Husain Journal

I miss the 2 pigeons that perched themselves on my window in the mild evening sun. When I returned from work, the day’s cares and noises got lightened in their soft cooing. While I sipped tea, my little daughter fed them with crumbs from her own hands. The pigeons gracefully flapped their fair wings and cooed as if to thank my daughter. I watched this scene from a distance. For the pigeons my daughter was a friend and I stranger, so I feared their flying away by infringing their safe area. If any day an unavoidable commitment took us somewhere else at the appointed hour, we placed the crumbs for our revered and innocent guests. But sadly this holy practice of ours broke when the traffic of daily cares made us busy, even forcing us to leave home for several days. During that time, those holy doves would have waited upon my daughter. Evening upon evening thus going by, in disappointment they would have left frequenting my window. So sweet, so pure, the pigeons that visit m...

Firstly, I didn't know the craft of separating the wheat from the chaff and shed equal importance to everything. But the Pareto Principle dictates that in all the fields, 20% is responsible for the 80% of the result. Less than 20% clothes in our wardrobe we wear more than 80% of the times. Less than 20% apps of our phones we use more than 80% of the times. Less than 20% of our acquaintances we talk to more than 80% of the times and so on. I’ll quickly brief you about the origin of this principle: in 19th century an economist named Vilfredo Pareto discovered that less than 20% peapods in his garden produce more than 80% of the peas. He further found the same 80/20 pattern applying on other fields: less than 20% people own more than 80% of the world’s wealth, less than 20% of the employees do more than 80% of the work, less than 20% of people make the decisions for more than 80% people and so on. The same 80/20 pattern reigns when it comes to preparing for our exams. If yo...

It’s a bright and fair morning, and sunshine seems to fill everything with life. I’m feeling cheerful, for today I’m going to deliver a presentation – an opportunity I was seeking since long. It poses a risk of being ridiculed or failing. I’m rising up to this risk, and even if things don’t turn out as hoped, I’ll learn a great deal in the process. I ought to praise myself for making this opportunity for myself. It’s by the means of these small comfort-breaching steps that I would gather more courage and take up bolder projects. I’m surprised to note my bravery and boldness because it hadn’t been long that I used to be a nervous guy. But due to the oft-repeated wisdom that our fears are unreal, and they often make us lose the good we might win, I have become risk-loving. Charles Dickens said, “We forge the chains we wear in life.” Still, though, there’s a lot of ground to be traversed, and I mustn’t feel overconfident. I’m trying to exert my slender powers at pruning my cha...