Mein Hoon Na, Har Dhandi Ya.

"Main Hoon Na" means 'I am Here' in Hindi and Urdu languages. It is used to express that you are there for some one even if no one else is. To show that you will always be there when needed. Or to simply mean that 'I am here (so you don't worry)' in situations where you can be of help.

This is also the name of a successful Bollywood film of 2004. After this film's success, it have become a very common phrase used, even by Maldivians sometimes. But what does it means in Dhivehi language?

It is kinda funny, but it does mean something in Dhivehi also. though it is not pronounced exactly in the same way by native speakers of Hindi (a slight difference). But when Maldivians use it both (Dhivehi and Hindi phrase) sounds exctly the same. It is like "meyhoonaa". How ever, this must be followed by a similar sounding phrase; "Harudhandiyaa" if we want to make sense of it in Dhivehi according to the radheef (but i guess meyhoonaa alone also means something). So, if we write it in Romanagari (how hindi is written in roman script) it will now look like :

"Mein Hoon Na, Har Dhandi Ya"

It is a Dhivehi figure of speech which is used to express hunger and having no food to eat. It literally means;

"(my) chest is warm (like burning from hunger); (i am) still (like a person in sleep) and stiff (like a dead body)".

Here is the radheef definition:

މޭހޫނާހަރުދަނޑިޔާ
މަޖާޒު: ކާނެ އެއްވެސް އެއްޗެއް ނެތީމާ ބުނެއުޅޭ ބަހެއް

So 'Mein Hoon Na, Har Dhandi Ya' or simply 'Mein Hoon Na' in Dhivehi language means; "I am very very hungry".

getting serious about HIV/AIDS.

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how should we deal with the problem of religious extremism?

It seems after the terror blast the government of Maldives is tightening the grip on all islamic groups.

a bill is to be submitted to the parliament on making the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs an independent institution,rather than being a toothless tiger (as the president of the council , Sheikh Raseedh puts it)... [read more]

Under the despotic law of 'protecting the islamic unity of maldives' the president have asked the Islamic council to ban face veiling in public, dressing or behaving in a manner which resembles -in any way- religous denominationalism.In other words they trying to find a way to make things hard for all islamic groups in maldives [read more].

This type of reaction from the government is nothing new. this had happened many times, crack down on wahhabis they call it... they would arrest people and shave off their beards, force them to keep their trousers below ankle (which,according to them is like being in hell),and even take off face veils of women (which will be for them as if removing their clothes).This kind of unacceptable acts of the government is doing nothing except for fueling the wild fire of extremism.This will move elements from more moderate islamic groups in to the stricter and therefore more dangerous people.What i am trying to say is , a bearded guy or a preaching bearded guy is not our business, not a threat to our national security. but bearded or not...a terror minded jihadi muslim is a threat to our country and we should keep an eye on them...when necessary punish them.but a crack down on all bearded or faceveiled people is not just...and very stupid.

Extremism is a serious issue which have to be dealt wisely and professionally.it shouldnt be like the old majeedhee magu paving project or nerugovvun projects our government carried out.because this is no ordinary thing we are dealing with.religous ideologies or thinking cannot be killed by force.it should be killed (if needed) by better ideologies.You all know they have read the story of ashaabul uhdhoodh from Bukhari collection of Hadiths.In that story people are burned alive for what they believe but they prefered death to giving in.This (the strong faith in what they believe...what ever they may believe) is what drives a young boy,well educated, loved by every one... changes in to a hated monster that wants to kill people.Strengthening the 'islamic unity' itself is a threat to our future. This kind of 'strengthening' will take the rights of islamic groups and will create a violent reaction. A group of religious extremists Gaafu Alifu atoll Maamendhoo are not praying with the common congregation ... now they are praying in the mosque after the common congregation...should we attack them too?!What ever his intention is...Sheikh Shaheem of Adalat party have showed that these people can be softened down by talking to them or discussing religious issues with them instead of releasing a canonic way of doing everything from the president's office and punishing those who disobey.

It is the hypocrisy of Maldives government when it comes to religion ...that have created a breeding ground for jihadi islamic movements and islamic extremism in maldives.For example; we are told that we should follow Quran and Hadith...but we are lied about them.Lies which are so evident that even the kids will know some thing is wrong in those fatwas.Now when this happens children turns to islamic books or websites originating from saudi arabia or saudi funded groups, looking for answers.These will lay a foundation for the wahhabi islam.Now from this stage a person may develop in to anything...just a salafi,a follower of political islam (hizb-ut-tahrir/ikhwanul muslimeen?) or to a houri seeking jihadi muslim.I am not saying that it is their right to preach terrorism. but we cant define what the limits are ,as long as we try to strengthen the 'islamic unity' by force.Let it come by its own (if there is any such thing as an islamic unity) .

I think what we need to cultivate is not islamic unity and hatred for other religions.what we need is an free society, a free environment in which religious tolerance,humanism, and brotherhood would prosper.For this to happen we need social change as well as political change.To bring about this we need education,awareness,change of policies and a secular state or atleast a state with freedom of religion.A state which wouldn't threaten to kill a person for choosing his or her own way of life or belief or for discussing a religious topic freely.Religion have to become more spiritual rather than being a 'dividing-in-the-name-of-uniting' force.Hate and violence would give nothing but hate and violence.The government should understand that these islamic groups too are maldivian citizens, faceveiled women and bearded men are our people..parents to our children...if you jail them beat them up just for what they believe or how they dress..it would be very unjust.I have known so far that .... two leaders of the dotcom group (the guys behind the bomb plot) have fled Maldives.This is what we need to concentrate on... bringing the violent and the terror breeding to justice and tackling the extremism problem ideologically.

inauguration of the national seminar on history and heritage.

Seen here is the 'Tharaagandu' at K.Atoll Kaashidhoo(Picture taken from kaashidhoo.net)..It is said to be the remains of a Buddhist monastry which dates back to 12th century AD.

Archaeological excavations of this Buddhist temple/monastry , by a research team, from the
University of Oslo, Norway, was begun in 1996, on the island of Kaashidhoo.These extcavations were continued in 1997 and 1998. The team was led by Professor Egil Mikkelsen of Norway. After the excavations, the ruins were covered by plastic, sand and stones to protect them from destruction.

Ivisited the place just when they discovered some corpses there .I heard that the research team will be leaving soon.that means the work will no be continued.Again after an year i went back to kaashidhoo and discovered that it was a play ground for children.they would go and pee in to the ancient well there.they would break parts of the historical remains of the temple(some kids even brought it to the house i was staying in).I was not shocked. because my house is not far from ali rasagefaanu Ziyaarai (in Male') ,which was a junk heap until it was renovated and opened for tourists in October 2002.And he was mulim mujahid..... no wonder they wont give a damn about the remains of a Buddhist temple!!

There are several other Ziyaarais or shrines of Maldivian saints and heroes which have been neglected and even destroyed by the government.You all will know the area called Lonu ziyaarai kolhu, no more ziyaarai is there now.They even stopped Maldivian cultural festivals like Maaloodhu.My said that the giraavaru people practiced their traditional thaarajehun and vajidhuvun until it was banned by the government.

And then there is Dhivehi language.so many words used in different islands..are lost day after day...i dont think any effort is made to collect these words and document em(even jaa have done more than what they do by giving us the radheed free).and i thnak maldivesroyalfamily.com and maldivesculture.com for all the information ive got from them about my country,its culture and heritage.

Bodu beru is some thing almost all maldivians like...but no work is done to promote it.,they keep on saying youth are going more and more western and no one is interested in maldivian culture.

talking about history..i guess yo will know that maldivian history is re-written in a way some one wanted it to be.ive already mentioned what he did to maldivian historian , shafeeq.

and.i dunno.i was just watching TVM there was this seminar about culture going on.The brother in law of Gayom; Abbas Ibrahim -who is the 'president' (lol) the National Centre for Linguistic and Historical Research thanked gayom for many things and then awarded him something, apparently for being the savior of maldivian culture.After sometime the gayom himself was speaking about maldvian culture.he started by saying that Quran Mushaf (printed copies of the Quran) are the biggest maldivian heritage as we are muslims...and after sometimes i thought i was in Islam class.he was talking about mushaful uthman and mushaful imaam and about how the Quran was revealed and how it was collected.how some prints of the Quran were burnt and one single copy was made the canonical print.and how it was sent to syria,egypt,and many other countries.and i dunnno what happened next i have started writing this post by that time.

phew!so much about maldivian history,heritage and culture..If you are interested in maldivian heritage, I think you would find this [pdf] interesting.