Twilight of a Passionate Love Affair

Will Romair or anyone else here please bring the shairi into English, please? Grateful indeed.

Garam_chai #7: “Nice article”
Malik99 #: “a very well written essay”
Vereesh #9: “that was a good article”
Syd #14: “But this article is great.”
Aslam644 #15: “Simply brilliant article”
Faruk #18: “Nice article”

Bana hai shah ka masaahib phiray hai itrata
Wagarna shaher mein Ghalib kee aabroo kiya hai

Doublec #3 “Seems you have a leg fetish... the reason why i say that is because at 10 you were checking legs out.....”

Beparda nazar aain jo kal chand beebiaan
Akbar zamin mein ghairat-e-qaumi se garr giyaa
Poocha keh bibi aap ka parda kahan gayaa
Kehne lagin keh aql pe mardon ki parr gayaa

Niki777 4: “AND, please, fall in love , get laid, whichever end and then forget if you have to.Live, man”

Ghum-e-arzoo ka Hasrat, sabab aur kiya bataoon
Meri himmatoon kee pasti, maray shauq kee bulundi

kabuliwallah #11: ``huge difference in your interacts and articles...I like Umair Raja more than Romair``

Farsi bein taaba beeni, naqsh hayee, rang-e-rang
Bagzar az majmoo-e-Urdu kay bay-rang mann ast

Aboutturn #12: “GR here…..Stiill waiting for that post card you promised.``

Khoob parda hai key chilman say lagey baithey hain
Saaf chuptey bhi nahin, saamney aatey bhi nahin

Urstruly #13: “I think America needs a complete overhaul in its outlook towards the rest of the world - a complete paradigm shift,”

Hum ko unn say wafa kee hai umeed
Jo nahin janatey wafa kiya hay

Echoboom #16: “abhee ishque kay imtihaaN aur bhee haiN”

Ishq nay Ghalib nakamma kar diya
Warna hum bhi aadmi thay kaam kay

Wajahat #17: “I particularly liked the way you linked personal events from your life to drive home the point you are trying to make throughout this article.”

Bohot pehle say un qadmon ki aahat jan laytay hain
Tujhe ay zindagi ham dour say pehchan laytay hain’

Dost-mittar #19: “Now, I can pass on the baton of Captain Canada on chowk to you:”

Tumharey shaher ka mausam bara suhana lagey
Mein aik shaam chura loon agar bura na lagay

Soysauce #2: “Hope to read more from you.”
Mohammadamjed #5: “Please do come back”

Mein nahin hoon naghma-e-jaan-fishaa
Mujhey sunn kay koee karay ga kiya
Mein baray barog kee hoon sadaa
Mein baray dukhon kee pukar hoon

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

Romair,
I loved it! It was funny, interesting, and meaningful. A great piece of work. Many people have said that Canada is an excellent and tolerant country to live and work in--perhaps I shall go there and see...it would be interesting to compare and contrast it to the UK (which is, by and large, extremely tolerant and multicultural too, despite Mr. Blair being perpetually in Bush`s bum!)

canadians are far less nationalistic than americans. americans have strong and distinct cultural foundation (mom-apple pie-jefferson-lincoln-emerson-thoroue-bald eagle-jazz-blue jeans-michael jackson-coke-microsoft-cisco-ibm etc), this makes them proud nationalist, whereas canadians are kind of plain-vanila unpretentious working-class folks without pedigree problems and hangups. they all live within 50 miles of the US border.

ummaites (universal brotherhood believers) would generally love a non-nationalistic place like canda.

Well done!


Syd,

There`s no such thing as a Canadian-Canadian. There are Amero-wannabe-Canadians, Franco-Canadians, Anglo-Canadians, but no Canadian-Canadian (except Don Cherry). One thing that creeps us Canadians out is those new Candians that try to be more Canadian than Canadian. So stick with (whatver)-Canadian. It`s okay...it`s the Canadian way. :-)

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

DM
//...will the Canadian attitude be so tolerant if the CN Tower or the Parliament Hill were made the targets of the next attack? ...//

No way - no self-respecting nation would take such blatant attacks on its soul without drawing blood. All the holier-than-thou sermons will go swiftly out of the window - in Canada - or any other self-proclaimed tolerant nation in the world.

Just like it happened in US.

Uncle Sam used to do exactly the same - issue empty sermons from the pulpit - to all and sundry ... beat up on countries who have been fighting Jihadis, most vicious terrorist force ever to have crawled on earth .... rubbing salt unto their grievous wounds with lectures about human rigthts and what not ... with a wink and nod towards the same jihadis who it is trying battle now.

That was then. Now, Uncle Sam is more worldly, having endured the terror first hand .... has abandoned the high horse and learning to cope with jihad in its midst - just like many others around the world have been battling it out for so many years.

Same might happen to Canada, too. Terror has been globalised. So all those well-meaning folks frothing at mouth with anti-american rhetoric should take deep breath and think before they go out on sunday ``protest`` against american ``hegemony``.

Bush`s antics notwithstanding - war on terrorists have to fought. Beating up America would not help.

#7 Hot -Tea...... firstly i was born in Pakistan so don`t confuse me for an Indian. Secondly i am not putting others down but rather being critical at Pakistani desi`s. The reason why i was being critical is because Pakistani desi`s who live in Europe or NA have a problem in seeing any other P. desi succeed. We are the ones who try our best to bring someone down. Instead of being happy with other desi`s accomplishments we are jealous. Thirdly you should be man enough to take criticism and learn from it and not be a hot head and refuse to listen.

# 8 Malik99.... It`s a good thing that National Post is one of the least read newspapers.

# 14 Syd, become a Canadian Canadian..... there is no use is dual nationality.... if you want to visit Pakistan then pay the $100 for the visa. I agree with you a lot on how Pakistani desi get stuck in their own culture and all. They are having one in Markham on the 14th. We desi`s should learn everything about the goars.... didn`t they do the same when the came to sell tea in India?

Romair:
Couldn`t have said it better myself! Now, I can pass on the baton of Captain Canada on chowk to you:-).
It`s a really heartwarming love story. I hope that this love at first sight endures and overcomes ``ishq ke imtehaan`` as echoboom so delicately put it. For example, will the Canadian attitude be so tolerant if the CN Tower or the Parliament Hill were made the targets of the next attack?
BTW, do you know the favourite news program of my youngest daughter, who is a diehard anti-globalist, anti-american and a fan of the CBC? It`s the Jim Lehrer hour at the american PBS. Go figure!
More later!

Nice article Romair ......

Faruk

Romair

This was an excellent piece and a welcome break from recent political diatribe appearing on chowk. I particularly liked the way you linked personal events from your life to drive home the point you are trying to make throughout this article.

In reference to Media, there alsmot seems like a comfortable numb around most political broadcasts from the Mainstream media and the bias they represent. It is also equally heartening to see alternative media sources to bring the truth out on the turf. I must confess however I am as unaware of CBS as I am of CNN, being from a different continent altogether. However here in UK, you will see quite a few after 11.00pm media documentaries showing the ground realities of the various war zones of the world, Palestine and Iraq.

Thank you for this piece which I am sure is outstanding in every way.

Rgds

Syed Ali

I read an article in Dawn`s Magazine for last weekend; it was written by an extremely bitter immigrant who obviously wasn`t enjoying his life in Canada. The whole article gave a very negative vibe, and if that was not enough, the writer called Canada the ``frozen wasteland in the north or a parking lot``. I felt this angered sadness/sadened anger. With the kind of perspective the writer had, I won`t be surprised of he packs his bag and returns to Pakistan mumbling about the `insult` immigration had been.

But this article is great. I think all immigrants - probably especially us desis - should really get into the swing of things here. By that I mean, be a part of things Canadian so that we don`t have our elephant-egos trampled upon by being considered different. I find many desis/muslim folks engrossed too much in ensuring that August 14th/Eid comes across as a very important occassion for their kids - great! learning experience and such, right? - but what happens to us when it is Canada Day or something else (that protest, for example). It seems odd that one should live/work/study/play/sleep in Canada and at the end of the day, feel more (Put foreign origin nationality here) than anything .... I don`t think I got that across clearly. Back in highschool, this guy who was East European by origin was arguing over standing for O Canada - ``but I am not a Canadian!`` - I am not sure what he meant by that. The point is, it seemed that a lot of fellow desis had a similar point of view. They were mostly joshilay jawan with the kind of passion for their faith/country (of origin, ofcourse) that would send them flying into jihad or something silly like that. My question used to be, well, if you are so much in love with the place where you came from & that you ...like, get offended if some gora is nice enough to call you Canadian ... then why the hell not go back to where you came from? Yeah, go back to where you came from, your country must need all that love you got for it.

One gora friend said he looked forward to talking to me as a Canadian citizen when I become one but he also opposed the idea of having dual nationality. My brown/desi/whatever you wanna call it ego was deeply offended - I thought, abey goray, I will still be as brown and I will still talk the same way so why are you so excited about me becoming a Canadian.Canadian. I asked him the same question in a more civilized manner. He replied by saying that with dual nationality I would never really be very proud of just one place. I was still offended. It didn`t make sense. How can I not love both Canada and Pakistan and and how can I not be proud of my country and my country of origin? But I think now (having read this article and having reflected upon my 3 years in Canada) I understand what he meant ... I can`t decide if I am a Canadian, a Pakistani, a Canadian Pakistani, Asian, Canadian Muslim? I think I should work on being a Canadian.Canadian.

Cheers.

Umair
Simply brilliant article

Akbar ahmed was a professor at Cambridge, he made tv documentary about islam, was a regular writer for guardian newspaper before he shifted to America.

He wrote to the eternal shame of the Europeans the’ve virtually wiped out jews, never in the history of mankind have so few contributed so much.

BTW the gora’s don’t regard them as one of their own.
Regards
Your fellow kashmiri
aslam

Romair:
This message from the Qura`an about having an ``aloof-attachment`` with the earthly-matters is perhaps what your father was giving. The english equivalent you have given does not do convey this sense. So what did he really say?

butaaN-e veh O gumaaN,....?
Faraib soo-O-ziaN...?

P.S: Good mental odyssey; mgar ``abhee ishque kay imtihaaN aur bhee haiN``

This is clearly one of the finest pieces of writing I have come across at chowk for past so many years. Thanks for sharing your feelings and experiences with us. I find them enlightening and motivating. A job well done.

I think America needs a complete overhaul in its outlook towards the rest of the world - a complete paradigm shift, if it wants to survive as a respected and law abiding citizen of this perpetually shrinking world. My personal assessment is that the down-ward spiral that US has caught itself into is irreversible - I do not see any DeGaul on the horizon who could save America now. Unfortunately, what goes up, must come down. This is the law of nature.