As Long As It Does Not Affect You

You`ve touched something very prevalent umair... the dual standards of people. While they believe in something or rather ACT as believing in something they have their society and the legacy of generations to blame for acting exactly the otherwise.

Women ARE dominated by males... no question about it... and many times even inhumanly. However, the clash of work with motherhood and defining either as a career is a bit too complex. U see nature does have a certain balance... certain responsibilities that all creatures go by. Being a mother is not something that has been imposed by society or by man... it is what every woman wants to become... it is the distinction of the highest order in our religion and a natural way to go about it. So do we stop a woman from working just because she is a mother? Does that not influence the upbringing of her child? These questions are really relative rather than general and vary with time, circumstaces and place. What is important is for couples or families to decide which trade off will bring the best results.

On the whole... a good story... Thumbs UP!!

Umair,

Intrigued. I really liked it...the structure, the unresolved, open feel, the lose ends so typical of a dialogue (or monoluge) with the Man.

Good show!

I Liked the story. It made one think and stop and think some more. It seemed so natural that I thot the characters were real till Umair told me otherwise. Would like to see more! The urdu-english complex is really just a complex. A thot is free and any medium which brings it across is worthwhile and good. We ARE dual culture products...that is true and no amount of debate and argument on its rightness or wrongness will change the fact. Lets deal with it in a positive way!!

Re abcd:

Thanks for the comments and interesting observations.

I think you may be reading a little too much into the urdu-english metaphors in linking them to identity crises. It may be fashionable but it is more comfortable and natural than you pre-emptorily assume. The english-urdu ``style `` is not a statement. It is just a means of expression. If it looks stilted to you than either I am not a good writer or you are not a compassionate and open reader (or both).
BTW I wrote this story in 1989 long before either Cowasjee or this style became ``popular``.

Too bad you did not like the story but please don`t call it an ``article``.

One small piece of advice in return: If you do not want to go by your name assume a penname and use it consistently. It helps to make the interactions more fruitful.

PS: The hypnotic slumber (metafiction) is meant to lose concrete coherence but alas not to lose readers. To improve on that I will try again.

Your article starts off nicely, but from the middle onwards just decays into hypnotic slumber, gradually losing coherence and its grip on the reader.

It feels like you are trying to put on a mask of a person that you are really not -- ironically, the voice you call your consciounce actually sounds like the voice of someone else.

And what is this half-urdu and half-english usage of metaphors. Recently, I have observed that it has become fashionable to use this sort of mixed style (for which I blame Ardesher Cowasjee). A style that tries to say that you are both a Paki and a westerner; the irony is that you are niether, without a strong identity or personality. A word of advice, don`t let yourself be fooled by literary fads, and really, be true to yourself.

Say something when you actually have something to say. This article seems to have been choked (not chowked) out of you.

Try again.