The King’s Gambit: Chapter 2 (The Soldier)

Umair & Omar . . .very very seriously . . . this is good stuff and a television serial based on the saga is not out of the question. Your attention to detail and what is emerging as an observant worldview makes for some sort of further ??

Please write to me at veeresh@chowk.com . . .

Rafique, ``hostile`` is the keyword. Maybe you think it`s not a hostile ideology.

I realize its easier to criticise than to write. Will let you get on with it.

Rafique:

``semipreciousme 10; I am glad you picked up that point. There are a couple more like that, in the story. I was started to get worried that no one was going to pick them up.``

...eek....you mean there`s more male chauvinism yet to come?...:)

semipreciousme 10; I am glad you picked up that point. There are a couple more like that, in the story. I was started to get worried that no one was going to pick them up.

monasehgal 19; Rajputs in Pakistan seem very strict on their customs, as well. The customs seem to have survived centuries of migrations and even a change of religion.

vereesh 20; You have ruined the story. Now I will have to change it. They will be long lost cousins now, and not brothers.

If Chowk keeps publishing the chapters, we may have a book here soon. At that time Arundhati is more than welcome to contact me.

On the other hand, if Yash Chopra or Mahesh Bhatt are interested, I may think of giving it to them for free. Umair says he is willing to play Vijay as long as Ashwariya Rai plays Pooja. I am interested in playing a character who will show up in Chapter 4. Someone else will have to write the songs.

Getting warm . . . let me guess . . . they are all going to turn out to be long lost brothers?

Good stuff, I got one editor here in India already going through the idea of getting ARundhati to make a book . . .

Rafique #15

Thank you for letting us know about the Pakistani Rajputs. You are right that some of them did convert to Islam during the Mughal peroid, but those who didn`t are very staunch about the caste and all, no matter how well educated or well travelled they are.

Though there is nothing wrong in inter-caste or inter-religion marraiges and you have the full liberty of including it in your story.

Mona

RE: Reply #: 169 ylh

``This is to all Pakistanis... Go see for yourself the kind of destructive, hate filled nonsense Indians are now putting up on our petition.``

YLH,

Your petition is pretty idiotic in the first place, so what do you expect? Let`s see:

Jinnah was ``the greates advocate of Hindu Muslim unity``. Wasn`t he the one who called for ``direct action day`` which was a euphemism to maim and kill to the max to ensure that the break between Hindus and Muslims became permanent? Sort of like what the Pakistani sponsored Jihadis are doing now with their massacres in J&K? Re: Musharaff`s visit to his previous digs being rural, since when did the middle of Delhi become rural all of a sudden?

Pakistan has been a ``democracy`` for 31 years? If it`s such a great democracy, why are two of it`s leaders exiled now while a third was hanged?

If the ISI didn`t create the Taliban, why did the llatter collapse within a month of Pakistan`s withdrawal of support to it?

You are right, Pakistan didn`t support the US after ``arm twisting``. It was the fragrance of greenbacks falling from the sky again just like 1979. And of course it`s leaders bent over on cue.

Re: Vajpayee doesn`t need a single Indian Muslim vote to win, I thought Indian Muslims were second class citizens who were under the Hindoo thumb which was why Pakistan was created. So how come they suddenly got the right to vote?

soysauce 16; I am afraid I cannot satisfy your request. I have already abridged it about as much as possible. The pleasure of deciding the pace of any story is at the discretion of the writer, not the reader. Some people appreciate the pace, others do not. One cannot satisfy everyone, nor should one attempt to. The net result is to have something good at the end, not necessarily in the begining or in the middle. As long as the Chowk editors are willing to publish it, this the pace you will get. So you will have to send your complains to them.

And you are getting all this for free. Now if you are willing to pay 10 cents per hit, I may consider your request.

I did quite a bit of searching in different thrillers, and was unable to find any characters close to the ones I have described. I have yet to see an Indian or Pakistani figure in any thriller. Where have you seen them?

As for being in two cultures at once, I would suggest you not bring that up with the old Irishmen in Boston and New York. Two areas which have traditionally been known as the headquarters and financial centers of the IRA.

I would also like to point you to the large number of Indian pressure groups in the USA, lobbying in support for India`s peaceful and hostile actions in various different areas. Many of the Indian-American members of these lobbying groups were born and bred in the USA, and can barely prounce Hindi words correctly.

Also, it is well accepted that some of the most sophisticated Jewish business leaders in the USA have very close relations with the Israeli political leaderships, and are greatly involved in the events there.

Rafi Qureshi at least spent nearly two decades outside the USA. So his character may not as artificial as you have suggested.

Hey Rafique!

Cut to the chase willya?

The elaborate descriptions are getting to be boring. They are show-offish and read as if you tore pages off airport pulp thrillers at random and blended them.

Awright, you`re writing for fun & i`m being harsh..

I have a more fundamental problem tho..

I don`t think it is EVER possible for someone to be so thoroughly immersed in an alien culture and simultaneously be wedded strongly to a hostile ideology. Know what i mean?

I happen to know some very observant orthodox jews - skull caps, modest dresses and the whole bit. These folks are lawyers, profs, what have you and certainly have the means but live simply. That i can understand. Anything else would be going over to the ``other side``. Your protoganist is a severely artificial construct like something from science fiction.

monasehgal 5; The Pathan lady is a Hindu descendant of Pathans.

You have caught a point which I pondered over for a while. This one, alongwith the terrain northwest of Jaipur, and the cermonial dress of the 2nd Rajput.

I made a slight leap of faith on the Pathan marraige. Here are the reasons:

Rajput or Raja-putra (son of kings) is a term common to India and Pakistan. Many Pakistanis, with the name Raja, trace their ancestory back within a few centuries to Hindu Rajputs. Many of them trace their heritage back to Rajasthan. From this, it can be seen that Rajputs did change their religion (either voluntarily or forcefully), and they do migrate to various areas outside their initial area of origin.

The Rajput descendants in Pakistan do marry outside their casts. They however seem to be very conscious of the, ``equalness`` of the castes they are marrying into. Also, they seem to follow many of the social customs of their Hindu ancestors. I have been to marraiges where the only Muslim custom was the actual Nikah signatures.

Based on that, I am assuming Indian Rajputs marry outside their caste also. Added to this is the fact that Vijay`s father spent his whole life in the Army, and travelled all over India. His chances of meeting someone outside his caste greatly increased.

South Asian Pathans were originally Buddhists or Zoroastrians. I am assuming there must be Hindu descendants of Pathans in India also. Perhaps Krishma Kapoor is one? So possibly Gen. Mahesh ended up marrying a relative of hers.

As a final, ``out,`` while it maybe extremely rare, as you have pointed out, but there is nothing biologically stopping a Rajput from marrying a Pathan lady. He will not explode or turn into a goblin.

What do you think?

My previous reply didn`t make it. So I will repeat it here.

I want to thank the Chowk editors for publishing the second chapter. You have been very kind, as have the interactors.

Ras 1; These are abridged versions of the actual chapters. The actual chapters would be too long to publish here. I am having some difficulty in reducing the size of the chapters, without losing the theme of the story.

The first five or so chapters deal with introductions to characters. The story will move one step, while the characters move five or six steps. After that, the story will start moving at a faster pace. So a bit of patience...

ali1 2; Rafi Qureshi has so far been compared to Mansoor Ejaz and Safi Qureshi. I will leave the answer to your imagination on whom he is modeled after.

On a lighter not, dare I say, Umair has modeled Captain Vijay Chauhan after himself:-) Both have a common family background. Umair is a little shorter. And his wife`s name isn`t Pooja.

San Rafael/Marin area is the biggest center of Multimedia in Silicon Valley, and maybe in the whole world. George Lucas`s ILM studios is located there.

Stock prices will go up and go down, but Silicon Valley will continue being the engine of the US economy. Sellling stocks at the right time is what separates people like Safi (sorry, I mean Rafi) Qureshi from the rest of us (who are usually left holding the bag).

ylh 3; The only aircraft that are faster than the Citation X are military aircraft and passenger aircraft like Tupolev 144 and Concorde. All these aircraft were built with joint funding from private enterprise and the govt. Some were built completely with govt. funding. Citation X was built by Cessna without any government funding.

The story is only two small chapters old. Patience...

Shatru Sinha #9

Yes, in Zubeida, the king did marry the Muslim divorcee. But that was his second marraige, that too when he already had children from the earlier one. You know, the elder son being the pedigree.

In real live, the son that he had from Zubeida was killed. And many people still don`t consider that he actually married her.

Incidentally, the children from such marraiges or the illegitimate children of the royals form a second grade royalties and are not considered equal to the legitimate ones.

Mona

Karakoram #6

Can`t say when the mind set would change. One of my Rajput friend got married to a person of her choice, not from her community and her parents didn`t speak to her for over an year (that is when a child was born). Incidentally they are cut from there relatives and are finding it difficult to get their other daughter married. I sincerely hope that things should change and that too at the earliest.

As for Punjabis, yes the system of watta-satta is followed by some, esp. amongst Multanis and Jhangis, but amongst the other Punjabis, it is not considered the right thing to do - Jes ghar to kudi lende hain, oos ghar che dende nahin, kinds.

Mona

Reply Bapu #9

``Pathan Mother?! I

Isnt movie Zubeida ,about a prince of Rajputana marrying a divorced muslim lady ?I did not see the movie but it is one of the spate of movies showing muslim girls being wooed by Hindu hero .An obvious attempt to injure minority feelings in India ``

What obvious rubbish.

``He was all for Indian girls pursuing professions. He just did not want his wife to pursue one``

...ah, yes...the desi male psyche at its finest...

#: 5

monasehgal

Pathan Mother?! I

Isnt movie Zubeida ,about a prince of Rajputana marrying a divorced muslim lady ?I did not see the movie but it is one of the spate of movies showing muslim girls being wooed by Hindu hero .An obvious attempt to injure minority feelings in India