Ideas and Identities Melt Here

four whole years....
wow.

saima, you tracked the growth of chowk...people have tracked my growth on chowk :)

thanks chowk, for giving me the space. (among other things).

yaar, chowk ki aanchal say meray liyay kya kya nahin chalkha hai?

rizvi.

saima:

...Aug14/15 are two important dates...wish everyone peace...have posted this elsewhere earlier today...will reproduce it here...

lve,

t

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INVITATION

Come (with me)
let us turn this night to day, gloom to bloom
tyranny of the dark to the glow of hope
terror to tranquillity, ignorance to knowledge
sibylline clouds, parched earth, slow death
to oasis of prosperity and pacifism.


Come, take this hand
move, (move your feet)
the little lamp
keeper of yester-sun’s trust
will shortly return it to the sun.


If we do not move forward
If we do not come nearer
then this passage
of light to dark to light
will strand us
for ever in darkness.


Come (with me).....



DAWAT


Aao kay shub ko seh`r kar daiN
aao kay is tareek shub ko seh`r kar daiN
zoolm ki zoolmut ko such ka chiragh dikhaa daiN
yaa’siyat ko itminaan, jeh`l ko such ka noor daiN
kaali ghata-ouN say sehraa ki piyaas bhujha daiN
jung aur barbadi kay raygistaan ko
a`mun aaur khoosh-hali ka nakhlistan daiN.


Aao hath baRRhao kay shubb guzri jaati hay
aao qad`m oothao kay poo` phatna chahti hay.


Jo hum na qad`m ootha-aiN-gay
jo hum na is doori ko mitaiN-gay
tou sub humaiN choRRh jaiN-gay
tou sub humaiN buhat peechay choRRh jaiN-gay.


Aao kay shub ko seh`r ........

Dear Saima

Naked Idealism without the cloak of a productive agenda and platform leads to nothing but the hippie anti-War culture of the 1960s..... We live in a real world, where things are not goody goody and corny!

Happy Birthday Chowk!

-YLH

Happy birthday to Pakistan and to Chowk (and tomorrow, to India). Congrats to the hard working editors, also.

sidenote: What was the purpose of the last two paragraphs in this article? Religion and politics do not need to brought into everything. Or do they?

YLH:#4

Please have sympathy and pity for these hippies-turned-yippies-turned-yuppies and now in their 50s bewildered and wide-eyed to find out that they were betting on wrong horses all along.

Weaned on farangi philosophers and given the red & blue card-board goggles they were never able to see the world in three dimension otherwise.

They are trying to recover from the trauma of seeing their off-spring,their very own teaching them Islam and ridiculing the practices these bozos acquired at karantaa-madrassas aka convent/missionary `schools`.Horror of horrors the young ones are not only profficient in urdu & arabie they are damn well proud of it after spending all their 20/30 years among the former masters grand-kids.

``when the prisoner was released from the 25 years sentence,the world was not the same.Is it any wonder they feel the urge to return to familiar surroundings?``---The resurgent Islam is giving these characters goose-bumps.At such a stage even a secular but apologetic hindu can be a straw to hang onto before they drown in the stream.

``Khulee jo aankh to nirghay mein aashiaana thaaa

chhutay aseeer to badlaaa huaaa zamaaana thaaa``

__________________________________________________

Whether they whistle in the dark or blow their own horn the truth is that these Johnny Walkers and the Passing Shows are passe`.

The thunder from beyond the hindukush is for real and the farangis get chill & fever because of it.The warm breadth of the lions is being felt by the ba ba blacksheep on its corrupt-fat chukdee.

Their incestous relationship with Uncle Sam fully deserves to be stoned until death do them apart.

wassalaam.

YLH

You are a Republican aren`t you?

Cheers

Stuka

happy birthday to Chowk

happy independence day to Pakistan

happy independence day to India

ylh 4 . .. the hippie anti war culture stopped the Vietnam war losses amongst other things . . . and also gave the US most of its creative lead . . . as for the UNHCR numbers, over 3000 refugees from Afghanistan are now understood to actually claiming to be from Pakistan . . . but I dont want to gloat over anything just please take a slightly broader view of things at chowk . . . saima great thoughts and thank you for all the slog and effort in keeping chowk going . . .

Saima:

I am sure you have worked hard to bring Chowk where it is today. I applaud your effort and your initiative, I hope though that we all work towards some definite plan. Some agenda that has to be realized for the betterment of Pakistan And as a by product, India, without compromising on truth and with the strength of sting in the wrongs and mistakes.

Chowk has picked a great day to be born...

Happy birthday to Chowk and Pakistan.

Happy independence day to India.

I suggest everyone watches the PTV khabarnama on

http://www.pakistanvision.com

Aisha Fayyazi Sarwari

Saima,

I cannot thank Ckowk enough for giving me a world of my own. It is a wonderful community for us desis, all the Hindu-Muslim Pak-Bharat mud slinging not withstanding. If, God forbid, Chowk goes away, most of us would be deprived of a great forum and find ourselves in a mental wasteland. Chowk, at the very least, let us be who we are without being afraid of anyone. This is the greatest of freedom. It is invaluable.

I thank everyone at Chowk, the writers, the inter-actors, and the silent majority that just reads it.

At Chowk we are what we are from inside. There`s no better way to be.

Thank you Saima. Long live Chowk!

Happy birthday Chowk

Thanks for allowing this newcomer to express his mediocre ideas with exasperatingly snarled writing.

Yours is a unique place - where it reinforces my belif that there are more things besides -- paan and fundamentalism -- that unite India and Pakistan -- than divide them.

I don`t think mandarin is ever going to be one of the subcontinent`s language -- not that I am against learning any language -- more the merrier.

Thanks for promoting goodwill and harmony between the TWO brothers – in hate/love relationship for past -- for 5 decades.

Wish you a long life, Chowk.

tum salaamut raho hazar barus

hur burus ke hoN din pachaas hazaar

hasan

USA

Happy birthday Chowk

Thanks for allowing this newcomer to express his mediocre ideas with exasperatingly snarled writing.

Yours is a unique place - where it reinforces my belief that there are more things besides -- paan and fundamentalism -- that unite India and Pakistan -- than divide them.

I don`t think mandarin is ever going to be one of the subcontinent`s language -- not that I am against learning any language -- more the merrier.

Thanks for promoting goodwill and harmony between the TWO brothers – in hate/love relationship for past -- for 5 decades.

Wish you a long life, Chowk.

tum salaamut raho hazar barus

hur burus ke hoN din pachaas hazaar

hasan

USA

Dear Chowk Staff and Editors,

I have never thanked you for giving me multiple opportunities to express myself. I am really grateful for each one of them. As a Pakistani you make me proud. I have all the best wishes for Chowk, all the staff, all editors, and their families-may you all grow and prosper. Inshallah one day Chowk will become the first icon of pride for truly promoting the freedom of thought and expression in Pakistan and among the diaspora. You are true pioneers.

Happy birthday Chowk.

Chowk is the best forum I have found yet on the internet. There are many people here whose posts I look forward to reading every other day when I log on. Sameerjb, tahmed, hamidm, dost-mittar, hell, everyone except the keyboard warriors.

I can honestly say that I have learnt alot from this site, especially through interaction with Pakistanis. Long live the Chowk ;-)

sarwari # 9

``I suggest everyone watches the PTV Khabarnaama..``

You mean the PTV Sadar naama ? right :))

Thank you CHOWK for lessening of my ignorance about many matters and for making myself aware of my ignorance about many more things.

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The smug kind on CHOWK(elsewhere) always harp about ``education`` being one of the panaceas of our ``backwardness``.Does not the high-class ``educated`` ``parhay-likhay`` ``angraizee-daans`` on CHOWK give them a clue that /education as such is NOT the problem.On the contrary,such kind of `education` has done nothing except create a farangi-looking brahman who takes immense pride in NOT being like those who have to fast-forwarded into `civilisation`---having firmly convinced himself of having done so and has the lifestyle to show for it.

I also realised that it is NOT government propaganda on either side but Indian/Pakistanis do genuinely despise each other---an anonymous forum like CHOWK where `educated` critters crawl,non-residents from I & P abound,Above average `haves` flourish and `free-minds` unleashed.

It is quite disturbing to realise that the trauma Indians feel of becoming arms-less in 1947.It is also very refreshing to see the healing which Pakistan attained post-Bangladesh.

The great truth that dawned on has been that what Indians consider Dhartee-pooja(religion) and are pretty fanatics about it(& perhaps rightfully so) what they fail to understand that for a muslim anywhere in the world it his religion which is of supreme importance to him/her & if some of them become dharam-pujaaris then it shoul not rankle any Indian.The irony is that no Indian have I seen

here dumping on India in-toto(Shankar tries feebly) but their are muslim voices loud enough to be outright blasphemous.I consider this to be an inner strength within Islam.Such arguments & boisterousness is nothing new to the muslim world--lest these guys get the disillusionment of being `modern` & `advanced`.Al-Hikm in Egypt(1100?) declared himself God and forbade Ramazan & still insisted to be called Muslim.Muetzalites held sway during the abbasides & atheism/muetzalism declare official Islam.

None Lasted beyond the rulers decree & the reach of the writ.Soviet atheism & official religionism is another great eye-opener for us.Since 1994 ALL the madressas & mosques are humming & flourishing and arabie is back as the cherished language.

Allah Himself is the protector & defender of faith.It just cannot be a human endeavour---no mufti,sheikh or mullah is strong enough to play this role universally.

``Jubb Ahmad e mursil naa rahay,kaun rahay gaa ?``

__________________________________________________

CHOWK must devise a policy of censor & censure.

In the zeal to look freedom-loving the editors forget that by such an act they are still `confining` themselves within the bounds of `everything goes`(well swear-words like b/itch is to be frowned upon--farangi said so--but one must not ever discriminate on basis of race,religion blah blah because farangi--not Quraan--has said so).

CHOWK editors must reflect their hindu & muslim characteristics & not behave like a white-washed third gender nationality(American).

I cerainly do not approve & appreciate the vulgar porno kind of material that gets published here.If at it reflects more of the farangi/kanjar mindset of the editors than the apparently anonymous contributor/writer.

May I suggest two permanent categories My India & My Pakistan where non-political articles about geograpghy/culture/history/fiction is published so that we can all enrich ourselves about our own & the others` country.It must not invite comment or critcism....just interesting info.

__________________________________________________

Got to go!

WASSALAAM.