[ To #educators only] Why is #experience more important than #degrees? Factually speaking, an experienced teacher knows more than what is written in books. People conduct research and then record it in books for others to learn from. An experienced teacher is himself a collection of research papers and interaction with him is like reading a research work. For example, almost all grammar books available in the market today define a noun as ''the name of a person, place or thing'' but an experienced teacher may find faults with this definition and redefine a noun as ''whatsoever a human being can see, hear, smell, taste and feel with his five senses and can think of''. This definition encompasses all nouns in the English language. Likewise, modern dictionaries define the word ''recorder'' as ''an apparatus for recording'' but I learnt today, while reading a centuries-old book, that ''cord'' is the root word o...

     Buddha Purnima?     What is Buddha Purnima? Buddha Purnima is known as the Thrice Blessed Day because it commemorates three key events in the life of the Buddha—his birth in Lumbini, his enlightenment in Buddhagaya and his death (Parinirvana) in Kusinagar. According to tradition, all three events occurred on the same lunar date—the full moon day of Vaisakh—but in different years. 2. Who was Buddha?    Buddha, born Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563–483 BCE) was a spiritual teacher in ancient India who founded Buddhism. After witnessing human suffering he renounced his princely life attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree and taught the path to liberation from worldly  suffering. 3. How long did he live?   Traditionally, Buddha lived to 80 years (c. 563–483 BCE) though some scholars suggest slightly different dates. 4. Which books are attributed to him?   —Buddha's teachings were orally transmitted and later compiled into scriptures: ...

    Title: Noora, The Wrestler       Author : Sahil Sharifdin Bhat  Subtitle: The Tale of the Trickster Champions Prologue: In many towns and small villages two wrestlers were very famous—Noora, a clever quick woman and Afzal Khan, a strong proud man. People thought they were enemies in the ring. But in truth they were husband and wife and their real sport was fooling people to earn money.   Act One: The Great Announcement One hot afternoon Afzal Khan stood in the middle of a village square beating a loud drum. “Come one, come all,” he shouted. “Today the famous match will happen—Noora the Wrestler against Afzal Khan! The winner gets one hundred gold coins. The loser must leave the village.” People came running from all directions. Some placed bets. Others collected coins. Noora stood quietly on one side smiling while Afzal Khan twisted his moustache proudly.   Act Two: The Fake Fight The field was packed. Noora and Afzal Khan stood tall faci...

  My Take on All Wars of All Times War, by definition, is an organised conflict and human beings have fought, according to an estimate, about two million wars in the last ten thousand years. War is deception, as said by the Prophet Mohammad [PBUH]. War-related news is one percent truth and ninety-nine percent propaganda. Someone has said that in every war, the first bullet is fired at truth. Both sides, in a war, hide their losses and overstate their gains. It happened in the Soviet-Afghanistan war in the 1980s and the US-Afghanistan war in the first quarter of the 21st century. The pictures, videos and news clips — all are edited. The bigger the fighters, the bigger a war; the bigger a war, the bigger the liars. However, the result of a war exposes the truth. The truth of every war is that the innocent suffer, the cunning benefit and spectators enjoy themselves. I am against all wars whether I win them or lose them. America alone has spent about $14 trillion directly or indirectly...