On Tuesday I got the chance to attend a lecture at the London School of Economics. They have free public lectures for anyone who might be interested in those topics. This time it was Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody: The power of organizing without organizations. His thesis was that the new social networking technologies, such as facebook, have empowered people to cooperate and organize themselves without elaborate hierarchies and structures and unleash their collective power to make the change they want.

He started by recounting the examples of Chinese earthquake a few years back and the HSBC’s friendly scam to extract money from its student account holders. China would have gotten away with not reporting the level of destruction in the earthquake and the faulty construction that lead to all the casualties and HSBC would have gotten away with charging people for something that they initially stated they wouldn’t. Both were relying on the difficulty of organizing a collective action. In both cases people used social networking tools such as facebook , twitter and video sharing sites to immediately share information with the world and stop governments or organizations from controlling and manipulating them.

This wouldn’t be the first book highlighting the ability of new technologies belonging to the Web 2.0 wave to transform society and bring the “power of the people” to internet. Wikipedia, a great example of collaborative effort that has brought about and impossible amount of information in one place for reference and not only reference but highlighting all kinds of views regarding it. Facebook allowed people to network and share information and interests. Youtube allowed people to share videos and rate the most interesting up from the least. Digg, Reddit, Delicious allowed collaborative link sharing. They keywords being sharing, collaboration and then action.

History is full of examples where the power of people has transformed the circumstance to suit their wants and needs. If the people want it enough, they get it. All these examples in history have been revolutionary ones, the modern society can’t handle it anymore. So it has come up with a evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, version of power of people called, Democracy. The Web 2.0 wave represents the same, democratization of the web.

In all these discussion I have noticed that people get too carried away and create unrealistic expectations from technology and its ability to impact situation. At the end of the day, it is the will of the people that transforms not technology. Technology is just an enabler. Clay mentioned that initially he too got carried away and promoted these ideas with religious zeal but with time he better understood its potentials and limitations.

An interesting example came up during the presentation where the campaign group of President Obama setup a website and asked people to tell them what their priorities are for him to deliver. Guess what came up #1? Legalized marijuana! This demonstrates the fallibility of the crowd intelligence. To a great degree people do possess the power to decide what's right and what’s wrong but they are also prone to whims and weakness and can easily go into the ‘sheep’ mode of thinking. It also exposes the weakness of the system as an anonymous internet can be fooled and a ‘bunch of pot-heads can game the system’.

Still these technologies cannot be ignored in the modern world and they have proved themselves as highly transformative. Let’s see what future brings.

I am currently reading a book called "The Issue of Interest" by Mufti Taqi Usmani who is a respected scholar, has expertise in matters of Islamic economics, has a law degree and was judge on the shariat bench of the Supreme Court. He is also on the board advising Meezan Bank (Islamic). The main text of this book was written by his father Mufti Muhammad Shafi which he revised and augmented to. His father wrote mostly on Interest in personal loans while he completed it with the discussion on commercial loans. I had read a little on this issue and had a basic understanding but this book has brought to my knowledge a number of things I found pretty confusing earlier. The basic reason for the prohibition of interest is that it is a means of hoarding wealth and creating ill-distribution of wealth in society. If you don't see the importance of these two problems, then consider this: Twentieth century has seen communism because of these two reasons! The whole effort behind the the marxist economic theory was to create an equal (artificial) distribution of wealth by taking it away from everyone and distributing it through the central authority. Islam has tackled this problem much earlier. To see the importance of this issue with respect to Islam, here is the Islamic perspective on this:

Hazrat Abdullah Ibn-e-Masud has reported that the prophet said, "The ill effects of interest are of 73 kinds. The least intense of these is like someone commiting adultery with his mother."

That! is how strictly it is forbidden to participate in any dealings involving interest. Now with the importance of this issue in mind lets see how Quran refers to interest. The Quran uses the word 'riba' to describe the interest that is forbidden in Islam. The dictionary meaning of the word riba is: "The dictionary meaning of riba is increase and the reference in the verse is to every increase against which there is no exchange or consideration" (Ibn-e-Arabi, Ahkamul Quarn) This is how the word riba used in Quran is defined but apart from a literal definition there is also a context in which a word becomes popular. The time of the Prophet(PBUH) and before that is the context where we must look for further understanding of this term. According to the prophet: "Every loan which brings a gain is a riba based loan" "exchange of gold with gold, silver with silver, wheat with wheat, barley with barley,  dates with dates and salt with salt should be of equal quantities and spot. Anyone who varies quantities or allows one side of the exchange to be deffered , indulges in riba for which both the buyer and seller are equally responsible." About the lending methods of  'Jahiliya' or before Islam: "Riba Al Jahiliya which has been prohibited by quran is that people would lend on the condition of obtaining more than the amount lent. Upon expiry of the agreed term, the tenor would be extended and the interest increased. This is the riba which the prophet declared null and void during his last pilgrimage" (Ibn-e-Rushd Maliki, Bidaya Al Mujtahid) The purpose of riba is to increase wealth but without risk. To do that you need to a) protect what you have (principal amount) and b) gain some more. This is the understanding of riba I had earlier which was validated by this book but it adds some more to the rules which define riba. They are a) any increase whether simple or compounding, b) charged against extension of time period not something of value and c) defering of payment from any side (credit). When the bank or a person lents you money and has the security that you will return as much was lent (gurantee of principal amount), additionally you would pay them some markup (for credit/extension of time period) and service charges (against the facility of time extension or failure of compliance in returning installment). All these gains fall under riba. I knew that part correctly but what I did'nt know was the fact that delaying payment from any side (credit) is also not allowed. Now that was an eye-opener for me. The priciple is to not indulge in any kind of financial activity where gain is without risking what you have. For example, in buisness there is equal chance of gain or loss from it and buisness is allowed and preferred in Islam. The extereme form of taking risk is gambling, which is also prohibited. Why? not because of riba but because of its other social ill-effects. Gambling is prohibited alongside drinking in Quran, so that puts the rationale behind it in context. Can we invest in a profit or loss account? We cannot because if the gain is earned through riba then it is prohibited. This is like doing the buisness of selling drugs where buisness is allowed but selling drugs is'nt. So, any gains from that are also prohibited. What does Allah require from us? First, no greed for money. So there goes the risk free earnings where the pricipal is safe. Reduce your needs. Don't defer payments, defer needs. Sounds difficult, even impossible. Yes it is but thats the deal, no good comes without sacrifice. "O believers fear Allah and give up that interest which is still due to you if you are true believers; but if you do not do so then you are warned of the declaration of war against you by Allah and His Messenger. If, however you repent even now (and forgo interest), you are entitled to your pricipal; do not wrong and no wrong will be done to you." (Albaqarah 278-279) Lastly charity is the way of muslim, not gathering and hoarding. Allah says: "The interest that you give in order to increase the wealth of the people, does not  increase in the sight of Allah; and the Zakat that you pay in order to win Allah's approval, its payers do indeed increase their wealth." (Surah Rome 39) I will follow this up with a post on commercial interest and some of its detail.

This is the second time I am reminded that I am swayed not that much by the beauty of the word as by the beauty of thought. The first time when I was reading William Golding's The Lord of the Flies and this time by The Road, another post-apocalyptic novel.

The Road is a 2007 Pulitzer winning novel by Cormac McCarthy and after reading it I was still thinking what made them award a Pulitzer to this novel. If it is the detailed descriptions and the mastery over words, the right word for the right emotion and the right moment, then yes it should have won an award, whichever that award is I don't mind. But if it was for the great dialogues, then no, for the exploration of love of a father for his son, then no, for the depiction of loneliness in a world destroyed where there is little hope and the only thing to do is to survive, still no.

Like Lord of the Flies, I would rate this novel A+ for the ability of the writer to put into words anything that he wanted to, for drawing the detailed picture of land and people and everything they do. But as far as the thought goes this could have been written by any number of writers, may be not in the same words because hardly anyone would be that proficient with words. Still those who just love the written word should read it to satisfy their appetite for it.

Acting was not what sold Shahrukh Khan. As an actor he did manage to establish his talent but by and large it has been his charisma and his image that people loved. I believe the same was true for the previous king Amitabh Bachchan. He wasn't the best looking guy and I think that he wasnt the best actor either. But he was the king because he had the personality and self-confidence. His voice, his diagloue delivery, his walk and his presence, everything exuded style. People copied that style, they became fans of the style. Shahrukh grew up admiring that style too and when his time came he brought his own for others to follow.

Starting his career from theater, he always considered himself and entertainer rather than a great acting talent. He came from humble beginnings and lost his father at early age. He was brought up by his mother. She always believed in her son that he would be number one, he was the best. His father himself went to Mumbai in an effort to become an actor. But he was not acknowledged and he was too proud to stand in the line for extras. He wasn't here to become a "struggler".

Shahrukh's style of acting was full of energy and enthusiasm. He liked Amitabh and he liked style. In college he was part of a gang they called the C-Gang. They even has their own gang dress code. This gang was hardly involved in usual gang activities and was primarily a means for, style. In Shahrukh's early successes like Baazigar and Darr, his obsessive and intense style was loved. In later successes like Dil Wale Dulhanya Le Jain Ge, Dil Tu Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, his lover boy style was loved. With movies like Don and Devdas, he tried to bring a new image to screen and succeeded both times. His life wasn't all success, as it never is, but he made most of his ability with little expectation and a lot of self-confidence.

Shahrukh came to Mumbai looking for his girlfriend Gauri and standing at the beach he said that he will own this city one day, he did that. He met Gauri when he was eighteen and she was four years younger. He being a Muslim boy and she a Hindu girl was not a good match but they liked each other and with the help of friends the relationship bloomed. She came to Mumbai to get away from him because he proved to be possessive to the point of being suffocating. He came after her, not planning to let go that easily. In this city where he hardly knew anyone and did not know where she was staying, he found her at the beach because he knew she loved to swim and instinctively he tried to find her there after trying everything else. That probably tells about his life in general, he has been a person of instinct rather than cold logic.

He came to the movie scene at the right time when India was going through liberalization and the markets were opening up. There was demand for style and he provided it with the help of some friends he found in the industry like Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar. His climb was slow and he was not the over night success that you expect. He was also not consistently successful. Still he represents Bollywood and Bollywood's name is synonymous with him. From Raju he really became a gentleman.

The book by Anupama Chopra a film journalist brings a definitive biography of Shahrukh Khan with details that introduce you to the person  behind the image. I particularly liked her style of writing and found it both engaging and entertaining. Though I suppose it has been written with a woman's sensibility so you are introduced to the fact, a number of times actually, that SRK, as he is known, can cry. Starting from his father's story and his ambitions to how his mother held her ground after him, to how he found work in bollywood to how he became a god-like figure. From being haunted by the mafia, to Devdas to being and becoming the King Khan who represents the ambitions and aspirations of a newly liberated India.