The Beast and I saminasha...
you completely misunderstood me. oh well.....you`re forgiven, again. i don`t know where you got the picture of the double standard, but guess what. i really do have better things to do with my time than to defend myself.
this whole place rots and may you all live good and content lives.
ana

The Beast and I ummm....errrr....i know i`m supposed to be on vacation from chowk, but i think this whole argument has drawn out long enough.

can we all remember what this board is about...can we remember why writers put their stuff here out on chowk? it is for feedback on the work itself and not personal attacks against those who write, and those who happen to like what is written?

i don`t think zeeshan should be booted off this board, because he expresses an opinion. i don`t particularly care for the way he expresses it at times, but guess what folks. . .this has been going on long before zeeshan entered the picture. a particular piece not being one person`s cup of tea does not mean that personal attacks should be made against the person who wrote it...or the people who do like it. but again, some of us know bloody well that this has been going on for a long time.

zeeshan, it would have been good for you to just read what jawahara said in #19, and move on. . .she acknowledged that some of your criticisms may have been valid, no matter how you put them. i`m trying to recall a conversation you and i had about constructive criticism. you made your remarks in the beginning, and it was clear how you felt. i don`t quite understand why this needed to be dragged out.
and if you had actually come on my board and told me that you didn`t like what i wrote. . .i would have thanked you for you opinion and moved on. . .we all write differently about different subjects. no one says here that you have to love this piece, and obviously you don`t. i see your need to be honest (or arrogant, according to some), but no...you do not have to be cruel in order to critique. and if others like this piece, there`s no need to reduce us to sheep. i can assure you that some of us would not be putting those people down who happen to like your work, because everyone`s tastes are different. which is why `crap` gets to exist right next to great pieces of work in bookstores.

as for the rest of you. . you know you can choose to ignore his posts and move on, we `ve been down this road before, many times, with other interactors. but i think you need to think seriously about this urge to boot someone who expresses an honest opinion, even if he doesn`t express it in the most mature of ways. if zeeshan is a threat here, so are the rest of us. and if any of you don`t like what i`ve said, that`s fine. . .but please, when 85-90 % of a fiction board is all about personal attacks and defending each other rather than talking about the piece at hand, something is really wrong, and it`s really pathetic. this board was about `the beast and i`. . .nothing else.

thank you for reading, and please don`t bother responding to me. i`m back on hiatus from chowk, and will not interact any further.
regards
ana~

Anarkali Bazaar yasser,
that remark was not intended for the pakistanis, or the lahoris. but thank you for clarifying all the same.

~ana

Can Muslims Become Part of Mainstream Nationalism? saxena...#15
not that it`s any of your bloody business...but i said i wouldn`t be on as often as i usually am...and eventually i`d be gone. you think i`m cheap...your cheap potshots are all over the blasted place.
think about that one. . .when your brain`s fully functioning.

apologies for diverting from the topic at hand.

Just Another BLOW-UP? okay...since i am still around, and still on chowk for whatever reason...at least if you are going to repudiate any of farzana`s claims, perhaps you could try sounding at least less crazy and stupid than you think she does.
try not to attack her for every single line of her article for example. if she knew something was going to happen, that`s just a feeling that she had. responding by `well why didn`t you tell us?` is rather immaturish. as if anyone would have listened to her anyway, had she actually gone out and told someone, anyone. . .well any of you perhaps.
accusing her of planting the bomb is just as sick a thought as whoever thinks she planted the bomb thinks her thoughts are.
and yes, perhaps not directly, but farzana does allude to her emotional state in regards to these events:
`. . .There is laughter. Too much of it. The Topic is avoided, eyes averted. The kids play. I am getting restless. I switch on the TV. There is more news, about death, dying and life going on. `
I don`t know about you, but I get something out of this as to how she`s feeling. People express their sadness and emotions differently. Who are we to imply that farzana has felt no sadness about the tragedy?

if all that is going to take place here is `the farzana bashing and insulting show` then count me out, please. even if what she says sounds incredible to some of you, i think focusing on her and insulting her is taking away from the real issue, the reason this article was written and published in such a timely manner in the first place, and i want to be a part of the latter discussion not the former.

god help us all.
~ana

Just Another BLOW-UP? oh gawd, here it comes. . .the deluge of farzana bashers. *prepares the fortress and guards the moat*

Just Another BLOW-UP? when i read the news earlier today. . .and saw the blame game already in effect, i thought to myself, of course they will blame pakistan. hello? can we focus more on those whose lives have been lost and those who have lost so much?

words sound hollow often when a tragedy like this occurs. my condolences and prayers to the victims, and the families who have lost loved ones. and yes, those who are responsible for this should be punished.

and i hope that the politicians don`t take advantage of this situation for their own purposes, but that would be hoping for too much from politicians.

Can Muslims Become Part of Mainstream Nationalism? does the average indian muslim really identify with pakistan? somehow i have a really hard time digesting that piece of overcooked meat.

Anarkali Bazaar i have been away and have not been able to respond to posts, but i just wanted to say that i appreciate the feedback on this article and the discussion it has generated.

what mari experienced in anarkali is something that many of us (including myself) experience in various parts of the world. it is not something that is unique to pakistan or muslim societies. i`m not suggesting here that anyone implied as such, but i was rather uncomfortable with the `communal` bend this conversation was moving into. it was not my intention, nor do i think it can be read between the lines that i was putting lahore, or pakistan in a bad light, but all those who have their preconceived notions as well as what they`ve deduced from reading various texts will make conclusions of their own.

some of you have been able to relate to this, and i appreciate you sharing your experiences with me. molestation (quite different from eve-teasing, whatever the heck that means) does affect our lives in various ways. and we react to it in various ways. mari`s was to remain silent, and endure the pain, but t. is right in saying that one should not remain silent when something like this happens. even if the authorities do or can do little about it.

violence in men has more to do with just sexual repression. we can`t just reduce it to that. . .this is not to say that that is not a factor, but it is much more than that. . .it is definitely much more than vulgarity.

and cipram. .thank you for pointing out there was really nothing to my article. might i just add there was really nothing to your response either.

regards,
~ana

Anarkali Bazaar mittarji,
even though mari is fascinated by burqas, and veils. she never dons one herself. : )

jawahara,
thank you!

Anarkali Bazaar anuradha,
yeah, that attitude of `the women are asking for it` is rather old isn`t it?? and total bakwas. i read your observations and i hesitate to gauge this behavior by religion via muslim and non-muslim communities, because i think that segregation in various degrees happens in both communities.

sameeroo,
when i find something worth mentioning about desi males (must be hidden deeeep in the haystack), i will let you know. theek hai?

banjaara,
i hadn`t really thought that things would get much better. the perversion has always existed all over pakistan, but yes, it has gotten much bolder and much more threatening. i mean if something happens like when my sister and my mother got chased by these lafangas on mall road with onlookers doing nothing, then yes, there is a huuuge problem, and an increasing slide in morality.

feroz,
: ) perhaps you can round up some defensive tacklers for me, the next time i visit? thank you for your feedback!

and cheers to those all those whose names i`ve either forgotten or neglected to mention. your feedback is appreciated!

Anarkali Bazaar thank you chowk editors!

freeyoursoul,
unfortunately more than just a few of us can relate. thank you for your comments.

t.,
i agree with your disagreeing with me. silence is definitely not always golden. but then some fourteen year old girls who experience such an attack from an unknown are left feeling confused as to what to do.

farzi,
when i read this to my fellow students/writers in my writing class, the only woman besides me in the class felt the `ending` should have been similar to what you suggested, while the men thought the `ending` was fine, and said quite a bit.
yes, it can hurt like hell. .and it did.

ally, dullabhatti. . .kiddan?!

anil,
i suspect there is quite a bit about delhi that would remind one of lahore. like sister cities. when i was watching monsoon wedding, and saw backdrops of delhi, i thought i was looking at lahore and anarkali chaat would make your day as well. will refrain from mentioning kababs...that`s veeresh`s domain.

azure,
hopefully the bansuree wala will forgive my having omitted him.

bspnd and regards....ana.

Goodbye, Traveller, Hunger i think a link or connection could be made. . .but then again there really needn`t be one. like farzana`s comment about the progression. : )

the rhyme to musafir reminds me of the limericking that takes place spontaneously in a conversation. i like that.

Black Days in Karachi am hesitant to enter into this argument, debate, call it what you will between feroz and tahmedji. . .but something compels me to stick my not so big nose in this discussion. . .and so i will shake off my laziness, sluggishness, tiredness...and attempt to comment on this. and this is looking to possibly be a longish post. . .but i will not apologize this time.

i read and reread feroz`s posts. . .and yes even i cringe at the thought that we as pakistanis at home and abroad are to blame for the oil spill occurring. the KPT mainly are to be held at fault here, and the PNSC...they are directly to blame for the environmental disaster that is wreaking havoc for the inhabitants of karachi and its environs.

having said that. . .

if we pakistanis remain silent about this and do not demand (and demand is the proper verb here) accountability from the government offices responsible for this bloody mess, then yes, we are just as much responsible as the idiots who mismanaged this. we keep crying about democracy this, and democracy that. . .well, those of us who wish to see democracy have a chance to put it in action by asking for accountability. granted, musharraf has been more of a usurper rather than a democratically elected president, but how does this stop us as citizens who claim to be pakistanis, and those of us abroad who still have ties to pakistan from wanting these bumblers (the kindest thing i can say in english without being censored) to be answerable for their actions, and future actions?
silence is not golden here. . .silence is poisonous.

i remember not too long ago, taking a class where we read literature of the holocaust, and the armenian genocide. i recall several poets and writers, who in their gripping words alluded to the fact that those who remained silent about what was happening with jewish communities in much of europe were contributors, through their silence, to the atrocities being perpetrated. as harsh of a reality as that is to deal with, for those who were silent. i believe there is validity in that allusion. i think i`ve mentioned this before in connection with something else, and hate being repetitious. . .but it bears repeating. and it bears repeating because this is not the first time i have observed with more adult eyes, how we as adult pakistanis do not wish to make any waves in regards to actions that plunge us further and further into an abyss. we complain about the way things are in pakistan, but we do nothing that actually is in our power to do to press for change. and i am just as guilty of that as perhaps my ammi is, as perhaps my cousin-brother who is struggling to educate his children in pakistan is. there are too many struggles to deal with, why take on this one? and what good is it going to do?

pakistan is flooded with apathy, and so are pakistanis who live in other parts of the globe. as a cynical, often apathetic, and yes, still a citizen of pakistan who wavers between holding on, and disawowing myself from pak sar zameen, i am well aware of that. the thing is, what kind of message does this apathy send, not primarily to other lands, but within our own...to our own, our past...our present...our future...our children or future children. it is certainly not a positive one. like that one reveler in bina`s article said, `how can this hurt us?` we`ve been hurt by so much before, wars, mad generals, mad prime ministers, pollution, senseless murders, so-called honour killings, my gawd, how can an oil spill hurt us? well, it can. and it is. so wake up and smell the stink!

feroz`s posts have had emotionalism in them, and rightly so. . .but he also makes a valid point, and i cannot help but feel that it is in poor taste to question his intelligence for having made such a point. we as people who inhabit the land of pakistan, or who once inhabited the land of pakistan and still have a strong connection to it, have to some extent allowed ourselves to be trampled over so much so that now we seem not to care. . .`tis qismat, destiny, whatever. and that, forgive me, is just bollocks! i shudder sometimes at this rate to think of the future. . .of pakistan`s future. and the future of pakistan is not in the `muththi` of the army, or the bureaucrats alone, the future of pakistan is in our hands, yours. .and mine. it is our land. . .our government regardless of how we feel about it, if only we would act as if it was.

adnan: if you`re reading this, i hope that your ammi is feeling better.

i know that this was more than 50 words or so, and i am prepared for the insults and mockery that are to come my way for my unabashed emotionalism. i know that there is some truth in what i am saying, and thank you for either patiently reading this. .or skipping to the next post.

adios.

Start the Commotion i watched it on CNN for much of the evening last night. . .and i couldn`t help but feel that the anchors and powers that be were disappointed that it wasn`t linked to the `T` word.

General’s Dress Code Confusion {Pull out your kurta-shalwar (or a cotton safari), General, and be comfortable! }

he never looks comfortable in anything he wears anyway. . .nor should he. but he will pretend to be comfortable for as long as we let him.