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

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.

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?

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

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 . . .

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.

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?...:)

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.

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 . . .

THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE: WAR BETWEEN PAKISTAN AND INDIA

By Richard Reeves

LOS ANGELES -- President Bush (news - web sites), like Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) before him, often seems to know more about what he`s doing than what he`s saying. He showed that again last Monday when he referred to Pakistanis as ``the Pakis,`` a local equivalent of the ``N`` word for African-Americans.

No big deal, that one, a small splash in the ocean of 24-hour news cycles. His bigger rhetorical problem is talking of all terrorism as being equal -- ``immoral equivalence,`` to turn a conservative phrase around. The constant American refrain about our right to seek out and crush terrorism is being repeated, distorted and perverted around the world -- anywhere aggressive leaders and petty tyrants want an excuse to attack or assassinate opponents.

As always, one man`s terrorist is another man`s freedom fighter, and branding dissenters as terrorists has become the rallying cry of the good, the bad and the ugly -- the worst of them so far being President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who is justifying his purges of opponents and dissenters as part of the American drive against terrorists.

The Bush rhetoric has also given some cover to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) in ratcheting up his war against the Palestinians, perhaps rolling back the fragile chances for peace and ordinary life in both Israel and the pseudo-country of Palestine. More immediately and even more dangerous, the American world footprint in tracking terrorists or sympathizers has given India the upper hand in trying to crush Pakistan`s endless guerrilla warfare along the border between them in divided Kashmir (news - web sites), the beautiful land controlled in the west by Pakistan and in the east by India.

No one has a monopoly on righteousness in South Asia. India`s occupation of Kashmir for more than 50 years is essentially illegal, at least under its agreement under U.N. mandates to hold a plebiscite to give the Kashmiris themselves the chance to choose between being part of India or Pakistan. The conventional wisdom has always been that because the great majority of Kashmiris are Muslims, they would vote for being part of Pakistan -- which is why India has never allowed a real election. (Many people now believe that if there were a plebiscite and it included a chance to vote for ``None of the above,`` younger Kashmiris would vote for independence rather than affiliation with Pakistan or India.)

But there will be no real vote. And no matter how many Pakistan-Indian handshakes are shown on television, Pakistan will continue fighting (or terrorizing) at a relatively low level to dramatize India`s military occupation of the richer part of Kashmir. The dangers building up now could lead to one of the worst wars in history, possibly involving nuclear weapons, possibly leading to the breakup of Pakistan, a country of more than 140 million people, and endless all-out war in Afghanistan (news - web sites) -- as India and Pakistan (and perhaps China and Iran) contend for influence in a ``new`` Afghanistan.

We, particularly President Bush, have to remind ourselves every day of what happened the first time the United States sided with a military dictatorship in Pakistan. That was the famous ``tilt`` toward Pakistan of 1971. The word was used in secret National Security Council meetings as Henry Kissinger conveyed orders from President Richard Nixon. That time, thinking the Americans would come save them, Pakistan lost half their country. That Pakistan-India war began when the military government in West Pakistan tried to subdue a separatist movement in East Pakistan, killing hundreds of thousands of its own people, before India intervened, attacking in the east and crushing the Pakistani army, eliminating East Pakistan and fathering the country now called Bangladesh.

That one ended with Pakistan`s military president, Yahya Khan, sitting in a freshly dug pit covered by sandbags above his head, behind the army chief of staff`s residence in Rawalpindi -- the building President Pervez Musharraf now lives in -- telling aides that the Americans would soon come to save them from India. The Americans never came, of course, and Pakistan, its army imprisoned by India for years, was reduced to half its former size and population.

That could happen again. Pakistan has a history of hearing only what it wants to hear, maintaining the delusion that it is India`s equal, when in fact it has as much chance of prevailing in war as Canada would if it challenged the United States. This time it is up to President Bush, whose use of the word ``Paki`` shows he is still learning about the politics of the 1.2 billion people on the Indian subcontinent, to speak carefully. The wrong words -- leading Pakistan to delude itself again that we will protect them as a reward for help in Afghanistan, or leading India to think we will not -- could result in the beginning of one of the worst wars in history, the first between nuclear powers. East of Afghanistan, President Bush must choose both words and actions to turn the war against terrorism into a war against war itself.

semipreciousme 22; There is a little more male chauvinism in the story.

The most powerful character in this story is actually a female (quite a bit more powerful than Rafi Qureshi). She will be introduced in a chapter or two. She will be in and out of the story briefly. There is another young female character, who will be introduced in the next chapter, who will play a very prominent role in the story.

There are quite a few more subtle points on various issues, one of which you have picked up.

soysauce 23; I think you have hit the nail on the head. The definition and tilt of the word, ``hostile`` and ``love`` is what causes most of the conflicts in the world. What is hostile for one person is love for another.

vereesh 24; Now, you are really starting to scare me. Thanks for the kind words however. Two chapters is a bit too early. Let me send in three or four more chapters. If you still feel the same after reading the coming chapters, then I will be more than happy to contact you.

Shatru Sinha #9:

``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``

No, you insecure moron. Zubedia was scripted by Khalid Mohamed based on a true story. Apparently, his mother was Zubeida in real life.

ShatruSinhaDingDong #9 . . .what is wrong with Muslim girls being wooed by Hindu boys? And how does it play on any sentiment? Happens all the time in India, girls being wooed by boys and often possibly more often the other way around meaning boys being wooed by girls.

See, if you objected to girls being wooed by girls or boys by boys I could understand.

As for the rest, my regards to your extended family.

Pak restaurant owner murdered in London PTI



London, January 21

A Pakistani restaurant owner was murdered in front of customers allegedly by a group of Asians armed with knives and metal bats in Southall, in West London, popularly known as `Little India`.

Forty one-year-old Imtiaz Hussain Syed, president of the Pakistan Muslim league, West London, popularly known as `Pappu Shah` was stabbed to death and his nephew Amir Shah, 40, was seriously injured when about 20 people burst into the Lahori Village Restaurant on Saturday night.

Though the police has refused to identify the assailants, eyewitnesses said they were Sikhs and the trouble began when they were prevented from consuming liquor in the restaurant.

Seven people, aged between 18 and 24, have been arrested and police in Southall have launched a murder investigation.

Earlier reports had said an Indian restaurant owner was killed but on verification it was found that the restaurant owner was a Pakistani.

Chief Superintendent Peter Goulding, Borough Commander for Ealing said, ``This was a brutal and seemingly unprovoked attack in full view of a number of customers. If anyone witnessed this attack or believes they have information about who was involved, please contact police.``

A Scotland Yard spokesman said on Monday that at about 2315 hrs (local time) on January 19, police were informed about a serious disturbance at the restaurant on the Broadway, junction with Townsend Road, Southall.

On arrival officers found two `Asian men` (both Pakistanis) lying on the pavement with serious injuries. Both men were taken to hospital where Imtiaz Hussain, who had sustained stab wounds in the back and chest, was pronounced dead at 0020 hours yesterday.

Amir Shah remains in critical condition and has suffered serious head injuries, possibly hit by a blunt instrument.

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17-year-old kills mother for haranguing

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him over studies

HT Correspondent

(New Delhi,

A 17-year-old bludgeoned his mother to death in Mehrauli in south Delhi on Monday. Reportedly, his mother would harangue him over his poor academic performance and his girlfriend.

The boy had failed to clear the IIT screening on December 30. Ever since, his 43-year-old mother Ranjana Choudhary had been criticising him for not studying enough and spending time with his girlfriend instead. She also used to threaten to ground him. The night before the murder, she is reported to have beaten him up with a broom.

The next morning, the boy sneaked up behind her in the kitchen while she was making breakfast and struck her on the head with a hammer.

Later, he washed the blood stains off his kurta and the hammer and hid the two in his cupboard. Then he called up the police who registered a case of murder.

Joint Commissioner (Southern Range) Amod Kanth said, ``Initially he misled us and said that around 8.30 am a lady had come to meet his mother whom she did not want to meet. Then he also introduced a florist to the scene. But since he was continuously giving contradictory statements, we decided to search the house and thus found his kurta and hammer.``

However, it was only after the police questioned the domestic help and the chauffeurs and searched the house and found the bloody kurta that the boy confessed.

The boy`s father and 13-year-old sister were also in the house at the time of the murder, but claim they heard nothing.

Police said the boy belongs to an affluent family. His father Gautam owns a leather business.

The boy has been remanded in a juvenile home. Kanth said, ``The Juvenile Justice Act is very liberal and in most such cases children are let off

Glen #31:

``17-year-old kills mother for haranguing him over studies``

Shah #30:

``YOUTH BEATEN TO DEATH``

Deodrant #29:

``Pak restaurant owner murdered in London PTI``

Ok guys, what`s your point? That crime exists in India and elsewhere where these events occurred? I don`t understand why people cut-paste run-of-the-mill crime stories on Chowk. If you want to make a political or sociological comment based on these stories, please state it clearly and do us all a favour.