Telic Chowk: A Personal Odyssey

Thank you, mantolives and others, for remembering us when the Lights went out. Well, things were not too bad here. We lost power at 4pm and got it back at 5am. No ac, of course, so enjoyed sleeping in the basement. I just had put in new grass on my lawn and now the city wants us not to use too much water. And as per Murphy`s Law, it is hot this week and nary a cloud in sight. Found out what cold food tastes like.
The stores closed, not only because the power went out but because the cash clerks do not know how to accept money without the help of the computerised cash register. Misplaced cigarette lighter after the last birthday candle lighting and had to go out to procure a match to light a candle. So many fires last night because people do not know how to handle candles safely.

We truly are a slave of electricity!

On the black-outs... FOX for once seemed show a sense of humour. Did anyone see the 5 Tips from Iraqis on dealing with black-outs :-) specially the one on consultng with Iraqi engineers on bringing back the power.

Power cuts in Canada, anybody wants to start inverter biznus?

PS:

incidentally 64 was not addressed to you.

#66 was addressed to you...

tahmed,

Yes ... you don`t intend to answer my posts because you have no answers... if you are such a believer in what your profess, why not read what I have to say instead of declaring them to be just another lengthy post... but I forgot like most chowkies you love reading your regurgitation... if you don`t have the decency to answer simple questions after levelling horrible accusations against me, then atleast have the decency to answer Sattar2`s post?

let me remind you of what that verse says ... with regard to your wives....

`and beat them` (4:34)

Now some revisionist translators have tried to make add the word `lightly` to it... but the truth is that the arabic word used is `zarabahu` .. which is also used in Arabic for say beating of camels.

My point is my dear friend that when you accuse others of `worshipping` men (which in my case is not factual), you also are opening yourself up to the same attacks. Now I have shown you that from a Modern liberal perspective even Islam is not considered the bundle of rationality that you make it out to be. As for your assertion that I should dissociate from Islam based on this point of view which I still haven`t asserted to be my own, may I suggest that I am a Muslim who is not bound by Dogma? Especially the kind of Dogma you put forth as supreme law. By the way did you read the 28th July issue of the Newsweek... it was banned in Pakistan.. maybe you can still get a copy of it in the US.

-Manto

Mantolives #69 Since I dont intend to spend my time looking up what that particular verse has to say, let me put it this way: If you think that it is the Quran that causes individuals to commit murders and suicide bombings and glorify the stone ages, then that is your opinion which I have zero interest in either understanding or changing. If you believe that is true, incidentally, and if you still consider yourself to be a muslim, then logic would dictate that you should disassociate yourself from Islam. But what am I doing talking about logic with you...

Mantolives #66 and also #64 I think. Mercy!! I just responded to one post of yours, and I see two more lengthy posts addressed to me. I really dont have time to read your lengthy lectures, and less time in responding to them. So I have done neither. I hope you will not be offended and will understand. Thanks.

Hi Romair . . . ``Ahhhh....Happy Birthday India...... Us Pakistanis would be way ahead of where we are today, if it wasn`t for you :-) ````.

Yeah, you sure would be ahead. The Bay of Bengal would be somewhere near Sialkot, the Dravidians wouldn`t have been able to go past Sindh when the Aryans came tumbling down from the trees up North and as for Karachi, you would be eating neer dosas only.

But then, on the other hand, your President would have been a film actor/actress.

+++

Yasser, thanks. Interim, write foodie stuff boss?

Power in our town was restored after 28 hours. Intense heat , humidity and the absence of water made the experience very uncomfortable. Going down 15 storeys to get any edible item, water bottles,batteries, candles or any useful item available from some of the shops opened today and also obtaining gas for the car wasn`t a very welcome chore. Climbing back those 15 storeys was sheer murder, reminding me of Ghalib`s:
muzmahil ho gaye qawa Ghalib
ab anasir meiN aitedal kahaN ;)
I was fortunate to observe the most positive outcome of this `Great Black out`` which was the wonderful spirit of the Torontonians and their cheerfulness. There were young adults directing traffic at many a `chowk`, the spectacle of supply of cold drinks, water and other refreshment to the cops working overtime at the main intersections, teen age children knocking at doors in their community asking dwellers if they needed any supply, or helping the senior citizens with their little shoppings chores or simply giving them company. It made me feel very proud to be a Canadian.

Tahmed Sahib …

While risking a full-blown discussion … I would cautiously agree with Manto on this one. In the past I have tried to make the same point … which eventually became a victim of cyber warfare.

The zeal with which one may condemn Naqshbandi for kissing the graves of pirs etc … may very well be a double-edged sword. You may find his reverence/worship appalling, but be mindful that for an atheist John Malang, for example (or an agnostic, or a person who believes in a god but not the one proposed in scriptures), you may be just as guilty of absurdity as your perception of Naqshbandi.

John Malang would argue that ... religion is rooted in one`s need to make up for life’s futility … by creating a god out of thin air … and convincing one’s self that he is indeed “going places” after this lousy life is over. Religious ideology is simply a way for sub-intelligent men to justify their inconsequential existence. This atheist would laugh at the idea that … thousands of years ago an illiterate Arab went into a cave and wrote a book … and get this … even today, intelligent people swear by this book … and argue at length about what it says, implies, means, or prohibits! If this is not hero-worship … then what is? And besides … why is worshipping a dead man worse than worshipping a god that does not exist? And yet you, Tahmed, strive to follow this book just as much as the next guy, and will probably get hernia bowing to thin air all your life.

Now, one may argue over interpretations … what the book says and what-not … but those are minor details. Simply stated, if Naqshbandi wants to revere or worship his Allah, a pir, a camel, or a mulberry tree … and call himself a Muslim … I say more power to him … whatever turns him on … just as long as he does not force it on others. I can appreciate your disagreements with him … but it seems that sometimes your zeal to criticize Naqshbandis, Wahabis, or Sufis gets the better of you.

I hope you’ll take my comments in stride … and share your thoughts on the subject.

And finally ... electricity is back for temporal … I guess there’s more bad poetry coming to chowk … (sigh)

temp#24
Thanks

More later. Must conserve power:-)

folks:

...power just came back in our area...for those who want to know...we are safe...and thankful...

...thankful that there was no al quaida linked with it...

...in the candle light last night it occured that anti-US forces may have just discovered yet another way to inflict economic damage...

in the dark caves near tora bora
the big beards must have rubbed their hands in glee
they learned another trick to trouble the great satan

the power-out grimly reminded us of the `independence` day of Pakistan/India...while power-outs...load shedding is almost a way of life in some cities there...it is rather infrequent here...last one they say was in 1965...another milestone year...

...thanks for coming and commenting here...will answer in detail later...

...t

Tahmed32

still waiting for an answer about Quranic verse 4:34 ... as posed in #59

Key word I suppose is `tolerance`...

the last line should read `Kill off`

Dude Tahmed... I have no problem with people using their heads least of all Naqshbandi who I hope will start using it one day... but I think you should start with the man in the mirror (ooops did I worship Michael Jackson now?)

No .. I am not referring to that puritan Islam... I trying to show you that your reverence to Islam as a faith can be interpretted in much the same manner... Isn`t Muhammad (PBUH) dead? Wasn`t the Quran written 1400 years ago? Aren`t you worshipping Muhammad? Or does faith make it all better? Worshipping Muhammad is ok because it is Islam eh.. and somehow Islam has all the claim in the world on rationality. So tell me Would it be better if I declared Jinnah or Ataturk or Saadat Hassan Manto to be prophets in my new religion ?? I won`t because I don`t believe they were... they deserve my reverence because of what they symbolized... Jinnah represents excellence, honesty, integrity, Ataturk represents Modernity, and Saadat Hassan Manto is the name of an idea called freedom... I cherish the idea, not the personalities.

Sadly I think you are just as biased and closed minded as you claim Naqshbandi is (and I agree with you on Mr. Naqshbandi) ... your post to Sameerjb in which you tried so hard to show that Muslim and Mullah is not the same thing shows your inherent insecurity about Islam... Your post about Wahabis being `man-worshippers` shows your ignorance. I have no love lost for wahabis.. I think they are the most regressive in the Islamic world today.. but man-worshippers they are not... least of Wahab himself... Your iconoclastic mentality mirrors that of the taliban (and wahabis) ... in Pakistan they proposed we take off Jinnah`s picture from official buildings because Islam didn`t allow the worship of a man... in Afghanistan they destroyed the Bahimiyan Bodhisatwa statues because Islam doesn`t allow the worship of the man... I know this might come as a rude shock to you since you try and fashion yourself as a liberal progressive, but in your zeal to put down poor old Naqshbandi, you have proved yourself to be a pukka taliban.

Please enlighten us as to what you think of the 1 billion adherents of the Hindu faith who worship the representations of the avtars... are they all irrational too? And what about the Shias and their emotional attachment to Imam Hassan, Hussain, and their family ... are all shias bad people too... So what do you suggest Tauheed (Oneness of God) Ahmed sahib... should we the liberals kill of everyone in right royal Mahmud Ghaznavi style?



-Manto