The rancid odour plaguing Chowk is that interactors have a take-charge cowboy-like mentality, as they cast unbecoming, smarmy and rash generalisations on literary pieces. Whilst readers spew venom with alarming ease they might instead endeavour to give more substantive examples as to where the fault lines of a piece/poem dwell on the Richter Scale of objectivity.

Any writer on Chowk, no matter what their credence, nourishes from every resourceful critique. Nowhere near perfection, we all strive towards healthier, more informative personal self-expression. Let us cease the mud-slinging !

I joined this e-forum as an eager aspirant for incessant multi-cultural dialogue between all and sundry. Our globe is pregnant and feverishly gripped with social ills not nurtured by us. It is hoped that through Chowk, all of us, no matter what our political stripes, race, colour, religion, caste or creed can capture the zeitgeist of a generation: with a unifying language: Peace.

Animosity looms over like a thick cloud, used as a razor wire to create slits amongst us. Often during my interacts on Chowk I have encountered menacingly grim and piercing attitudes. A racial and religious trashfest. However we also evidence boundless charm, "unflinching idealism" and enthusiasm.

A lot of interactors on this e-forum are not embellished with modesty and self-appraisal. They are shallow over-done pretensious smart talkers, but you do find, rare as it might seem, interactors who bequeath an understated sense of humour, strong self-identity, a zest for interesting conversation and top-notch intellect with a craving to live life to its far-flung fullest.

This invigouration adds impulse to an imperative: Our seemingly "inescapable" nationalist controversies are evitable and we, being the torch-bearers for "Our Sub-Continent" can annihilate implicit racism, green-envy and blue-blooded tinges of arrogance.

Random Thoughts: Im an assailant to slavish imitation, internalised oppression, purposeful misinterpretation, rampant neocolonialism and postmodernist pastiche. I relish hybridity, witty appropriation: whenever a version of an artistic tradition is restated or creatively redescripted.

Having lived and worked in France, Argentina, Western Africa and Turkey, with a keen eye for cultural sensitivity and a generous appetite for sharp witty lines and uninflated egos.

Im allergic to people who take themselves ounces too seriously, develop a rash toward racist bigots and gimmick opportunists and I avoid name-droppers like a vile plague.

Im never afraid to speak my mind, Im controversial, but I try to be a gentle persuader as opposed to a loud-mouth. To be worthy of my time and friendship you are possessed with caviar-like rare taste and the surest touch.

"For those who believe no explanation is necessary. For those who don`t, none will suffice".

ozerkhalid@yahoo.com

Favorite Reading: Kite Runner, The Prophet, Metamorphosis, L`étranger, The God of Small Things, Lipstick Jihad, The Alchemist, Jawab-e-Shiqwa, Les Fleurs du Mal, The Rubaiyat, Sophie`s World, Moth Smoke, Divan of Shems of Tabriz, Ghalib`s Ghazals
Favorite Writers: Kahlil Gibran, Camus, Iqbal, Kundera, Vikram Seth, Suzanna Arundhati Roy, Bapsi Sidhwa, Omar Khayyam, Faiz, Baudelaire, Coelho, Kafka, Ghalib, Dostoyevsky, Sartre, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jellaluddin Rumi, Mohsin Hamid

Interacts by OzerKhalid

iLogs by OzerKhalid