That Whore

Urstruly,

Define ``innocence``.

And Zahra has some good questions for you. Please do answer them.

dang it, why am I not thanked? I was so nice to ya too!

BTW, ``Frailty`` is a nice title for any story, but in this case ``That Whore`` hits the spot.

Ansari not liking the story is a bit worrying though :(( Hey doc, some more poetry please. Long time.

Urstruly:
Wise men have taught that one who has imagination, talent and skill should never ever consort with the mujaavirs. Once the creative mind has said his/her piece he/she let the culture-vultures thrive and survive at the trough. Allah has mysterious ways to feed all species.

When the world was civilised the only way to appreciate (enjoy) or condemn (dislike) something was like this:

Ghalib:
Hum sukhan feh haiN Ghalib kay tarafdaar naheeN
DaikhaiN keh dey koi iss sehray sey buRRh kr sehra.

to which ZauQue--the rival replied [as authoritatively & beautifully]:

Jin ko daa`va ho sukhan kaa, koi unn sey keh dey
daikho! iss tarah sey kehtay haiN sukhanvar sehra.

[after writing the sehra post-wedding of javaaN Bakht. Zauque was not well, so he couldn`t attend the event and had to write to comply to the Emperor`s wish to give Ghalib a swift & befitting come-back]

P.S: Please thank or elaborate and move on. No ``intellectualitis`` please--leave that to wage earners.

Urstruly,

This is a pretty dramatic short story. I am not sure if the real drama began at the end or it started from somewhere else. Anyway, it continues and that`s an engaging element of this story.

Everything else aside, this is also a very cleverly weaved drama. Each reader can interpret it completely differently and still gather something out of it about the human psyche at different stages of life.

To be honest, the back and forth dialogues were light in weight. The end was very smooth and meaningful.

But here is a question, in fact a few questions:

- Is the title suggesting that the writer could not accomplish his goal and is kind of cursing the young woman in the story?

Or

- Is the title referring to the fact that since the young woman agreed to be kissed and expected a monetary reward in return therefore she fell in the category of a whore?

Or

- Is the title alluding to something else about the male psyche that is not very clearly spelled out ?

And

- Per your last post, if the donkey symbolized a man then who was the character trying to seduce the young woman? I am a little lost on the excessive use of metaphors. Please clarify.

There is a point in this story. In fact, there is a very valid point in the story. But the validity of the point will vary from one reader to the other.

Bye.

ZeroTolerance & NazarHayatKhan

As you have read in the story that the girl was not totally oblivious of the concept of what I called an Angraizi chummi; as alien the concept may be to her, yet she knew about it-though the phrase French Kiss was not known to her.

Neotherf & Echoboom

I think there is a very strong connection between the title name ``That Whore`` and the subject matter. However, I would request you to look at the bigger picture and figure out who actually is the whore. Please read my 46.

Godot

Your `chargesheet` has slid the ground from under my feet. Please be kind.

FaizaHussain

I am not a very bright man, I have to go through a lot of effort to hide my handicap. You got me.

huma-mir and malik99

I am all for abrupt endings. I learnd it from the master O`Henry and then from Bano Qudsia. I also like to leave my readers with a dilemma instead of giving them a whole package.

Cemendtaur

Well, thank you sir. I am just a humble symbol - I mean - a humble man who likes to keep himself faceless.

Rozaiba & FarzanaVersey

Read it - goddamn it

Ansari

You didn`t like it - well that is good (keeping the reason that you gave in mind). It means I have not failed. Please read my 46 to understand my intentions.

Naqshbandi; Faizan; Rsaxena; MBZI; Mr. Kites; zulu; tev-toof, rafay; HP; Jang; mrboss; oxygen; fara; humaishah; hamidm; subroto; raw-dust; pardaisi; johnnybravo; wrapster; maheshg2; kaurasch; rakaposh; friend; solitude

Thank you guys and dolls for your positive comments and even more for negetive ones. Thanks also for hating it as well; at least it charged you to comment on it. In near future I have no intentions of blowing myself up or severing off my third leg (its already severed, when I was ten days old - thank you very much) so I will be back soon. Life is beautiful - keep it innocent.

Stuka

In my last attempt - Prudent Rosy - I tried to desi-fy the dialogues and even included punjabi dialogues to give an impression to the reader as to the mode of conversation, but temporal objected to it. So this time I tried to conduct dialogues in a dialect we are most familiar with. So here we have an objection again. Next time I will go by my gut feeling.

saminasha

I beg to differ with your hypothesis. I truly beleive that all human beings and especially children are innocent by nature. They are all born as the nature always intended; i.e. with innocence. I agree that the poverty and oppression are the number one corruptors but those children who are born to even the most oppressed and most poor are innocent by nature. The external factors corrupt every human being - later on.

[Can I retract from my initial statement o the fact that I am a part of the problem and not the whole problem. Two hand s are required to clap, as our proverb goes, the other hand unfortunately is some of the women - and you know who.

#50 by subedar

``This five-legged animal......``
Have you seen an elephant on five legs?

This five-legged animal -- even more his female counterpart who has the stamina to accommodate his fifth leg – has always marvelled me. Oh my good God, it is not impressive, it is frightening. No other vertebrate comes close to the enormity of the extra leg Allah Almighty has blessed him with. And of course corresponding hausla of his opposite sex.

I think once witnessed general salami of donkeys, no male would ever dare to brag in this regard, irrespective of his own anatomic dimensions.

Urstruly Sahib,

``...This is the reason why most of my stories mention God, angels, woman and children at one place. Perhaps they symbolize the purity and innocence that I yearn for...``

My world view doesnt expect God, angels, women and children to be pure. Even the idea of an ``innocent`` childhood is a construct of sorts. Are impoverished children innocent of the evilness of humanity? In their experience of impoverishment that is unaddressed by the larger society around them, do they not know they are victims of various social, economic and political wrongdoing? Of course they do.

But we cannot stomach OUR own responsibilities in these manmade condtions. Therefore, in order to assuage our own feelings of well deserved guilt, we affix ``noble`` to the indigenous community whose land we`ve stolen, ``pure`` to those we cannot bear the thought of having innate human knowledge. Dont know how to break it to you Urs, but children are aware of sex before anyone tells them word one. This is called human nature. The affixations of these qualifiers seem to be willful at best.

``To those faminazies``
cute-you mean ``saminazies``

who think that this story has hurt their feelings, I must assure them that I truly believe that He has really shortchanged her. And I am not a part of problem but I am the problem.

Yes. Yes Urstuly, for once, I am forced to agree with you.

P.S. Don`t be mad at Anne. She`s a smart woman.

jung:

i chuckled...as others more knowledgable have explained elsewhere anybody believing in anything can be a Hindu...so why not....?

now that is a thought a Hindu Muslim:)...

rgds,

t

#46 Urstruely
``It really is intriguing because by nature we are so innocent, so transparent, and so pure. I know very well what pure is but I am too frail to understand what un-pure is. ``

Urstruely is converting to Hindooo!

Frailty

This story is about frailty – the frailty of us, the human beings, our morals, our bodies, our minds, our ethos and the frailty and dichotomy of our pathos. The original title of the story was also ``Frailty``, but then it had to be dropped because it itself was frail and not blunt enough. There are three characters in this story and one of them is ``That Whore``. I would like to leave it on my reader`s judgment as to who they think is the whore. Could it be that all three characters qualify.

What really intrigues me is to explore how innocent minds get ``corrupted`` in this world. It really is intriguing because by nature we are so innocent, so transparent, and so pure. I know very well what pure is but I am too frail to understand what un-pure is. This story was not an attempt to be ``preachy`` either way – it was merely a reflection. This is the reason why most of my stories mention God, angels, woman and children at one place. Perhaps they symbolize the purity and innocence that I yearn for.

To those faminazies who think that this story has hurt their feelings, I must assure them that I truly believe that He has really shortchanged her. And I am not a part of problem but I am the problem. I am making things worst for her with a zeal as if it is my divine mission. If it is of any consolation to you, allow me to tell you that the ``donkey`` in story is really a metaphor for man. I am sorry. I apologize….. now can I have my consolation kiss.

A neat idea! I wish the author would write this in Urdu again. Urdu literature is devoid of beautiful ideas now and shtty digests dominate it. New Urdu writers are more influenced by TV dramas and movies in creation so that every thing is a screenplay now.

There really was no need to explain the moon or sun stuff, as it was irrelevant. Other than that it is a neat work.

Enjoyed the read. The only turnoff for me were the Americanisms like ``ugh, that is gross`` and ``ugh, i hate milk`` which marr the rural imagery and bring to mind a spoiled teenager of the western world instead. Even in English, I think it is possible to desify the context so as to make the imagery more authentic.

Urstruly: I`m afraid I didn`t enjoy this one. You have a gift with words but the story and its character, the various moralities intrinsic to this tale, fail by me.