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State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants..


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I am going to put this on a different website as a response to a relevant thread. Got caught up in Registeration and usual red-tape. Meanwhile thought this would perhaps be a good and pertinent thread for ICF as well so here it is...Please read it when you have a lot of time to spare :lol: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let me start this with a Sufi lore. It is said that Prophet Ibrahim(or Abraham) would share his food with guests. Once it happened that he did not have any guests and so he went out to find one. Finally he returned with an elderly gentleman whom Prophet Ibrahim treated with respect and served him food. Upon asking what religion he followed, the elderly gentleman suggested he was an athiest. At this Prophet Ibrahim got angry and promptly cancelled the dinner. When he did so he head a voice from above "Ibrahim We tolerated the man for 70 years inspite of his disbeleifs and you didnt show compassion only for a few minutes?" In its essence Islam is a simple and non-complicated religion. Amongst its values are a series of Do's and Dont's. Do's include beleiving in one God and Prophet Mohammed as his last messenger. Don'ts include showing compassion towards other human beings and not judging others. Only Allah judgeth. It is thus strange how some of the followers of Islam are quick to judge their fellow beleiver brothers from across the border. How they are more "Hindu" than Muslim, and in some cases how they are not Muslims at all! If I was an Indian Muslim I would perhaps mutter the verse of Ustad Zauq about self-proclaimed protectors of religious more. Zaahid sharaab peene se kaafir hua main kyun? Kya derh chuloo paani mein imaan beh gaya? Namaskar. I decided to write this essay/article/rant after reading a few posts regarding the state of Muslims in India. I hope this article doesnt ruffle any feather, cos thats not my intention but hopefully it helps to see the problems faced by Muslims, specially Indian Muslims, in a certain light. I saw the mention of Azim Premji and so I decided to start with him. Why not? A favorite posterboy for India, a self-made man who is now amongst the 25 richest in the world. And mind you this is not some inherited money, or some kaale dhande ki kamai, this is the area of hi-technology and his company daily competes, and beats, the best of this world. One of his companies Wipro Technologies had Annual Turnover of 2.39 billion USD in 2006(source wikipedia), his personal Net worth is calculated to be around 13.3 billion USD(Forbes) and the market capitalization of Wipro is reputed to be anything between 25-30 billio USD(4th largest in IT in the world). But those are mere numbers. To show how good they are allow me to do a relative compare. Pakistan's defence expenditure - 3-3.5 billion USD Pakistan's foreign exchange reserve and gold - 12 billion USD Pakistan's external debt - 38.8 billion USD (source CIA fact book - Pakistan) Which basically means this: 1) Azim Premji and his team of Wipro Technology generates enough revenue to cover 3/4th(or more) of entire Pakistan's defence. With the way Wipro is growing(30% and more) rest assured that it would overrun the latter in a year or two, unless the latter grows at 30% too!(hopefully not for the sake of ordinary Pakistanis) 2) Azim Premji's net worth is more than what the Government of Pakistan has at its disposal in the form of Gold and reserves. 3) If Azim Premji convinces his board to sell off Wipro he would generate enough money to rid Pakistan of a large part of its external debt it has incurred over the last 50 years! Of course some of these are quite theoretical but I hope I have made my point. I noticed an educated poster write something of the order of, "I would like to meet him one day and ask how many IT institutes of learning has he set up for Muslims". Since we are asking questions, I would like to meet everyone from Qaid to Ayub Khan to Musharraf and ask, "Where is the Azim Premji in the land of pure? How come in a country where the Muslims were supposed to be 'persecuted' has an Azim Premji prevailed but not in Pakistan? ". The poster also conviniently, or perhaps unknowingly, forgot one basic thing. That in India religion is lot less in one's life than in Pakistan. It maybe quite true that Azim Premji has not opened any institute for Muslims. Just as it is true that Ambanis have not opened one for Hindus! Or that Raunaq Singh hasnt done so for Sikhs. I hope that answers the authors question. Which brings me to the key question now. Why are Muslims not doing great in India? Or atleast not as good as their Hindu brothers? Well the following may be some of the reasons, but not limited to: 1) Geography - Historically more than 35-40% of Muslim population reside in UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam. Most Pakistani friend of mine who have a relative in India have it in one of the above mentioned states, or Delhi or Bombay or Hyderabad. I dont really hear someone having relative in Orrisa or Tamil Nadu. The four mentioned states are currently four poorest states in India. An ordinary Bihari, Hindu or Muslim, is poorer than his Delhi counterpart, Hindu or Muslim. Industries have died in UP, West Bengal/Assam have been flooded with refugees from Bangladesh. With Pakistan historically supporting Afgan refugees I am sure some of you realize the impact it can have on local economy. 2) Sticking with certain jobs - This is something I havent quite understood but I see it all the time. Many, if not most, lowly paid, but excellent crafmanship requiring skills, are often the monopoly of Muslims in India. Be it tailoring(darji master), fine carpet weaving, glass work and so on. I respect their dedication but I am not sure why people dont move out of a line if it doesnt pay. I have seen quite a few families pushing their kids into their ancestoral work, sometimes also because there are too many kids per family and they cant send them all to schools. Which leads me also to beleive that family planning doesnt get the relevance it should get in Indian muslim society. 3) Deterioation of stature of Urdu - It is my firm belief that the worst fate of the partition was dealt to Urdu, that most beautiful of languages. From being the jewel in Indian crown(still most courts in India follow Urdu based structure..you all would have seen many a Hindi movie where in there is the dialogoe "Taajiraat-e-Hind dafa 302 ke ...."), it is now a language restricted to a selected few. When Dileep Kumar was first offered a role in Hindi movie all he was required to was, "Should know to read, write and speak Urdu". Till the time he died(couple of years back) Sunil Dutt requested his dialogues in Urdu. Today of course its a far cry. Growing up I have seen my parents talk to a Post graduate in Hindi as "MA in Hindi" or "MA in English". With Urdu somehow it was always, "Urdu adab mein MA". But that was then. Today there is no place for Urdu. Not in India, and I suspect not much in Pakistan either. I have to say that I havent met too many Pakistanis who have left me floored with their grasp of Urdu today. I could be wrong of course. Indian Muslims with a natural affinity towards Urdu has obviously paid the price for that fall of stature. xxx

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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants.. [code:5e6b5bff73]I noticed an educated poster write something of the order of, "I would like to meet him one day and ask how many IT institutes of learning has he set up for Muslims". Since we are asking questions, I would like to meet everyone from Qaid to Ayub Khan to Musharraf and ask, "Where is the Azim Premji in the land of pure? How come in a country where the Muslims were supposed to be 'persecuted' has an Azim Premji prevailed but not in Pakistan? ". The poster also conviniently, or perhaps unknowingly, forgot one basic thing. That in India religion is lot less in one's life than in Pakistan. It maybe quite true that Azim Premji has not opened any institute for Muslims. Just as it is true that Ambanis have not opened one for Hindus! Or that Raunaq Singh hasnt done so for Sikhs. I hope that answers the authors question. [/code:1:5e6b5bff73] Game, set and match to Lurker! MIG, your serve, but you might as well forfeit the match now! :hic:

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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants..

I am going to put this on a different website as a response to a relevant thread. Got caught up in Registeration and usual red-tape. Meanwhile thought this would perhaps be a good and pertinent thread for ICF as well so here it is...Please read it when you have a lot of time to spare :lol: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let me start this with a Sufi lore. It is said that Prophet Ibrahim(or Abraham) would share his food with guests. Once it happened that he did not have any guests and so he went out to find one. Finally he returned with an elderly gentleman whom Prophet Ibrahim treated with respect and served him food. Upon asking what religion he followed, the elderly gentleman suggested he was an athiest. At this Prophet Ibrahim got angry and promptly cancelled the dinner. When he did so he head a voice from above "Ibrahim We tolerated the man for 70 years inspite of his disbeleifs and you didnt show compassion only for a few minutes?" In its essence Islam is a simple and non-complicated religion. Amongst its values are a series of Do's and Dont's. Do's include beleiving in one God and Prophet Mohammed as his last messenger. Don'ts include showing compassion towards other human beings and not judging others. Only Allah judgeth. It is thus strange how some of the followers of Islam are quick to judge their fellow beleiver brothers from across the border. How they are more "Hindu" than Muslim, and in some cases how they are not Muslims at all! If I was an Indian Muslim I would perhaps mutter the verse of Ustad Zauq about self-proclaimed protectors of religious more. Zaahid sharaab peene se kaafir hua main kyun? Kya derh chuloo paani mein imaan beh gaya? Namaskar. I decided to write this essay/article/rant after reading a few posts regarding the state of Muslims in India. I hope this article doesnt ruffle any feather, cos thats not my intention but hopefully it helps to see the problems faced by Muslims, specially Indian Muslims, in a certain light. I saw the mention of Azim Premji and so I decided to start with him. Why not? A favorite posterboy for India, a self-made man who is now amongst the 25 richest in the world. And mind you this is not some inherited money, or some kaale dhande ki kamai, this is the area of hi-technology and his company daily competes, and beats, the best of this world. One of his companies Wipro Technologies had Annual Turnover of 2.39 billion USD in 2006(source wikipedia), his personal Net worth is calculated to be around 13.3 billion USD(Forbes) and the market capitalization of Wipro is reputed to be anything between 25-30 billio USD(4th largest in IT in the world). But those are mere numbers. To show how good they are allow me to do a relative compare. Pakistan's defence expenditure - 3-3.5 billion USD Pakistan's foreign exchange reserve and gold - 12 billion USD Pakistan's external debt - 38.8 billion USD (source CIA fact book - Pakistan) Which basically means this: 1) Azim Premji and his team of Wipro Technology generates enough revenue to cover 3/4th(or more) of entire Pakistan's defence. With the way Wipro is growing(30% and more) rest assured that it would overrun the latter in a year or two, unless the latter grows at 30% too!(hopefully not for the sake of ordinary Pakistanis) 2) Azim Premji's net worth is more than what the Government of Pakistan has at its disposal in the form of Gold and reserves. 3) If Azim Premji convinces his board to sell off Wipro he would generate enough money to rid Pakistan of a large part of its external debt it has incurred over the last 50 years! Of course some of these are quite theoretical but I hope I have made my point. I noticed an educated poster write something of the order of, "I would like to meet him one day and ask how many IT institutes of learning has he set up for Muslims". Since we are asking questions, I would like to meet everyone from Qaid to Ayub Khan to Musharraf and ask, "Where is the Azim Premji in the land of pure? How come in a country where the Muslims were supposed to be 'persecuted' has an Azim Premji prevailed but not in Pakistan? ". The poster also conviniently, or perhaps unknowingly, forgot one basic thing. That in India religion is lot less in one's life than in Pakistan. It maybe quite true that Azim Premji has not opened any institute for Muslims. Just as it is true that Ambanis have not opened one for Hindus! Or that Raunaq Singh hasnt done so for Sikhs. I hope that answers the authors question. Which brings me to the key question now. Why are Muslims not doing great in India? Or atleast not as good as their Hindu brothers? Well the following may be some of the reasons, but not limited to: 1) Geography - Historically more than 35-40% of Muslim population reside in UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam. Most Pakistani friend of mine who have a relative in India have it in one of the above mentioned states, or Delhi or Bombay or Hyderabad. I dont really hear someone having relative in Orrisa or Tamil Nadu. The four mentioned states are currently four poorest states in India. An ordinary Bihari, Hindu or Muslim, is poorer than his Delhi counterpart, Hindu or Muslim. Industries have died in UP, West Bengal/Assam have been flooded with refugees from Bangladesh. With Pakistan historically supporting Afgan refugees I am sure some of you realize the impact it can have on local economy. 2) Sticking with certain jobs - This is something I havent quite understood but I see it all the time. Many, if not most, lowly paid, but excellent crafmanship requiring skills, are often the monopoly of Muslims in India. Be it tailoring(darji master), fine carpet weaving, glass work and so on. I respect their dedication but I am not sure why people dont move out of a line if it doesnt pay. I have seen quite a few families pushing their kids into their ancestoral work, sometimes also because there are too many kids per family and they cant send them all to schools. Which leads me also to beleive that family planning doesnt get the relevance it should get in Indian muslim society. 3) Deterioation of stature of Urdu - It is my firm belief that the worst fate of the partition was dealt to Urdu, that most beautiful of languages. From being the jewel in Indian crown(still most courts in India follow Urdu based structure..you all would have seen many a Hindi movie where in there is the dialogoe "Taajiraat-e-Hind dafa 302 ke ...."), it is now a language restricted to a selected few. When Dileep Kumar was first offered a role in Hindi movie all he was required to was, "Should know to read, write and speak Urdu". Till the time he died(couple of years back) Sunil Dutt requested his dialogues in Urdu. Today of course its a far cry. Growing up I have seen my parents talk to a Post graduate in Hindi as "MA in Hindi" or "MA in English". With Urdu somehow it was always, "Urdu adab mein MA". But that was then. Today there is no place for Urdu. Not in India, and I suspect not much in Pakistan either. I have to say that I havent met too many Pakistanis who have left me floored with their grasp of Urdu today. I could be wrong of course. Indian Muslims with a natural affinity towards Urdu has obviously paid the price for that fall of stature. xxx
Why this obsession with Pakistan ? And - Wow - the Azim Premji post- the perfect Muslim.... wonder why he doesnt donate some of his hard earned money to uplifting the Muslims in his area ? Maybe that is the problem with Muslims in India - they have people like Azim ( who have enough money to buy the likes of Pakistan etc ) If he could just set aside say half of his wealth to setting up scholarship funds for Muslims, IIT type institutions etc - The whole Muslim world will thank him. Azim Premji - a great IT entreprenuer - a Muslim ? Well his zakat alone would have take care of a few million Muslim households...
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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants.. Quasimodo. So let me get this straight. All you care about is Muslims, Muslims and Muslims. Right? I mean I didnt really hear you talk about anyone else. Honestly speaking, don't you find that a little distrubing my friend? I have mentioned it very clearly that in India spending is not done on religious basis. You obviously missed it so let me reiterate. It maybe quite true that Azim Premji has not opened any institute for Muslims. Just as it is true that Ambanis have not opened one for Hindus! Or that Raunaq Singh hasnt done so for Sikhs Thats Indian way, too bad if it doesnt satisfy you. I am surprised actually that you seem to be intent on bringing down Azim Premji rather than really worrying about Indian Muslims or else you would have picked some of my points about why they arent doing well. Khair aapki marzi. Lastly obsession with Pakistan? I have just showed you(with cold figures) what you should be able to piece together. Hamare yehan ek kahawat hai Q bhai, "Sawaal jis jubaan mein ho, jawaab ussi jubaan mein dena chahiye". Should I compare his wealth with Papua new Guinea? Or Chad?? Abhi I have showed you what Azim Premji is worth on its own vis a vis entire state of Pakistan. Like it or not the poster boy of Indian Secularism has done rather well than the Land of Pure itself. xxx

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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants.. Quasimodo , Since when did you become the mouthpiece of Indian Muslims. Please concentrate on uplifting the life of average Pakistani Muslim and then start thinking about other muslims worldwide. Your country is beseiged with problems such as poverty , illiteracy , religious bigotry , Islamic fundamentalism etc . I have seen you start threads in PP also about the plight of Indian Muslims.

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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants.. :hail::hail::hail: @ Lurker.

Why this obsession with Pakistan ? And - Wow - the Azim Premji post- the perfect Muslim.... wonder why he doesnt donate some of his hard earned money to uplifting the Muslims in his area ? Maybe that is the problem with Muslims in India - they have people like Azim ( who have enough money to buy the likes of Pakistan etc ) If he could just set aside say half of his wealth to setting up scholarship funds for Muslims, IIT type institutions etc - The whole Muslim world will thank him. Azim Premji - a great IT entreprenuer - a Muslim ? Well his zakat alone would have take care of a few million Muslim households...
And why should Premji's money go (only) to Muslims ? The right question should have been, what has Premji done for the poor & the deserving in general. IMO, he has made his fair share of contributions to the community by being one of the BIGGEST employers cum tax payer cum role model citizen rolled into one. I hope your qn is instinctive, rather than typical of a Muslim
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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants.. Bumper wrote -) And why should Premji's money go (only) to Muslims ? The right question should have been, what has Premji done for the poor & the deserving in general. IMO, he has done his fair share of contributions to the community by being one of the BIGGEST employers cum tax payer cum role model citizen rolled into one. -------------------------- Good Point. Non Muslims have played a big role in Premji's wealth accumulation . He should help the poor and not on religious lines. Quasimodo 's thought process is flawed.

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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants.. To an Indian, MIG's statement might seem utterly ridiculous. Yet, we have to ask ourselves, he is an intelligent guy. Why does, he and so many other educated Muslims in Pakistan think this way? The answer of course is that MIG and many other Muslims view Islam much as we view India. As an entitity that commands utter loyalty. To an Indian, disloyalty to India from a fellow Indian is utterly reprehensible. Now just replace "India" with "Muslims". Just to illustrate, we'd be up in arms if Azim lavished money preferentially on Muslims the world over because they were his "brothers". Similarly, MIG and others see him not as an Indian, but as a Muslim that should uplift his fellow Muslims. This concept is to so difficult for us to understand. Never the twain shall meet.

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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants..

To an Indian, MIG's statement might seem utterly ridiculous. Yet, we have to ask ourselves, he is an intelligent guy. Why does, he and so many other educated Muslims in Pakistan think this way? The answer of course is that MIG and many other Muslims view Islam much as we view India. As an entitity that commands utter loyalty. To an Indian, disloyalty to India from a fellow Indian is utterly reprehensible. Now just replace "India" with "Muslims". Just to illustrate, we'd be up in arms if Azim lavished money preferentially on Muslims the world over because they were his "brothers". Similarly, MIG and others see him not as an Indian, but as a Muslim that should uplift his fellow Muslims. This concept is to so difficult for us to understand. Never the twain shall meet.
If Muslims cared about one another so much and Islam in General , then why the historical blood bath between Shia's / Sunnis or Turks/Kurds etc ?? Why no unity among Arab countries ??
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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants.. If Muslims only care about Muslims, why dont they just make one big country and help each other, if they dont want to help anyone else. That way they dont have to feel prejudiced in secular countries..

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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants.. Must admit I am somewhat disappointed with MIG's questioning of Premji, and his insistence that Premji should have built an educational institute for followers of his religion. I had attributed him (MIG) with more common sense and etiquette than that. As Doc D (not to be confused with Doc Daneka) says - the essential surmise that MIG is making is that religion is above country - an assumption that most Indians find very counterintuitive, and almost despicable...

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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants..

To an Indian, MIG's statement might seem utterly ridiculous. Yet, we have to ask ourselves, he is an intelligent guy. Why does, he and so many other educated Muslims in Pakistan think this way? The answer of course is that MIG and many other Muslims view Islam much as we view India. As an entitity that commands utter loyalty. To an Indian, disloyalty to India from a fellow Indian is utterly reprehensible. Now just replace "India" with "Muslims". Just to illustrate, we'd be up in arms if Azim lavished money preferentially on Muslims the world over because they were his "brothers". Similarly, MIG and others see him not as an Indian, but as a Muslim that should uplift his fellow Muslims. This concept is to so difficult for us to understand. Never the twain shall meet.
Good observation as always Dhondy. But, am not sure I'd want to think allegiance to a country and religion are the same/similar virtues, regardless of the justification. History definitely sees them as different. One is seen as patriotism and the other, as religious fanaticism (sorry MIG, not meant to be a slur at you) The problem with extending brotherhood ONLY based on religious reasons, is that it will very soon spiral out of control.
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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants..

To an Indian, MIG's statement might seem utterly ridiculous. Yet, we have to ask ourselves, he is an intelligent guy. Why does, he and so many other educated Muslims in Pakistan think this way? The answer of course is that MIG and many other Muslims view Islam much as we view India. As an entitity that commands utter loyalty. To an Indian, disloyalty to India from a fellow Indian is utterly reprehensible. Now just replace "India" with "Muslims". Just to illustrate, we'd be up in arms if Azim lavished money preferentially on Muslims the world over because they were his "brothers". Similarly, MIG and others see him not as an Indian, but as a Muslim that should uplift his fellow Muslims. This concept is to so difficult for us to understand. Never the twain shall meet.
Dhondy bhai, here's the summary In Islamic perspective, State and Religion are one and the same Most of us may not agree or understand the above but its the reality
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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants.. Bumps, some might say patriotism often spirals out of control as well. What about pre 1st world-war Japan? Or heck, Bush's extreme form of patriotism that turned Iraq into a nation of cinders? Is it not fairer to say that any form of extreme allegiance is unhealthy? After all, Hitler thought he was purifying the human race by getting rid of the Jews.

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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants..

Bumps, some might say patriotism often spirals out of control as well. What about pre 1st world-war Japan? Or heck, Bush's extreme form of patriotism that turned Iraq into a nation of cinders? Is it not fairer to say that any form extreme allegiance is unhealthy? After all, Hitler thought he was purifying the human race by getting rid of the Jews.
But if thats a proper justification, then the act of an Indian Muslim helping the ISI should only be viewed as brotherhood, not treason. In the modern world, religion is not an entity of association, nations are. A nation captures lot more of the commonality of the men it constitutes. Its a healthy union. Religion does the opposite, it simply segregates men, from the rest. To me, a nation is about unity, religion is about divide. As simple as that! That is why history holds patriots at a higher pedestal than religious fanatics.
Or heck, Bush's extreme form of patriotism that turned Iraq into a nation of cinders?
In Bush's case, there may have been many reasons he went to war with Iraq. Patriotism is not one of them.
After all, Hitler thought he was purifying the human race by getting rid of the Jews.
Hitler was blinded by race not by patriotism.
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Re: State of Indian Muslims, Azim Premji and other rants..

To an Indian, MIG's statement might seem utterly ridiculous. Yet, we have to ask ourselves, he is an intelligent guy. Why does, he and so many other educated Muslims in Pakistan think this way? The answer of course is that MIG and many other Muslims view Islam much as we view India. As an entitity that commands utter loyalty. To an Indian, disloyalty to India from a fellow Indian is utterly reprehensible. Now just replace "India" with "Muslims". Just to illustrate, we'd be up in arms if Azim lavished money preferentially on Muslims the world over because they were his "brothers". Similarly, MIG and others see him not as an Indian, but as a Muslim that should uplift his fellow Muslims. This concept is to so difficult for us to understand. Never the twain shall meet.
Gee.. That?s some post. Getting better and better each day your posts Dhondy. That is very rationale thinking and a fantastic expression.
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