Halloween Party

Nice! Good to read something about ricksaw-pullers and sons of ASIs beating the crap out of them for refusing to ride after midnight. I thought the genre had died with Premchand. Glad to know there are some who see the suffering and exploitation in what is mostly dismissed as `fate` by most of us.

There are many themes intertwined in your story and I want to share my thoughts on them. Aplogies for digressing!

Education: There is no way these chattels can become proud, contributing members of the society, till they are `qualified for little else`. This is a vicious circle - slaves brought up with little skills except driving ricksaws, toiling all their life only to have their piggybank broken by ASI`s son, wife forever waiting for husband to bring back that saree and ultimately blinded by cataract and interminable wait. In a generation, the stage is set for another crop of Raju`s to do their bidding in the society, pulling ricksaws, manning brick kilns and sweeping floors.

Urban Ho India lives in its villages. This may not be true in a couple of decades. The imbalance in development patterns and skewed priorities of the powers-that-be have triggered a great migration to cities. The Rajus are moving out of their ancestral villages in droves, eager to get a share of the expanding pie in the cities. Unfortunately, they have little to offer except their servility and docility. However, what they earn in cities is often better than malnourishment and exploitation in villages. Few months back, I read a report in TOI which claimed that 75% of the white-collar jobs created in `04 Fiscal were in the three major urbacn centres of Mumbai, NCR and Bangalore. THis is a surefire recips for disaster. The only way to stop Raju`s from sleeping Sethji`s verandah is by giving them opportunities in their backyard. ITC has started a program called e-Choupal to help the villagers. They buy the farmer`s crop and also advice them on fertilizers, seeds, pesticides etc. i believe, Bharti is also planning to get in agriculture in a big way. Tiny drops in the unforgiving sands of indifference, but a start nevertheless.

Contempt for rules The cockiness and arrogance ingrained in our psyche is furstrating. Not a day goes by without witnessing a stuffed shirt barking on someone supposed to be lower than him in the hierarchy. In the boondocks of UP and Bihar, you can find lathi-wielding sipahis regularly humiliated or even slapped for trying to stop people from doing unlawful things. People stare at security people who insist on seeing their badges before allowing them in the office premises. There is a cultural pattern which feeds on exploitation, mindless class-consciousness and disregard for rules of the scoiety and country. These attitudes naturally cuminate in the beating of poor Raju, parading of women naked in the streets and mob lynchings. The funny part is that people lament the injustice being perpetrated on them while torching those, whom they can afford to exploit.

Regarding your story: I think you could have done without the Anand Margi part. It adds nothing to the story. Besides, the differnece of status between the ASI`s son and Raju is enough to justify what he did, he doesn`t have to be drunk (on alcohol or religion) to do that, being himself is enough :-)

10 pages by Beej,

“And just by chance – by the faintest of chance – did it at all occur to you that maybe the story was NOT written with you in mind?!”

Beej,
I tried to read all your posts to me but I know by now you know that it is my little top notch time and can’t dedicate too much effort into reading your posts. I am also a man of a few words. Mostly, I pick up concepts quickly and don’t indulge in reading the whole effort. I mean, people are so transparent that I don’t need an extra effort to read what`s in their minds.

I tried to convey a special message to you because I saw that you are making an effort to improve the quality of your work as IIRC, I could not finish your last article on this site, and I did not write any comment on that. But this one, I read it completely and then I regretted that. Why did I do that? Reading this article forced me to comment on the article. I commented honestly. You could not be dishonest after a good time and some good scotch shots. That is the beauty of scotch; it makes you talk and talk with honesty and gusto.

It is very important to have ideas. These rickshaw walas and topi walas are no ideas. I mean they are dime a dozen, what is unique about them to turn them into an idea? I think you are getting into a rut and I pointed that out to you. There are no ideas in a poor man’s life. There is nothing unique in there; there is nothing substantial in there and there is nothing important in there to keep a reader glued to the story.

So when you say the story was probably not for me then you are absolutely wrong. How do you write a story with a specific audience in mind? You are not writing philosophy, you are not writing on economy, you are not writing on ideology and you are not writing on religiosity, you are writing about people and I am your audience, an informed and knowledgeable audience too. That’s what you don’t like. You did not appreciate my telling you that you lack ideas and you turn around and tell me that this story was not for me. That is your ego talking, that is your hurt ego talking. You did not like what I wrote and you tried to pooh-pooh-ed me. You tried to submerge me into long posts but I will not be cowered nor will I refrain from saying that you need to develop ideas. An idea forms the backbone of a good story, it distinguishes a good writer from an also ran.
It is up to you. Think about what I am saying…it is the idea not the BS around some bogus well beaten rickshaw wala that will make you a good writer or perhaps someday an excellent writer. I know you are not a big-ot in trendy, intellectual trappings. So, get on with it. Think and think long and hard before you write.
Thanks for Balraj Sahani`s pix.

Suborot, Whatever that was, was good!

Re#32 Subroto

Subroto,

That was hilarious!

Now why didn’t EYE think of that!

I think I’m loosing my touch
There never was much
As such!

Sincerely,
Beej.

#27 Dr Beejuess ``ALL those pages – you so callously make them mush, HP, you make them mush!
You heartlessly crush with that silly-old brush and (don’t you DARE blush) you then gulp that pulp!``

Was this an extract from the poem by Dr Beejuess?

Oh the plup that he pulped that he pulped into mush
With a silly old brush he turned the pulp into mush
Then with a great big gulp he gulped all the mush
HP gulped the mushed pulp with nary a blush

And as you so gobble that gobbley-gook – scarier than any haunting Halloween goblin could ever hope to accomplish – did you EVER pause to think?
It was a gook that gobbled
What a gobbledy-gook
That scared the Halloween goblin
Who was dressed in fine poplin
The gobbling gook made him such a sook

Not to read, but to reflect!
The light with his head
To face that reality with guts,
Not to deflect with his butt!

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

And just to make sure our dear old HP gets a chance to drown another bottle of top-notch scotch, here is another picture!

Who needs a yatch when you got one of these beauties!

A Kolkata cycle rickshaw driver pulls passengers through a flooded road in Egra, some 190 km (120 miles), October 22, 2005.



(Photo courtesy of www.alertnet.org)

Re#21 Hamidm2

Thanks, hamidm2, I value your encouragement!
(Is there an echo in here?)

Re#23 Soysauce

Thanks, soysauce!

I’m sure you are aware that the realities of life include too many variations on one old theme after another! Take this one (immortalized by Lata) as an example –

Tanhaai milti hai – mahfil nahin milti
Raahe muhabbat mein – kabhi manzil nahin milti
Dil toot jaataa hai – naakaam hotaa hai
Ulfat mein logon kaa – yahi anjaam hotaa hai
Koi kya jaane – kyoon ye parvaane
Kyoon machalte hain – gam mein jalte hain…

This oft-repeated theme is old as daylight – and yet goes on – day and night, here and there, all over the place!

Sincerely,
Beej.

Re #20 by HP
(Part three of three)

[90% of talent in writing is in ideas. Ten percent is in presentation. You can present but your idea sucks big time. Lots of people can write very well but their upper chamber is devoid of any ideas. Do you wanna follow them?]

Dear HP – it’s extremely insightful of you – no doubt a product of that ``upper chamber`` – though many others may disagree – to be able to quantify that elusive creature – and put down a percentage value on what makes a piece of work click.

Alas, if only that horde of writers and poets and artists and that whole bang-bang gang would only have known – they could have saved themselves such a helluva trouble – and gotten all that glory and all that fame – on the double!

[What interest I have in reading about a poor rickshaw wala? Here I am drinking a top notch scotch and you are talking about some godforsaken rickshaw wala. Think about it, poor people in India and Pakistan don’t read stories partly because they can’t read and mostly because they know the story is about them. What interest they have in their own life? Like Raju, they would rather be dead instead of busting their balls and getting kicked around permanently.]

How little you know my dear – what the poor rickshaw wala or the poor anything wala really reads? The problem is not a desire not to read – but the opportunity to do so. And the reason they don’t get the opportunity is they are just too busy dealing with the daily drudgery that they nust deal with – whose harmful effects are not by choice – like your “top notch” scotch whose merits I already dwelt on a bit earlier!

And just by chance – by the faintest of chance – did it at all occur to you that maybe the story was NOT written with you in mind?!

And so, my dear HP, why generalize regarding the likes and dislikes of the rest of the world based on your own personal feelings and lacks thereof? After all, why ever would ANYBODY confuse you – that guzzler of top-notch scotch – with simple folks in the rest of the world – after all, YOU have it made – (I assume so – I hope I’m right – and I don’t mean professionally only – I mean all around – YOU know what I mean – and if you don’t, hey just ask and I’ll be happy to elaborate more!) – so THEY must have made it, too!

Right? Right – so let them go eat cake!

[You wanna cash their dastardly life and you start writing stories about them to impress bleeding heart liberals that you care about poor. Actually you don’t. You just wanna use them to showcase your still undiscovered talent.]

This interactor is no writer and has no talent – when did he claim otherwise? – he does not even write from the heart and makes no pretenses along those lines – he simply WRITES what comes to his heart!

I fully understand how difficult that concept would be to grasp for an individual like you – and your many, oh so many ideological clones on this site. But that’s okay! I fully understand – I understand just too well!

But I have fun – writing what I write – anyway! And I believe the intensity is a lot stronger than anything your top notch scotch could bring – and it does not fade away – and leaves no hangover.

[This world is full of ideas. Poverty is just one idea and it is not a vast canvas but a wasted area. Get off it and think of something better.]

You must have read the other little piece I did last month and the smart professor that you are – immediately recognized the similarity of the themes and the exactly identical underlying “idea”, therefore you must be commended for your sharp acumen and penetrating powers of analysis.

I know my dear, the world is full of ideas – and we are the least of it – most of those ideas are bigger than our pathetic existence, our cocksure pride in our paper trails, and our day-to-day run-ins with our employers, our clients, our spouses (if any), and our children.

Ah, those children! I could elaborate more – a LOT more – but I am running overtime as it is.

Let me quote from what I stated on another board recently.

In reality, we are insignificant dots on the nature’s canvas – most of the beauty is elsewhere – and it does not fade.

Do I even need to elaborate to you at all what YOU are so full of!

[One last advice to you since I have cast a spell on you now. You could have done without the last para and the line before that and some more lines before that but I am not going to be specific here as I wanna encourage you too. The trick is that you leave the readers when they begun to think. If you start thinking for the readers, they will lose interest in the story.]

You have not cast a spell my dear – not even a shadow!

It is interesting what you say about the last para, and how that contrasts with for example what was said in #2 by another interactor. I suppose the bottom line is – different strokes for different folks.

[PS. Now the line about you animated writing style above…that was just to get your attention…don’t fall for it….]

Alas, it’s futile to try to raise those who have already fallen – mostly by the wayside!

Cheers, and thanks for your input! Feel free to add more at any time – tipsy or otherwise!

Sincerely,
Beej.

Re #20 by HP
(Part two of three)

[I call this Balraj Sahani trap. Btw, I have never seen a Balraj Sahani movie, can’t even recognize him if I see his mug shot. He was before my time.]

Although Mr. Sahni was before my time too, I believe I understand what you are conveying here. And how typical for so many of us it is – to judge someone we never bothered to sit down and take a good look at by ourselves – but to go by the preconceived notions of others – go through the motions then hang on to those vicarious notions for dear life – lest we be proven wrong!

It’s the same old same-old, HP, the same old song!

Yet how little you realize – dear HP the “wise” – there is a Balraj Sahni lurking inside each of us – yes, even YOU, HP – just feel him and he will come out in no time – come out and take over – and make you forget – and perhaps make you feel that that facial smirk was just a mere quirk!

And I believe it is more appropriate to say that he ACTED in movies – did not really direct them. Therefore, he did not MAKE movies in the sense of that word. Naturally, as a talented actor, he did everything possible to get the feel for what the character was thinking inside. The following quote from a rediff.com web site is instructive:

While Hum Log gave him the patina of an actor, Sahni got the star-actor sheen with Bimal Roy`s ground-breaking epic, Do Bigha Zameen (1953). To get into the skin of his character of a farmer-turned-rickshaw driver, Sahni bought a gamcha to wrap around his head and plied a rickshaw on the streets of Kolkata for two weeks with his son Parikshit and daughter Shabnam sitting on it. This willingness to immerse himself into the role stayed with him even in latter years: he lived with the Kabuliwalas to prepare for the title role of Kabuliwala (1961). …

And to address your lament regarding having missed an opportunity to see the persona – let me provide a picture of him – right here!


(Photo: Courtesy of Rediff.com web-site)

Take a look at that face HP – take a good long look – inside that crusty exterior there lies a softy soul – less like a Halloween ghoul – that ghoul that you seem to cherish so – but more like a somber, thoughtful, caring whole – of an individual!

[But what I heard of him makes me feel that he probably had the monopoly on making movies about poor and their lives.]

How quickly you rush to judge – and then how little you budge! Do you REALLY think that the poor are the monopoly of the Indian subcontinent and that people from outside the subcontinent don’t make movies – and that others inside the subcontinent –of yore and of the present – have not done the same?

Think sane, HP, think sane!

Alas, HP how little you realize – they DO make movies outside – not just movies whose images flicker and move – they can make us all move – move inside – yes, even YOU!

Yes, even YOU – HP, the “wise”!

[Indo-Pak writers just love to write about poor. It somehow makes them feel like they are doing a favor to poor because they know poor. The problem is nobody in the world has become a big writer by just writing about poor.]

And how broad that brush you paint this whole mythical brand of “Indo-Pak” writers with!

And what a special “gift” the good Lord provided you with – that so far unheard of ability to get inside each of those minds of this animal – this, this “Indo-Pak” writer of an animal – and be able to divine exactly what’s going on! Highly impressive, of course – now if only those creatures themselves would have a clue!

And what KIND of animal does that make YOU, dear HP!

Now don’t you blush or hide, dear HP, I saw your name on the list of writers – or were you there just for the fun – that loose canon or gun – not to write but just having a ride – the ride of the hick just getting his kick – or perhaps was it that gal, my pal – that intoxicating liquor, that angoor kee beti again – were YOU the one getting a ride or did the gal take you on her very own slide – just to lick a side-kick?

[Poor just have one story and i.e. a poor guy saving money in a piggy bank to support his family and the rich guy destroys the bank. That is it. There is nothing in there no matter how many twist and turns you to try to put in there. Doesn`t matter if the poor were driving a rickshaw or plowing the field, the story remains the same it is the poor guy being harassed by a rich guy. I mean what is so interesting in that story for people to read?]

I must differ from you on your self-sure assertion that the poor have just ONE story – it’s no more accurate than saying the rich have just one story.

As I wrote to that creature so bright, our very old Delhi-ite – WE are the stories – WE are the ones happening – how one tells it does not define us.

The stories are real, for WE are real – even in the virtual world – because it’s still the word!

And all the pages from the story book – all those pages of many a stories – written in various colors – some short, some long – some trivial some not so trivial – of heat, of heart, some plain old spurt – snake lotion, not emotion – those pages!

ALL those pages – you so callously make them mush, HP, you make them mush! You heartlessly crush with that silly-old brush and (don’t you DARE blush) you then gulp that pulp!

And as you so gobble that gobbley-gook – scarier than any haunting Halloween goblin could ever hope to accomplish – did you EVER pause to think?

Not to read, but to reflect!

To face that reality with guts, not to deflect!

Re #20 by HP
(Part one of three)

[I just got back from a Halloween party and am a little bit tipsy… maybe a tad more than tipsy…so I am going to take a shot at being a literary critic.]

I am intrigued by your sense of adventure – I just KNEW it – somehow I always felt that under that shallow sheen of selfishness there was a brave warrior just waiting to manifest himself – to ACTUALLY stick his neck out – out of sheer bravery and a sense of altruism!

Alas, it took a shot of the soam-rasa to bring out that crouching cat creature.

My advice to you on that beverage continues to be the same that I have provided to another interactor.

STAY OFF IT!

It does not make the reality go away – it only dulls your senses. The senses which feel – even as the circumstances make you reel!

It’s the ether that makes you unconscious while the pain is still there – very much present – the pain being felt by the body – every body – everybody!


[You seem to have an animated writing style but you have fallen in the same trap that most of the Indian/Pakistan writers go thru when they first start out.]

The fault, dear HP is not in our styles – it’s in our stars. The accident of our birth gets pinned down to our identity like a mark from a branding iron – it stays with us no matter what we do or who we are – really or virtually – and gets to become the yardstick by which we get judged – at least by some interactors, perhaps by most interactors, perhaps even by the world at large.

And certainly by you!

Take for example, this label of being an Indian/Pakistani writer – as if they are one and the same – and as if they are all the same – and as if there is no individuality to their styles!

As if the problem – the monochrome – lies in the objects – not in that tipsy vision and the colored lenses which constrain it!

But there is a problem, HP!

The problem with that mark made with the branding iron, HP, is that it sears.

It sears the flesh and sometimes penetrates right through – all the way down – deep, deep down - down to our souls.

Search dear HP!

Search and perhaps you will find that searing mark – that still hurting branding – and no amount of brandy will make it go away and make it dandy – search and feel it HP!

It’s not put there by choice – but by others – not the others the nice, perhaps by the lowly creatures – the lice – the lice of humanity – for eternity!

All right, I return to answer some queries now.

But first of all, a happy Diwali to those who celebrate it - both in the subcontinent, and elsewhere!

As the “host” here, let me also apologize profusely to those among you who may have been offended by some of Delhi-ite’s “choice” superlatives!

Okay, back to the track now.

Re#19 Nadia Zehra

[And you didn`t interfer for a conclusion or a biasness except assimilation of disorders of society which could open up linkage to other connected disarrays...]

Yes, ma’m.

[As far as sympathy, pain factors are concerned I think the story was fabricated for these thoughtful processes as people would have empathize in real situation as well contradicting to the state of just women being you have mentioned:]

Yes, of course, ma’m! (You called my bluff, didn’t you!)

[And that angoor ki beti you mentioned remindes me of Rubayats of Omar Khayam, good reference anyways!]

It well might be. However, my reference frame was limited – janitors are not sufficiently well-versed in Omar Khayyam – instead the words came from a real OLD Hindi song which goes as follows:
Aaj angoor ki beti se muhabbat kar le
Sheikh sahib ki naseehat se bagawat kar le
Jis ki beti ne utha rakkhi hai sir pe duniya
Ye to achchhaa hua angoor ko beta na hua
Peene waale, tujhe aajayega peene ka maja
Is ki her boond mein posheeda hai jeene ka maja
Jhoom, jhoom
Jhoom, jhoom, jhoom, jhoom
Jhoom bara-bar, jhoom sharabi
Jhoom bara-bar, jhoom
Jhoom, jhoom
Jhoom, jhoom, jhoom, jhoom...

[To feel pain and just be an absorbant of social satires is the weakest satisfactory approach though and why not one be strong enough byself to undertake the situation as worse here not to fuse which I meant in my two lines before.]

The idealist in Nadia Zee finally drops its pretenses – all its pretenses – leaving those pretenses crying by the wayside and asks the real question – the question that we all knew was waiting for us – waiting just behind that bend down the road – the tough question that always is ready to pounce upon us.

Why not be strong enough to attack the problem oneself!

Nadia Zehra, you can’t fight the city hall!

But the individual can pen and perhaps provoke a few thoughts in the minds of others.

There is always total agreement among individuals that the world needs to change.

There will never be any consensus on what it needs to change to.

And most people don’t have a clue how to effect those changes.

[One more thing you obfuscate more when interacting with me but make good points. It was a pleasure read.]

Thanks, Nadia Zee!

I need to address this before others, therefore everybody kindly bear with me – I’ll come to you as soon as I can get enough respite from my currently ongoing janitorial duties!

Why does it suddenly feel so hot in here – is it the kitchen or is it what’s cooking, or is it just poor old me?

Wait, it’s our friend the Delhiwala!

(I LOVE warm kitchens.)

Re#22 by delhiwala

Dear Delhiwala,

Clearly, there was a raw nerve there somewhere – just waiting to be tripped. I am so pleased that the story was able to release that pent-up well of emotions you have had stifled in you – under that thin coating of joviality and wisecracks!

Hallelujah! From my words to yours – WE have made a connection!

However, nobody is undermining whatever hardships and tribulations you underwent!

Get that through your head! That thick, thick head!

This is not a “your peeve is smaller than my peeve” session – if that bothers you, go ahead to another forum – there are plenty meeting that criteria happening RIGHT NOW – and you will get quite a few of like-minded individuals to join you – be my guest!

They will be happy to hold you in their caring grasp – and rock you back and forth – going repeatedly over the same hackneyed set of arguments – till it bears fruit – till you all come together – in a cataclysmic orgasm of name-calling and death-wishing – YOUR favorite orgasmic sport, from all accounts!

My sweetheart sirdarjee, your choicest and your most colorful words don’t perturb me – I have heard one, I have heard them all!

Listen my lovely and dear sweetheart of a moron, granted that you made it through some hard times – guess what, you still pee the same way, you still eat the same way, you still relieve yourself like anybody else and someday – hopefully very far away from now, you will still die like everybody else!

What is your favorite mode dear – a chopped head or Poe’s swinging axe for a pendulum? It’s the same end of the game – only the end-games differ! The first appears to be your specialty – the latter the rickshaw puller’s!

The two of you have MORE in common than you think, or realize, or wish to admit!

[Frankly, in my opinion, instead of sympathizing with them, you Commies should help them.]

Like anybody else, you have EVERY right to your opinion(s).

I am intrigued by the part of the above statement though. So you think I am THAT thing – a commie – while such lovely dears as Ana and Mirmir and the recently departed Soulat think I am a redneck. I wish chowkies would make up their minds.

I suppose I don’t fit any of those predefined templates. And guess what – I like it just that way!

Yeah!!

There are a few other issues in your interact. I will address them along with similar issues raised by others.

Absolutely!

Indeed you are nice story teller Beej. Congratulations!
As for the story itself, it`s formulaic and another variation on an old theme.

Re: # 16
Abey Saleey Chootiya, Sussray, Tu mujhey Life ki reality bata raha hai????

I have been almost killed twice, and left for being dead, stabbed, dragged on a Kuccha road for .5 KM, then abused at Police Station for half a day.

Soch ke baat kiya karo, I have seen lot of hardships in my life, ofcourse it cannot be compared to daily Rickshaw Puller`s plight. But at least they have a choice of not doing so.

Frankly, in my opinion, instead of sympathzing with them, you Commies should help them.

Yeah!!

Let me share with you a story.

In 1710, Sardaar Baaj Singh was appointed Subedar of Sirhand(Punjab), some Peasants came to him complaining about atrocities of Samad Dad Khan, defeated Governor of Punjab. Banda Singh ask Binod and Baaj Singh to shoot these peasants, everybody was shocked. Just before they were to be shot, Banda Jee came out and told them that if you people cannot get rid of oppressors who are just few hundred then you have no reason to Live under the Sun.

Same goes here. These Rickshaw Pullers, wheather from Baliya, Chaparran, Kili Manjaro are basically drug addicts, thiefs(at least a good number of them).

I am sure you must have observed the same, while preparing for your IAS MAIN.

Now instead of riding the wave of emotions, go back to India from your cosy Heated room with nice views and take Munger Express and get down at Ramgarh and help these people by deaddicting them or otherwise.

Mukam Karote Valachalam Pangum Langtee Girum!!
DhanyaVaad Iti!!

hp,

the subject might be old but extreme poverty still afflicts us and most people can relate to it ............ i don`t think too many people would be interested in reading about the trials and tribulations of an IIT graduate saving to buy a new car in bangalore and being ripped off by a shady stock broker !

...........for me, the last paragraph really brought it home - the inevitablity, the hopelessness and the resignation ..............

.... now can you please critique ozer khalid`s masterpiece - the man is insufferable !

I just got back from a Halloween party and am a little bit tipsy… maybe a tad more than tipsy…so I am going to take a shot at being a literary critic.

You seem to have an animated writing style but you have fallen in the same trap that most of the Indian/Pakistan writers go thru when they first start out. I call this Balraj Sahani trap. Btw, I have never seen a Balraj Sahani movie, can’t even recognize him if I see his mug shot. He was before my time. But what I heard of him makes me feel that he probably had the monopoly on making movies about poor and their lives.

Indo-Pak writers just love to write about poor. It somehow makes them feel like they are doing a favor to poor because they know poor. The problem is nobody in the world has become a big writer by just writing about poor.

Poor just have one story and i.e. a poor guy saving money in a piggy bank to support his family and the rich guy destroys the bank. That is it. There is nothing in there no matter how many twist and turns you to try to put in there. Doesn`t matter if the poor were driving a rickshaw or plowing the field, the story remains the same it is the poor guy being harassed by a rich guy. I mean what is so interesting in that story for people to read?

So my advices to you: get off the Balraj Sahani type of stories and come up with some ideas. 90% of talent in writing is in ideas. Ten percent is in presentation. You can present but your idea sucks big time. Lots of people can write very well but their upper chamber is devoid of any ideas. Do you wanna follow them?

What interest I have in reading about a poor rickshaw wala? Here I am drinking a top notch scotch and you are talking about some godforsaken rickshaw wala. Think about it, poor people in India and Pakistan don’t read stories partly because they can’t read and mostly because they know the story is about them. What interest they have in their own life? Like Raju, they would rather be dead instead of busting their balls and getting kicked around permanently.

You wanna cash their dastardly life and you start writing stories about them to impress bleeding heart liberals that you care about poor. Actually you don’t. You just wanna use them to showcase your still undiscovered talent.

This world is full of ideas. Poverty is just one idea and it is not a vast canvas but a wasted area. Get off it and think of something better.

One last advice to you since I have cast a spell on you now.

You could have done without the last para and the line before that and some more lines before that but I am not going to be specific here as I wanna encourage you too. The trick is that you leave the readers when they begun to think. If you start thinking for the readers, they will lose interest in the story. Create a little suspense and give readers something to think.

PS. Now the line about you animated writing style above…that was just to get your attention…don’t fall for it….