Piece of What?

Shandana: Would you happen to have any information about my previous comment about Salman Taseer, Sethi, The Daily Times and the fact that Taseer is a PPP candidate.

fawad..

yes..i have read Moth Smoke..just found my copy buried in the recesses of one of my unpacked boxes..will dust it off, and revisit it again..have you read it?

prince_joy # 58:

``But I also believe people like N. Ram and A. Roy would have a lot more credibility atleast in my eyes by changing the establishment from within by standing in elections rather than by throwing stones from outside -``

I was also a ``The Hindu`` addict till I came to US. The leftists and peacniks are good at noisily (sometimes violently) highlighting the obviuos problems and their solution usually involves a `lecture circuit`. (off-course, the rightist`s solutions usually involves killing somebody). In my opinion, both are dangerous and I don`t want to chose between them.

You raised an important point ... why can`t ARoys of India become part of a political party (Green party .. may be). In this era of coalition politics, they may be able to change the philosophy of governace. If they can manage 10-12 seats in the parliment, the entire central govt will be dancing to their tunes. They won`t do it ... you know why? They are IRRESPONSIBLE.

ana; harpreet

have you read mothsmoke?

Ref. Prince_JOy`s Post

``I am new to chowk. was referred by a friend.``

Chowk`s Inspector General, this TAhmed guy who irons his socks, will officially welcome you and monitor your behavior on Chowk.

Cheers

Lucy

dost-mittar,#56

we share a frighteningly similar view of Bloomsbury as we do our taste in Hindi filims :)

hi folks,

I am new to chowk. was referred by a friend. I have been following discussions here for a few days now and I am really impressed by the length and breadth of topics taken here. It is a refreshing change from India-specific discussion forums on the web some of which I left in disgust. I love to watch the interesting interactions between indians and pakistanis here without too much name calling and abuse. I confess I have learnt more about south asian issues in the last few days here than in the past many years. I hope to contribute and learn in this august forum.

The Joyful Prince.

Looks like A. Roy,N Ram and co has made quite an impact on the chatterring classes of pakistan. There is widespread coverage on pakistani newspapers esp. friday times. Unfortunately it was merely a blip in the Indian ones.

I am very familiar with N. Ram having been raised on a staple diet of rice, sambar, idli, morning coffee and ``The Hindu``. In my younger days when I just started reading newspapers, i used to hate this guy for being anti-everything. Many days I have spent fuming at his editorials and opinion pieces which smash everything but conveniently offer few solutions. Looks like A. Roy is from the same mould only more young and glamorous. The common mould of the anti-establishment leftists. I guess the pakistani elite just lap it up, primarily beacuse she takes on the Indian establishment. As far as her credibility goes, here is my two cents. I believe people like her are necessary and should be appreciated in this age when the elite, the establishment and the buisiness interests collude to ignore and suppress inconvenient social issues like the narmada dam. And I do appreciate the fact the she hasn`t retired as a celebrity or as a social butterfly. But I also believe people like N. Ram and A. Roy would have a lot more credibility atleast in my eyes by changing the establishment from within by standing in elections rather than by throwing stones from outside - worse still from the soil of a hostile country.

The Joyful Prince.

Reply Ana # 46

``I am somewhat intrigued by your mentioning Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury group, how it was in some sense the precursor to the modern women`s liberation movement, and that it had more men than women..men like Lytton Strachey for example, and E.M Forster...``

But behain, they w ere big girls only, na?

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Ras Siddiq #48

But tell me honestly:

Will it make the Pakistanis sit up and see their own face in the mirror?

Unfortunately, it seems that a number of Pakistanis were overjoyed by Roy`s criticism of the Indian govt, conveniently ignoring the fact that she was raging against the entire South Asian political establishment and sparing none. Even a paper like Dawn ran a headline like ``AR criticises Indian gov``. Today I read the editorial in TFT where even Najam Sethi blamed Indians for the failure of each and every peace effort before Lahore. He would have clinched the credit for the Lahore effort for Pakistan too but for Kargil.

With this type of selective appreciation and blind self-adulation, I am not sure AR is going to make any lasting impression on the Pakistani mindset.

re:

aamir/deepika/fatimah/bijligle/godknowshowmanymoreheads

“Make up your fickle mind or is it feeble or unpredictable??”

…gee, so this is what you call it when you’re having trouble choosing your nick-of-the-day?…

“On YLH board you raved about her & sensing the flow of the wind against AR,you chime like an echoliliac addh kid ``..roast chicken``?????”

…i’ll rave about ms.roy whenever/wherever/however i feel like…suffice to say you’re not fit to lick her boots…and to reiterate, the roast chicken was damn good….

ai1

“Also, where the hell has Sethi gotten the $$$ to launch an english newspaper from Karachi and Lahore simultaneously???”

…he’s just the editor…the publisher’s salman taseer…

ana & dost-mittar;

Here is an essay, an explication of ``The Three Guineas``, which both of you may find interesting and provocative, especially ana;

[ Blame it on Bloomsbury

She is one of the most influential writers of the modern age. But, argues Theodore Dalrymple, with her fatal mix of privilege and self-pity, Virginia Woolf inflicted lasting damage on western culture ]

http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,775670,00.html

-h-

...here`s the great arundhati roy whining about american efforts to rid afghanistan of the taliban and al qaeda...yeah, a whole lot of credibility this $hit is going to have with anyone other than loonies who think inviting the taliban and al qaeda to tea and biscuits would`ve solved the problem!...

{As darkness deepened over Afghanistan on Sunday October 7 2001, the US government, backed by the International Coalition Against Terror (the new, amenable surrogate for the United Nations), launched air strikes against Afghanistan. TV channels lingered on computer-animated images of cruise missiles, stealth bombers, tomahawks, ``bunker-busting`` missiles and Mark 82 high drag bombs. All over the world, little boys watched goggle-eyed and stopped clamoring for new video games.

The UN, reduced now to an ineffective acronym, wasn`t even asked to mandate the air strikes. (As Madeleine Albright once said, ``We will behave multilaterally when we can, and unilaterally when we must.``) The ``evidence`` against the terrorists was shared amongst friends in the ``coalition``. }

AR has developed quite a following amongst the educated elite within the worldwide Pakistani community. She writes well and is an outspoken
critic of all kinds of fascism.
More power to her.

Ras