The Dream

temporal?: thought this was more of a paki tradition than islamic. i read somewhere that a wife of the prophet proposed marriage to him before he did.

u`d never see that in pakistan today .

not overestimating chowkian logic though - especially of those who quote the fair rhymes of `des`ree` !

`spose i`ll join u then.

``I don`t wanna see a ghost

It`s the sight that I fear most

I`d rather have a piece of toast

Watch the evening news

life ooooh life ooooooooooooooooooh life

doo doo do do.``

fantastic ;)

Zeejah

Your story was well crafted and full of intensity :intensity of emotions, intensity of frustated dreams, a hysterical satire at the barbaric customs of a society that sent shudders down my spine. A good piece of work.

Cheers

Ras #13:

Re: ``PS: temporal, reluctantly, once again I agree
with Reply #1``

Yaara kiya mushkil hay! Apna address bhaijiyay. Hum flowers, rooh-afza ya mitchell ka mango squash ya koi aur jannati mashroob bhaij kar maazi ko madfun kar daingay. Deal?

rgds,

t

Something reminscent of Sidhwa`s `The Bride` here.. of course, I read that many years back and it`s a wee bit hazy now!

The ending reminded me of a Malayalam film `Adaminte Variyellu` (Adam`s Rib) from the 80s made by KG George. Its the intermingled story of three women, from three classes, one very rich, another working middle class and third the rich woman`s maid servant. The movie documents all sorts of unsupportable happenings in each woman`s life, mostly to do with unbearable men and their unbearable impulses. Finally, unable to cope, the rich woman loses her character, the middle class woman loses her very sanity, the lowest class woman ends up in a destitute home. But when she faces exploitation there too, for her no folding-sholding, she begins a rebellion. The movie ends with the maid servant leading a procession and the viewer gets let off the hook :-).

My advice is, make some movies, too. If one feels the need to look hard at the depressing stuff, one might as well win some international awards while doing it :-).

Sadhana

It is the responsibility of a true WRITER to
weave ALL aspects of concern within a society.
Although this work is a part of what I sometimes
refer to as ``The Razor Blade Club`` at CHOWK, it
deserves merit for being well written and to the
point.
Full credit goes to the writer of this story
for hitting all of us readers with her literary
hammer. Bravo!

Ras

PS: temporal, reluctantly, once again I agree
with Reply #1

Zeejah:

An illuminating correction:-

Providing an alternative/ a solution is not at all synonymous to ``brushing the problems under the rug.`` Probably it is your way of seeing things; Unresolvable! An Issue!

This is the second time I have read your repeating theme. I voiced my concerns the 1st time and by mistake treaded on your article the 2nd time, and felt the same.

Kindly do care to develop some insights into enlightening the readers on how can the problems[you have been very activley identifying] be resolved ? Your perceptions ? If it is not your cup of tea, just ignore my comments.

Additionally,

a) If you intended to portray the dream as a ``nightmare`` - Ok, the message was conveyed.

Or

b) If you intended to bring up the maltreatment of women in our society, you did not enlighten the reader on anything! That`s where I`d prefer to illuminate my mind via CNN/BBC than a fictional piece.

Or

c) If your intentions were directed towards the chauvinist community and signal them to look into the mirror, and feel bad, I am not sure of your effectivity in that regard also. [Sorry, I cannot speak on their behalf.]

Note: My thoughts are targetted towards your thoughts typed in black and white, and not towards you as a person. I guess, when it comes to hearing the horrifying and terrible stories like that, I am too sensitive to read them as a fictional piece. Being a staunch believer, I have always believed that there is a resolution to all the issues, whereas, being a problem solver [an integral part of my field]I am out in the world taking steps, not ``brushing them under the rug.`` Have you been looking into that ?

Urstruly,

Against your sound advice, I read it. Yeah, definitely belongs in Akhbar-e-Jahan`s teen auratain teen kahanian.

RE: Fairdinkum # 8

On the contrary I was gloomy after reading Shandana`s piece when this one came as a comic releif.

But I would recommend that pick up any Urdu magazine and open the BehnoN ki Mehfil section and read this piece there. Just pick anyone of `em.

Regards

This ones sure left me sad and gloomy..

guess we need some relaxing,motivating and hilarious ones now...soon...

cheers.

temporal (with a small `t`)...the theme of the story is true ... it haunted me for months before i wrote it out as a fictional story.

zahra ..scout... i`ll make sure my next posting is optimistic ..lets brush the problems under the rug...;)

urstruly,
I haven`t read the piece yet...should I?
From the responses, I get the impression that it is gloomy...
I feel a little positive after reading Shandana`s piece, and I don`t want to feel gloomy this week.
Just say yes or no....

Regards,
Fairdinkum

sadly, impotently, arrogantly bigoted

t

depressing.... I need a dose of positive emotion now.

THANK YOU ED

--t

No Comments.

Temporal, Fairdinkum, I give up.