Dear Dad(Letter 2)

Asalaam Alaekum Abbu,

First of all, Dad I miss you. We all miss you. I regret not saying that while you were with us but I did miss you then, now it's even more. It's been a week since you're gone and the vacancy is increasing gradually. I'm going back to Kolkata, leaving mom with Grandparents, I had to, I have an exam tomorrow. Wish me luck, like you always used to, calling me just before exam wishing me luck instructing me again though you've said it a hundred times before but again you used to remind me how to manage time, attempt all the question, attempt those that I know first, after answering recheck to find any errors. I remember them. I remember you. As soon as I used to come back my phone would ring "Daddy Calling" and you enquire about every minute details. Ahh, I there are so many exams yet to give and the interviews, who would advice me?

Don't worry father, I'll handle my self, I've always been the patient one, but this is a lot to test :( I worry about Mummy. How would she spend her time. The first two days won't be the one when she'd feel lonely, then, we had so many people visiting us, it was all crowded and she was always accompanied by someone. The next two days there were still few people with us and house didn't feel much vacant. Moreover, Dad you used to go on tours for 3-4 days so it was natural for us, specially Mummy not to feel the void. I fear the days past now. Your death certainly created void in all our lives but the major void is in the life of Mummy. She spent half of her life with you by your side. Everything back there in home reminds us of you. Your almirah the clothes, your drawer, documenters briefcase, everything is neat and arranged. I feel really bad how she would have to live with all of this, all by herself. We(me and my sister) would return back to our lives and the socialism would bring us back to normalism, but mummy is all by herself now. She has no one to chat with, She'll miss your company during the Morning tea, during the breakfast when you used to be in hurry and that making Mummy doing chores speedily coming out of boring slow morning. She'll miss the lunch you both used to have together chatting on every topic that can be picked. She'll miss the evenings the most when you both sat on the balcony sipping tea with biscuits, always reading the namaz together and those little fights you had over food what should be made and what not. This time of iddat(staying indoors, not seeing any stranger men and much more) is indeed a brutal test of patience. May God give her patience, will and happiness.

I wish this time passes soon, then Shara(my sister) will call her to Hyderabad. And soon In Sha Allah, I'd get a job and I'll keep Mummy to stay with me. Of course who could let go mom's food plus she won't be lonely.

The train is going too slow, I hate when problematic time passes this slow. I wish I had served you more and took more blessings from you. There was so much more to talk about and take your advice upon.

The train is passing is through a tunnel now and it's all shadow only few occasional lights. Our life is just the same, sometimes slow sometimes fast, passing through entire blackened out tunnel which remains for a short span of time. There are nights, there are days. We're all moving forward at the same pace towards death. With the age as the seat number. Some get down before the last station some stay with us till the last breath. It's just a journey and we're all passengers. Some have shorter destination while some have long duration. It's life and now we have to live with it.

Goodbye Dad

Love you.

Dear Dad(Letter 1)

AssalamWalekum Abbu,

Hey Abbu, this is my first ever letter to you, but I promise, this won't be the last. First of all I miss you Abbu, I may not have told this to you ever, but everytime, every single step of my life you've led me. Now that you're dead, I regret not saying those often. From the pre-nursery form to college admission you were there always not just guiding me but taking lead and doing everything yourself so that I don't face any difficulties or problems. You were there always and I believe you're still here with me, us, looking upon everyone you love. I wish I could've spent more time with you, cared for you more just like you did, but the bar that you set was too high. You were the best anyone could dream of. You never laid any pressure on me always asked what I wanted, you never raised an eyebrow even though you knew I was going for some movie taking classes as an excuse. You were the calmest Dad anyone could dream of. You always wanted me to be a better man, just so that I could live a better life. We never shared I love you or I miss you with each other because those were in the actions, the care you did. Always fulfilling all my desires, selfish desires. Those times when you used to allow ice-creams or Chocolates even though it meant going against Mom. The times when we used to watch CID or Horror movies and I used to snuggle into your arms, or when we shared that hearty laughter and our house echoed happiness. I still remember that time when you used to teach me maths and how good I was then. How proud you were when I had scored 98. I will always make you proud Abbu, always and make everyone say " He's the son of Late Md.Khurshid Anwar". I wish, we could've talked more. The time when you were in coma, I wish I could understand those tears and eyeball movement. I wish to ease your pain, listen to everything you wished to say. There are so many other wishes only to let go. You never asked for any wishes to be fulfilled, all you did was to fulfill ours. The perfect Husband, the perfect son, and the perfect Dad. All I want you to know, we love you more than we ever showed(Sorry, I'm not a guy with emotions) and will always remember you. I'm sure you're smiling right now, we'll always be holding hands. May you rest in Paradise.

Love you,

Your Son(Proud Anwar)

Dt. 15thSept 2018

Dad, May you Rest in Peace ❤

If I could write a story,

It would be greatest told,

Of a kind and loving Father,

Who had the heart of Gold....

You never said "I love you",

Believing it was a thing to be shown.

You were always the one who understands,

Guiding us lending your hand,

You being the magic wand,

We being the sand.

I wish I could have spent more time,

We would share laughter at the dine,

You were the gem I called mine,

Everything I did was by your guideline...

May you rest in peace,

And may this grief cease,

You be smiling above, saying cheese,

While we feel this serene breeze! :)

-Arib(Proud Anwar)

Why Google discontinued "Inbox"?

The Famous "Inbox by Google" is now said to be discontinued soon by March 2019.😞 If you haven't heard of the Inbox, you might be either living under rock or blocked by Google! 😆

Google Inbox launched on 22nd Oct 2014 only in limited invitation basis, later launched to public on May 28,2015. It recently gained popularity when it was launched on iOS and ANDROID platform. Google Inbox is made by same group of people who worked on Gmail. Inbox was said to serve as "Completely different type of inbox, designed to focus on what really matters".

Soon after release it was criticized and bashed. As it wasn’t very " googly". It caused an uproar teeming with disgust for just about every decision the Gmail product/design team made. Phrases like, “You guys just completely destroyed Gmail!” and “What are these crazy designers doing over there?!” were everywhere. From being spoken at many of Google’s cafes to every internal online forum. Finally it was decided that Gmail would remain as it is considering it's gigantic user base keep less frequent updates, Inbox would serve purpose for :

• Those who receive mails daily.
• Those who are into more advanced version of Gmail
• Better customization of their inbox
• Better productivity, create tasks, and cozy group mails.

Already having above 10Million downloads, Google decided to shut it down, giving it's users only 6months to switch back. Users who are quite accustomed to using Inbox are now left with no choices. Some started bashing out with their tweets, some took to rate Gmail-App with low stars. Of course this wouldn't change much.

I dug more deeper to find what the root cause could be, only to reach a dead end that says they may implement those features in Gmail soon. Inbox certainly had more functionality than Simple Gmail which many old-school would prefer. As a tech-savy

and someone who is not afraid to try new apps, features and mods I would love to use Inbox. Gmail may have huge fan base but you need frequent updates as Emails are something that everyone checks daily.

Lets hope for the best, those 6 Months would pass really soon and there may be huge updates to merge the two. Google might end up dissatisfying both, those that love older minimalist G-Mail app, and even those who wanted their Inbox features back, trying to merge the two is something only few may risk but being said:

You’ve got to keep fighting; you’ve got to risk your life every six months to stay alive. – Elia Kazan

If you're still willing to try this app and you haven't yet, here's the play store link : INBOX BY Google

AppStore(iOS): InboxAppStore

Review on Book(Architecture & Modernity)

Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home. —Anna Quindlen

So, I was lying around fiddling with my phone when I received a call, an old friend who needed help. All I had to do was to read a book... Drum Rolls... baa...dum..tush... AND GET PAID! Do your favorite job reading and writing and get paid. Yes, writing didn't I mention about writing review, nevermind. It was amazing. My day was sorted, but there was a problem, I had never really written a book review and this book was a course book not the simple novel or story-books that I read, but who says no to a job?

A free PDF here ;)

So I thought of posting it on my blog, it may help if not many then some. :/

The Book: Architecture & Modernity(BUY:Amazon)

Architecture and Modernity is a book that bridges the gap between history & theories of twentieth century architecture and Cultural theories of modernity. The author Hilde Heynen is more of a architecture critique that takes past architectural exhibition from the real world and implements by citing out the positive discriminating from what could be negative for the modern era. The writer here assesses architecture as cultural fields of daily life inheriting modernity. What I felt while reading was more like, it was just defining modernity rather than explaining it. It is the duty of author to explain not just define but plot the differences between two subsequent meanings.

The author sights examples from past, late past as she talks about civilizations and it's concept on time ie. Present and future. She quite agrees to Octavio Paz and even I do so. His work is ideal and still matches this era. The writer moves to explain modernization, modernity and modernism with just the definition cited by others without giving any examples. This quite confuses me a lot as the choice of words and vocabulary seems limited. Talking about vocabulary, I'd like to state that this book talks about modernity yet chooses to use words that cease to be used long back. Ofcourse the words are not totally impossible to comprehend but if students are concerned, it lacks proper use of words. Moving on the writer has handpicked some noble piece of concepts that are not just written but also presented as projects or speech in cultural discussion.

Further reading the book in concepts of Modernity, the book cites nature of relationship of aesthetic modernity with bourgeois modernity of capitalized civilization. It also includes pastoral and counter pastoral views. "Dwelling" is yet another term used profoundly attached with architecture. Not just associated with architecture also with cultural living,she explains book of Heidegger "Building. Dwelling. Thinking" Architecture and Modernity also has a visual journey apart from historical records to amuse the readers and take notes of historic builds.It even explains a few images in brief to get the direction into which the author is moving. The book is seen to jump to Architecture from Modernity and later shows minimal relations between the two.An understanding of the context of some of the theories of writers like Walter Benjamin and Sigfried Giedion, for example, is either assumed or not made overly clear at points, but the book would have probably doubled in size if Heynen tried to accommodate that ;) Broad range of works explored with lots of images to support, making some quite complex theories much more accessible. Very useful text for a students trying to get their head around the incredibly broad subject of modernity.

To conclude, I will say her writing is quite assessable, clear and interesting. It's a positive discourse of critical theory and very helpful overview of principal position in critical arguments over modernity. This was my first public review on an academic book, please don't judge me :P I may do more reviews but for sure just novels and story-books!