A Time for Renewal

Rsaxi

re: Scandinavian tree huggers

Scene: coffee shop in the Netherlands

A young woman sits reading a VERY BIG BOOK entitled The Madwoman in the Attic; enter Rsax who trips over her bookbag (writer`s license) and falls on the floor by her feet. A pile of Luna healthbars pour out

Rsax: Sorry...it`s these Imitation of Christ pants...I cant get used to these designer upstarts...

Young woman: I know...things haven`t been the same since Versace was taken from us. Are you okay?

Rsax: Yes(staring at her heels)...are those Manolos?

Young Woman: No they`re knock offs; God bless Hong Kong-I`d have to wear clogs otherwise, (giggles) and I can`t afford real footwear if I`m wearing Xuly-Bet...

Rsax: Hmmmm. (Getting ready to leave, noticing the digi-folkmusic, the copies of Pedogagy of the Oppressed lying around various tables, but against his will almost, turns back to talk to the young woman)You`re not one of those ...tree huggers, are you?

Young Woman: In a world where Pat Robertson calls yoga a form of devil worship, how can you not be? What about you?

Rsax: Er...yes...as a matter of fact, I think Fidel is COMPLETELY misunderstood...and some of my best friends are Pakistani...

Le Fin

Sigalph

So anybody who praised the attack is quilty? yes psychotic and anti social perhaps, but guilty of having organized and ordered this attack? That`s a bit of a stretch.

While it`s sad that your friends were among those killed 9-11, The whole thing is sad but how does that justify innocent Afghans being killed or dispossesed or made refugees?

Did the 19 do it? Well I don`t know and I don`t think anyone else does either - perhaps someone knows but no one that has been identified or know o the press, knows.

I do take your point about precision weapons and such but these are bombs we are talking about and precision is relative, it`s not the surgical precision.

A theme I find very interesting in the Chowk replies is one forwarded by a few people who seem to think that they have a monopoly on suffering after the WTC attacks. My condolences to them. The Wtc attacks have devastated, in some form or another, all of us. We all suffer when someone is hurt, especially if when hurt in an unjust way. I can`t begin to tell you about friends within one of my communities who were part of the greater rescue effort, some of whom never returned. A whole block of firemen were lost near my neighborhood. We have all lost, senselessly. Students have lost family. Innocent people of all races and persuasions are afraid, for various reasons.

When I heard poet Vijay Seshadri read Whitman`s ``Crossing Brooklyn Ferry`` in his gentle, insistent voice, I thought about how we all belong to this New York, to this world.

It seems for some, that the answer is to strike back blindly and without introspection. If one asks for intropection or sober interrogation of the ``facts``, the self perceived sole inheritors of a specific kind of democracy cannot live with the patience, intelligence and humanism such a response requires. This is a time when I feel I must transcend myself, my own limitations.

regards

It is one thing to mourn a senseless and horrific act of terrorism. It is quite another to deal with one`s pain in a unloving way and demand that everyone react in the same vengeful manner.

regards

semiprecious,

Just had a quick glance at your post; will be able to respond in tow days. But quickly, is it being implied that there is an Osama-Chris Cornell connection? Or is there an amoebic universal entity known as teen spirit? Or is Osama and his jihadis as inchoate as a bunch of frusterated adolescents, who sublimate their sexual repression and insecurity into violence? I think this is one case where Jung and Freud might be handy...As for my Chris, those bad people better leave him alone...also Kim Thayil, another fetching rock boy and South Asian, as well...is nothing sacred?

regards!

Reply Banjaara # 700

[``Vaisai Faiza Begum bahuth scientific ho rahi hain, mathlab mitochondrial DNA 100% maternal side se inherit ki jaathi hai na…``

“Jee aap bilkul sahih kahtay hain.Actually us Pakis are still in the dumps and these scientific infos are yet to reach us via Kabul University:))”]

Banjaaraji,

It hurts me to say this but I have a nasty feeling ke yeh Lady Saheb hamare desh (ie Ram Rajya) ki hain….but your big-heartedness in offering to take on the burden is noted and much appreciated (I am sure by more than just my humble self.) God will also reward you.

DEEP Salaams,

Zafar

anNy:

….well, i guess my view might be a little one-sided since i knew some very nice and non-ganda ones : )

Stuka:



…more to the south of new england…although i must admit…vermont and connecticut have some of the best scenery around...

re dost-mittar to tahmed

``How many of the 19 people suspected of the 9-11 hijacking have been indicted in a court of law?``

By English Common Law, it is almost impossible to indict dead men.

``-Have you seen any evidence that any of them got their orders from OBL?``

The SOB has repeatedly praised the attack and the perpetrators; what else do you need? A sworn statement in front of a California Notary Public(I mean a qadi, of course)!

``--How many of the suspected hijackers of Sept. 11 are Afghans?``

The question ought to be ``how many are paid and instigated by the Afghan regime and its henchmen.

``-Is it fair to bomb innoncent Afghan men, women and children because you are afraid to put your own paid soldiers in harm`s away to search the non-Afghani proverbial needle in the Afghanistani haystack?``

No it is not. Hence, the United States and the UK is taking maximum precaution to bomb only military and quasi-military targets. Quite a foreign concept for the jehadis, of course.

`` To call misguided suicide bombers cowards and American bombers brave soldiers reminds me of an old Urdu shair:

Junoon ko khird kare, khird ko junoon

Jo chaahe aapka krishma-e-husn saaz karey``

Your apologia reminds me of another old Urdu shair:

`Kaabe kis mu se jao ge Ghalib

Sharm tumko magar nahin aati`

``I am as outraged as you are at the heinous crimes against humanity committed on Sept.11.``

Obviosuly not.

`` But the response runs the risk of making a bad situation worse.``

The only proper response is to pummel the den of evil to the ground for generations to come. One response that is NOT proper is to create constant excuses for those who aided, abetted, finances, and morally supported the mindset that led to this massacre. My homeland has been attacked by treachery, my way of life threatened, my colleauges(yes, people in MY company) murdered, my city (yes, my family had a home there and many of them live there)ravaged. Don`t tell me it can get any worse!

I am sick and tired of the summa apologia that lefitists and rightists are proferring up for the murderers.

Dost Mittar

Valid points you have raised. So finally there is at least one thing we agree upon (for a while, anyway)

I don`t believe there is really any proof against these suspects and indeed Osama either, I mean the kind to be able to use in a court of Law.

Indeed in this melieu, ``bring them to justice`` just means physically eliminate them.

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Former Pak soldiers ask Indian defence minister for pension

SUMIR KAUL

Turtuk, October 22, 16:17









ounds not less than a wonder, but this happened in this far flung sector in the icy Himalayan terrain when two former Pakistani soldiers ``stopped`` Defence Minister George Fernandes and asked for pension from the government.

``Hazoor, hamara pension sharu karva dijye (Sir, please start pension for us),`` cried Ali Hassan and Abdul Rehman, both residents of Tykshi village in this sector. Hassan and Rehman were enrolled in Karakuram Regiment of the Pakistani Army and had retired from it in 1970. However, on December 16, 1971, the area was taken back by the Indian Army leaving the two residents of the village without any source of income. Interestingly, the Corps Commander of the 14 Corps Lt.Gen. Arjun Ray had provided the sons of these two people a job in the Ladakh Scouts.

Hassan had raised the matter with Union Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani, when he was on a visit here this summer. ``Advaniji had assured me that he would take up the matter with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf but nothing has happened so far,`` Hassan said.

``Ab agar woh humko pension nahi de rahe hain to aap hi dijye (if Pakistan is not giving us the pension, then you give us),`` Hassan told Fernandes with folded hands and whispered in his ears: ``We are your countrymen.``

Acknowledging the fact that conditions for survival in India are very good, Hassan said: ``They (Pakistan) did not care for us and used this village only as a piece of land. But India has developed this piece and provided employment to the youth of not only this village but several others.``

Speaking highly of the Army, both Hassan and Rehman said: ``At least they provided some relief to us by recruiting our sons in the Ladakh Scouts and Guides.``

Habibullah Khan, son of Hassan, who was in the uniform was specially called by Fernandes and patted on the back. ``I feel very proud of serving my country and people,`` Khan said. The two sons of Rehman are at present undergoing training in Leh.

Rehman, who was even a prisoner-of-war, said that he was with the Karakuram Regiment for three years but left the Pakistani Army in 1971 after his native village, Turtuk, was taken back by the Indian Army.











``When I reached Kargil, I was detained and taken to Udhampur (Jammu region) for 10 months. After a decent interrogation, I was brought back to my native village and allowed to live like an Indian citizen,`` Rehman said while narrating his story.

Rehman feels that state or the Central government should provide them with some monthly relief if ``not a pension.``

However, their prayer is unlikely to be granted and even the defence minister, after giving a patient hearing to the duo, remained noncommital about the matter.(PTI)



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dost mittar #693

Dost mittar ji,there is a persian saying that,

``khata-e-buzurgan griftan khata ast``.It means

pointing out the mistakes of the elders is a mistake.I just wanted to correct the beautiful

verse you quoted in your above message without

hurting your feelings,which is not my intention.

Khirad ka naam junuN rakh diya junuN ka khirad

Jo chaahay aap ka husn-e-karishma saaz karay

Regards.

Zafar Al Talib # 679

``Vaisai Faiza Begum bahuth scientific ho rahi hain, mathlab mitochondrial DNA 100% maternal side se inherit ki jaathi hai na…``

Jee aap bilkul sahih kahtay hain.Actually us Pakis

are still in the dumps and these scientific infos

are yet to reach us via Kabul University:))

Regards

Eklavya # 673

Janab ! Why IT College and not Karamat Ali Girl`s

Inter College,its next door neighbour.... hain?

How about La Martinere in Hazrat Ganj.Mast Ram has

a valid point:))

``Basti basti,qarya qarya ghoom chuka hai banjara``

Best regards.

Reply Faiza #692

Kaisa dimagh hai aap ka?

Jidhar nahin mangtha, udhar wholesale...

MastRam,

Hahahaha.....

Aap tau jauwahari hain.

Re: binifer

Did your husband-to-be sneak out the window and escape at the least minute? If not, why all this anger and obsession with picking fights on Chowk?

Re: saminashah

``it is the spiritual aspect in defacing a work of art/worship that saddens me,``

Agreed

``Hold on to that little corner of insistence, Saxi; it will be all the more enjoyable to watch when you eventually meet a fetching tree hugger...``

The only tree huggers I plan to meet are living in Scandanavia right now.