, liked it, and then shared it. That was the end of it…or so I thought. The next day, the picture suddenly appeared somewhere in my subliminal mind. An intense desire to look at the picture once more became overwhelming.

So, I went back to my Facebook (this was the next day), and looked at it again. This time, those same twelve words seemed to jump at me from the computer screen. “When Was The Last Time You Did Something For The First Time?”

Was it today? Yesterday? Last week? Last month? Last year? When was it? Unfortunately, and conforming to my innermost fears, I just couldn’t think of the last time I did something for the first time.

There I was, an eighteen year old, who was simply existing and not living. Don’t get me wrong here. I am not frustrated or even a tad disappointed with my life. I am very content and pleased with the life that I have lived/am living. However, life is entirely too short to just sit around and/or be afraid to try new things.

I sat there for thirty minutes, pondering and wondering, and the closest thing that came to mind was that I turned eighteen for the first time on May 5th. As if I really deserved the credit for not dying just yet.

It occurred to me that it was time for a rebirth. I started doing stuff for the first time. In the same week after the fortunate epiphany, I drank bubble tea (for the first time), had lunch with a neuroscience professor from Emory (for the first time), and lost miserably in a contest held at my school (for the first time).

I tend to be in love with the “art” of keeping records (for anything that doesn’t concern school). When it comes to classes, I’m dreadfully disorganized; however, for anything else, I tend to be very organized. Sometimes, I think to myself I’d do great in a clerical position.

Seriously, you’ll be amazed at the things I used to keep records of. I used to keep extensive lists of all the movies I watched, all the books I read, all the coins and stamps I owned, all the songs (over 5,000) I illegally downloaded, all the things I’m grateful for, and all the states/countries I visited (and so many more nonsensical things).

So, the thought of keeping records of things I’m doing for the first time occurred quite naturally. Maybe, forty years from now, I’ll look back at these records (assuming computers still exist) and smile, laugh, cry, and hopefully, not regret anything.

Ladies and gents, and the cats that are reading this…(
http://imgur.com/a/6UiIS
). I urge you to get up and do something for the first time! Try something you have always been afraid to try.

YOLO! (You Only Live Once).. Carpe Diem! (Seize the Day).. Kal Ho Naa Ho! (Tomorrow May Never Come).. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara! (You don’t Get Life a Second Time).. I’m sure you are already aware of the first two phrases; the last two are just cheesy Bollywood movie titles.

Go out there, and do something for the first time–no matter how big–or how small.

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Edit Your Stupidity Instead of Deleting It

6 Jul

Facebook (like any other social networking platform) is like a blank sheet of paper. It becomes what you want it to become. Some of my friends in high school were disgusted by Facebook. Why? Because they found themselves to be drowning in the dreadful ocean of drama. My physical science teacher had a favorite saying, “Facebook is the devil,” she would say almost every day. I always believed, and continue to believe, it’s what you make of it.

To me, Facebook is generally fabulous except for the times when it decides to screw around with our information and privacy (like changing our primary e-mail addresses this past week). I actually really relish the Timeline feature of Facebook (makes creeping so much easier!)

Facebook does foster procrastination, laziness, and unproductiveness (because of our own weaknesses and lack of self control). If you are a student, none of this is news to you. I even abandoned Facebook for two weeks in late-June to focus on some important things, so I just got back recently. I read on the news that Facebook added a new feature that gives users the ability to edit their comments.

You might ask, “Poeple raelly care abuot teh speling on facbooks?” Yes. Yes, I do care about my spelling/grammar on Facebook. No more “Arghhh! Copy, delete, paste, edit, post.” I hate when I make typos that make me look like a dumbass, but I usually recognize them right after posting, so I have been able to edit the typos right then. A few years ago, Facebook allowed users to edit their comments within a few seconds after posting them. However, if a couple of seconds had elapsed before realizing the typo, you were just SOL.

Well, it turns out that users can now edit their comments regardless of how long it has been since the comment was posted. Finally, you can fix your mistakes! …or intoxicated comments (we won’t judge you). Going in the right direction, Facebook! Also, it recently added an array of emoticons to the chat; although, I already had those because I was using a Chrome add-on.

It should be noted, however, that the edit history is visible for everyone once a comment is edited. So, be careful about going back and changing your controversial comments in the midst of a debate because you will get called out!

To spice things up a bit, I decided to play around with Facebook’s new comment editing feature on one of my innocent Facebook friends. The selection of the said friend was completely arbitrary. Do look at the screenshots below at your own discretion.

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An Ordinary Introduction

4 Jul

Hello World! Happy Independence Day (to you Americans).

I guess I owe you a spiffy introduction. Well, my name is Rifat. I like to stare at airplanes in the night sky, listen to Bollywood music, drink mango juice, run around in the rain, collect foreign coins and stamps, and pop bubble wraps. Now, how often do I do these fan-freaking-tastic things? Not very often. I’m working on doing these (and more fan-freaking-tastic things) on a much more frequent basis.

Starting to blog on the fourth of July is totally not coincidental. I’ve been planning on this for weeks now. In fact, I bought my own domain on the first of this month (www.rifatmursalin.com). I might as well say today is independence day on a national level and also on a personal level for me. Today marks the legendary day that I begin to liberate my inner sentiments. I’ve always preferred to express my thoughts through creative mediums (because writing is just so creative, right?). And, because of my lack of talent in the arena of music, dance, art, and probably anything else that might pop up in your mind. I even considered podcasting, but I am far away from being a raconteur. I’d probably be just sitting there in front of the camera, both looking and sounding awkward.

I actually used to blog a few years ago before blogging became mainstream (such a hippie, I am). I blogged continuously for two years, but it was more like a personal blog–sort of like a daily journal. And yes, it was password-protected. This time, however, I am making this blog public because my life isn’t as flashy as it once was, so no need to make it private.

If you’re reading this, thanks for reading. If you aren’t, then get to it!

K. Bye.

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