Explaining it to an American Friend

Stuka:

Does a Khatri milkman sell Khatri milk rather than plain old cow milk or buffalo milk?

I think your mom would know the answer. Or are you sticking to the Golden Retriver for a dad?

Stuka

P.S. The least you could do is make up your own insults, instead of copying mine. But I guess the madarsas are not known for imparting a sense of cutting wit either.

we do had a russian dog named ``roosi`` when i was a kid (that was about a hundred years ago). a mad dog once came running towards us, and roosi took him on (i guess he never heard stories about how regular dogs are afraid of mad dogs, let alone a mad dog twice his size). the servant hit the mad dog on the head with a brick,and the dog went running off in another direction. it was shot dead by a soldier, i am told soon after that. roosi disappeared the next day, and later i learnt he had been put to sleep without us being told since he was too badly injured and could also have contracted rabies.

many years later, during the 1971 war, at islamabad airport there was a demonstration against the departing russian embassador and his staff. one lady had brought along a small russian dog with the words ``russian dogs`` written on a piece of cardboard on it. i was reminded of our faithful dog that had saved us, and wondered why it is considered an insult to call someone a dog...

Zahra:

I always took Stuka for a female; and thought ali1 was hitting on her.

Oy Vey...you though I was a Yenta?? LOL

But seriously, I`ve never had an issue with anyone as much as this dude. Maybe UrsTruly, but that`s political, not personal. Don`t know what Ali`s animus is ...

binifer:



….congratulations! and take scout’s advice ; )

anNy:

….boys will be boys will be BOYS……

Stuka:

``Gustakhi Maaf Auntyji, hamney aapko to kuch kaha bhee nahi, to itna gussa kyon?``

aap kuch bole kar tau daikhain beta..moonn tuor doongee...aur aunty hongee appp kee saas

MaheshG:

nono..bilkul nahin..aap bhi aao..biwi bachon kae saath :)

scout:

settae...i`ll be there...in bright red socks...spotting me shouldnt be a problem

zahra:

i can imagine how your abba must feel...i had a little parrot when i was really really young..bout 7 i think...i dunno how long we had it or how he even died..i just remeber feeling sick one friday morning (we had chutti on fridays then not sundays) had this ball sa in my tummy...my dad helped me bury him..we placed him in a shoe box and placed that deep inside the ground right below the chikoo tree and placed a `chotoo lies here` that my chacha`s daughter made for me on card board paper coz i couldnt write very neatly then...for a really long time i and my kid brother prayed fatiha under the chikoo tree when we`d come back from school...nothing quite as horrid as a pet dying...(have u ever had choozaz zahra...red, blue, yellow..on sale outside schools?)

Reply # 379 Stuka

[``Why the unhealthy preoccupation with Khatri women , Ali? ``]

That is a long story... will tell you later. This line from our great poet Munir Niazi explains part of it:

``Kuj Khatri rannaN horny sun, kuj sanooN tunnaN da shauq vee see``

Zahra can recite the full poem if you ask nicely.

[``Are you the not so immaculate conception of a Khatri-Muslim misadventure? ``]

No...... Strange question coming from a mongrel-khatri misconception.

BTW

Does a Khatri milkman sell Khatri milk rather than plain old cow milk or buffalo milk?

Reply # 379 Stuka

[``Why the unhealthy preoccupation with Khatri women , Ali? ``]

That is a long story... will tell you later. This line from our great poet Munir Niazi explains part of it:

``Kuj Khatri rannaN horny sun, kuj sanooN tunnaN da shauq vee see``

Zahra can recite the full poem if you ask nicely.

[``Are you the not so immaculate conception of a Khatri-Muslim misadventure? ``]

No...... Strange question coming from a mongrel-khatri misconception.

BTW

Does a Khatri milkman sell Khatri milk rather than plain old cow milk or buffalo milk?

Binifer:

Congrats from my end as well. I am sorry but I always mistook you for a guy :) Then, I always took Stuka for a female; and thought ali1 was hitting on her. In fact, I could not gather the reason behind ali1`s bad habit of provoking females. I mean if he liked someone then he should be nice and polite rather than stepping on the wrong foot. This is bae`waqoofi!

Ali1:

I browsed through a few posts on this board and carefully read the displayed [(HQ + UQ)- IQ]. That made me thank allah taala for making me who I am[(- HQ + HQ - UQ + UQ)]demonstrated on board. Probably, that says for my liking for ``Just as I am - Air Supply.``

aNnY:

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you on pets. I cannot stand them. I am simply scared of them. Like you, my mother was also very much particular about pets. We never had a pet[cat or dog] after what happened to lizzy. Abbu had lizzy before my parents got married and me and my siblings came into this world. She was a russian dog; white like snow with dark black eyes and a cute black nose tip - a little ferocius expression though. My father was very particular about her khana-peena and taking care of her. She loved my father very much, as abbu says. Lizzy had a room in the sehan of my ancestral house. She died a tragic death that was more like a mystery than anything else. We left her at my chacha`s place in jehlum cantt, when I was hardly 7-8 year old, during one of our winter vacations to the northern-belt. It was very cold in those days and chacha suggested abbu not to take lizzy with us. My father, with a very heavy heart, left her at my chacha`s place[a bhayanuk house in the winters]. When we got back, there was silence all around. Abbu, got down from the car, very enthusiastically to find lizzy; but there was no naam-o-nishaan of lizzy. Turned out that lizzy died in our absence, due to the cold weather or I do not know what. It stayed a mystery. I was too young to realize what happened. I, only, remember seeing abbu in tears. Chacha had a burial service for lizzy and had her buried in his backyard. That chilly evening stayed in my mind for a very long time. We drove back with a very heavy heart. Everytime, we passed by jehlum cantt, the corner house reminded/reminds me of lizzy: a dog I was very scared of, but someone, my father was very attached to, and used to take care of very lovingly, like everyone around him. That`s the end of any pet from cats` and dogs` family in my household.

On personal end, I had a pair of parakeets and bought birds many times. Once they were eaten by a munhoos stray cat; and on other instances, ammi abbu would always let the birds out as they could not tolerate seeing them in a cage. I had to lock my room before I would leave for my college/university as I knew my parents` leanings. Ammi used to be on the mission to find my room left unlocked so that she could let the birds out. According to both of them, it was a sin to cage the birds. Their over-kind-heartedness always made me lose my birds that I wanted to keep. :(

I just thought of writing a detailed account on life of pets in my household :)



PS: In my last post[I.Q] should have had Intelligence than Intelligent. Sorry for the oversight.

Ms. Pinky #381,

Thanks for the invite. I just booked my flight which will be landing in Karachi on PK420 on November 2nd at exactly 5:30 am. Pick me up ;)

AnNy,

Why just women folk?

``i DO know id smack ali and stuka real hard before i spoke to them..smooth sailing from there ``

Gustakhi Maaf Auntyji, hamney aapko to kuch kaha bhee nahi, to itna gussa kyon?

re: saminashah

``anNy in pink anklets, RSax in a Armani suit, (although I like him better in Alexander McQueen clothing- a bit edgier and Oi!)and temporal with a sweet smile.Pretty interesting, if you ask me...the creative possibilties are endless...``

Sorry, I have no need for Armani suits at my pretzel stand. (FYI - Amrani is out. Even the Italians won`t touch Armani much these days.)

samina!

pink anklets?! aiii behen :(

pink socks...but if im ever to meet you, i`ll wear my favorite yellow and green glow in the dark ones ;) i dunno about meeting these people in real life..i DO know id smack ali and stuka real hard before i spoke to them..smooth sailing from there :0)..id hug to death a few people and try to foodpoison unkal jay if he said one word about ``the young of pakistan are so utterly screwed because i say so and dawn is so beloved to me i just might marry it in the agla junumn``

i get your point..im sure a lot of us are very different from what we come across as or put ourselves as

dostmittar:

may i invite you on behalf of binifer? i`d love to have you and your people stay with me in my crumblin havaeli...we can always hop over to bini`s:) this invitation goes out to all you nice people..scout, saxena, tahmedsahab,semipreciousme, shrinjee, (well what a question! ofcourse ill dance..happiness at seeing this brat respectfully married might see me dieing of exhaustion)

...anyone who can make it to karachi late november is invited..:0)

Ali # 1

Why the unhealthy preoccupation with Khatri women , Ali? Are you the not so immaculate conception of a Khatri-Muslim misadventure? Some unaddressed feelings of rage towards an erstwhile Khatri milkman?

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-000078758oct02.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dfrontpage

Crisis Fuels Dreams That Could Unravel Pakistan

Asia: Ethnic hopes may once again put nation`s existence as a unified state in jeopardy.

Crisis Fuels Dreams That Could Unravel Pakistan



By TYLER MARSHALL, TIMES STAFF WRITER

QUETTA, Pakistan -- Before war came, when times were good in Afghanistan, Abdul Hamid was a tailor in the capital, Kabul, crafting suits for foreigners, including an American he remembers now only as ``Mr. John.``

But 22 years of conflict have left Hamid a near-permanent refugee here in neighboring Pakistan. He is the patriarch of a growing extended family that has fled turmoil at home for the safety and squalor of a tiny courtyard squeezed between the dusty, narrow alleys of Quetta`s Pushtun quarter.

Last week, Hamid`s family, already 10 strong, grew by two more with the arrival of a nephew, 21-year-old Sher Ahmed, and his wife, Bibi Qariya, who fled the southeastern Afghan city of Kandahar in panic at the prospect of an American military attack. Hamid`s saga and thousands like it over the years have strained the social fabric in this remote but strategically vital part of the world, feeding long-simmering ethnic resentments that have plagued Pakistan since its inception.

As the United States zeros in on Afghanistan as a den of international terrorism, the impact of fast-unfolding events on the stability of its rediscovered ally is readily apparent here amid the stark, barren mountains of Baluchistan province.

The global terrorism crisis has refueled dreams of greater autonomy among two of Pakistan`s largest minorities, the Baluchis and the Pushtuns. And those dreams contain the seeds of trouble for Pakistan`s very existence as a unified nation.

Worries about Pakistan`s viability are nothing new. They have been around since it was carved out of British India as an independent state more than half a century ago with a diverse population bound together by the common thread of religion--Islam. In the current crisis, it is extreme voices from the mosques that lead a chorus of vitriol against the country`s leaders.

Pakistan has already split up once: It lost its eastern region in 1971 during the short, bitter war of independence waged by its Bengali population that gave birth to Bangladesh.

That war left Pakistan a collection of ethnic minorities chafing under the dominance of those from the rich and fertile Punjab region. Years of military rule punctuated by corrupt, out-of-touch civilian governments and the social upheaval in neighboring Afghanistan have merely added to the discontent of these minorities.

Now the war on international terrorism is stoking old tensions. A dizzying reversal of global loyalties has transformed Pakistan from sanctioned outcast to America`s crucial regional ally, placing its military government at odds with the strong anti-American mood of its people--all at a time of newly awakened minority aspirations.

In Baluchistan, political leaders of the two largest ethnic groups exude a contempt for federal authority, and they talk with growing urgency of gaining their own autonomous regions--albeit within the framework of Pakistan.

``There is prosperity in Punjab, but here in Baluchistan, there is no prosperity, no progress, no education and no industry,`` said Sarwar Kakar, a Pushtun and the former speaker of Baluchistan`s provincial assembly. ``Our people are so poor. . . . Right now, they are in the Stone Age.``

For Pushtuns, the arrival of Hamid, his family and an estimated 3.5 million mainly Pushtun refugees from Afghanistan over the last two decades has boosted long-held aspirations for a greater say in their own affairs.

Although Pakistan has officially closed its borders to Afghan refugees, many find their way through rugged unguarded passes to relatives in Quetta. Peter Kessler, a spokesman for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told reporters Friday in the capital, Islamabad, of a local man housing 25 newly arrived refugees. Another, he said, is sheltering 16.

``Most are women and children,`` he said. ``The men have stayed behind to watch over the families` property.``

Members of the nationalist Pushtun Motherland Party talk of a Pushtun autonomous region carved out of three of Pakistan`s four provinces in addition to tribal areas along the frontier with Afghanistan.

They say the region would include Pakistan`s North-West Frontier province, where Pushtuns already are a majority. Although the party managed to seat just two members in Baluchistan`s 41-member provincial assembly during the last civilian government, party members are confident that events--and sentiments--are moving in their direction.

``We want to unite these parts of the country into a single Pushtun province,`` said Manaf Dotani, a party activist. ``We want our own assembly, which should be autonomous within the framework of Pakistan.``

But the increasing number of Pushtuns in Baluchistan has alarmed the leaders of the province`s indigenous Baluchi population. Their own desires for greater political power have increased as they have found themselves becoming a minority in their own province and have been watching their capital, Quetta, fast becoming an Afghan city.

With barely 4% of Pakistan`s population of 141 million inhabiting an area covering two-thirds of the country`s landmass, the ethnic balance is easily tipped.

Baluchi political figures talk of a demographic conspiracy to sabotage their dreams of an autonomous province, free of Islamabad`s control on all issues but currency and foreign policy.

Relations between the two ethnic groups have deteriorated in recent years as they have jostled for the meager political spoils in the province. Among the clutter that covers the desk of prominent Baluchistan National Party leader Habib Jalib are sheaves of legal challenges to what he regards as the illegal addition of Afghan refugees to local voting rolls.

But the suspicion that divides the two groups shrinks in comparison to their shared rejection of federal authority in Islamabad, an authority they see as dominated by the majority Punjabis.

``They took us all as their colonials,`` said Abdur Rahim Mandokhel, the Pushtun Motherland Party`s deputy leader. ``Pakistan was and is a Punjabi colonial state.``

Using more passionate, strident language, Jalib made the same point during a late-evening interview last week at his home near Quetta. He sketched a contrast between what he sees as Baluchistan`s great potential, its rich mineral resources and long coastline, and the stunted development that has left it the poorest of Pakistan`s four provinces. The blame, he said, rests with Islamabad.

``Politically, we`re a colony,`` Jalib said. ``Our situation is worse than East Timor [the former Portuguese colony that Indonesia invaded in 1975 and annexed in 1976]. We have the right to have our colonial question on the international agenda, and we will use all means of struggle but terrorism to break this chain.``

Creation of the autonomous Baluchistan envisioned by Jalib would mean taking land from the three other provinces, including Punjab, where large Baluchi communities now live. Although his ideas might seem radical, Jalib`s Baluchistan National Party had roughly a quarter of the seats in the last provincial government. Jalib himself was the floor leader of his party`s delegation to the federal parliament before Gen. Pervez Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup.

Three years ago, Pushtun and Baluchi political groups here joined forces, forming an organization called the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement as a way to strengthen their political muscle against Islamabad. Pushtun deputy leader Mandokhel notes that, in addition to their struggle for greater autonomy, both parties have long opposed both the Taliban government in Afghanistan and the work of Osama bin Laden.

``As far as Osama is concerned, Baluchis and Pushtuns have a common cause in stopping the murderous government in Afghanistan,`` Mandokhel said.

As the shock waves of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States continue to roll through southwestern Asia, the extent of their impact remains unclear. But political figures in Baluchistan agree that conditions have suddenly become more fluid.

``It`s a very critical situation,`` said Kakar, the former assembly speaker. ``There`s no law, no justice, no prosperity. It`s a situation that breeds extremists.``

Although more than two decades of war have loosened Afghan refugees` ties to their homeland, the links haven`t broken completely. Serving the extended family around him, Hamid admitted that he is worried about the future and the new clouds of war he sees. But he also allowed himself to ponder his actions if, by some miracle, peace should one day come again to his star-crossed land.

He didn`t hesitate.

``If there is peace,`` he said, ``we`ll all go.``

Oh anNy,

Cyberspace does such strange things to a person. I have to agree with Zafar on a point he`d made a long time ago; had any of us met personally in a classroom or at a function, we`d invite each other over for chai and samosas and blabber about Jhumpa Lahiri`s book. I`m sure I`d be flummoxed at how well behaved and docile some of the male Chowkwallahs are in real life; there are telltale indications of civillity in some of their posts. Can you imagine what those scenarios would look like? Stuka ordering a piece of Frenchified salmon wrapped in a piece of parchment paper, anNy in pink anklets, RSax in a Armani suit, (although I like him better in Alexander McQueen clothing- a bit edgier and Oi!)and temporal with a sweet smile.Pretty interesting, if you ask me...the creative possibilties are endless...