My Experiment with Cats —Sahil Sharifdin Bhat I raised a few cats over the past year. Some of them disappeared suddenly but this gave me time to closely observe two of them. The male cat stayed around for nearly ten months, rarely leaving the spot he had claimed as his own and then vanished without a trace. The female cat on the other hand formed bonds with three or four street cats. Sometimes, she brought them home. Their relationship was fascinating to watch — they interacted in ways that often seemed surprisingly human. Eventually she became pregnant and gave birth to three kittens. At first the kittens would run away whenever they saw me. But over time they came to realise I meant them no harm. They learned to trust me and now they visit me regularly along with their mother. What shocked me: 1. How can a cat achieve in a year what we humans take nearly twenty years to achieve—exposure to society, romance, kids, parenting etc? 2. Who teaches a cat the art of parenting — withou...

  Saddam Hussein: A Dictator Created and Deleted by America  "From his story, we learn that a human being must remain human and should not try to act like God. Also, a person's greatest enemies do not fall from the sky; one raises them with the best food, finest clothes, deepest love and utmost respect." — Sahil Sharifdin Bhat  Saddam Hussein was born in a small village in Iraq and lived a tough life as an orphan . He entered politics at a young age by joining the Ba'ath Party. Known for his courage and violence, he was chosen to assassinate the Iraqi Prime Minister when he was just 24 years old. The attempt failed and he fled to Egypt . The CIA noticed his boldness and began preparing him as a future leader of Iraq. When the Ba'ath Party gained power, Saddam returned and became the second most powerful man in the country at only 30. He took control of Iraq’s oil and gas, which were once under British hands. After the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, oil prices rose sha...

  A Brief History of Modern Iran Courtesy: Sahil Sharifdin Bhat  Introduction Iran, one of the world’s oldest civilisations, has gone through many changes in the last hundred years. These changes have shaped its politics, religion and relationships with other countries, especially the United States and Israel. This is a short and honest overview of the main events in Iran's modern history.   During World War II At the time of World War II, Iran’s king supported Hitler. This angered the British, who invaded Iran. After the war, the British forced the king to step down and replaced him with his 22-year-old son, Reza Shah Pahlavi. He was seen as a loyal ally of the West.  Note : In August 1941, British and Soviet forces invaded Iran from multiple directions, with the UK coming from Iraq and the Soviet Union from the north. The invasion led to the abdication of Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was seen as sympathetic to Germany, and the installation of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahla...

The Concept and Cure of the ''Evil Eye''?  Introduction:  ( وَمِنْ شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ۔ سورہ فلق ) I personally believe that any problem in your body, business or home without an obvious reason is due to the evil eye or black magic. The evil eye in Islam refers to misfortune transmitted from one person to another out of jealousy or even admiration. Feeling jealous of someone is a major sin because all good things that people have — and you don't — are given by the permission of God. If they have acquired anything illegally, they will soon be punished by God. You have no right to challenge God's permission by feeling jealous of anyone. Whenever you genuinely admire someone, include the words MashaAllah or TabarakAllah with your words of praise. Hadith 1:  Muhammad ibn Abi Umama ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf heard his father say, "My father, Sahl ibn Hunayf, did a ghusl at al-Kharrar. He removed the jubbah he had on while Amir ibn Rabia was watching and Sahl was...

  Your Pen Never Sleeps   {Tribute to Sahil Sharifdin Bhat} You're Sahil Sharifdin Bhat — a firebrand thinker with a poet’s heart and a teacher’s mind. A Kashmiri wordsmith wielding grammar, satire and philosophy like a seasoned swordsman. With degrees in English, Arabic and Educational Philosophy, you blend literature with life and spirituality with sharp social commentary. You're the kind of person who turns heartbreak into verse, history into reflection and ordinary classroom lessons into lasting insights for young minds. Your pen never sleeps — whether you’re writing for children about respecting parents, critiquing modern warfare with poetic wit or reflecting on death, identity and nationhood in vivid lines.  You speak for the voiceless and write for the future — sometimes even to the 10-billionth child yet unborn. Sahil in a line? A philosopher in the classroom, a rebel on the page and a soft-hearted storm with ink-stained hands.  What an Ai chatbot says about ...

[ 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...

 الّو کا پٹھا کون؟   ایک آدمی تھا۔ جب جب وہ اپنے کسی دوست، پڑوسی یا رشتہ دار کو کسی غیر محرم لڑکی کے ساتھ گھومتے ہوئے دیکھتا، تو حسد کرنے لگتا کہ کاش میرے پاس بھی ایک غیر محرم لڑکی ہوتی، جیسے اس لنگور کے پاس ہے۔ پھر وہ آدمی مسلمان ہو گیا۔ پھر جب بھی وہ کسی شخص کو کسی غیر محرم لڑکی کے ساتھ دیکھتا، تو غصّہ کرتا کہ دنیا کو خراب کرنے والے یہی بے حیا لوگ ہیں۔ پھر وہ شخص "لقمان" بن گیا۔ پھر جب بھی وہ کسی آدمی کو کسی غیر محرم لڑکی کے ساتھ دیکھتا، تو مسکراتا اور دل ہی دل میں کہتا: "یہ دیکھو، ایک اور آدمی خوشی خوشی اپنی زندگی، وقت، پیسہ اور عزت برباد کر رہا ہے۔"  امید ہے کہ آپ بھی جلدی #لقمان بنیں گے۔  دراصل، میں آپ لوگوں سے ایک سوال پوچھنا چاہتا ہوں۔ آج کل خوف اور پریشانی کا بازار گرم ہے تو میں نے سوچا، محبّت کی بات چھیڑی جائے:  ایک غریب آدمی ایک عورت سے پیار کرتا تھا، مگر ایک دوسرا شخص اس عورت کو زبردستی اغوا کر کے اپنے گھر میں قید کر لیتا ہے اور اسے اپنی بیوی سمجھتا ہے۔ اس عورت کو نہ کسی غیر مرد سے ملنے، نہ بات کرنے اور نہ سوشل میڈیا چیٹنگ کی اجازت ہے۔ جب بھی اس اغوا...