In Pursuit of Wisdom

We meet people every day who know a lot , who think fast , or who are clever with a quick solution. These qualities are great—but confusing them with Wisdom is where we often get into trouble. Here is a simple, powerful story that shows the difference beautifully. 🦁 The Tale of the Four Friends Imagine four friends walking through a forest: Gyan (Knowledge), Buddhi (Intelligence), Chatur (Cleverness), and Pragya (Wisdom). They came upon the scattered bones of a lion. Gyan (Knowledge) spoke first: "Look, these are lion bones, probably six or seven years old. I know the anatomy." 👉 Knowledge is simply knowing the facts and data. Buddhi (Intelligence) analyzed it: "If the bones were fresher, a lion might still be nearby. We need to interpret the situation and look out." 👉 Intelligence is understanding, analyzing, and interpreting the facts. Chatur (Cleverness) tried a risky trick: "Watch this! I have a spell that can arrange these bones and bring t...

A few months ago, I went to visit my family in Dhaka, Bangladesh before joining my new job at Checkr in San Francisco. On this particular trip, my brother, Rasheduzzaman, the visionary CEO of OPAR Cemetery, took several of us on a journey to a serene location in Gazipur. This wasn't just a casual outing; it was an introduction to the very ground where a profound vision is taking shape—a vision born from personal heartache and a deep-seated desire to serve the community. My father Mohammad Shamsuzzaman has been working with him for a long time before they could buy the land there last December. I am truly honored and happy to share this initiative, which stands as a powerful blend of thoughtful business and heartfelt social responsibility. The Genesis: A Solution Born from Pain The idea for OPAR Cemetery wasn't conceived in a boardroom; it emerged from a deeply personal and challenging experience. Three and half years ago, when my father-in-law passed away in Dhaka, it was an in...

I have an unbelievable story to share with you all—it's been a rollercoaster of emotions this past week! Remember back in 2017 to 2019 when I was diving deep into the world of cryptocurrencies? I participated in a bunch of ICOs for small cryptos across various exchanges. To be honest, it didn't go as planned, and I ended up losing about $70,000 USD. It was a tough lesson, and I kind of stepped away from the crypto scene after that. Fast forward to about a week ago, I received an email from KuCoin, one of the exchanges I used back then. The email mentioned that KuCoin is closing its operations in the USA and that if I had any coins left, I should withdraw them within the next few days. I was swamped with other things and didn't think much of it—I assumed maybe I had a few dollars left at most. So, I didn't even open the email immediately. Today, I finally had some free time and decided to check out that email. After a lot of trial and error (I hadn't logged into that...

MASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE - GRASSLANDS - DAWN I along with my family and friends were surveying the beautiful landscape of the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya in two land rovers. Our drivers took us to a lion family consisting of 22 members, 3 of those are male lions, 8 female and the rest are cubs. From the distance, the magnificent male lions with a powerful, majestic mane emerge, exuding an air of authority and strength. One of those just stopped in front of our cars.  I was murmuring - What a stunning creature! The lion catches my scent and becomes intrigued, gracefully turning his head towards me just from 5 feet away. My heart races as I realize the significance of this encounter. He is no ordinary lion; he, too, is an alpha, ruler of his own world. The lion starts with a low growl - Who dares to venture into my domain? Me (calmly) - I come in peace. I mean no harm to your realm, great lion. The lion looks at me with a combination of caution and curiosity, recogni...

Finally Shusmita and I purchased a house close to my daughter's school in Fremont. We have been thinking of buying a house for some time but I had to wait until my stock lockup period was over early November for me to be able to arrange the down payment. We got the keys yesterday (23rd November), just a day ahead of the 45 days closing deadline. When middle of this year we started to look for hosue, I thought we will need some time before we can find one that we like. I had early 2022 in the back of my mind. But as it happens, all on a sudden we liked a house so much that we couldn't resist and went through a bid war to win. It's a 5 bed 4 bath 2 storied house, 3122 sq ft with 8160 lot size. We used Redfin agent and did our loan processing with Rocket Mortgage. We are very grateful to our friends and family who supported and guided us along the way. Wali Bhai and Asha bhabi have been visiting all the potential houses that we went to check. Nody, Russell, Ashfaq, Shumi, Sumi...

This finally happened.  Ahyan  defeated me for the first time in a competitive chess tournament despite my rating being more than 300 points than his. We are playing in 19th Henry Memorial Chess tournament today at Mechanics Chess Institute, San Francisco. This is a 5 round Swiss where after first 3 rounds both of us were at 2. Consequently I got white in 4th round against him. I gained a pawn putting some positional pressure and got greedy to get the second pawn. So I got into a long defensive position and miscalculated a pin which I thought I can defend. Well no. Ahyan piled all his pieces on the pinned Bishop despite having only 1 minute left in his clock. As it was a game in 40 with 5 seconds delay, seeing very low time in his clock, I didn’t resign until getting checkmated with the hope to flag him down on time. But we it didn’t work out for me. I have never given up any game in my life, and did my best to win. But kudos to him. Recently he had been crossing me in tactic...