Through Bloodshed and Tears The guards she trusted to protect her avenged the anger and loss the Sikh community was feeling. They killed her while she was walking with them on a cemented pathway. The rows of trees on either side of them were the only witnesses to the vengeance. But following that, the nation witnessed the mass murder of thousands of Sikhs by the people of India.

i do not know how you can blame the entire "people of India" for the inhuman acts of a few sadists. It is akin to saying all Americans are responsible for the anti-Arab backlash post 9/11. Intentionally or otherwise, you have exposed your own bias.

Warday interesting...but why only Sikhs refugees from Indian punjab?...Punjabi Hindus went in opposite direction? :)

Is this the worst Pakistan team ever? err...no...India is a better team and the better team won...Pakistan have some great talent in Umar Gul, Asif and Yasir Hameed...Hamid especially needs to be nurtured...the slo mo replays of the bowling actions were quite interesting...if that bent arm of Akhtar isn't chucking, I don't know what is...Gul has proved in the ODIs that you can be as fast as Akhtar without cheating...as for the captaincy, I feel that the PCB needs to convince Younis with whatever assurances he needs, to take up the captaincy...I was not impressed with Malik in the ODIs or Tests...there is a look of helplessness about Malik and that cannot be inspiring to his mates...heres to hoping for a good series and hopefully a 3-0 result ;)...Cheers!

My Teenage Years in Lahore Asim,

this was nice...I always love to hear a place's description from someone who is in love with that place...and I liked the little details...I think they are most important...going by the paandaan and all, does your family have an India connection?...and we all loved Chitra Haar too in those non-satellitle god forsaken days...Cheers!

Searching for Qurratulain Hyder in a Delhi Kabristan re: #4

"I believe Quratul Ain will gradually emerge from oblivion after maybe another hundred years and at that time Indians will construct a small tomb to identify the location."

I hope such a day arrives in India, when Urdu can again shine and prosper...a major impediment in my opinion is the script...most Indians cannot read the Arabic script but can read the Devnagari script...Urdu cannot prosper in India unless it is patronised by Hindus who after all are the majority community and have a passion for literature and the arts...I don't understand the objections Muslims raise against Urdu written in the Devnagari script...why are Muslims the thekedaars of Urdu?...Urdu belongs to India and people should write and read the language in whichever script they feel comfortable.

Reflections During a US Visa Grind you indulge and propagate the same biased misconceptions about America and Americans that you claim Americans learn from CNN and NBC about Muslims. If you hate America so much, America is better off without you. It is easy not going through the hell you have described. Don't apply. Instead apply to your rich Arab braaders who are the epitome of non-racist, non-communal and non-elitist societies. I am sure they will welcome you with dates and honey in their embassies.

On disowning Bhagat Singh and Other Vagaries e: # 20 and 23

I agree with you that Buddhism was long in decline by the time Muslims came to India, but was not completely out of the picture...what I said in # 17 was that the coup de grace to Buddhism in India was the sacking of monasteries like Nalanda which housed many monks and were centres of Buddhist learning...monks played a very important role in the propagation and explanation of Dharma to the laity and once they were out of the picture, what was left of Buddhism in India came to an end...Muslims first attacked India in 712 A.D. and Nalanda was sacked in 1193 A.D...in the interim Buddhism was most definitely not "dead" but continued in pockets in India especially in the northwest under the Hindushahis and the northeast under the Palas...while the spread of Muslim rule is only one of many reasons, it is an important one.

You are absolutely right about Adi Sankara being a major reason for the strengthening of Hinduism and the decline in Buddhism's popularity...it was never a majority religion to begin with except in pockets here and there...most of the great Buddhist sites in the country were in fact commissioned by rulers who had Brahmanical leanings (there is a very good article in the current issue of Frontline magazine about that)...once the patronage from kings for stupas and monasteries stopped, Buddhism suffered further...nevertheless the Sangha carried on, weak and emaciated, but was not completely dead

regards

On disowning Bhagat Singh and Other Vagaries # 16 Kaura bhai,

I agree with you on many things, but I think you are mistaken on this one...the only reason the great works of Greek thinkers like Aristotle have survived from the ancient times is because the early Arab Muslims had them translated into Arabic, like much of the great Iranian and Indian texts...the panchtantra for example...it was from these Arabic translations that the Christian West, much later on, salavaged Greek Philosophers' works and had them translated into Latin and other languages.

Having said that, Muslims in India, Turks most likely, burnt down the great libraries at monasteries, which contained great tomes of Buddhist and Eastern philosphy...Nalanda in particular...in fact the sacking of Nalanda sounded the death knell of Buddhism in India, which had been in a long decline from earlier times.

regards

On disowning Bhagat Singh and Other Vagaries Thank you for this...I myself am discovering the true Bhagat Singh and his ideology, trying to extricate him from the mythology that surrounds the great man...efforts of Ahmad Salim Saab will go a long way in that...I am grateful to him.

regards

Vanaja: A Movie That Moves Your Heart why are only Hindi movies, no matter how grotesquely masaledaar, selected for oscars and such by the Indian Film Board or whatever dinosaur agency decides these things...like tripalsdi rightly said, a lot of great cinema is made in India in vernacular languages which does not get the acclaim or exposure it deserves

Whither Pakistan? The Presidential \'Election\' and Beyond I say give me Baba Bulle Shah any day over these converters like Ganj Bakshs, Moinuddins etcetera...Baba Bulle Shah saw the goodness in people and unity of humanity and warned against the perfidy of religious bigots...the other so called Sufis just played the numbers game...only gullible idiots like Hindus could be suckered into the shenanigans of these 'godly' men

Whither Pakistan? The Presidential \'Election\' and Beyond wow, 90 lakhs kafirs to Islam...amazing feat really...by all accounts, Mr. Chishti seems to have lived in India for around 50 years at a liberal estimate...this translates into 438,000 living hours in Hindustan...of this lets assume that he spent 1/3rd of the time eating, sleeping, meditating, raising a family, praying etc....this leaves 292,000 living hours for proselytizing purposes, which again is quite a liberal estimate to do Mo's work in India...so 90 lakh conversions in 292,000 hours is roughly 31 people in one hour...or roughly 1 kafir per 2 minutes

must say Naqsh bhai, seems like a fast food approach to conversion if you ask me. Either that, or the Chishti PR machine seriously goofed up their math.

Whither Pakistan? The Presidential \'Election\' and Beyond re: hamidm2 chacha

I think Pakis should be divided per geography when it comes to looks...based on my travels to Pakistan and my interactions with Pakis in the US and UK, let me elicit my opinion while maintaing that there surely must be exceptions:

lets start with La hore...inspite of what the name might imply, Lahori women indeed are gorgeous....I even saw one lady police constable who was striking...maybe it was putting things in relative...'cause almost all others were mighty sore on the eyes...but generally speaking, the non-burkhaed women on the streets and shopping areas in Liberty, were very pretty...moreover, they would look straight at us while I was checking 'em out...none of that ridiculous sharm and modesty bull...I loved the eye contact...I was very impressed...the Lahori women I come across in the US are at least 8/10 too...but in the US for whatever reason, their male companions are almost always, without fail, butt ugly...I could never fathom why...real delicate knockouts would be with these burly, unwashed, stinky. lumbering men in shopping malls...and even during conversation with the aforementioned stinkies, they would cower and lower their eyes without ever joining in the conversation...quite a contrast with their sisters in Lahore

Karachi women on the other hand are a completely different story looks wise...they are almost always scrawny and their skin and eyes lack any zest or spring...yet, they are convinced for whatever reason that they are drop dead gorgeous even with the clearly discernable layers of paint on their skin...and like faruk bhai has said, quite a few of them sport luxurious moochs...their demeanor however is inversely proportional to their looks...they are very talkative and intelligent...at least the ones in the US

I have never seen a Peshawar or an NWFP woman...do men reproduce asexually in the North West regions of your country?...do they not need the opposite sex?...I am not convinced they exist...I thought I would encounter one on account of my Pathan friend in high school in New Jersey...I went to his house many times to play pirated video games brought from the Dara...but never saw the creatures repleniishing us with delicious kebabs from some dark, mysterious yonder

As for Balochis, I have never met a Balochi man, much less a Balochi woman...why is it that this seemingly endangered species is not more prevalent among the throngs of Pakis one finds at Indian cultural events?...come to think of it, I have never met one Paki Hindu or Paki Christian...ever...do these people not emigrate?...they must really love Pakistan and probably refuse to leave...good for them.

but you are right hamidm2 chacha...the only good things Pakis have going for them are the non-burkhaed women in Lahore with the ravishing eyes.

Whither Pakistan? The Presidential \'Election\' and Beyond re: # 9

"i don't know much a bout economics but what is wrong with changing the rupee into the dinar? i also think we should consider ourselves a part of the middle east and islamic world instead of south asian and make arabic a national language with equal status to urdu. this will ensure our future lies in the west and not eastwards. i have heard that the founders of pakistan initially did plan to make arabic the national language but pressure from the mohajirs made them choose urdu. i am sure mantolives can elucidate that point. this would be a first step in the creation of a EU-model based islamic union of nation states within an islamic ethos of course with a common currency -dinar -and free trade and no borders."



This is a great idea...I'm with you on this Naqsh bhai...I don't know why Pakistanis didn't do it sooner...they've named cities, mosques and stadiums in their country after Arabs anyway...and are selling their islands and err more delicate and feminine things to those rich sheikhs...this will get those pesky hinjew monkeys off pakistani backs...man, those dal-bhaat eating hinjew baniyas will be so pissed...I think you missed the mark a little by including Urdu as one of the languages allowed Naqsh bhai...Urdu has too many jahil verbs with roots in Pakistan's kafir past...we should make Arabic the sole language in the country...that way we can provide employment to the millions of jobless Arab men who can come to Pakistan and teach us the rasool-e-islam's (pbuh) language...they can also marry Pakistani women and create the elite of the future Islamic race...from this union will spring the real mard-e-momin...the sons of these unions will have superhuman powers which will make them all ghazis in battle and the daughters will carry the beauty and genes to produce even more superhuman ghazis in the future.

Allahu Akbar!

Affordable UK Degrees what is the flip side?

Vanaja: A Movie That Moves Your Heart will look out for it...thanks for the review.

regards