Just Another Stupid Love Story

Anika # 73

I think instead of conducting long term experiments on boys, women should try to learn how to live together peacefully and make men`s life easier :)

Shirin, Urstruly: Ghazals by Saghir Siddiqui, Mustafa Zaidi, Nasir Kazmi, Jan Nisar Akhtar, Shakeel Bidayuni and Gulzar are pretty good too. Each one of them has great command in describing different feelings, animate and inanimate beauty and their experiences.

Gulzar`s serial ``Mirza Ghalib`` and ghazals in it are, without a doubt, superb. What a job Naseeruddin Shah and Jagjit Singh did!

Pankaj Udhas and Jagjit are quite old now and near the end of their careers. Next generation of singers somehow are not that caliber. I once thought, a British-Pakistani named Najma has great potential but she just disappeared. She sang some beautiful ghazals from Ghalib and Shakeel.

Recent music, movie and poetry scene is worthless. Nothing out there to urge you to seek their art. It has become too commercialized and pop music elements are so dominating that you can hardly focus on the language or singing. Latest Ghulam Ali`s album was one such example and absolutely waste of time and money. I think it will be quite a while before any new entrant could accmplish the zenith of ghazal singing achieved by Begum Akhtar and Jagjit Singh. Fortunately we have all of their ghazals available to keep entertaining us for a long time to come.

Nicely written article. Very real emotions. What happened afterward the reunion?

About the poem by Parveen Shakir, I think the idea of one woman actually praying for the other is the most unrealistic ---- I`ve ever heard. Unless they happen to be on something, I can`t any pakistani woman doing that, which would pretty much negate the point of praying, since it wouldn`t be accepted.. even if you do happen to be generous enough to be able to put yourself in her position, who would be masochistic enough to actually wish her well?

I agree with urstruly that woman are sometimes masochistic, but their masochism extends to men, not to other woman, unless that woman happens to be his mother/sister/boss.

It`s true that men do tend to be more possessive in their attitude towards women, and would probably act first and think later when it comes to the other man - whether this is because of cultural reasons, or the territorial instinct is simply stronger in them, I can`t say. You`d have to do some pretty long-term experiments on raising boys completely differently to figure that one out.

Scout# 70

Ahaa! Scout Sahiba tashreef layeeN haiN. Hey we all missed you. I am glad that you`ve finally decided to join us and graced my thread with your presence.

As far as your post is concerned, I think you are infringing upon basic ``man`s-rights``. I urge caution:)

Aeisha #68

Nice poem. There were just too many sighs in it. Khayriat hay na?

# 67

Dear Shirin,

Darkar ik haseen hay jo bawafa bhi ho
Khul Khailnay maiN taaq bhi ho, ba haya bhi ho.

………Iftekhar Arif

He is one of my favorite since the days of Kasoti. Do you have complete ghazal ``dyar-e-noor main teerah shibbi ka saathi ho``. I just remember the above couplet. If you have I will really appreciate if you could post it here.

I am also a fan of Saleem Kausar. I have an honor of inviting him to our college where he read his ``mein khayal hoon,…..`` In those days that poem was selling like hot cake in mushairaas all over the country. Later on 100s of plagiarized versions mushroomed but the original is the best. I think it is the only poem that has so many plagiarized versions.

Am also a great fan of Nida Fazli. Unfortunately, I didn`t get a chance to listen to Chandan Das yet. I have heard Pankaj and anup jalota sing Nida`s poetry. Excellente.

Unfortunately, I am moody with music and poetry. I go through phases when suddenly I collect 10s of books and cassettes and CDs and then I do not have nothing. Now a days I am in CD/Cassette-less phase. Mostly I listen to radio and they always start playing the songs I like the most when I am parking my car at the office and I am already 10 minutes late from work.

Urstruly #60, ``The ``other woman`` is never a comfortable subject for women.``

Yes, until they both realize the man is a custard (replace `cu` with `ba`).

Zehra Sr. # 66

Oh how I wish I were an Octopus with eight wrists, now (after reading your post). That would have been fun-now I realize.

Okay Fawzia I have jotted down your name in my little black book. Consider yourself now on my tease list.

Urstruly#63

I totally agree with you, that the kid in us never dies.I still feel the same, even after all these years, though i am a wife, and a mother mashallah.I think the mind matures , but never ages !Thank God for that !We can beautifully relate to the wonderful things , of today, and back to the future stuff at the same time.

I am a great fan of Ibn-e-Insha too. I listen to his ghazal almost everynow and then ``Insha jee utho ``, is one ghazal which will always stand the test of time !

Among the poets , other favourites of mine happen to be, Ahmed Faraz, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Iftikhar Arif,Qazmi, Nida Fazli, and of course Ghalib !!

If you have heard Chandan Daas sing Nida Fazli`s ghazals , you will become a mureed of both the singer and poet !

Have you heard Saleem Kausar`s ``Mein Khayal Hoon .... another gem .

Also since we are on this topic, have you seen mirza ghalib [ t-series drama serial ] *ing Naseeruddin Shah. Simply beautiful !! and Jagjeet singh has done a wonderful job of singing his ghazals . My day does not pass till i listen to jagjeet`s cd of ghalib !!

Music and Shairi happen to be my passions .I could go on forever ......

Take care ,

love,

shirin

Dear Urstruly,

You have TWO wrists.

So, yes you can tease her, but you can tease me too! ;)

I can keep staring at one and she the other.

There isnt much age difference between me and my niece! :)

I agreed b4 u, abt the whole parveen shakir thingie. So we already agree on some things.

However in the case of your wrist and my niece,

im very generous, and will pray for both of us.

(My niece and I- your wrist sounds like a heartbreaker!)

And you can call me Zehra Sr and her, Zehra Jr, since Zehra is my middle name, and i do prefer to be called that... However i cannot guarantee who is more experienced... at staring at wrists that is, of course.

Warmest Wishes for your wrists..

Hai Shirin, thats so cute!!

Urstruly, you lucky * * * * * as if it wasnt enough that you write better than me, you get poems dedicated to you as well :(

#63

Dear Shirin!

Thanks for posting that great poem by Ibn-e-Insha. I am one staunch Mureed of him. I was too young when he died, but I still remember ``Insha Ji Uttho...`` that used to play all the time on TV and radio in those days. My dad was also a great fan; he would usually cut his daily column from newspaper and file them. After his death I think it was either Imroz or Mashriq that kept on re-printing his old columns. And that is where I became interested in his writings. Later on I read all his books and poetry. I used to dream about going around the world when I`d read his travelogues. It (travelogues) were a rare genre in those days and very few people had written them. So I thank Ibn-e-Insha for invoking those dreams, and most of my dreams of going around the world have come true.

POEM: I think the kid in us never dies. It is us who confine it and hide it from outside world. It is great to be kid; at least in your mind. It helps pull one through really testing times. I sometime thank God that I was unable to confine it or hide it. I have to pull at least one prank per week to satisfy my urges-usually I am able to manage that and it feels great.

Nazm ``EK LARKA ``

.... Dedicated to Sami ...

Ek chotta sa Larka main jin dinoon

Aik mailay main puchancha humakta hua

Ji machalta tha ek ek shay pay magar

Jaib khali thi kuch moal na saka

Lot aaya Liye hasratain sainkaroan

Ek chota sa Larka tha main jin dinoan

Khair mehroomiyan kay woh din to gaye

Aaj mela laga hay usi shaan say

Aaj chahoon to ik ik dukan moal loon

Aaj chahoon to sara jahan moal loon

Harasi ka ab dil main dharka kahan

PAR WOH CHHOTA SA , ALLHAR SA LARKA KAHAN ??

----- Ibn-e-Insha

Reply # 52

Dear Farzana!

``1. So if you have met someone even for once who has given a new dimension to your life, it was love. 2.Be thankful to Him that He considered you worthy of it.``

Actually we are talking about two different entities in two sentences above. In the second sentence we are thainking Almighty that He considered us worthy of love of the person mentioned in sentence 1. (You must be thinking that what kind of person I am who picks up bones like this.)

As a matter of fact, I liked your poem. But to tell you the truth my thinking has gone through a paradigm shift in the way I used to understand love between two people. I used to think that love can ``fail`` or love can be ``lost`` but now I understand that love can never ``fail`` and it can never be ``lost``. If one thinks that he has lost love then he should be sure of one thing that it wasn`t love. When you think that you lost a love then in that case you were actually in love with yourself. You just didn`t meet your expectations. It must be understood separately from the notion of love. Some people (they know who;))have already pointed out that this idea is a cliche , I am not saying that I am the originator of this idea. But that is how I like to think. I belong to this school of thought.

So my character Sami is never bitter. He is happy go lucky and I`ve tried my best to portray him as such.

This story can have endless number of endings. But when I was writing it, I wanted to pose an odd situation to three of its character at the same time viz a viz each other i.e. Sami-Babar, Sami-Fouzia, Fouzia-Babar, and Rabia-Fouzia. I think for the reasons that I have metioned earlier the weak link was Rabia-Fouzia. But then story would have been on 12 pages and I am pretty sure, no one would have read it.

And don`t worry I am in no hurry to fall head over heals to call you by the other name that you mentioned. I can live with Farzana :)

Escapist # 53
Wasiq Nawaz #55

Thank you dear friends I am glad that you`ve found this piece worth commenting. I appreciate you stopping by.

AabQ # 54
I am not sure dear if I have understood your question completely. I always try to reply to all those who correspond with me. Thanks for good comments. Its the encouragement from people like you that hels me write better.

Sadaf # 43

I think Parveen Shakir was lying to the teeth. The ``other woman`` is never a comfortable subject for women. There is, however, a difference between how men and women think differently about ``other man/woman``. I think men are more possessive and demanding whereas women take a masochist/defeatist`s attitude while contemptuously willing to share. Why? It`s a can of worms, we dont wanna open it here. What do you think?

Fawzia # 51

THat was some excerpt. You are a very dangerous person. But dont you even think about interferring in our plans to destruct the civilization. We, the menfolk, are determined to do that with our exploding egos...:)

On another note: can I still tease your niece Zehra? Do I have your permission.