Malling... a modern way to chill out, Ibn Battuta mall in Dubai, theme inspired by the travels of Ibn Battuta, the great traveler

          

Today's post is about a very beautiful mall, Ibn Battuta mall, a themed mall in Dubai, inspired by the travels of the famous Arabic explorer Ibn Battuta. His full name is Abu Abdulla Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tangi Ibn Batutta. (1304 to 1369).

Birthplace - Tangier, Morocco.
He was a great Islamic scholar and traveler.

At a very young age he started on a journey for the holy Hajj pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. This was a long journey and after completing the pilgrimage he decided to continue his travel to other countries that took many years before his return to Morocco. He has traveled extensively North Africa, Egypt, Swahili coast, Palestine, Syria, Andalusia, Persia, Tunisia, India, Srilanka, Maldives, China and finally back to Morocco. Upon his return almost thirty years later to Morocco he was appointed in the court of the Sultan. This ruler ordered his scribe to record the travel experiences of this great adventurer, the 'Rihla'. Rihla remains as the sole record of this great traveler's adventures.

There are plenty of world famous brands here.
                                                        

                                                                     
The architecture of this mall is stunning !

I have already posted about 'South-pointing chariot', a wonderful instrument for finding directions used in ancient times in China. Very interesting equipment!

http://magicalpresent.blogspot.in/2013/03/south-pointing-chariot_18.html

     

I am sure nobody will be bored visiting here especially if you are interested in history.

The picture above is of Ibn Battuta gate, where the Movenpick hotel is situated. Beautiful view! Hats off to this wonderful idea of building a mall conceived by the travels of this famous person.

The Islamic astrolabe

Food courts, restaurants, cinemas, you name it... they have it here! 

Hardships, dangerous circumstances, and adversities did not deter this great man from pursuing single-handedly the adventures and exploration of previously unknown, far away places, cultures, and lifestyles. His accounts gave mankind valuable insights into the life of people during those ancient times and contributed authoritative facts to history.

For more information :

http://www.ibnbattutamall.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Battuta

• Extraordinary achievements result from courage, great self-esteem, and passionate actions. 

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Blue ocean

Standing on the sandy shore my gaze stretches to infinity

It is amazing to watch the gentle waves listening to their chatter  

As I peer into the blue skyline merging deep, far and wide

I envy upon the Sun rising and setting in tranquility!

As the waves caress and tickle my feet gently

Slowly I feel like gliding in a wave of relaxation

It is wonderful to feel the water and sand embracing 

I forget myself allowing me to drift into joy and happiness!

Cool breeze invigorating the mind, body, and soul 

Like singing a melody to touch the hearts softly

How wonderful to feel it, embrace it, love it

Longing to experience the magic again and again!

Look at the children happily playing all around

Hopeful they build sand castles, dance with joy

Embrace them with your breeze, let them flourish with it

From you life originated, only you can sustain it forever!

• Mother nature only can impart quality relaxation and rejuvenate our mind, body, and soul. Such a refreshing experience enjoying the cool breeze on the seashore! Lovely!

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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 

I wish all of you a very happy, awesome and prosperous new year!

May all your wishes, ambitions and dreams come true 

Let this new year bring you tremendous joy, happiness, and success!

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Merry Christmas!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

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Happy friendship day: get good friends

Happy friendship day!

Here in India, the first Sunday of August, every year is marked as "friendship day."

Malls and discotheques have arranged exciting activities to celebrate friendship day.

United Nations Organization has declared July 30, as International friendship day, but in many countries, it is celebrated on the first Sunday of August, every year.

Good friendships are vital for us. Always try to widen our friendship circle by networking and socializing. Networking means our friends are our friends' friends. True friends that support us both in our good and bad days are a gift. At the same time weed out toxic friendships as soon as possible. True friends co-operate, never manipulate. It is a harmonious relationship, not materialistic.

I wish all my friends a wonderful friendship day!  

• Nurture good friendships. Make it work, carefully develop a good relationship. Adopt a give and take attitude, co-operate, extend help, and above all love each other. 

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Better reading speed and comprehension

'How to read better and faster' by Norman Lewis is a very informative book that helps to improve reading speed and comprehension. As the title says this book helps the reader to read anything very fast and at the same time retain the meaning and improve comprehension.  There are numerous techniques described here in detail for training. Practice all these with enthusiasm to get good results.  

I bought this book in 2002. Read it up to half for the first time. Because of work pressures could not continue it, so discontinued. Then in 2004 read it again. My reading speed after taking the first exercise was 244 words per minute. I completed this book and all the exercises within 2 months. My reading speed became 360 words per minute. Thereafter I began applying the principles I learned from this book. One of the things that I learned is to read faster and adjust reading speed according to the topic.

Whatever be the material just try to get the gist of what is written by quickly by scanning the entire thing in a zig-zag manner. Then try to include more words in a sentence when you fixate the eyes and move fast. It is a common psychological observation that when we speed up something our concentration improves and mind does not oscillate like a pendulum. When we slow down, the mind wanders.

I recommend this book for everyone. A simple book, not at all complicated. Easy to understand, sure you will not get bored like reading some scientific books or journals 😊

• We have to constantly improve ourselves in all aspects. Learn something good, enrich our life and environment, share your views and experiences, let others also benefit! 

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Rosalind Elsie Franklin, Google doodle marks her 93rd birthday, today!

Google doodle remembers Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 - 16 April 1958), the pioneer in finding out the structure of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid), today. She was a major contributor to the research that finally revealed the double helical structure of DNA. She was a British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer.  She passed away due to Ovarian cancer at the age of 37.

Even while undergoing treatment for Cancer she and her team came out with valuable scientific papers, the results of their research activities.

We were taught at school years ago that Watson and Crick discovered the 'double helical structure of DNA' that resembles a twisted ladder. Only now, I came to know that  Rosalind, a brilliant scientist had actually 'cracked the code' before Watson and Crick. Had she been given due credit of her X-ray diffraction picture of DNA, her name also would have been included in the names of people who made this groundbreaking discovery and received the Nobel prize. It was male dominated Society during the 1950s and she was not given any credit to her contribution.

Google's doodle today and the subsequent search I made before posting this deeply disturbed me.  We often hear such stories in scientific circles. Some steal the entire glory taking full credit of success. They never acknowledge the contribution by so many unknown souls. More often, great discoveries were made by the combined efforts and co-operation of many people. Some might have solved the puzzle by delivering the final blow at the head of the nail but fail to acknowledge the contributions made by others.

People often say I am a self-made person. I wonder if there is any meaning in this!

However, posthumously she has been awarded many honors. Please read more about her and then you will know how great she was!

A big thank you to Google for this kind gesture!

More about her :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin
http://www.dnaftb.org/19/bio-3.html
http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/KR/p-nid/183
http://www.rosalindfranklin.edu  A University dedicated to the magnificent legacy of this brilliant scientist!
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bofran.html
http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/franklin.html

• One day the truth will come out. It might take a million years but one beautiful day truth will be revealed to everyone along with concrete evidence. 

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