Dusk

sigh .... here we go again - yet more silly attempts at obfuscation :

``This piece may come across as incomprehensible to yourself for it is steeped in metaphor`` ........ if nobody can decipher the metaphors then obviously they are garbage ...

``It can be interpreted from various angles`` ........ so, like the koran, this..... this ....is a divine masterpiece ? ......... likhay khuda, parhay musa (or is it the other way around)

``A most commonly held belief is that ``dusk`` is a lament vis-a-vis postmodern society and all its underpinnings``............. who are the people that hold this ``belief`` and why are they keeping it a secret ?

``Basically Im venting off my spleen with regards to urban living, its sheepish mandates and its ill-begotten actors. ``.......... now this is a doozy ! what the heck is a ``sheepish`` mandate and how are actors ``ill-begotten`` ........... just because you know a word doesn`t mean you have to use it wheter it means anything or not ...........

......... look, ozer mian, most of us went to tota-maina schools (even the resident jihadis ike echo, ntsyed and urstruly) so you should desist from trying to impress us with highfalutin language ...........

..... i am sorry if i sound mean-spirited ..........

poor Ozer thinks its safe to come out. Sticks his head out. And hamidm bops him on the head. One of Ozer`s incarnations sticks his head out to defend Ozer, and hamidm bops him on the head as well. Ozer waits a day or so, then sticks his head out hoping hamid is gone. And hamidm bops him again.

This board has become a califragilisticexpialidocious contextualized pedantricide. I think there is some international law against pedantricide.

Re: # 97

Hamid M

you state:

``i am sorry if i sound mean-spirited ``..........

Hamid I welcome constructive positive criticism, or even alternative suggestions/ideas/views from yourself or any other Chowkis. I would much rather you critique the content of the article from a literary/artistic/intellectual standpoint rather than turning this into a visceral vendetta.

I have no beef with you, and both of us sharing a similar South Asian background and being fellow ``Chowkis`` can find more endearingly diplomatic ways of airing our opinions rather than descending down the slippery slope of amateur and degrading tit-for-tat.

I joined Chowk to build bridges.

Not burn them.

The high-octane language and metaphors I use are a jibe at the ``chattering`` classes, ``arm-chair`` activists, a by-product of my style of writing. Which is freelance and prose. Delusions of pomposity need to be dismissed for that is not the intention of this author.

Now I am gently, purposefully and delicately calling for a peace truce ? For the sake of exercising magnanimity and to herald a more mature discourse. If on the other hand you letch onto the easiest form of slanderish critique then do expect reciprocity. The ball is in your court :

Are we gonna wave the white flag and settle this like grown-up gents or is it going to descend into mutual recrimination, which undoubtedly will hasten the belts for an ill-begotten blood-bath?

Now for a sterile juvenile audience a ``Gladiator`` style sword-flinging between us will be juicy...but for a more grown-up audience this will just render a meaningful debate into savagery.

I sincerely hope you take up the peace truce and we can move on to sanguine greener pastures. We might even notice similitude in ideas and gear up for a more intellectual Chowk following rather than engage in meaningless crowd-pleasing antics.

Hamid: The choice is yours.

The cards are on the table.

Truce or tyranny ?

I expect you will instinctively chose truce. For purposes of tact. If you desire peace I will bury the hatchet. If you chose vindictive behaviour I will retalliate in not too pleasant a manner.

Sometimes it takes a bigger man to endeavour a truce.

Im appealing to your conscience. I hope you take the right decision.

For both our sakes.

Let us see how the tides turn....

We do have a captive audience.

Re: # 98

tahmed:

califragilisticexpialidocious contextualized pedantricide

nice one soldier !

Re: # 98

T ahmed

i will be popping onto this forum ubiquitously. if need be day in day out. i revel and bask in controversy. so my knives are sharpened.

To you as well I urge peace ?

If not be prepared for a royal world war 3.

Im no lightweight.

Do you want showmanship and arm-wrestling or peaceful understanding ?

If you chose peace I will drop the knives.

If you desire war then EVERY SINGLE interact of yours will be haunted and plagued by my criticism which could potentially pale you into annihilation. For as long as you are on Chowk.

This is not a threat. Just a plea.

Take your stand man.

Whats it gonna be ?

freelance kindred spirits to unleash, uninhibited, uncensored deep-seated emotions/anger/passion/apathy through the prism of a lingua franca

Would the author be so kind as to explain the meaning of the phrase ``freelance kindered spirits``?

My blood-red patience wears thinner than a bulimia-laden epidemic

How thin is a bulimia laden epidemic? Did the author mean anorexia laden epidemic? (Cause, you know, you`d think that bulimic people would tend to put on weight because of all that over eating while anorexic people would lose weight and grow thinner)

P.S. How do you measure thinness (or thickness) of an epidemic ?

Tourists stir their souls with titillation at the ringing bells of Big Ben

What is the connection between ringing bells of big ben and titlation? You have to be a pervert to feel titillated by the sound of a bell (or is the bell tit shaped? that`d explain tit illation. (I dont know because I have never been anywhere outside India))

Dear Chowk Staff and fellow readers,

You all know that my interacts endeavour to be constructive, suggestive and meaningful. Despite avowed pleas for peace, if certain members on this forum do not bury the hatchet and persist under an ill-trodden path of animosity I will have to render them long-overdue type-lashings. You must excuse my errant ways. I do it not out of spite. Merely to pop over-inflated egos. ``And Im not speaking about anyone in particular``.

Being a skilled craftsman I deploy type-lashing merely as a last resort. Not as a first course of action. If and when necessity dictates I can be gleefully chirpy or ferociously venomous: I can urge healthy debate or smash stringless-puppets into smithereens. I hope their internal reasoning will propel them toward the path of common courtesy.

Once more Chowk staff and readers, despite my attempted diplomacy, if a blood-bath ensues, do forgive me. I was left with no other choice.

After all is not all fair in love and war ?

Re: # 85

hamidm:

I think the contention on what qualifies as “good” art and what as “bad” art is interminable. It has existed since time immemorial and thank God for that. Where would a civilized society be without vigorous debate and dialogue.

Your allusion to Prof. Frankfurt’s thesis is quite apt to an extent. There are several works of “art” at MoMA, which have led me to impute more noteworthiness to my nephew’s refrigerator art.

However, as someone who has also studied (and is still doing so) “mundane” and “useful” things like calculus I have still managed to cultivate a reverence for art and literature. (I blame it on my dad really. His persistent dragging us to every museum in sight and inundating our home with the Classics was responsible). But the point being that the “Arts”are essential to the bedrock of any civilized society. And even though according to Prof. Frankfurt (and others) there has been an explosion of b.s in recent times, I would rather have the b.s to sift through then silence the much cherished ideal of freedom of expression.

There is something to be said about the popular quotation: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”.

And on a parenthetical note may I add that If I ever have pots that need a stirring I will
be sure to call upon you. You do a commendably amusing job of it in spite of the misguided brusqueness :).

Time is a revocable privilege

What does that mean? Even after taking into account the context, this does not make sensel. How is time a ``privilage``? How can this privilege be ``revoked``? Does the author mean that the time spent with the other person is a privilage? In that case how is it revocable?

Re: # 94

Ozer,

Glad to see you show up. Quite honestly Ozer the last time I was on Chowk was several years go but in the last couple of days I have scanned several forums and it seems the exchange of vitriol is commonplace. I happened upon Ms. Rizvi’s piece “Parents and the Pill” and thought it incisive and delightful but was dismayed to find the forum had taken quite an other turn.

As for what I find inspiring about Ginsberg. Well, I confess to not knowing much of the man but I am in awe of “Howl”. It is the english language at its’ most elemental and piercing. And yes that first sentence….to have that kind of perspicacity and then the ability to express it. A divine gift indeed!

cc: knock knock
t: kya baat hay?
cc: order bazookas, self propelled grendades, a battery or two of patriot missiles
t: heheh... kya baat hay? idhar aa rahi ho? oos say phir rooth gaee ho?
cc: it is not me...the assassins will be gunning for you?
t: samjha nahiN...assassins?
cc: ozer
t: oh woh...woh to writer-shiter hay shayad
cc: after hamidm and tahmed he will come for you...he mentions bloodbath.
t: oh...he is harmless...hehehe..this will be a first
cc: first?
t: haaN...we have had blood baths over zunn, zer, zameen even gods and prophets...never over creative writing
cc: why are you so calm?
t: arey pagli cyber-war is quite harmless
cc: woh kaisay?
t: there is no blood spilled...no lives lost...just some air let out
cc: shylockian;)...valve job?
t: sort of...worst comes to worst...pop-corn consumption would go up
cc: what flavour?
t: gtg....cya

Re: # 104

Instant Karma

Cerain tourists who grace the greyer skies of London do so with unnecessary ``arousal``. For them every nanosecond or sound is akin to a ``Karmasutric`` experience, hence the reference to ``titillation``. Big Ben embodies an epicentre a powerful symbol like Buckingham Palace where touristic hollowness is portrayed with full-fledged mediocrity. Tourist jubilation is devoured in a degrading notion that every street in the West is paved with gold.

Aspirants coming from far afield litter cities with cheap snapshots and fake smiles, rather than appreciating a deeper cultural understanding of a metropolis. They worry more about the battery in their JVC handycams than savouring the moment itself. Hope this sheds light on why I used the word titilation with tinted sarcasm ?

Re: # 109

temporal if they say ``nay`` to peace then this will be one cinematic experience you will thoroughly enjoy nail-bitingly from the edge of your comfortable seat. Get that popcorn on the bunsen burner. Or just maybe if the ``gentlemen`` seek not to engage in crowd-pleasing mischief-making antics then you might plunge into a meaningfully pensive film. The WOW factor will certainly go amiss....but for the better...methinks....

Re: # 102

Instant Karma

That would be independent thinkers trying to dot the canvass of literature somewhat creatively