The Happiest House of the World

You may heard of the poorest, richest or even the happiest person in the world - but I am sure only a few would have heard of the 'Happiest House' of the world.

Like you can guess from the face of the person you are meeting whetehr he is happy or not, likewise John Rizzi, and American artist, has designed the fascade of a building in Braunschweig, Germany in a manner that it gives a feeling of really the happiest house.

The building, known as Happy Rizzi House, has become a must-see tourist attraction since its fascade was studded with exotic and vivdly coloured pop art by Rizzi.

Here are a few photographs of the Happiest House - which will make you happy too by merely looking at the photographs.

But do not forget to see a video at the end of this post.

Did these photos made you happy? I am sure next time you are visiting Germany, you would take a time out to visit the happiest house of the world.

Now watch the video:

Photographs source: Funzug

Video Source: YouTube / blacksparkful

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Want to live longer?

Ask anyone, “Do you want to live longer?”, and you will get the same reply, “Yes I would very much want to.” This shows how much a human is concerned about longevity. But foe everything you want, you have to pay. Are you ready to pay for your longevity? Well if your answer is still yes, let me prescribe you something “free”, but promise me you will act upon it in true letter and spirit.

OK, if you are all set to live longer, make sure you sleep at least 6-8 hours every night. Simple, isn’t it? A recent research shows that people who sleep less than six hours at night, are at 12% more at risk to die early than those who do. But there is caution too. If anyone thinks that sleeping for more than 6-8 hours will make them live still longer, they are sadly mistaken. As anyone sleeping for more than eight hours must be ill which keeps them drowsy more than an average person. So it is an early warning for those who take a short nap at night, keep awake on one pretext or the other to reframe their sleeping habits and have a healthy sleep for at least six hours (but not more than eight hours) every night.

Now the second tip (this would cost some pennies). Drink Green Tea more often than not. Ever noticed seeing very old faces in China, Japan and neighbouring countries? Ever wondered why? Well peep into their past. An average Chinese or Japanese drinks 6-8 cups of green tea every day. This magic tea burns away all fats, help you lose weight, rids you from chances of getting stomach ulcers and cancer, and even prevents early wrinkling of your face. All these benefits lead you to a happy, healthy and longer life. If we replace our daily intake of coffee and black tea with equal number of green tea, we can be assured of longevity.

So what goes of yours if just you act upon these two tips to live longer?

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Deserts of Pakistan

Pakistan is one of the blessed countries which have everything that nature could give. From sea coast to fertile plains to snow covered mountains, gushing rivers and beautiful vast stretched prairies – its landscape changes every few hundred kilometers. While going down south from the province of Punjab into the Sind province, the lush green landscape gradually start to change colour, texture and foliage. From lush green plains, the soil becomes sandy and then nothing but vast stretches of desert. The lower portion of Pakistan stretched from Baluchistan to the Indian border 9and even beyond) is nothing but desert. And it may amaze many when they would know that we have sand patches as high as in the foothills around snow covered mountains of Skardu.

There are three major deserts in Pakistan, namely the Thar, Cholistan and the Kharan deserts.

The Thar desert falls in the category of Monsoon deserts. The Thar and the Rajasatn desert (across the Indian border) is the largest, spread over some 446,000 square kilometers. The Thar is largely unpopulated except small towns of Umerkot, Mithi, Mirpurkhas spread over its vastness. More than half a million people, 70 percent of whom are Hindu, live in the desert live in the area. The people live in round mud-walled huts thatched with grass and surrounded with thick thorn hedges. These are clustered round the more reliable wells or along the tops of ridges. The women wear long, full, red or orange skirts and cover their heads with embroidered or tie-dyed shawls. Married women encase their arms in bone or plastic bangles from wrist to shoulder (widows wear bangles above the elbows only; single girls wear them only round the wrist).

The Cholistan (locally known as Rohi) starts some 30 kilometres from Bahawalpur in the Southern Punjab of Pakistan and is spread over an area of some 16,000 square kilometres and extends up to the Thar desert in the Sindh province. The word Cholistan is derived from 'Cholna' which means moving. The people of Cholistan lead a semi-nomadic life, moving from one place to another in search of water and fodder for their animals. Drawar Fort is the major landmark of Cholistan Desert. The area was once well watered by the river Ghaggar now called the Hakra in Pakistan and known in Vedic times as the Sarasvati. All along the 500-km of dried up river are over 400 archaeological sites, which date back to the Indus civilization 4500 years ago and are clustered around Drawar Fort. Cholistan has a population of some 100,000 semi-nomads, mostly as camel and goat herders. The nomads belong to many different tribes, though most of them are descended from settlers who came from Baluchistan at least two centuries ago. The women swirl along in full red skirts and embroidered shawls, and the men wear bright coloured turbans on their heads.

The Kharan Desert is located in northwest Baluchistan. The desert consists of shifting sand dunes, with heights varying between 15 and 30 meters. The desert is in fact continuation of barren wastes that occupy almost half of Iran. Average annual rainfall throughout these deserts is well under 100 mm. The desert includes areas of inland drainage and dry lakes (hamuns). The Gowd-e Zereh (lake basin) in Iran is separated from Kharan in Pakistan by the low Chaghai hills, which, with the highlands around the extinct volcano Koh-e Tafta'n, cause the Mashkel river to form a lake. The surface of the Hamun-i-Mashkhel, which is some 85 kilometers long and 35 kilometers wide, is littered with sun-cracked clay, oxidized pebbles, salty marshes and crescent-shaped moving sand dunes. The area is known particularly for its constant mirage and sudden severe sand-storms.

And a few words about desert up north. One hears of deserts in plains but never at the foothills of 18,000 feet high snow covered mountains. Skardu Valley is one such place which is carpeted in fine ash white sand through which greenish blue in winter; grey as tarnished silver in summer, the Indus snakes lazily between wind-ribbed sand dunes.

Related reading:

Deserts of Pakistan (Pakistanpaedia)

Thar -- Pakistan's largest desert of living traditions

Tharparkar - Desert on the Edge of Pakistan

Photo of Cholistan Desert courtesy: SaffyH (Flickr)

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Abu Ji – Tusi Great Ho (Father – You are Great)

Like all sons and daughters, my sons also celebrated the Father’s Day in their peculiar style as usual. They were busy preparing for the exam today and had gone for collective study at a friend’s place. They returned at around 10 PM and quietly put an envelope under my plate on the dinner table. I will talk about it later. But first the dinner and the celebrations.

My wife had cooked aromatic and spicy chicken biryani which was the best she cooked over all these years using a new technique and recipe. And I devoured it to my more than full. After the meal, my sons opened a bag of pastries – nutty and crunchy. While my wife still had mangoes. So that’s how the was celebrated almost when it was over. I thanked my wife and sons for the dinner and the pastries they had arranged with so much of love.

Now the envelope. When I opened, it had a yellow card in it (not the yellow card shown in football). It looked beautiful and I thanked my sons for the card and remembering the day. But they insisted to read it aloud (something they never asked before). Thinking something special about it, I read and what I read was both amusing and almost describing me. So I thought to share with you all. The card read:

Abu ji tusi great ho
Thoray say bulky, thoray over weight ho
Sab ke tusi mate ho
Kaabl-e-appreciate ho
Casual approach ho
Na jaldi ho na late ho
Jab “naa” ek dafa kaho to phir na kaabl-e-format ho
Jo aap se takra jae, wohi maliamate ho
Puranay aur naye ka haseen amalgamate ho

Wow!! What a fine description of me. Thank you my sons for this great gift and your love for me. May Allah bless you both. Ameen.

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Spectacle(sssssssssss)

My Photography (Taken from Flickr: Jalalspages )

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