Karachi Dreams

re Asim Hayat #64,#65:

Funny stuff!!

Thanks for making the distinction between litrol and chitrol clear. There are some on this forum who need both :)

Bushra was chosen exactly to prove your point(and mine). Bushra and 36-24-34 don`t go together. Considering fairdinkum`s admission anything is possible......

BTW there are some nice Bushras and Razias out there. I swear!!

later

-sac

anNy #82 Great to see that there are people in Pakistan whose values are more than skin deep. When I was growing up (which was in the 1960`s, way before your time I am sure), we too had similar values drilled into us. I realized the vast gap with others when I went to a hostel in Lahore and ran into people from different parts of Pakistan: My roommate was shocked to find that I had only one blazer (he had a number of coats) and wondered whether I was really from a well-off family or just a low-life pretender. I never burdened him with the fact that we were taught things like the importance of truth and simplicity, not that of showing off. I have noticed this gap in value systems among Pakistanis after that as well - in the US, I see people for whom the main topic is their mercedes and shopping or politics. So thank God again that there are indeed Pakistanis like you who have some values and class, among the newly rich cheapsters on the one hand and the moron mullahs and would be prime ministers and Ataturks on the other.

Anny #82

It is heard that one of Z.A.Bhutto`s son used to live in a trailer house to live like poors.

I appreciate your intention. But it should not cover your eyes to the fact that for many people Eid is the occasion or sometimes only occasion to make new clothes.

scout:#69

Thanks for asking for translation.

This invigorating taraana for the muslims was specially written by Jamil-ud-Din Aali,for the occasion of the first Islamic summit at Islamabad.It was sung by Mehdi Zaheer---that great,great singer who went unsung as a hero.A scholar and a maestro of music and several languages,his recorded songs were hits in the middle east in the 70s.

Hummmm: We all

Ta`baabd: Until the very end

Saee: relentless effort

taghayyur: to bring about change

Vali: hold dominion over

Deen:Our religion(creed)

Mukkammal:perfected

Istaimaar:hegemony/imperialism

baatil: the Evil Lie.

arzal:the cursed

I would have loved to send you a proper translation,in poem form but I am in a rush right now and this was getting delayed unnecessarily.

S.P:I stopped sending translations because I was thrilled to see so many of us now inter-acting in urdu too.The translation exercise benefits me also and I am glad to hear that it was not just self-gratifying for me.

__________________________________________________

wassalaam.

Asim #66:

Actually, I haven`t been reading too much of Chekhov lately. Hope that is not necessarily a bad thing either. :) As far as short stories go, I`m more into contemporary writers nowadays. Raymond Carver? I prefer his poetry to his stories and essays. As for the snake story - no, don`t remember reading any where a serpent is living in a pool. Perhaps my memory is ailing as well. :) The only story I recall is the one where the ``snake`` was under the bed. An absurd yet fascinating short story by Ambrose Bierce - can`t remember the exact name - ``The Snake and the Man``? Or was it ``The Man and the Snake``? I think there was a short film based on the story as well.

t #68:

Hey, a nice read. Would like to read more. Won`t say it brought back memories - they don`t go that far back :) - but it did stir some nostalgic feelings coupled with a sense of loss. And when does this get added to that list?

Re: PM #84

``tsk, tsk... why the unprovoked barb?``

Because it is fun, and puerile as you amply demonstrated earlier :)

More so, because i fell scout did raise some valid arguments against your scout-bashing ones earlier. The trouble being that you failed to acknowledge those, and once again wrote an exitensial piece primarily throwing in old arguments clothed in new assertions.

Awaiting the duel between yourself and scout, avidly.:) If i know scout, from her wortings before, i can assure you, she is going to be true to her words, . You Sir, are a fallen man, or as she puts it,..``You are going down``.

Asim

Assalmlaikum.

Its obvious you hold great skill and talent of expression. Well written, I hope you`d once choose a topic that is positive in tone and soothing to the ill-minds who are so engossed in the beauty of writing that they forget they propagate beauty of expression at the expence of doing what needs to be done.

Karachi is the coolest city in the world! Where else can you get a tea served when you want to wire money and shop from Nike to niharee at 3 in the morning?

Wassalam.

Aisha Fayyazi Sarwari.

Some good things going on in Karachi:

www.edhiweb.com

Specifically, check out the following link:

http://www.edhiweb.com/services/edhi_homes_of_animals.htm and

http://www.edhiweb.com/services/international_community_centers.htm

This guy is really amazing. Apart from his philanthrapic energy, I am in awe of his administration and management skills.

Dear Anny,

Your initial posting was intensely provocative, and bordering on contempt, at least to my sensibilites. However, in retrospect, after reading your second posting, some things were made clearer, while some still remain a mystery. We are all presumptious, one way por the other. The internet doe snot lend a vista into a reader`s heart. by that token, i understand i was rash, and too qucik with my judgement which is regretted.

However, there ids still aproblem i have with your posting. Being a nineteen year old, and presumably, having a father who is not a labourer, your explanation of how it is insignificant for your to not have new clothes on Eid, is not a valid argument to counter the poor little girl`s plight. The charm of Eid, i must admit, wanes off, as it did, in my case when i turned 15. Eid is a children`s delight, they are the oens who love to get all dressed up, and get eeeidee, and go out to celbrate or to eat sweetmeats. Why do u want to take that right away from them. One hadees,( and not hadith), claims that prophet saw a little girl crying on account of her dad not being able to provide her a new dress for eid, and HE(pbuh), took the child in his arms, and got her a new dress, which made her happy, or something to that effect.

Granted this is not 6th century arabia, still Eid, brings a lot of peer pressure for kids. I know our richer ``cousins`` from karachi used to sport several new clothes on Eid, while we had to make do with one new set of clothes. Even as a 8 yr old child i recall asking my mom, how come they (my cousins), get to have so many new clothes and shoes, while we only get to have one pair of shoes and a shalwar qameez suit. You may say, i was a greedy little bum, (which no doubt i was, and to a certain extent still am). But i hope you see the point, that kids are highly aware of ``stuff``, even though we might not give them credit for it.

You say you try to restrict yoursefl to not spend money on such display on Eids. Your case is still not comparable to that littel girls. You have one thing which she never had. Choice to do something. You admit you have the finacial resources to get a new dress each Eid, yet you dont. That poor girl, may Allah rest her distrubed soul in heavens, never had such a choice. You ahve had the benefit of a household, where you possibly did not have to worry about where the next meal was going to come from. Perhaps that girl or her father never had the luxury of knowing even that. How do u think that poor, helpless, unfortunate fatrher of that girl must have felt.

What is a price of a little girls dress. Surely it is not worth the life of a little girl. That is why Islam, asks the affluent and the rich to share their blessings with the poor. But do the rich even acknolwedge the poor. save for the fitrana, and that too at the shraee rate of Rs 175 per person, people pay that and think they are absolved of any further contribution.

Once again, let me admit, you are not catty and stupid, just a bit reckless with words. Words is all we can judge you from., regrettably on a 2-D medium such as the internet.

Sincerely,

Asim

P.S I do recall enjoying the artcile you had written earlier. That was a sincere protrayal of your feelings with aptly chosen words.

a massive earthquake has hit india and pakistan,

ahmadabad in gujrat is worst hit with hundreds of people dead while 4 people have been killed in hyderabad and badin in sindh province of pakistan.

the jolts of 26 january morning has once again made it clear that nature does not know any boundries.

re. Asim on PM`s ``high faluting, verbose`` posts.

Asim,

tsk, tsk... why the unprovoked barb?

re. the possibilities allowing for my verbosity, surely therecould be more than the two you`ve mentioned??

rgds,

Reply #76 & 75

Thank you for your lovely offer Mr. Krashid Sir:) It is not a lack of anything alhamdolillah that causes my lack of hysteria for making new clothes on Eid. It is sanity.

Also if you will refer to this piece you will understand how I am unlike other normal girls wanting to look all nice and pretty:0)

http://www.chowk.com/bin/showa.cgi?anny_nov0300



Mr. Hayat you tell me I am catty and stupid and that this has all the things in the world to do with my privilege and English medium school education. (while I could get into a whole big argument about your presumptions, I will refrain out of respect for the sense you talk in most of your posts and your commendable piece on Atchison ) The actual fact dear Sir, is that I refuse to make clothes like my sisters and myriad of friends on Eid (they just need an excuse really) because of the humanity that my `English medium school` inculcated in me. It is my way of protesting or(call it what you like) making a lil dent in the overwhelming fakeness around me. I promise you I`ll start making clothes for every lil occasion when our maid khathoo is able to get a house where she doesn`t have to stand guard outside the bathroom shared by the entire `juggi` while her daughter bathes. Her 8 year old daughter (`little girl` enough for you?) who was raped by three middle aged men just 11 days ago. I could go on and on- but then you`d tell me I was obnoxious and dieing in my own self righteousness along with being catty ,stupid and what was that….privileged.

My intention was not to be patronizing in the least. You very conveniently missed what I was trying to say in earnest; my point being that has the society become so sad that one feels compelled to take ones own life because the father is unable to get new clothes? The underlying question being that one little girl felt sad and worthless and her anguish was such that she went to the extent of killing herself because she didn`t have a new pair of shalwar kameez. Are those the values we want for our society and our children?

Yours cattily, stupidly and privelegedly,

anNy

P.S= You ask if I`m a little girl. I`m 19. Little enough to want shiny new trinklets for Eid or not, you decide.

Re: krashid #76

``Don`t do suicide. Please contact me by any means, I will take care of that.``

Krashid sahib,

Fairly reasonable advice except for the last sentence. Its quite ambiguous.

Asim

fairdinkum
btw, the religion+spouse discussion was very amusing :)

fairdinkum #78
Hey, by coincidence I watched this year`s parade soon after typing the previous post. I personally have no problem with the military weapons show, I noticed it took about 1/4th-1/3rd? the total time..

You might like these stories about five of the children who won bravery awards this year. There must be similar childrens` awards in Pakistan?
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/jan/26hope.htm

Sadhana

Sadna,

Indian media was complaining about over militarization of Republic day celebrations this year... perhaps, its unusal to have that many weapons on display on this day? Lots of ordinary Indians didn`t like it either... BBC covered it beautifully... they did show cultural aspects, but they were overshadowed by display of huge missiles and tanks etc...

anyway, I don`t mean to be critical of India or anything... just an observation... a reflection on the kind of environment we currently have in the subcontinent... I hope it will improve one day.