The Discovery

How come nobody rated me yet? No replies either... :(.

Yup! I can do that! Working on it...definitely!! (Thanks for ze idea)...

LadyAna: I just rated you original/ insightful twice. actually your piece is radically different styled than most chowk. How come you did not mention Kashmir, India or Pakistan even once?
If you notice, overall replies are way down since the chowk face-lift. I co not know the reason, although whenever I log in, it tells me upward of 20 users on line. The number of hits to your piece is 118, not bad. For example Shammi, tahmed, Krashid, YLH are conspicously absent. All I can think of is that people with old computers and old browsers might be having difficulty.
Even Kashmir is worth 20-30 responses these days, so don`t feel bad. But you have to tell me what kind of name ABintJ is? Are you Arab or what?
Anyway, good piece of writing.

This is my first time on chowk as a registered user. Pardon me as I fumble my way across... Just finished your article... worried about replies? hmm... me worried about rating your piece. :p enuf said

peace!

SameerJB, it seems the new chowk is designed to discourage all but the most fastidious of interactors. You have to jump through several hoops to be able to post a reply. I had to login twice. The feature that lets you see who else is logged in may also discourage folks from logging in. I sure don`t want someone else tracking me that way.
This piece is very shallow. Wherefrom did Sana come? Some boondogs of Pakistan that she doesn`t know about gays hitching up? Damen`s ``confession`` is stiff and artificial and almost exhibitionistic. Maybe it`s the author`s contempt for gays.

Sorry, I don`t understand what this little soap opera was about. Was it supposed to touch upon prejudice and homosexuality? If so, it was a half-baked attempt.

Okay, I take back what I said about your piece being like a soap-opera, that was really rude.....soap operas are much more interesting!

Anyone keeping up with Days of Our Lives here?

hmmm. . .oh wait, scout already said that! ;).
And DrDr. . it`s not that she doesn`t know about gays hitching up. She doesn`t want to `know` apparently. In her `real world` homosexuals do not exist, and if it does not exist, she`s going to ignore all the signs that point to the fact that it does. In which case it`s not only Pakistanis who live in the boondocks...but people all over the world. :)

damn damn damn - just lost everything i wrote. here goes again -

c`mon folks not everyone was born exposed to homosexuality. So it canbe jarring. But as long as the Sana`s redeeem themselves. Just curious - was this your experience??

Drdr - what featrure are you talkingabout? I dont remember seeing this option in my profile/accoutn.

seems like the author just stepped off PIA Flight 717 at JFK for the first time in her life and started writing this play.
What a waste of chowk space. If Chowk publishes another such piece, I will delete Chowk`s bookmark from my explorer. I mean it.

hehe. Thanks 4 the comments guys and gals. :). It`s all good.

Yup, this was kinda a personal experience in a way (I don`t mind saying it) - except for the romance part, naturellement - that I just added in to give it some ``oomph`` (;p).

There are a lot of people in the world not exposed to homosexuals, or who don`t care to be. I went to an undergrad school where more than 50% of the people where homo, even my profs. But I tuned it all out, and thought of them only as ordinary human beings like myself, because I lived in my own sheltered version of the world, and didn`t need to associate with them that much (just my books). And I know there are a lot of people like that out there, who create their own comfy corners and stay in them and don`t like to venture out, esp. if they don`t need to. So when I started work as an adult, and one day was shocked out of my corner space and forced to work with someone I really really didn`t feel comfortable working with, it left quite an impression on me. Hence the piece.

My next piece will show Sana`s transitions from blithering idiot to ...something else. Wait and see. Bye! :)

LadyAna, your ramblings don`t make any sense at all. First you tell us that this is an actual experience and that you went to a school where 50% were homos including the professors. Why would a person exposed to homosexual people react in a way that Sana did?.

Just doesn`t make sense.

heyloooo Ana...loved it...really well written...except for a few typos maybe....u know what though??? i think joe hired damen on purpose prolly to win over sana...or some twisted scheme like that....and what`s worse is that sana actually fell for it....i wanted to smack joe on that `naive` wala remark!!!...khair look forward to more stuff from you...waisay are u the same Ana who messages `hocie` at another forum?? ;) (if not then ignore the last bit! =p)

rgds,

Samina

Finally a sigh of relief from ana! No more complaining about not being rated and no replies. I think your portrayal of male homo partner, on the receiving end is quite accurate. It is well known fact that those people, called ``Bagga`` in England, have higher level of androgen hormones and relatively more interested in issues usullay considered feminine specialties like serious talk about color of clothes etc. Men usually, kind of, feel pity for them or sympathetic. The giver in gay relationship is more acceptable to male society than the one on receiving end. I think such clear discrimination is not common among females. They perhaps treat both gay partners equally?
DrDr: Strangely, the posts are picking up today. The drought seems to be subsiding. I woder if it is 9/11 or better opportunity to interact on favorite topics, Kashmir, Pakistan, India,......

ugg ya! The typos are awful. I don`t know how to edit on here...still learning the ropes. Don`t mind pls..

Hocie - ;P