The Beast and I the use of `dots` in your writing somehow `read` well with the entire story. i tend to use them a lot myself...which they say is not `proper` writing. but all the pauses seem just right and sometimes cant be done without .... for me atleast. it was definitely a very good story...due on chowk for a long time now :)

Meet Me at The Gym! hillarious piece sobia, read ur article in DAWN a couple of weeks back. going to the gym can be really addictive though...for the better i suppose :)

Trembling Camera Flare on a Column Within a Column The constant badgering, nagging, disappointment, dejection, denial, anger, low self esteem, contempt and so much more, one could feel as a result of such (escape)routes (matrimonial ads, rishta keraney walee, marriage bureaus, aunty `X` and aunty `Y`, etc.) adopted by a girls family.

Spare Us The Smoke, Please! last post adressed to you (studebaker): calamities; natural or otherwise dont deserve your scowling. i repeat what i said earlier: ``if rehab institutions are such `money of the poor` draining places then you probably need to question their existence in the first place`` and NOT hound people going there for help!

*peace*

Spare Us The Smoke, Please! #10

studebaker:
1. didnot propogate spending money in rehab instiutions
2. have not considered that option for myself ... neither plan to nor feel the need to
3. prevention is another option (not asked for in the first place) that i wish not to consider atleast right now
4. if rehab institutions are such `money of the poor` draining places then you probably need to question their existence in the first place instead of going on about people who go there for help. whats next? saying that retiring homes are a burden on the `money of the poor` and therefore old people should be either gotten rid off or `prevented`!! heh!

Spare Us The Smoke, Please! ``For those who expect me to ramble on with the many disadvantages of smoking, and healing for the perpetual smoker, can eat their hearts out.`` => *afterthought* does that mean if smokers smoke only where `publicly allowed` in order to preserve the rights of non-smokers, it would make smoking/smokers more `bearable` and/or `acceptable` by the general non-smoking public?

Spare Us The Smoke, Please! : )

i doubt any smoker will give up smoking after reading this article (though very well written) or for that matter after being introduced to any of the anti-smoking campagns.

all of us are ignorant fools...who smoke to smoke. period.

`that`s all that there is to say...I rest my case.`

Of Bikes and Boys i like the way you`ve used simple words to describe some of the most deep thoughts. so many things come and go as we mature in life, we forget some and remember others, never the less they all leave an impression which shapes us for better or for worse. c`est la vie.

Fat-Free! i so agree with you, took me a good 6-7 months to get rid of my weight too, and the feeling...aaah! eternal bliss

The Children Under the Tree Aamir this is a good break from the usual political debate thats been flooding this place lately...luvly piece

Shaping the Grayness `She wanted to see if he still had a shadow, did the darkness inside leave once the life had gone?`... a beautiful thought provoking line

Tying The Knot - Village Style khan saab `bera` fit topic `see tey likhya vee bera hee sona see`. but u forgot the nachnay waliyan along with the daru. they seem to be an important part of any `zamendaaran da viah` these days.

Crying Without Tears N aZ:- just love the simplicity and the depth of the verses.

Crying Without Tears N aZ:- just love the simplicity and the depth of the verses.

fara

Death Dear chuk:- she was only `one` of `many` that he had. this she found out through the friend...`his` friend who spoke up when it was too late. and ironically while tellnig her he added, `i had to get it offa my concience`. Damn these twisted *&$%@*

einsteinwallah:- `enjoy` was the wrong word i used, but i never meant it in the literal sense.

Syd:- the girl right now is 24 and all this happend about seven years back making her around 17yrs maybe, repitition of facts...true, but for me that was explaination enough for her lack of prudency.

Temporal:- when i was listening to her and saw the marks of the slashing, i was really more concerned with what she was going through rather than the sequence of events. if i were `investigating` her case, i would have raised the same questions as you have. if he had given so much as a clue to what he was about to do, she would have obviously never gone ahead with the relationship or that last meeting for that matter. in a normal person`s right mind, do you seroiusly think such an extremety can ever be intercepted and therefore avoided when all you are doing is `going to have a talk` with some one you think you are involved with. i have also indicated in the writing that she is primarily a compassionate individual. the first time he kissed her, `She felt a maternal instinct to hold his hand, to tell him she was there for him, would always be`. i think this is an over riding factor which never allowed her to critically analyse him.

AmericanExpress:- it was NOT a `DATE` as per se, atleast not to her not then. it was NOT a `stranger` either, atleast not to her, that is why she went in the first place. and at that time she was NOT in pakistan, sadly right now she is and that maybe explains her avoidance of therapy or for that matter her talking to her parents about it. and lastly we would all be living eutopic lives, if only a political proclamation of religion(s) could avoid such incidents.

FJ:- to avoid such comments as yours and criticism of self pity, was the exact reason WHY she never spoke about it in the first place. lack of judgement WAS definitely her fault...no denying that, anything more than that, i dont think so. even if she has now after seven years indulged in self pity, she deserves it...needs it more so, atleast till she can get it out of her system. it definitely might be her consent to it all that led to the rape, but then how many of us at 17 were concious of such delicate balances in a relationship. i tend to blame the guy more than her, because like ive written he had graduated soon after they began to talk. this leads me to assume logically that he had more sense in him than the girl.

Death Thankyou for your reviews on the article. However, i thought id offer an explaination for a few of your concerns.

the article reading like a newspaper cliping:- emm the girl being discussed in this article is a very dear friend of mine. when she was narrating her story to me, it was void of any emotions or frivolities of literature. and i personally thought that was the best of reflecting on what she`s going through. Use of words, in my opinion, would have distracted the reader from a hard core reality and the way it happened.

As for possibilities of recuperation for rape victims, you are right `tainted`, there definitely are concepts of therapy. But that is sadly JUST what they are in our society. She HAS come out to be a strong individual in her own right, conserving as much of herself that she could. I was very much of the same view as urself and `SaraJ` but after listening to her i thought otherwise...