Breaking News: Suicide Bomb in Karachi

Roohi, Sadna, Ana

I have read many good things about Chitra Devakaruni`s two books and even heard an interview in which she discussed her latest one. I will def. read them in the next two monthes. Her work sounds masterful. Roohi, perhaps you could write a book review on the second one-and we can all get a copy in time to interact on it...just pitching the idea to you ladies!

Drumz

Will do!

Rsax

My brother used to call me ``geek girl``...now I`ve got the Lisa Loeb specs to work the look....only, too vain to wear them all the time and contacts are too complicated and expensive...so, yes, I do some amount of tripping over furniture...:)

Pakistan has finally published pictures of ``Most Wanted`` criminals; Mush is second from left in the middle row. Some of them are clean shaved and possibly raw agents. Others who appeared to have vowed not to comb hair or take shower for months at a time look more like self appointed allah`s agents.

The legs season comes to an end with the Brazilian victory over Germany.

Roohi,

I`ve read `Sister of my Heart` and I really liked it. To me it reads better than `Mistress of Spices`..I think the novel sprang out from her collection of short stories. I recommend it.

roohi #451
`In an Antique Land` is on my list too..

re: saminashah

{Well, apparently all I have to do is show up on a board and everyone leaves...(sigh) guess I`ll take my ball and go home.}

...nah, i was just kidding :)...

sadna, samina - have you read ``Sister of my Heart`` by Chitra Devakaruni ? I liked her ``Mistress of Spices`` ... don`t like starting anything unless I know it`s good because I`m an obsessive reader and my kids will be running around hungry in grubby cloths if I get hooked. But all this talk is rubbing off ...

Aslo has anyone read ``In an Antique Land`` by Ghosh ? Another one on my list of ``someday I`ll get around to it books ...``

Rsax,

Well, apparently all I have to do is show up on a board and everyone leaves...(sigh) guess I`ll take my ball and go home.

Samina: Send me a mail and ill send the only pic i have scanned. I dont have a hair situation. LOL @ Dred. My hair is always covered in a cap (tilted 22-180 degrees back) a kaffiyah or a turban with an (abe lincoln) beard.

Samina,

Not showing films..I made the mistake of having them read too many books, and it`s only an eight-week course. Will recommend them however, and will keep you posted.

saminashah #443

Thanks, but you rule :).

``Do you read South Asian Women`s Literature alot?``

Not a lot, alas. `Daughter of Persia` was the last `woman`s` writing I read, not literature of course.

Though I did read Gita Mehta`s Karma Cola a few years ago and then faithfully followed the promotions of her next book where she said how people(particularly women) on the subcontinent are constantly talking, narrating stories to each other:).

..looks like this board`s been hijacked by nerds :)...

Your Attention Please

The Polar DEW has just warned that

A nuclear rocket strike of

At least one thousand megatons

Has been launched by the enemy

Directly at our major cities.

This announcement will take

Two and a quarter minutes to make,

You therefore have a further

Eight and a quarter minutes

To comply with the shelter

Requirements published in the Civil

Defence Code - section Atomic Attack.

A specially shortened Mass

Will be broadcast at the end

Of this announcement -

Protestant and Jewish services

Will begin simultaneously -

Select your wavelength immediately

According to instructions

In the Defence Code. Do not

Take well-loved pets (including birds)

Into your shelter - they will consume

Fresh air. Leave the old and bed-

ridden, you can do nothing for them.

Remember to press the sealing

Switch when everyone is in

The shelter. Set the radiation

Aerial, turn on the geiger barometer.

Turn off your Television now.

Turn off your radio immediately

The Services end. At the same time

Secure explosion plugs in the ears

Of each member of your family. Take

Down your plasma flasks. Give your children

The pills marked one and two

In the C.D green container, then put

Them to bed. Do not break

The inside airlock seals until

The radiation All Clear shows

(Watch for the cuckoo in your

perspex panel), or your District

Touring Doctor rings your bell.

If before this, your air becomes

Exhousted or if any of your family

In critically injured, administer

The capsules marked `Valley Forge`

(Red Pocket in No. 1 Survival Kit)

For painless death. (Catholics

Will have been instructed by their priests

What to do in this eventuality).

This announcement is ending. Our President

Has already given orders for

Massive retaliation - it will be

Decisive. Some of us may die.

Remember, statistically

It is not likely to be you.

All flags are flying fully dressed

On Government buildings - the sun is shining.

Death is the least we have to fear.

We are all in the hands of God,

Whatever happens happens by His Will.

Now go quickly to your shelters.

-- Peter Porter

A bit of ironic fun:

Philosophy

I used to sit in the cafe of existentialism,

lost in a blue cloud of cigarette smoke,

contemplating the suicide a tiny Frenchman

might commit by leaping from the brim of my brandy glass....

-Billy Collins

Sadna,

You truly are a goddess! I believe we`ll have to call you Sadna Devi from now on! (and not of course ``Sadna Baby``!) Thank you for that most excellent list-you got exactly the volume I`ve been looking for-and the other collections aren`t bad either :) Do you read South Asian Women`s Literature alot? If so, what are your thoughts on Gita Mehta, Bharati Mukerjee, Jhumpa Lahiri?

Oh, I did a google on M. Devi and Gayathri Begum all over the screen!

Ana,

Your class sounds excellent! Wish I could take it. The class discussions must be fascinating in themselves....

I have read Fantasia and liked it. Must look up the South Asian women you listed.

Are you by any chance showing films as well? Battle of Algiers is quite interesting, as might be Fire...

Please post on how the class progresses- I would love to read about it.

Samina,

Me give you tips?! I`ll see what I can come up with. Summer has been garama garam here. I`m teaching for the first time ever, and my first class is tonight..not quite in high anxiety yet.

The class is called Women and War..and we`re reading Bapsi Sidhwa`s `Cracking India`, Assia Djebar`s, `Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade,` Etel Adnan`s `Sitt Marie Rose` and selections from Urvashi Butalia`s `The Other Side of Silence` and the anthology I referred you to. It`s going to be a lot of reading, but hopefully the 9 students that I have will get something out of it, as will I. We`re going to kick it off with `Three Guineas.` That`s what`s going on with me! :) What about you?

saminashah #422

Here is some more information about Mahashweta Devi:
http://www.indiatogether.org/events/jan02/mdworks.htm

(Guess who turns up in the bibliography:))

And the movie based on her novel(though I read it as a play?) was `Hazar Chaurasi ki Ma` with Jaya Bhaduri playing a lead role:
http://www.expressindia.com/screen/nov28/review3.htm

About that two-volume set you mention, here are a few candidates from B&N, do let me know whether the ones you and ana mean are among these so I can look them up too:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/textbooks/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=688BJAKEU5&isbn=1558610278
Women Writing in India Volume 1
Susie J. Tharu (Editor) K. Lalita (Editor)

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=688BJAKEU5&isbn=0966460707
Thousand Worlds: An Anthology of Indian Women Writers
Adriana Husta (Editor) Usha Nellore (Editor)

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/textbooks/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?userid=688BJAKEU5&isbn=155861088X
The Slate of Life: More Contemporary Stories by Women Writers of India
Kali for Women Kali for Women Editors Satya Mohantry (Introduction) Chandra Talpade (Introduction)


Also came across these:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/textbooks/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=688BJAKEU5&isbn=0863560393
Hoops of Fire: Fifty Years of Fiction by Pakistani Women
Aamer Hussein (Editor) Mumtaz Shirin (Editor) Jamila Hashmi (Editor)

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/textbooks/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=688BJAKEU5&isbn=1859641148
So That You Can Know Me: An Anthology of Pakistani Women Writers
Yasmin Hameed (Editor) Asif A. Farrukhi (Editor)

Pankaj, Soy, Fuzair

oh, and instead of linear, think spatial, mapping more than straight lines.

Soy, Pankaj, Fuzair,

Okay, how I understood the para Pankaj posted:

According to the author of this paragraph, there are no clear binary opposites between consecutive, symbolic connections and early/ancient mediations AND the infinite numbers of systems of meanings.(i.e. Supertheory`s contention that an infinite number of systems exist simultaneously)

The dual theoretical constructions that were a cornerstone of certain movements do not adequately represent the nature of our immeasureable systems of how we make meaning (ie think the Internet, the infinite meetings of cultures, languages, interactions, globalization- Hawthorne and the many interpretation one could make in reading The Scarlet Letter), therefore I (says author of para) am right in throwing out the idea of binarism. The process (the middle) is what needs to be examined more closely-binarism excludes what happens in between- the continuum of what happens in early narratives and our latter day constructions?

Just an initial grappling...could be off...or maybe not...

cheers!

Any comments on the ten Pakistani soldiers killed by al-Qaeeda? I would like to know more about them and their famillies.

Fuzair

Thanks for clarifying the Sokol Hoax. The more serious underlying issue being debated in the discipline of Composition Theories is whether social action has a role in writing; i.e. how and when does critical thinking occur in the actions of reading and writing, what are genres, the efficacy in teaching genres, experimenting with interdisciplinary theory in Composition to lead students to enact critical thinking and linkages.

Interestingly enough, there is a committed group of Composition people out there who have applied scientific methodology to how thinking, composing and recomposing takes place. I`m fortunate enough to be working with a couple of them now!

ana

Thanks! I`ll look it up! Will be grateful for further tips. Hows summer treating you?

Aicha

Tell me about weddings! No one seems to have a wedding during the cold, dark weeks of December! Hope you are well. And yes, Lets aim for dinner- I`m thinking Scoutie Begum as well. But, won`t be free till August...how is that month for you?

Subroto

Started a book called Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The narrator is a young Indian boy adrift on a sea with a small ship filled with animals. One is a tiger named Richard Parker.

`` I wish I could describe waht happened next, not as I saw it, which I might manage, but as I felt it. I beheld Richard Parker from the angle that showed him off to the greatest effect: from the back, half raised, with his head turned. The stance had something of a pose to it, as if it were intentional, even affected, display of mighty art. And what art, what might. His presence was overwhelming, yet equally evident was the lithesome grace of it. He was incredibly muscular, yet his haunches were thin and his glossy coat hung loosely on his frame. His body, bright brownish orange streaked with black verticle stripes, was incomparably beautiful, matched with a tailor`s eye for harmony by his pure white chest and underside and the black rings of his long tail. His head was large and round, displaying formidable sideburns, a stylish goatee and some of the finest whiskers of the cat world, thick, long and white. Atop the head were small, expressive ears shaped like perfect arches. His carrot orange face had a broad bridge and a pink nose, and it was made up with brazen flair. Wavy dabs of black circled the face in a pattern that was striking yet subtle, for it brought less attention to itself than it did to one part of the face left untouched by it, the bridge, whose rufrous lustre shone nearly with a radiance. The patches of white above the eyes, on the cheeks and around the mouth came off as finishing touches worthy of a Kathakali dancer. The reseult was a face that looked like the wings of a butterfly and bore an expression vaguely old and Chinese....``

The best part of this scene is yet to come. :) Martel spent several years in India and worked in wildlife reserves. I won`t tell you the plot of the book, needless to say, I`m signing off now to continue reading it!

zafarsaab:

``There you go young semi, that?s my first ever chowk poem, albeit referential to a fault ? and all in answer to your post! I feel confident that you now understand about the silver jeans``

...ahh...explains it all...but zafarsaab 37 is too young to be going through all this...what will you do when you really get to be over the hill??...

Re Sadna #415

Regarding tiger tales has anyone read the book ``Tiger for Breakfast`` the biography of Boris Lissanevitch (I cheated here, could`nt remember his last name so googled). Its the story of this extremely colourful Russian - a soldier in the white army, a ballet dancer, big game hunter, friends of the maharajas and the man who first pioneered tourism in Nepal. Been years since I read it but memories still remain.

On a different path who has read `A Search in Secret India` by Paul Brunton?

Soysauce, Pankaj,

Um, I guess the language of liberal arts academia has been developing all along; why can`t it be as metaphysical or as complicated as mathematics? (just saw A Beautiful Mind)...I agree that the Postmodernists have some complicated stuff, but some of them, like Joan Didion, an imagistic political/social critic is as a ``Supertheory`` thinker as the rest of them. A social scientist like N. Luhrmann`s work in which he constructs an argument about how critical thinking is achieved is represented by Didion in a more narrative, layperson manner. And no jargon, besides the ``insider code`` in which she delineates the political weather in Washington at pivotal moments. My point? I like Didion plenty, but I wouldn`t kick Luhrmann out of my bed (as nighttime reading OF COURSE). And Luhrmann has been accused of being inaccessible to the grad student of average intelligence-his answer? Slog thru it, and make your connections.

Scout

Sweetie!

Aicha

Haven`t heard the gardening one...pretty euphemistic! Any more?

Drumz

Why don`t YOU put up yer pics, g? I`d be lying if I said I wasn`t curious about your current hair situation...are you dred? do you have something shaved into your buzzcut? I`m not hearing anything about no Rick James weave....

samina - summer is no better tahn spring. Lots of weddings coming up - other than that cant complain too much. I thought we would be meeting up for lunch soemtime. Let me know wehn.

Speaking of Mahashweta Devi, there is a short story by her called `Draupadi`, methinks, in this anthology of South Asian and Middle Eastern women writers called `Blood into Ink: South Asian and Middle Eastern Women Write War.` It`s very vivid and telling in terms of how a female political prisoner is treated by the police authorities. She turns her dehumanization into ..well, I`ll let you read it for yerselves, but it is a very interesting working of mythology.

Thats the famous Sokal Hoax. Sokal is an old-time, self-awoved leftie who despises the Post-modernists for being useless poseur dilettantes who use scientific jargon they do not understand to try to sound more learned than any one else and criticize modern science for being too authoritarian, fixated on discovering scientific laws, intolerant of theories that are not confirmable by testing, etc. What he is against are those Post-modernists who try to argue that advances in modern physics ``prove`` that everything is relative and reality is a social construct. I guess, in a way, Sokal is a Platonist of sorts who is convinced that somewhere out there there exists the Ideal Form. He is not quite jaded and self-obsessed enough to think that nothing matters in this world. Like Mulder, he knows that the Truth is out there!

As he says: ``I`m an unabashed Old Leftist who never quite understood how deconstruction was supposed to help the working class.``

Check out his homepage for various articles, pro and con, on his ``hoax.``

http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/

re: spout

{as for what Chowkies actually look like, i met one so far and it was a scary sight.}

...u saw shrinker somewhere?...yuck...i don`t know who to feel sorry for more...

re: zafar

{Beta, a jhola can be used in any number of imaginative ways...that?s the trouble with young people these days, they don?t use their initiative...}

...umm, the jhola`s fine, but the ones who carry them are a diff. matter...be careful, they`re dangerous women...hoodlums even...look at what they do at WTO meetings...and greenpeace...if u didn`t sew your own clothes, they`ll smack u with that jhola for promoting child labor in third world countries...

{expect everything to be handed to them wrapped in Issey Miyake...life is STRUGGLE, you know...mere zamane mein tho?}

...issey miyake?...nahi nahi...woh bechara to 1990s ka hai...

{Bufu ka naam bhi math lena chowk pe?}

...bufu nahi fubu...

#406 saminashah

I agree with you to some extent - all disciplines are jargon laden. OTOH, unless it is absolutely necessary, it is best to avoid jargon. That can actually be done in the sciences to a large extent. In the social sciences, however, obfuscation appears to fetch a premium and therefore jargon is a part and parcel of it. You must have heard of the little article that a scientist managed to publish a year or two ago in a social theory journal. He had made up the whole thing and the article was printed since - one can only guess here - the reviewers and editors did not want to appear to be dumb by admitting that they didn`t understand what the guy was writing.

I think it would be a great idea for one of u with too much time ya hands to make a website with pics of chowk posters. It will provide for hours of amusement.

sadna - thanks, I love Kipling too! The language is still hard for the bubs (or ``best beloved`` as Kipling puts it in ``Just So Stories``). They do like ``The Cat that walks by himself`` - nice that Kipling is smart enough to know that it was the Woman who tamed all the wild things :-).

NOTHING LIKE REAL LIFE DRAMA, SUFFERING, AGONY & PAIN OF LIFE OF HARDSHIP

UNKAL JAY CONDOLENCES TO YOU & YOUR BUDDIES DOWN SOUTH.

http://news.sify.com/cgi-bin/sifynews/news/content/news_fullstory_v2.jsp?article_oid=11665932&category_oid=-20607&page_no=1

232 succumbed to rat fever in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, June 24

As many as 232 people had died of rat fever in Kerala since 2000, Health Minister P Sankaran informed the State Assembly.

Replying to questions by VD Satheesan (INC) and others, he said rat fever (Leptospirosis) was reported from all districts, especially from Kottayam, Idukki, Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram.

During 2000, there were as many as 2,225 confirmed cases of rat fever, of which 87 people had died.

In 2001, the number of affected rose to 3,965 and the death toll to 119. Till May this year, 26 people had died of the disease.

Stating that all taluk and district hospitals in the State had been provided with adequate drugs to treat the affliction, Sankaran said seriously affected patients were treated in the Medical College hospitals.

People working in water logged areas had been advised to take doxycycline as a precautionary measure.

When a member complained of inadequate facilities in the Primary Health Centres and Taluk Hospitals, he said the Government was considering a Secondary Hospital Development Project with external assistance at a cost of Rs 810 crore.

When this was implemented, the peripheral hospitals would also be benefitted.

saminashah#406

``Right guys, I actually understood the para Pankaj posted. Try reading some Sara Sulieri and get back to me...

While I empathize with those who question the academic jargon and impenetrability of certain critical genres, I`d like to remind you that every discipline and field of study has specific, jargon laden languages.

``

Wow, you must be a genius to understand that. I read it two times and realised that if there was anything useful in that passage, it would have been said in an easier language. Science works to simplify the essentially complicated things while post-modernists etc work tirelessly to complicate it and make it inaccessible so as to pass off as intellectuals. It`s not the jargons I am referring to but the lack of content per se. I know about the origins of post-modernist thinking that was basically inspired by the 20th century advances in physics, especially uncertainity principle and quantum physics. In this context, I would recommend you the award winning book, ``The dancing Wu Li Masters``. And if confined to a specific domain, this kind of thinking has its validity. But people try to overgeneralise it without any regard to its applicability and usefullness in that domain. And some other people purposefully obfuscate the issue by using inaccessible language to pass off as intellectual imposters.

PS I have not read Focault. May be I will do sometime.

aicha #415,

no way!

Talking of euphemisms for plain ol` laidoff - pls add one more - garden leave - so propah, dignified and totally confusing - sounds like you are off to high tea in Central Park with kaboootars when infact you probably are headed for a complete meltdown.

the book i`m reading rite now is ``Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets`` it`s horribly intellectual and contains many hidden references to the current socioeconomical/political climate. i`ve been reading it for about six months now and would recommend it only to people of extremely high intellectual caliber.

Sadna,

Mahashweta Devi- thanks for the tip! Will be checking her out. By the way, are you familliar with a two volume set of Indian womens writing that was published about 5 years ago? I`d been looking for it a while ago, but gave up...

Aicha,

Behen, give bechara Korea a little more sympathy...so they not as dashing as the Capoheira chicos...give em time! The hair mass of brazil could keep Rupaul in weaves for months! Hows it going, btw? Long time, no hear? How`s summer treating you?

h # 412

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (or Bibhutibhushan Banerjee) wrote the book Pather Panchali (roughly translates to The Song of The Road). I have read it in translation and would still say it was one of most beautiful lyrical novels that I have read. The book that I had was published in India but I can`t remember the name of the publisher (Rupa?).

Another publishing house which has done great service is Kali for Women (thats the name I think) which has translated the works of various women writers from India e.g. Ismat Chugtai, Qurratulain Hyder.

Another writer worth exploring is Kamala Markandaya. I am going to be ducking for cover here, so here goes, while ``the God of Small Things`` was good the hype surrounding it was excessive - in that respect it was a bit disappointing (as was the ``Suitable Boy``).

But how could I forget Upamanyu Chatterjee`s ``English August`` one of the zaniest books around.

Oh well back to the salt mines....

Chinua Achebe`s `Things fall apart` is indeed a great book. I read one other book by him, didnot understand it as well, but both made me think how Africa has been a `lost continent` in more ways than one, because unfortunately the world has viewed Africa through mostly European/colonial eyes. I hope Africans at least have a fair chance to avoid this.

Which brings me to Jim Corbett and Rudyard Kipling. roohi, Jim Corbett`s stories of his adventures in India make wonderful read-aloud material as do Kipling`s Jungle book stories.

btw, talking of Jnanapith Awards, Mahashweta Devi anyone? I read a few of her plays in English and apart from the famous one about the young naxalite(which was made into a movie recently), I remember another about three generations of traditional water carriers which was amazing.

soccer and men`s legs?? sorry to burst your bubble but w/o the shingaurds - they are probably as rickety as the next persons.

Hairstyles were way much better!!

I am glad some Asian team made it into the semis but they had the adv of a twelfth player - the referee helping them.

soccer and men`s legs?? sorry to burst your bubble but w/o the shingaurds - they are probably as rickety as the next persons.

Hairstyles were way much better!!

I am glad some Asian team made it into the semis but they had the adv of a twelfth player - the referee helping them.

soccer and men`s legs?? sorry to burst your bubble but w/o the shingaurds - they are probably as rickety as the next persons.

Hairstyles were way much better!!

I am glad some Asian team made it into the semis but they had the adv of a twelfth player - the referee helping them.

Since I have no time to read ... here are some lines from my kids bookshelf (bigger than mine) - Dr Seuss is quite profound - you know ... :-)

(CHOWK EDITORS - please start a children`s section ??!!)

(from ``Horton Hatches the Egg`` ... Horton is an elephant, didn`t you know :)??)

And the people came shouting,

``What`s all this about ...?``

They looked! And they stared

with their eyes popping out!

``My goodness! My gracious!``

they shouted. ``MY WORD!

It`s something brand new!

IT`S AN ELEPHANT-BIRD!!``

And it should be, it should be,

it SHOULD be like that!

Because Horton was faithful!

He sat and he sat!

(from The Lorax)

Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care,

Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air.

Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack.

Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back.

........... UNLESS someone like you

cares a whole awful lot,

nothing is going to get better,

It`s not.

roohi#396

``Gene pool ka pata nahiN but don`t you know most of our beauty queens are ex-army brats ???!!! and don`t you have pools in your army mess or Gymkhana clubs uus paar ?!!

``

Actually your statement may not be far off. Miss India 2002 Neha Dhupia comes immediately to my mind. Romair, isn`t it obvious why these model look alikes dont enter the IT industry. If they can earn much more being a model or a fashion designer why would they slog 12 hours a day writing codes.

Dost-Mittar:

Thanks for the background information on Harjot Oberoi. Those were traumatic days. But that is why it is even more essential that while wounds are healing we always stay faithful to the truth, hence the importance of scholarship like Mr Oberoi`s.

I havent read ``Tales from Ferozeshah Baag``. I would be interested in hearing from any Parsee readers of Chowk, what they think of Mistry`s work.

Subroto;

An excellent selection of writers. I love RK Narayan. When I was recently in India I picked up a copy of his selected non-fiction and am working my way through it gradually. It is full of what I love him for, his sly, wry humour and subtle humanism.

I have read ``Things Fall Apart`` by Chinua Achebe. It is a magnificent novel, it has the feeling of fable, and suggests so much in such a short space. I have not read any fiction of Wole Soyinka but have read a book of some of his lectures called ``The Burden of Memory, The Muse of Forgiveness`` which deal with issues of colonialism, the slave trade, and the issue of negritude, the African/black diasporic experience. One thing I took from this short work was the integrity of his vision, the sturdiness of his prose. He was firm in his criticism of the despots of Africa, while not shirking from addressing the exploitation of the West, and most strikingly, the oppresssed history of the Arab colonialism in Africa, which he deems to be as deleterious in some ways as European expansionism.

I have seen the film of Pather Panchali but not read the book. The movie is a masterpiece, who wrote the novel??

I will let you get back to writing code.

-h-

preciousyou #392,

argentina`s batistuta for one....the rest i don`t remember the names of, but there are plenty of them. keep an eye out ;)

saminashah #398,

:)

Romair,

i haven`t seen a pakistani female over 14 in shorts either....but then i haven`t been asking every desi girl wearing shorts if she`s pakistani or indian.

be careful what u wish for though, maybe they`re hiding something because it`s better left hidden.

actually, if you really are interested, pick up Pakistani fashion magazines, they have some leg exposing, good looking females in there.

as for what Chowkies actually look like, i met one so far and it was a scary sight.

Romair,

{{I believe Chowk does allow scans of photographs within articles. Maybe, you should try that.}}

Huhn?! Fat chance! Firstly, I`m so modest & humble that I just cant stand myself. Secondly, I need Raveena lusting after me like I need a hole in my head!

Reply Semipreciousme # 392

Reply RSaxena # 387

?...you don`t become a playboy being a jhola and kurta type...

Beta, a jhola can be used in any number of imaginative ways...that?s the trouble with young people these days, they don?t use their initiative...expect everything to be handed to them wrapped in Issey Miyake...life is STRUGGLE, you know...mere zamane mein tho?

?...btw, when`re you introducing me to those hot parsi women you know?...i`m happy to make another trip to diesel for you...or perhaps something with more hip hop urban appeal, like fubu?...?

Next time we are both in Bombay you will scrub yourself till you are clean and then we can try to sneak into an Agyari...perhaps even a field trip to Udvada...failing that faloodahs at Badshah?s, ok?

(Bufu ka naam bhi math lena chowk pe. Koi Detroit vaalaa sun ke excite ho jaye tho kya hoga?)

Reply Semipreciousme # 392

??but zafarsaab, you?re only as young (or old) as your heart wants you to be, no??btw, am DYING to know what those metallic jeans are for;)??

Who feels it knows it. Jahras.

Tafara..

(I have embraced middle age.

Mere dil ke sabh baal gir gaye.)

Cupsofcoffeecupsofcoffeecupsofcoffee

Michelangelo

There you go young semi, that?s my first ever chowk poem, albeit referential to a fault ? and all in answer to your post! I feel confident that you now understand about the silver jeans.

Regards

Pankaj, et al,

Right guys, I actually understood the para Pankaj posted. Try reading some Sara Sulieri and get back to me...

While I empathize with those who question the academic jargon and impenetrability of certain critical genres, I`d like to remind you that every discipline and field of study has specific, jargon laden languages. IF you are to poke fun at academia, I`d would hope to read a critique poking fun at scientific, medical, and corporate discourses shortly after (can anyone justify the euphemisms ``down sized`` ``voided`` ``restructured`` as opposed to being ``laid off``/fired?)...these are of course fluid industries that want to survive, mutate, and ebb and flow as does the next

Finally, the legacy of certain theorists like Foucault are the vehicles of some pretty ground breaking ideas on how social and economic systems are created and symbolized. I wouldnt knock him until you actually read him-

It feels odd writing about books on a message board about suicide bombers, but then there`s talk of Shankar in a thong (sumo wrestlers, stand back!), and the rare achievement of seeing a Pakistani chick in shorts (gawd, i`d say you were repressed,but somehow, I doubt it!)

So, Chinua Achebe is definitely a must read, but so is Nuruddin Farah. And if you haven`t read Qurratulain Hyder`s `River of Fire` in Urdu, or in English..you`re missing a great part of South Asian literature. I would list a whole lot of other books, but they`re getting ready to kick us out of the computer lab, so it shall have to wait.

I think there should be an separate and ongoing board where we can talk about the books we`re reading..free from the cutters and pasters of the world. These cutters and pasters of world are uniting fast, but for what...is a mystery!

Ciao all, and go Brazil!!!

shankar #399: ``Ahemmm...I just want to humbly comment..at this.uh..juncture..that ..its cuz you havent seen me in a thong..``

I have always wondered what the various interactors on Chowk look like. I believe Chowk does allow scans of photographs within articles. Maybe, you should try that.

Seeing a Pakistani girl in shorts is no doubt a rare achievement, but seeing an Indian guy in a thong would be right up there with spotting the Loch Ness Monster.

re: netnerd #399

{..its cuz you havent seen me in a thong..}

...careful, 12-head`ll probably pinch off a piece of lard while you`re prancing around in your chaddi...

I can`t believe it people still talking about books here!!! (and one more for effect)!

Changa jee, now that we are here people what a show of hands for admirers of R.K.Narayan (not K.R the prez).

The other writer I would really recommend is Raja Rao and while most people consider ``The Serpent & the Rope`` as his best, I`d say read ``Kanthapura`` (hope the spelling is correct), absolutely loved it - lyrical novel set in the South with the independence movement as the backdrop. The story has an awareness of Gandhi (oops sorry the ``G`` word) which I really liked.

The Jyanpeeth Award is India`s premier literary award. The organisation has published some great works in English translated from original.

Bashir Kerala`s premier writer is a great read.

Also recommended Pather Panchali - never saw the movie but if it was half as good as the book then it surely deserves its reputation.

Actually after spending my childhood & teens devouring the classics and the writers of the western world I started discovering the wealth of talent amongst the thirld world writers. Would really recommend Chinua Achebe (even over Wole Soyinka).

And if you can read Munshi Premchand, Sharat Chand (an absolute master of the family drama), Mohan Rakesh, Amrita Preetam, Jayant Dalvi (all these writers available in translation). The other name which I didn`t mention was Manto (my favourite short story writer - speaking of which I will go off tangent and mention my other favourite Issac Singer).

I could go on and on much longer but got a class to write and code to debug :-( so before I go - yes Roohi this hand goes up for reading Haroun & the Sea of Stories - which reminds me how many of you have read Rushdies` first book Grimus?

-

Subroto

anNy,

hon,

I hope you havent flipped your lid over that stupid 12 head`s remark below:

{{Can you name any proud indian girls who has straight legs???they are mostly bow & rickety like AnNys}}

12 head is an embarrassing slur on our teeny tiny medical diaspora on Chowk! I THINK he said he was a doctor, a neurologist, to boot. I mean, granted I`m no prize, but Jeeze, I`m a shrink, for crying out loud! ALL shrinks are SUPPOSED to be at least slightly crazy (btw, there`s a law to that effect--if not, there ought to be one!).

But, this 12 headed creature! .....12 heads, but not ONE properly functioning brain in any ONE of them! I think its because he`s been rejected at least 12,000 times by women from both India & Pakistan.

We had a classmate in medical school like him. He thought he was the catch of the century just because he was going to be a doctor. Whats worse, he thought he looked like Dilip Kumar or something. He was rejected by every single woman he tried to line marao--heck, he tried & tried..classmates, nurses & even nursing students. Even the UGLIEST nurse would groan sarcastically ``Hai Ram, Sapnon Ka Raaja AAya!`` when they saw him approaching:))!

Know something..come to think of it..the last I heard of ``Dilip Kumar`` was that he was in the US doing a neuro residency...OMIGOD!!! coulditbe?!!!nah...

Yo! 12 head, didya go to med school in Bombay?

Romair,

{{while they look better than Indian guys in shorts (a traumatizing sight, that I may never recover from :-))}}

Ahemmm...I just want to humbly comment..at this.uh..juncture..that ..its cuz you havent seen me in a thong..

Anyo Hishimika!

Korea All The Way, Baybees!!! Don`t forget to wear your red....

semi, scout,

yes it is the legs and the hair and the utter lack of accoutrements...just some boys, a field and a ball...almost Zen, nahin?

semi,

I`ve havent read Theroux in ages...he`s got a famous hissy spat with Naipaul, I believe...but you are right, the book club looks interesting. I`ve been reading the various interacts. Perhaps the lovely and talented Chowk staff could set aside another board and call it Harpo`s Book of the Month?...ah, who`d ever thought that Harpreet would be following in Miss Oprah`s size 9`s?

Did somebody say meow?

Zafar:363

I`m trying for a long time now to de-educate myself and I know now what an ardous task it is.Please do not do me the `honour` to deport me back to the university-types.

For a fleeting moment(basked?-glowed!) you placed me in the company of Ramanujan-----(who thought he had discovered calculas & was thoroughly embarrased to find out that someone called Newton has already been there.

I am thankful to Allah that now I can afford to shun the company of intellectuals,academics, or the scholastic kind. Now just trying to enjoy the zestful company of the street ``urchins`` & ``goondas`` who,in my not so humble opinion anymore, really carry these pygmies on their shoulders and never even let them REALISE who the REAL ``guide`` is in ``REALITY``--sorry Derrida,Sokol & Foucault.

Do they really matter as much as we worry about them?------If universities were not the factories churning out brain-omellettes then would they have any value other than the chess-games & mahjongs for increasing intellect or kite-flying to improve vision.

``Mehfilain barham karay hai ganjfaa baaz e khayaal

Hain vraq gardani e nairang e yek buut khaana hum``

Ghalib

tr:The mind,as a chess-master plays disturbs the prevailing ethos

We are,but,the browsers of the ONE & ONLY Gallery``

__________________________________________________

Thu, 25 Feb 1999 13:40:41 -0500

Louis Proyect (lnp3@panix.com)

Yes, I have indeed written at length about my objections to the grossly

overpraised Foucault, in a 78-page review-essay, ``Junk Bonds and Corporate

Raiders: Academe in the Hour of the Wolf,`` published in 1991 by the

classics journal Arion and reprinted in my first essay collection, ``Sex,

Art, and American Culture.`` One of my observations was that Foucault`s

works are oddly devoid of women. Shouldn`t that concern you as a feminist?

It is simply untrue that Foucault was learned: He was at a loss with any

period or culture outside of post-Enlightenment France (his later writing

on ancient sexuality is a garbled mishmash). The supposedly innovative

ideas for which his gullible acolytes feverishly hail him were in fact

borrowed from a variety of familiar sources, from Friedrich Nietzsche,

Emile Durkheim and Martin Heidegger to Americans such as sociologist Erving

Goffman.

Foucault`s analysis of ``power`` is foggy and paranoid and simply does not

work when applied to the actual evidence of the birth, growth and complex

development of governments in ancient and modern societies. Nor is

Foucault`s analysis of the classification of knowledge particularly

original -- except in his bitter animus against the Enlightenment, which he

failed to realize had already been systematically countered by Romanticism.

What most American students don`t know is that Foucault`s commentary is

painfully crimped by the limited assumptions of Saussurean linguistics

(which I reject). As I have asserted, James Joyce`s landmark modernist

novel ``Ulysses`` (1922) contains, chapter by chapter, far subtler and more

various versions of language-based ``epistemes`` inherent in cultural

institutions and epochs.

I`m afraid I bring rather bad news: Over the course of your careers, your

generation of students will slowly come to realize that the

Foucault-praising professors whom you respected and depended on were

ill-informed fad-followers who sold you a shoddy bill of goods. You don`t

need Foucault, for heaven`s sake! Durkheim and Max Weber began the stream

of sociological thought that still nourishes responsible thinkers. And the

pioneers of social psychology and behaviorism -- Havelock Ellis, Alfred

Adler, John B. Watson and many others -- were eloquent apostles of social

constructionism when Foucault was still in the cradle.

A massive work like W.E.B. DuBois` ``The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study``

(1899) shows the kind of respect for empirical fact-gathering and

organization of data that is completely missing from Foucault, who

selectively tailors his material to fit a monotonous, rigidly dualistic a

priori thesis. For those in the humanities, where anti-aesthetic British

cultural studies (shaped by the out-of-date Frankfurt School) has become

entrenched, I recommend ``The Social History of Art`` (translated into

English in 1951), an epic work by the Marxist scholar Arnold Hauser that

influenced me in graduate school. No one in British or American cultural

studies has Hauser`s erudition, precision and connoisseurship.

Foucault-worship is an example of what I call the Big Daddy syndrome:

Secular humanists, who have drifted from their religious and ethnic roots,

have created a new Jehovah out of string and wax. Again and again -- in

memoirs, for example, by trendy but pedestrian uber-academics like

Harvard`s Stephen Greenblatt and Brown`s Robert Scholes -- one sees the

scenario of Melancholy, Bookish, Passive, Insecure Young Nebbish suddenly

electrified and transfigured by the Grand Epiphany of Blindingly Brilliant

Foucault. This sappy psychodrama would be comic except for the fact that

American students forced to read Foucault have been defrauded of a genuine

education in intellectual history and political analysis (a disciplined

genre that starts with Thucydides and flows directly to the best of today`s

journalism on current events).

When I pointed out in Arion that Foucault, for all his blathering about

``power,`` never managed to address Adolph Hitler or the Nazi occupation of

France, I received a congratulatory letter from David H. Hirsch (a

literature professor at Brown), who sent me copies of riveting chapters

from his then-forthcoming book, ``The Deconstruction of Literature:

Criticism After Auschwitz`` (1991). As Hirsch wrote me about French behavior

during the occupation, ``Collaboration was not the exception but the rule.``

I agree with Hirsch that the leading poststructuralists were cunning

hypocrites whose tortured syntax and encrustations of jargon concealed the

moral culpability of their and their parents` generations in Nazi France.

American students, forget Foucault! Reverently study the massive primary

evidence of world history, and forge your own ideas and systems.

Poststructuralism is a corpse. Let it stink in the Parisian trash pit where

it belongs!

(From Salon magazine archives)

Louis Proyect

Romair #379



``Do the Indian IT ladies and the Indian show business ladies come from different casts, different families, different gene pools? ``

Gene pool ka pata nahiN but don`t you know most of our beauty queens are ex-army brats ???!!! and don`t you have pools in your army mess or Gymkhana clubs uus paar ?!!

Fuzair and other anti-postmodernists

You guys would love the following article by one of my favourite authors Richard Dawkins. The title is ``Postmodernism Disrobed``. To pique the interest of people, I am posting the first few lines.

http://www.freethought-web.org/ctrl/archive/postmodernism/dawkins_impost.html

``Suppose you are an intellectual impostor with nothing to say, but with strong ambitions to succeed in academic life, collect a coterie of reverent disciples and have students around the world anoint your pages with respectful yellow highlighter. What kind of literary style would you cultivate? Not a lucid one, surely, for clarity would expose your lack of content. The chances are that you would produce something like the following:

We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis. The symmetry of scale, the transversality, the pathic non-discursive character of their expansion: all these dimensions remove us from the logic of the excluded middle and reinforce us in our dismissal of the ontological binarism we criticised previously.

``

anNy...glad you replied (akhirkaar!!!), but oh no, I hope it`s not malaria..being peeli peeli made me think it could be something else, but whatever it is, I hope it`s not serious! I remember I had something like malaria when I was up in Murree for summer vacation, many suns ago..bura haal tha, aankhon ke samne deewaren hil rahe thay..had I looked out the window, the hills would have been moving too!!! But I digress...take good care of you!

Thanks for the compliment on my writing...I`ve written a couple of things for Chowk, but nothing they`ve considered worthy of posting :(...oh well..i`m doing some writing this summer, I`ll let you know if anyone accepts it! be well luv! a.

I`m definitely rooting for Brazil..either Turkey or Korea can be matched up against them as long as Brazil emerges victorious!

re: booktalk

…..finally!….smt else besides the usual hindu-kafir-muslim-terrorist-kashmir’s ours-no-it’s-ours spiel…have just started paul theroux’s the black house…looks promising….

re: world cup

…who would’ve believed s.korea and turkey would be in the semis?…i’m rooting for both all the way….and scout, who’s this i hear about having great legs and amazing hair?….share, share:)….

zafarsaab:

“Vaisai at the advanced age of 37, whippersnapperdom seems like a distant dream.”

…but zafarsaab, you’re only as young (or old) as your heart wants you to be, no?…btw, am DYING to know what those metallic jeans are for;)…

re Fuzair #384

I have read Sokol`s essay and a few of the replies from postmodernists to it. Most of it went way over my head.

If you like jokes on post-modernism you might like this site which randomly generates post-modernist bs.

http://www.elsewhere.org/cgi-bin/postmodern/

Pankaj: On soccer, my favorites would be Turkey and Korea. While neither is likely to win any more games in this cup I think, both have already shown heart and will no doubt not disappoint their fans this Wednesday and Thursday. Also, both teams represent the uprising of the soccer peasants (Asia, Africa and US) that has taken place this time around and shaken the proud soccer dynasties of South America and Europe.

re: zafar

{Hmmm, Zafar and Diesel? That`s wierd. Though I have never met the guy, I suspect he is one of those NRIs who does all their shopping at the cottage emporium, with 8 different types of Khadi Kurta Pajamas, and 14 types of Jholas.}

..no way...zafar uncle was quite a playboy in his day...you don`t become a playboy being a jhola and kurta type...

{Then ofcourse they expound their various manifestations of Eastern Wisdom at lawn parties at the India Habitat Centre and the India International Centre and the Swedish Embassy.}

...or at candle vigils at the wagah border, or in copley square...hmm, i wonder who did that...hehe

re: zafar

{…must have stolen the pink velour under daks and matching ugg boots….I wondered where they’d gone to, but felt bad mentioning it…}

..hmm...she very well might have; i was too mesmerized at the time...

...btw, when`re you introducing me to those hot parsi women you know?...i`m happy to make another trip to diesel for you...or perhaps something with more hip hop urban appeal, like fubu?...

Dost-Mittar;

Rohinton Mistry is indeed a great writer. ``A Fine Balance`` is one of the key Indian novels, a tragi-comic social-realist epic that recalls Balzac and the great Victorian social novelists. I am really looking forward to reading his latest book ``Family Matters``. He is the premier Parsi writer and Pico Iyer calls him the ``sovereign Indian writer`` of our times. He chronicles India through the vantage point of Bombay and the Parsi community and there is real poignancy in the rituals and lives of the Parsi characters and realisation of their decline in modern India. It is really sad and quite frightening, what the Arabs couldnt do to these most ancient people is being done through their prosperity and assimilation. It gives a real feeling of loss and melancholy to the whole background, a sense of a diminishing of a whole people.

Incidentally I would like to recommend another book to you. It is called ``The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity, and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition`` by Harjot Oberoi. It is the best book I have ever read on Sikh history, a million miles away from the usual hagiography of the Gurus and Ranjit Singh and the mangled treatises of the militants. It focuses on grassroot Sikh history, and on the formulation of the Sikh identity, and the roots of the fluidity of Sikh culture and heritage. It has severly offended some ideologues, those kind of people who for political purposes have twisted history and would have us believe that Sikhism is some kind of Abrahamic afterthought that fell fully-formed out of the sky from God somewhere around 1699. But to be sure, ideologues hate the truth, and this is essential reading for anyone interested in these issues or has a passing interest in Punjabi and Indian history (it touches on themes affecting us all). Leave Christy Campbell aside and put this on your present list first :) You can get it from Amazon at

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226615928/qid=1024927804/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-3737823-0695253

-h-

I am afraid for me it simply has to be Brazil. Ever since 1982 I have loved their team and they represent the true romance of football. Virtually all their team are blacks who have emerged from the ghettos and favelas of Rio De Janeiro and Sao Paulo and worked their way up to stradom and brilliance through football. Ronaldo was so poor as a child he played barefoot till he was 12 because his parents couldnt afford football boots. Same story with Rivaldo. And they play the most spontaneous, artistic, improvisatory football in the world, with lots of tricks, flicks and dribbles.

Also one of my favourite footballers of all time is Dr Socrates who played in the greatest side never to be world champions, the 1982 Brazil team. This had great players like Zico and Falcao in it. But Socrates was the best. He had long shoulder length curly hair and a full beard. He had outrageous skills and was a fully qualified Doctor which he gave up to be a footballer. But most of all what I liked about him was that at half-time at every match he would smoke a cigarette to calm himself down. (He was also a radical leftist who esposed Marxism and idolised Fidel Castro and Che Guevara). He was the coolest sportsman ever.

Also Brazilian has the hottest chicks out of all the remaining teams. Keep your eye out for those sexy mullatos doing salsa dancing in the crowds. And their team colours are bright and happy too. So I am afraid I can only say one thing, COME ON BRAZIL!!

Rdesikan #370

Thats hilarious! I have to repeat it to some of my post-modernist and deconstructionist colleagues!

BTW, have any of you read the Sokol Hoax and the ensuing controversy? Pretty much illustrates the intellectual dishonesty of the Post-modernists. I especially liked Sokol`s invitation to any Post-modernist who argued that physical reality (as opposed to its interpretation, I assume) is a social construct to take a leap out of his 10th floor office window to test their theory.

A sympathetic write up :

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33186-2002Jun23.html
In a Dangerous City of Dreams, Survival Rules Karachi`s Lawless Streets Attract Mix of Militants

For Al Qaeda doubters:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/06/23/qatar.alqaeda.statement/index.html

Al Qaeda tape: More attacks planned

Al Qaeda spokesman: `Bin Laden alive, leadership safe`

``..Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri are alive and the group is ``going to launch attacks against America,`` according to audiotaped remarks by an al Qaeda spokesman aired Sunday. ..``

``..He boasted that the American military operation against al Qaeda has not resulted in its destruction, saying that the ``system is still there and it is operating at full power.``

He said ``our military and security systems are currently watching and investigating new targets different from the ones that are already targeted.``

``Our martyrs are ready for operations against American and Jewish targets inside and outside. America should be prepared. It should be ready. They should fasten the seat belts. We are coming to them where they never expected``...``

``.. Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language TV network -- which broadcast the message -- said it received the tape from Abu Ghaith, who said bin Laden soon will appear on television...``

scout #358: ``on a side note, desis (men and women) tend not to have good legs,``

Speak for yourself. Some of us don`t fall into this category, and are quite proud of our legs, and actually look quite good in shorts.

Speaking of shorts, I guess I cannot comment on Pakistani girls` legs. Since I have yet to see too many, if any, in my whole life, in shorts. So its hard to say. Will Pakistan go beyond sleeveless and jeans. That should be the, ``dominant discourse`` in Pakistan.

Indian girls, I have seen in shorts. And I am afraid, while they look better than Indian guys in shorts (a traumatizing sight, that I may never recover from :-)), they still get low marks in the legs dept. This does not include the Indian movie actresses, who get very high marks in this category (by South Asian standards).

Why don`t any of the Indian potential actresses join the Indian IT industry? Do the Indian IT ladies and the Indian show business ladies come from different casts, different families, different gene pools?

Reply RSaxena # 366

“...but i went through your list and got everything...i even had the venezuelan saleswoman check the list...”

…must have stolen the pink velour under daks and matching ugg boots….I wondered where they’d gone to, but felt bad mentioning it…

Okay guyz, so here are the scores

1. Brazil - Pankaj, scout( right?)

2. Turkey - Sameer, Zafar

3. Korea - ?

4. Germany - ?

Any more bets?

Re: Dost-Zafar

I also recommend reading,`Travels through the Moghul Empire` by Francois Bernier, a French doctor who reached Shahjehan`s court by way of Surat and the Arabian Sea. It is a fascinating account of life in Delhi and the environs at the time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Bernier gives a terrific account of court gossip, and the scandals of the time. He was an eyewitness to many momentous events such as the parading through Chandni Chowk of Dara Shikoh and his companions when Aurangzeb assumed power.

Tahmed

``That`s one run. Next batsman in is jay. The crowd falls silent in anticipation...spin bowler urstruly takes a few short steps...bowls...it`s an anti-hindu spin...jay lashes out with a bat from his belfry...misses the spin...ball hits wicketkeeper ali1 (who has been observing jay`s behind) on leg pad...no run. Ball goes back to urstruly.

Urstruly comes in again...does a Kashmir spin...jay swings an article from Dawn...misses...ball misses wickets by a mile...ball hits wicketkeeper ali1 (who has been sexually misconducting behind the stumps)...no run.

``

That was hilarious!!! Do publish a followup including some more of us in the game. Hey there are a lot of fielders in the game too.

Sameer

I knew we have a lot of common interests :). Apart from ``The Selfish gene``, I have also read ``The Origins of Virtues`` by Matt Ridley(author is Tahmed sahab`s fav) and ``How the mind works`` by Steven Pinker on similar topics. It is a strange coincidence that I finished ``Guns, Germs and Steel`` a couple of months back on the special recommendations of a friend. And I also watched the PBS program you mentioned :) On a similar note I have also gone through a few papers on bounded rationality and El Farol`s problem recently. Between Dawkins and Gould, I find the exchange of puns and sarcastic remarks very amusing to read given their academic rivalary. Unfortunately Gould passed away recently and I guess nobody felt it more than Dawkins who lost his academic friendly foe. I am very fascinated by game theory and its application to real life problems. I also wrote a small post on the ``Tragedy of Rationality (catchy phrase, remember the famous ``Tragedy of Commons``) that was a good simulation of Indo-Pak crisis based on game theory and I planned to post follow ups. But it was drowned in the acerbic mutual accusations and shrill rhetoric that so many Chowkies love to indulge in.

Regarding my support to the Brazilian team, it is motivated as much by the skill of team as (/cough, cough/) hot Brazilian cheerleaders. I was quite disappointed by the Germans, especially by the way they played in second half against USA. Latin teams have a kind of rhythm and aggresion in their play that is often missed in the more mechanical play of European teams. I am also suprised by the result of Spain vs Korea. I watched till the first half of the extra time and I thought Spaniards outplayed Koreans in every department of the game except scoring a goal. Bad luck Spain.

PS If India-Pak can assemble a good team, train it in European clubs for twenty years and arrange some great looking Punjabans(from both sides), Bangalans, Kannads, Marathis etc to cheerlead them, may be I will think about placing my bet on them.

``ball hits wicketkeeper ali1 (who has been observing jay`s behind)``

This is hilarious. Ha haha!!

RSaxena:

``...i had to ship a bag full of clothes from diesel in nyc to zafar uncle in return for the advice``

Hmmm, Zafar and Diesel? That`s wierd. Though I have never met the guy, I suspect he is one of those NRIs who does all their shopping at the cottage emporium, with 8 different types of Khadi Kurta Pajamas, and 14 types of Jholas. Then ofcourse they expound their various manifestations of Eastern Wisdom at lawn parties at the India Habitat Centre and the India International Centre and the Swedish Embassy.

ana

sorry late reply regarding my paoon, asal mae hands feet bohat peelae..nono, not THAT, i think i have malaria...very exciting, i havent had it before and everything is turning a funny yellow..but u are right, i do hereby uninsert my pyaara sa paaon from irritating romairs behind..men just arent worth the effort

p.s: read your travelogues, u have a way with words..why arent u writing for chowk?

or are you?:)

harpreet

finished the book..its quite stupid...later

Re Zafar 363

If he`s been half reading Derrida, I guess that makes him a full Jacques-ass

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29830-2002Jun22.html
New Theory Emerges in Karachi Blast Officials Say Huge Fertilizer Bomb Was Used in Suicide Attack on Consulate

``..Investigators suspect links between the consulate bombing and earlier attacks against Westerners in Pakistan, including the kidnapping and slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Pakistani sources said a suspected ringleader in the Pearl case, Naeem Bukhari, was arrested this week. Like other suspects already in custody, Bukhari, who traveled frequently to training camps in Afghanistan, has spoken of ``Arabs`` involved in the case -- referring to al Qaeda members...``

re: zafar

{And a very small bag it was too, I must say.}

...but i went through your list and got everything...i even had the venezuelan saleswoman check the list...

{Besides, what am I going to do with all those natural fibres from Diesel, haiN?}

..yaar some women dig the natural fibre threads...makes you seem environmentally sensitive...

{I have my uses for silver jeans. Don’t question me.}

...right, sorry...btw, i sent the purple hair dye u wanted...they said it`s all natural...

Reply Dost-Mittar # 365

``What would we memory challenged buzurgs do without you young whipper-snappers? ``

Dost-Mittarji, aap ke munh mein ghee shakkar.

Vaisai at the advanced age of 37, whippersnapperdom seems like a distant dream. (Hai. Life is so unfair.) In fact half of chowk, my style consultant in NYC for example, call me (very properly) uncle. Said style consultant kabhi kabhi zara overenthusiastic ho jatha hai, but he`s a good boy at heart, and always respectful to his elders.

(I recommend him unreservedly, bas jab silver pants ke bare mein baath karne laftha hai you should change the subject...)

Reply Pankaj # 334

“Okay guys, since most of us have been bitten by World Cup bug, let us disclose our favourrite teams. I am rooting for Brazil, now that England is out.”

Türkiye!!!!!!!!

Güle güle, cicimirle!

(I made that last bit up. Anybody who can speak proper Turkish please ignore it.)

Reply Hamzad Afaqui # 341

Thank you for the Bihari response (though it was somehow more refined than I had anticipated. Ghalib and all…what`s wrong with crass, haiN?)

I might be wrong, but I always thought that Bodhgaya meant the place (literal translation) where the Buddha Went (gaya) ie left the body. (aka Mahaparinirvana). Am I right in thinking that till that moment he was, properly speaking, a Bodhisattava rather than a Buddha (anybody can help here?)

Buddhoo means stupid in Hindi/Urdu/Hindustani – in Sanskrit (and Shuddh Hindi) the word would be Murkh (moorkh?). As for your hypothesis regarding Buddhoo’s relationship to Gautam Buddh (or Buddhi), I suspect that you have been reading Derrida unsupervised again. (You KNOW better than that.)

“PS:Are you aware of any more Mahatmaas,other than Gandhi & Buddh?”

Mahatma is actually two words: maha (great) and atma (soul, or self). There are probably any number of great souls around – Gandhi and Gautam were different from these others only in that their actions caused them to be recognised as such (this recognition, per se, is peripheral to being or not being a great soul). I would suggest that there are several others we could be aware of: the Prophets, just to start with. The Dalai Lama. (And let’s not forget Elvis.)

Regards