Indigo X

hamidm,

Flying donkey … not pigs. You always slip on details. The messiah will be riding a flying donkey … and the pigs will be running for their lives … as the globe-trotting prophet chases them … and the 70,000 jews assembled for the Armageddon. The satanic westerners … left with no bacon for their scrambled eggs … will be forced to join the ranks of the MMA supporters … and will push for federal investigations in microsoft’s tactics … authenticity of halal label on food items … and why Brittany spears broke up with Justin timberlake. This will be followed by calls of jihad against IIT graduates, American express, and wapda. Nigeria woman will be stoned to death … sinatra CDs will be burnt … and the Unix command prompt will be replaced by Allah Akbar.

With all this on our mullah’s mind … he should be forgiven the mistake of equating coors with heiniken … esp. since he has not tried either. Add to this the misery of not being able to kill an apostate since he landed in the USA … and one should ignore him … like the distant drug-smuggler uncle who married a porn star … that no one wants to talk about on eid reunions.

Sorry Mr. Mogul, but what a lousy article in every sense of the word LOUSY.

The main character gets dumped and he turns to God. Hell, I would have found God many times if that were true (ok, ok, maybe only once or twice ) . The weakness of character of the main protagonist really turned me off- Good things (read pudding) don`t come to people who don`t work for them and hasn`t the character heard of if you fail at first, try and try again. Really messed up article, speaks alot of the author`s state of mind and defeatist attitude.

Based on Urstruly`s in-depth interpretation, I`d say that Urstruly is Mr. Mogul`s ghost writer. You can run but you can`t hide? whats that about ? Run from what Mr. Urstruly ? run from the koran flying into your face ? Gimme a break.

hamidm,

Again you have lost the rich symbolism of this masterpiece. Hinekin represent the decadent values of netherlands, euthnesia, legalisation of marihuana, the sexual permissiveness. The girl goes of with another guy, her values are there in the hinekin.

Coors is the macho american values, in tune with the vlues of pakistan. Pakistan has always been a a macho country, a coor pountry with gaznavi as the hero. Haroon is very c(oor), three letters in bracket read in the as usual pakistani way, is in the authors name and constitutes the integrating symbol of this marvelous work.

urstruly

``The symbol of heiniken and coors represents a conflict between choosing not the lesser evil among the two but the choosing among two equal evils``

.......... i don`t see how they can both be symbols of the same evil - one represents union-busting american capitalism at its best, while the other represents green socialism at its worst ............. but i assume you mean evil in the fun-busting tradition of the beauty paegent hating ummah, which would rather send people into the arms of buxom houries in jannah than let them be corrupted by long-legged beauties here on earth ..............

``one can only delay the inevitable; you can run but you can`t hide``

.... bit one can have a lot of fun while waiting for the messiah or the flying pig ............

hamidm2

The symbol of heiniken and coors represents a conflict between choosing not the lesser evil among the two but the choosing among two equal evils. I think that was a brilliant touch on Haroons` part.

I can understand your phudakna at this board, because you are among the very few who understood this piece in depth. The message in this piece is (and has been) bound to be a destiny for many; one can only delay the inevitable; you can run but you can`t hide.

On The Futility of Faith

So there I was, strolling down one of those nameless streets near Russell Market, warm mutton kati roll nestling in the folds of my belly well-covered for the chill- more imagined than real- of the first day of winter. And just when I was feeling so warm within and without, I saw him, in one of those dank basements that can never be private, a youngish fellow in a skullcap, hungry since before dawn, reaching our greedily for a time-smudged bottle of Aquafina- three massive gulps of the lifegiving fluid, an expression of near nausea at the sudden satiation of thrist long unquenched, then near bliss on his face. Strength restored, he then grabs at a bag of what can only be something meaty and rich, something I can tell by the smell through the narrow door opening--- something already going stale but does it matter? I can watch no more, I turn away in revulsion.

Memories of prayertime ``assembly`` at school-- the usual sniggers from our ranks at the sound of people fainting in droves as the oppressive early-morning Mumbai sun makes it first appearance-- funny how THOSE smirks disappeared the day we found out there weren`t enough funds to continue the breakfast programme for poor kids-- two slices of previous-day bread, donated by the kindly bakery owner next door--- alas! now no longer in business--- some jam, and a glass of warmish milk; and how Anthony Swami who lived in a slum and smelled of it wept silently when I told him in our house we didn`t eat the sidebits and didn`t even have a dog to feed it to.

Is it pity I feel for the faithful, or anger at my inability to feel the same?

(This could develop into an article someday)

Have to disagree with hamidm2 for a start.

This piece is great with or without Merlot in hand
(doctor told me to increase my HDL). A Cabernet is preferred.

Great delivery and one can relate to this story easily.

Ras

No Tipu, its ``boho`` not ``hobo``

..... salman rushdie is one of the few people who has ``created masterpieces out of symbolism``, and look at how urstruly`s beauty paegent hating brotherhood of the eternally stupid ummah has treated him .............. of course bahadur shah`s progeny is no salman rushdie and should be prosecuted for bad writing and insulting our limited intelligence ...............

.... symbolism shimbolism is fine but you don`t have to be particularly clever to see through stuff that is forced, pretentious, contrived, trivial, insincere and just plain amateurish and downright silly ..............

Noor,
I agree...hamid sahib is in fine form....particularly the comment, ``now I know why they used to hang writers and poets..`` Has anyone read David Sedaris`s Me Talk Pretty One Day? :)

Um...this piece is a bit conflicted and fighting against its self. Also too breezy and dismissive. Rather than being shown some of the processes in which the narrator made the decisions he did; i.e. not wearing shalwar kameez, how he understood Hegel, what was appealing about the redheaded woman, we get an index of symbols that are too reductive, too easy, all the lines we all know and nothing new has been taught to the writer or us...is the narrator`s revelation about Islam sincere? I wonder....

The marriage of objectivism and symbolism is not always a disaster. People have created masterpieces out of it. However, in case of this article, though it is not a disaster, author has managed only to confuse people. That happens when authors fail to establish a rapport with the reader at the initial stages and prepare them for a side dish of symbolism.

Some of the symbols are pretty easy to interpret. For example, when the narrator in the story describes his experience at the mosque during his times of adolescence, he tries to reach out and grasps the source of knowledge, which in this case is the Qura`nic script written on the wall, but can`t. Though he has the passion to climb the learning curve, he can`t because for him it is too big to grasp. But at the later stages of his life when he finds himself capable of grasping it he finds his soul corrupted; not the whole soul but the half of it. Half of it is still unadulterated pure innocence, and that is the reason the tears are only in the right side of the eye.

jay,

.... thanks for the explanation...... in my simple minded way i thought that the moral of the story was that heinikin is better than coors ....

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while reading this, a tear dropped from my left eye and a drop of snot dropped from my right nostril.

i`m sorry

Haroon-

You combated very eloquently the emotions and trials of finding God. Well-written, butyour train of thought was all over the place, referencing highschool and then to college.. You lost me a bit, but well done.

Noorolain- I tried reading Black Album, aghh frusturation, I hated it.. This at least ended well.

Haroon: lovely piece. Us local born n bred also go through the same anguish of finding God, questioning sects, chasing unrequited love and searching for internal happiness. Amazing how matters of the heart can send us reeling on a roller coaster of questions and emotions bringing some closer to God. Re: ``As I had stopped asking, God had stopped responding``... the beauty of God is, God n-e-v-e-r forgets and a-l-w-a-y-s responds. Just re-read what you`ve written. Keep writing.

hamid 6,

It is all elimentary. The guy goes to the dark and quite mosque, then the koran fall into his hands. He starts reading despite being a dark mosque. The moral is that he suddenly achieved enlightenment, in the literal sense. The light came from his left eye, if tears were also to come from it, it would have put out the light.

The most important aspect is finally the guy has said sorry, that is in fact for writing this crap.

I am, as you would say, a horrible hindu, I can find sense in any crap.

ok...so why exactly the tears came out from your right eye only?.....what happened to the tear duct in your left eye...no offense but it just doesnt make any sense to me.

And then , after the red, orange, damsk,and gold of the sunset ,moment by moment ,veils itself in blue & indigo of dusk, the weary & lonesome wayfarer realise that the destination was, from where the journey began----home!

``Chul khusroe ghar aapnay, saanjh bhaee chau dase``
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Yusufi

PS: The most lyrical songs are those which are crooned in anguish. Thanks for sharing this cathartic moment with us.

....... i tried reading this thing, whatever it is, backwards and it still doesn`t make any sense ..............``So why… two more tears slipped out, both from my right eye and nothing from my left eye… then two words. Maybe to the old man, maybe to God, maybe to her, or maybe to me, for all the times I failed myself. I’m sorry.`` .............. i am sorry too ........ and that is three words, not two ................what is the significance of tears falling from the right eye? ....... i know we muslims would rather cut off our left hand, but what`s the problem with the left eye? ...... am i missing something ..........and what does the old man have to do with all this ............. maybe i will try reading it from the middle .......... chowk-walo, we have to stop pandering to every aira waghaira nathu khaira who suffers from delusions of being a writer ......... let`s save some cyberspace and spare my rapidly depleting supply of brain cells ...........

........... this is simply terrible .......... and guys, please don`t encourage mr mogul just to be nice - he needs to quit wasting his time and do something else so that he can make an honest living .............

Poignant.

quick...what was that Hanif Kureishi novel...ah yes The Black Album. funny..why did that come to mind?
other than that, i have no more comments to make for now except to chuckle as usual at our hamidm.

oh God! its too high commune for me....i admit i am lost....if someone has time....plz atleast give me an idea of message in the article....

......... now i know why they used to hang writers and poets ............ i don`t believe in censorship, but this travesty has to stop ..........this man must should just as the british stopped his ancestor bahadur shah zafar ............ let`s pack him of to yangoon............ better yet, off with his head!