Shopping with Perveen

......... and to think i almost missed this ........ nice! ....... it tickled my funny bone .......

A little chop of candy taste, hum...um

#PM

Thanks for providing the scoop on this Cork fellow.

And here I was - thinking that he is an aspiring novice!

Chris, sorry man! Had I known that you are a buddha khushoot writer, I would have worded my comments a bit differently! :)

re. ally #49:
``i`ve never heard of Pakistani women with non-pak husbands... even my christian pak friends aren`t allowed to marry into white or anything else thats not pak christian!!!``

Yaar, not true.. Depends very much on the situation. If the gora guy is well-to-do, and of no known major character flaws, tying the knot is acceptable, even encouraged, esp. among the uneducated and well-educated. Further, for many educated Pakistani Christians, ``allowed`` is non-sequitor these days; they pretty much do as they please, knowing that the most they stand to lose is a few years` worth of daddy and mommy`s blessings.

And I`m not even talking about Christians in the big cities like Karachi, where, by and large, this wouldn`t even be an issue to begin with.

re. ally #49:
``i`ve never heard of Pakistani women with non-pak husbands... even my christian pak friends aren`t allowed to marry into white or anything else thats not pak christian!!!``

Yaar, not true.. Depends very much on the situation. If the gora guy is well-to-do, and of no known major character flaws, tying the knot is acceptable, even encouraged, esp. among the uneducated and well-educated. Further, for many educated Pakistani Christians, ``allowed`` is non-sequitor these days; they pretty much do as they please, knowing that the most they stand to lose is a few years` worth of daddy and mommy`s blessings.

And I`m not even talking about Christians in the big cities like Karachi, where, by and large, this wouldn`t even be an issue to begin with.

This is the second article I meant to link in the last para.

nb, re. #51:
Yes, I understood that. But how does that (supposed) power disparity become an argument against the writing of this satire with some socially charged undertones?

Stukay:
Here`s one of Chris`s articles that I think evinces his sound understanding of Pakistani society, going beyond platitudes about the heoric common man, and `fertile ground for revolution`.

Here`s one that merely touches on the military`s role and prospects in Pakistan. It`s not the excellent piece I referred to in an earlier post, which I can`t seem to dig up from The News` archives. They don`t appear to give a by-columnist listing there. Eediots!

You form your own opinion about his analyses.

These two pieces establish Chris` Real Nice Guy (or alternatively, Not Arrogant Gora) credentials. I hope nb reads them, so s/he might sleep a little easier. :-)

take my word on it ally and dont bet any money against it :)

#43

good for u and ur wife... all the best... hope u learn seriaki its suonds very sweet like sindhi...

Clifton aunty

i`ve never heard of Pakistani women with non-pak husbands... even my christian pak friends aren`t allowed to marry into white or anything else thats not pak christian!!!

khair but i suppose society moves on and gets over the racism... now lets see if we can get over our inter-provincial racism!!!

peace
xx

Welcome to chowk, Chris!

I like your article, it`s simple and whilst some description would add colour, it is a nice read that brings back some memories for me (and anecdotes of my own haggling experiences in Delhi).
I`ve submitted several articles for chowk and never been on FP :(

Are you still in Pakistan? I plan to visit there again soon, maybe work a while. Maybe you could advise me.

I tht this was an English translation of Abrar`s song called Parveen!!

Hey I thought this was poetry too actually...and im so Lit-illiterate I thought it was darn good poetry!!

Can u post a link to a couple of your articles? If resident libertarian PM thinks they are ``fair and balanced`` like Fox news, I would love to read em.

Cheers

#43 by Chris on June 15, 2007 11:31am PT

Wish u long life 4 ur broadmindedness.

re. #40:
``We foster a profoundly deaf Pakistani girl and have just adopted a 5 wks Pakistani baby. Anything else you want to know?``

Yeah. Now that you mention it, twice, Why Pakistani? Why not Cambodian? or Malawian? eh?
:-)

re nb #34
`` There is such a power disparity and I don`t see you recognising it. ``

~sighhh!~

So in the name of recognizing supposed power disparities, are we to condone all instances of pettiness (not to mention arm-twisting of possibly poor retailers) and always give benefit of doubt of motive (after trying our best to create the doubt) to the supposed powerless?

Sometimes its okay to look at even the less privileged and say (to oneself if to no one else), ``This is ugly-- or at the very least funny!`` That will keep one from romanticising poverty; or accepting it, at the very least.

Re: # 44
no Patrick, not the retailers, between him and Perveen.eyes rolling.

lol...i must have lived a charmed life BJ :) my standards are pretty low for UP ofcourse :)

ally yaar that guy brian in junoon was married to a pakistani, i actually know 5 muslim women in karachi married to ferangi`s (who converted ofcourse) and one was actually last generation. Its all good.

Chris

are you married to a Pakistani woman? If this is true how on earth did that happen? Do her family know where u guys live, am surprised you guys are still alive and some karo-kari style death squad hasnt turned up yet...

i personally cant imagine Pkstan being this `maadern` or `adbaansed` khair

khuda hafiz

Re: # 40 Yes...my wife is Pakistani...a Seraiki. We have been married for 12 years. We foster a profoundly deaf Pakistani girl and have just adopted a 5 wks Pakistani baby. Anything else you want to know?

#37 Bridge

[Although this piece was possibly the worst thing i have read on chowk ]

You have not read much on chowk, have you?!

#36 Chris

Abey Chris kambakhat, don`t gloat! And don`t show off!

Doc nb is being nice to you!

Learn some Pakistani tehzeeb!

The correct resonse to her is as follows:

``Dear nb sahiba: Shukriya. Aaapki inaayat ke liye bahot, bahot shukriya! Aap theek farmaati hain! Kyunki aap hamesha hi theek farmati hain! Khaas taur se aap duss rupaye waaley pardon ki baat to ek-dumm theek farmati hain!

Thoree aur inayat kijiye aur apney panch hazaar dollar mujhey bhej dijiye! Us-se mere NGO ko bahot faida hoagaa! Aapki aur bhi inayat hogee aur humm hamesha ke liye aapke shukra-guzaar hongey!``

I think we should have double standards for you chris since you are a ferangi (foreigner) so the things that strike you as unique or worth commenting on are things that may strike alot of us as pretty banal and obvious.
Although this piece was possibly the worst thing i have read on chowk that doesnt make you a bad writer just a newbie - welcome!
What was interesting however was this phrase ``Hmmm…OK…errr…my servant says five hundred`` Most newbies cant say a non PC thing like ``my servant`` without cringing . I guess you have accelerated deveolpement :)

ni perveen to kinni maskeen...

Cute piece! Could you please send Parveen to me for a few weeks?

I don`t think you get though, that the reason she haggles over 10 rupees is that she knows it makes a difference, whereas you don`t realise that. She wants you to have nice curtains because it affects the way she is seen in her own little community of domestic workers. There is such a power disparity and I don`t see you recognising it. I think there is a lack of warmth here-she is obviously fond of you. If you are fond of her, it doesn`t come across that way.

Re: # 34 Hmmm...actually I was very fond of Perveen...still am and she visits from time to time. We had a lot of laughs together, me and Perveen, and I was sorry she left. The University was on her doorstep. More money...as to power, servants can be VERY powerful, as I have discovered over the last 14 or so years. Our current servant is live-in, and she lives as a part of the family.

this is awful yet refreshing, reminds me of a tall cold glass of Rooh Afzah in the summer, simple, cheap, sugary, over the top rosy, but satisfying.

#29 Delhiwala

Yaar, be kind to Chris here. I like him.

Also, this IS a funny piece!

And also, try to read footnotes before asking questions.

While sitting on a Toilet seat one sunny day
Listening to the sound of Flush as my eyes blush
My mind races ahead thinking

Who The F K is Parveen?

Re: # 29

Now that is funny.

#27 and the interactor who termed this piece poetry.

How so?? It seems like straightforward prose to me.

Chris Seuss Cork!

Chris, let me add my own words of welcome to you. We need more gora Amrikkans (if not, then gora Europeans will work, too!) to provide more diversity – to change this place. An all desis environment is hopeless – for all desis are hopeless – as you are well aware (you married one – you are probably even more hopeless (Psst: I married one, too!))!

I am brown man in Amrikka! White people – no like brown color - brown very bad!

About the piece, who cares – this site will publish anything – even my pieces (before I was black-listed (I think))! All liars and thieves! These bloodies do not understand… make problem for me… Humph!

This site…chowk staff…cheap man! I work – janitor. These here rich men…no work! I poor man… all chowk writers …poor man…except some chowk writers… they poor woman…!

Never mind!

If I were critical of your piece, I would of course have told you to put a Cork into it! :)

Also, there is some wisdom of the ages from that specimen of the land of the ancients – that you portray in this piece.

You know, ten bucks here, ten bucks there… soon it adds up to some REAL money.

In an art gallery, near where i live, there is a painting hanging on the wall. It was just a plain canvass with a ``+`` sign on it done using a staedtler lumocolor pen. Along side was a description of the painitng with some people singing great peans ... and hell it was expensive.
For the life of me I could not fathom what it was all about? I mean you can take a 2X3 or a 2X2 canvass and do the same. ANd I go through some dozens of them pens every six months and mark the same sign(s) on many pages. I do not consider those pages art, and neither could I consider the painting art. Perhaps beyond my understanding.

This article also fall in that same category. And for once I agree with Neembu!

welcome to chowk chris :)

good piece, amusing and insightful. parveen doesn`t have any cousins in karachi does she?

These bloody critics thinking too much and nots likings
I ams likings
Likings very much
Giving big smiles to face.

I liked the piece. I sort of got lost in the middle but the ending was a clincher. Nicely done.

#15, Chris,
I daresay it would seem you`ve found your calling, ``very much by accident.`` Your column a month or so ago on the army`s role in and contribution to Pakistani civil society had an element of detached impartiality and studious insight-- measuring up the cons without forgetting the pros-- I`ve rarely seen elsewhere.

Loved it. Short, simple, funny and yet so relatable. Well done, Chris. Let`s have more of you on chowk. :)

Chris:
Nice! I like!

Hey, there is some serious sociowhatever commentary here. I really think that many Pakistani folks need to learn the lesson that small-scale retailers are people too. The rich drop a couple of thousands for a meal at Pizza Hut without blinking an eye, and the next morning their begums will be seen at the local cloth market haggling the seller to knock his price down 50 percent, or else.

(Okay, the cloth retailer might not have been the best example, but you get the drift)

Chris, I`ve been meaning to write you at manticore, but I guess I`ll just take the op here: I find your columns refreshingly balanced, rigorous in analysis, and rooted in a realism hard to find in too many others. For that, thanks.

What is the nature of your `social work`, by the way? Feel free not to answer in this public forum, if you (don`t) wish to.

rgds,

Re: # 14 Mostly I deal with project monitoring for Pakistani NGOs and some internationals. Work mostly in health and education sectors. Journalism is something I have only come to in the last couple of years...all my stuff that was published prior to that was very academic...dry as dust really. Got into journalism very much by accident, and also very much at the encouragement of another Chowker - Beena Sarwar, who has pieces here regularly.

Chris,

OK, I mistook u 4 Casey. :-(

Re: # 13

all goras look the same to you, hain? :)

Re: # 18
There`s an old proverb: `For a non-Chinese all Chinese look alike!`

I remember one Jewish guy asking me while travelling from Hyd to Bombay:

`Why all Indians look alike?!?!`



I know of one gora who`s writing Pak newspapers. It`s a mistake.

Chris,

I read a couple of ur articles in the The News, Pakistan, 2/3 yrs ago (may be 4/5). Then ur pix is published with ur Stetson and u are loking lanky and young. U didnt have ur bushy, swirling moustache then........clean shaven, I guess.

I didnt read ur stuff after that.

Re: # 9 LOL!!! Oh boy have you got that wrong! The person you are referring to is Ethan Casey, an American, who no longer writes in the Pakistani press - at least not so far as I am aware. The moustache has been with me since my teens and I have never, ever, in my entire life owned or worn a stetson nor would I ever want to. I write a weekly column in the News on Mondays, plus other roughly fortnightly pieces which are longer and look at the Pakistani domestic political scene.

I first started writing in The News in February 2005...so taking your timeframe it is possible that you have not read any of my pieces at all!

Hallo... funny and different. Different is good, but I would have liked to see it come together better.

-zensufi-

Re: # 7 Thanks...how do you mean `come together better?`

Re: # 12 - Chris... in my mind, `come together better` implies... more structure and smoother flow, so it is clearly comprehensible. I realize that poetry can be shaped and formed any which way. Bottomline, I had to read your piece a few times to better comprehend it. Do write more on Chowk...

cheerio,
-zensufi-

Possibly one of the most awful pieces I`ve read on chowk.

Chris,

U write `normal ` stuff in Pak newspapers (and that includes some swipes on India, perhaps to spice-up their interest in ur bull-crap). Why u chose 2 write a non-sequitur here?

Chowk Staff:

Just becoz this gentleman has the western name and his stuff bcomes `important`? It`s obvious that u didnt bother 2 see what he wrote. There`s no head or tail of the article!!

I know a lawyer from Frontier sent u an article that`s well written and u`re sitting on it for more than a month but u show alacrity in publishing this crap of Chris? Shame on u guyz/gaalz!

Re: # 5 So far as I can recall have never mentioned India in any piece for Pakistan newspapers...let alone taken a swipe at India. Perhaps you could point me to where I have done this - in case my memory is failing me.

I am not liking this... no no... not this.

This is a great piece, Chris, and I just love the style - simple, spontaneous.

You have a nice sense of social obseravtion. The piece is hilarious for it`s style and content - the pointed references you make to the haggling despite `fixed price` labels on items; how goods of low quality are passed on as expensive, good quality stuff; how the local shopkeepers - the `bloodys` - love to overcharge an unsuspecting foreigner or even the locals if they can get away with it; how status-conscious we generally are despite being a poor nation constantly battling to access even basic necessaties of life.

This piece brings out spontaneous laughter while, at the same time, holds up a mirror too. :) Humph!

Re: # 2 Cheers Tahera...from the looks of things so far `experimental writing` seems not to be popular hereabouts.

Re: # 11

Chris,

Please don`t go there. This is fairly cliched.

Who you, who perveen?
You thinking this poetry, you wrong.
rolling eyes icon.

Re: # 1...no not poetry. Speech. Without the narrative connections. Who me? Read the profile or just Google me.