Life with Wife
In my part of the world, its different.... The guy enters his house with fruit and yells, Look everyone, I`ve brought fruit for all of us. Nobody replies. He goes to his wife and says, Jaanu I`ve brought fruit for you.. she yells ``Apni maa ko de jis ke is umar main bhee fashion nahee khatam hotay``.... he gets mad and goes to his mom, Ammi aap ke liye fruit laya hoon. She yells too ``Dafa ho ja! Apni beewee ko day jis ke neechay laga hua hai!!``
The guy, complaining why his wife and mom never stop fighting, goes upstairs and offers the fruit to his old father, who again, has his own tensions, ``Beta un logon ko ja ke do jin ka ghar hai! mera ghar to nahee, main to do dino ka mehmaan hoon pata nahee kab maut aa jaye! Meri kis ko parwah!``
:)

Pakistan Team for the World Cup 2003

- Imran Khan was doing all sorts of politics when he was in Cricket too ;)

- Shahid Afridi deserves to be hanged, but the cricket board cant resist the Pepsi sponsorship, so he`s gonna play in the world cup for ``Company ki Mashoori``.

- Waqar Younis can neither bowl nor bat, he is only playing as a ``Captain``, which reminds me of Sultan Zarwani, the old UAE captain.




A typical Pakistani match is:


- Pakistan bats first.

- Shahid Afridi stops the ball, everybody thinks he`s gonna play sensibly.

- Sahid Afridi hits hard, lifting is back leg, opening the face of the bat to the sky, and gets caught on Mid-off.

- Pakistan gets real slow.

- 45/6

- Old and diabetic Waseem consolidates

- 160 all out



- Waqar opens the bowling

- Waqar defends 160 with just 1 slip

- Waqar gets hit for a 4

- Waqar removes the slip

- Waqar gets hit the shit out of

- Old and diabetic Waseem bowls a couple of people out

- Waqar lets out a moan every time he throws the ball, reminds everyone of women`s tennis.

- Waqar bowls short-balls

- Waqar gets thrashed

- 12 overs gone, 80/2

- Waqar gives up

- Afridi and Razak start bowling

- Waqar off the field

- 20 runs remaning

- Waqar returns

- Saqlain mushtaq called

- Saqlain Mushtaq jumping around to save singles

- Saqlain bowls a No Ball

- Saqlain gets hit for a four

- Saqlain starts crying

- Pakistan loose the match

- Waqar Younis gives thanx to ``Mighty Allah``

- Waqar Younis says it was ``not our day``

- Tauqeer Zia says ``we are experimenting for the World Cup.``

Alif Bay Jeem Dal

Dear GZ(#16)


1- Absolutely true about ``baol``, but since thats the closest way we can punctuate ``bole``, we stick with it. Its sad that with 36 characters and 15 subcharacter and more than ten marks of punctuation which include vowel sounds, our language still has a lot of limitations. Its the same as starting a ``School`` with Alif.



2- About the two-eyed Hay, some facts:

- BOTH Persian and Arabic use the two-eyed Hay in their scripts.

- Run to your shelf quickly, pick up your copy of the Koran, you`ll notice the two-eyed Hay everywhere.

- Persian and Arabic do not have the ``combined sound`` concept, Urdu & Hindi do.

- In Urdu we use the two-eyed Hay for the combined sound, not as a predefined rule but as a standard that eventually developed. We can use the same Hay for an independant sound too, but will have to punctuate the script to make it readable.

- Sanskrit evolved into Hindustani and eventually into Urdu over centuries, to accomodate foriegn words. Its not other way round.



3- Insha`a is Alif-Noon-Sheen-Alif-Hamza(Jazam)
Masha` is Meem-Alif-Sheen-Alif-Hamza(Jazam)
Inshallah is Alif-Noon-Sheen-Alif-Hamza(Zabar)-- Allah

Give it up, Hamza is an alphabet! There is no margin whatsoever in this... there isnt even one lame reason why it could be treated or comprehended as a punctuation mark :)






Dear Linguist(#12), I saw some re-prints of a hand written religious script of 1880s and I did notice two different Yays in it, but then I also looked at one of the early scripts of an ``abridged`` version ``Daastaan e Ameer Hamza`` written not very long before the former, which used only one form of Yay despite not being punctuated.

I agree that with the current trend that debunks punctuation, things get much easier by seperating the Yay into two, and I also agree that alphabetical listings get easier this way, but the problem is, you can differentiate the two scripts of Yay at the end of a word. Inside a word, there is no way to differentiate between the two.

The fact that there is no way to seperate the two Yays when they do not occur at the end of the word, shows how very strongly the Yay was meant to be a single alphabet, and its evolution could take an very very long time.

It is sad that instead of having a progressive trend towards decreasing the alphabets, we are going the other way round making new ones out of the already complicated list. Dont you think the ``Bhay-Nhay`` list is disappointing. Even english wouldnt be such a simple language if they make ``ph``, ``tch``, ``th``, ``ch``, ``sh``, ``mn`` into seperate alphabets! That can easily give them 50 odd alphabets. I would like to see ``Zuaad, Zaal, Zay and Zoy`` combined, rather than seperating the Yays. And thats what makes me think standardization is not a very good idea, we currently are not at the intellectual level required to formulate rules of language, and if standardization will only give rise to 50 alphabets, its better to stay with unstandardized 36.

Alif Bay Jeem Dal Dear A-D (#8),

1- The two Yays have been seperated in the Qaidas quite lately, and that is for the ease of students to differentiate the Ee and Aay sounds. Its a seperate argument whether the technique actually makes anything easier. Different ways of writing the two sounds were developed quite early though, much more than a century ago, but you can only use them at the end of the word. The trend of not punctuating the words helped establish the two-Yay theory, which too, does not argue them to be seperate alphabets. Most Qaidahs will still tell you there are 36 Alphabets in Urdu.


2- No, we do not put a hamza on TOP of a Yay, we JOIN it with Yay, like we join other alphabets together to make a word.


Qaaf - Alif - Daal - Hay makes ``Qaada``

Hamza with a Zer gives the `i sound

Hence Qaaf-Alif = Qaa , Hamza(Zer) = `i , Daal-Hay = Dah

makes: Qa`idah, the correct pronounciation!



Most people who have studied in Pakistan, have written ``Qaida``, ``Quaid e Azam``, ``Gaaey`` etc in their very first year and believe that Hamza is being used as a ``punctuation``. You are not the only one. I noticed in an elementry education school my mother runs, most kids take it to be a punctuation mark, and I also noticed that interestingly, they believe it to have an ``Aye`` sound! Thats one confusion lack of punctuation creates, but we have to live with it becoz the advantages of not punctuating are enormous.

Our Master Jallaludin Rumi
``Plan in the way of Service, untill you achieve Prophethood among the Ummah.`` - Rumi (Masnavi, Part 1, Page 53)

According to the article 260 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the above belief renders Rumi a Kafir

*Rolling on the floor, laughing!*

Alif Bay Jeem Dal
Wow! Nice Quiz!




1- There are 36 (_Thirty Six_) Alphabets in Urdu Language, which are:

Alif
Bay
Pay
Tay
Ttay
Say
Jeem
Chay
Hhay (This Hhay has a sound very different from Hay)
Khay
Daal
Ddaal
Zaal
Ray
Array
Zay
Yoy
Seen
Sheen
Suaad
Zuaad
Toy
Zoy
Ain
Ghain
Fay
Qaaf
Kaaf
Gaaf
Laam
Meem
Noon
Wow
Hay
Hamza
Yay (There is only one Yay, which has been given two names for the hard and soft sound)

There is NO other character in Urdu other than the thirty six mentioned above. Combination of different alphabets can give rise to a new sound, such as ``Bay + Hay`` = ``Bhay``, and this phenomenon is seen in English too, we cant call ``ph`` in ``philips`` a new character. Its a sound! I repeat there are only THIRTY SIX characters in Urdu!







2- a- ``Mud`` is a _Punctuation Mark_ !!!

b- It comes directly from Arabic

c- GhalibZaman # 3, it has NOTHING to do with accomodating Hindi words.

d- A ``Mud`` does not always appear on Alif! It can appear on ANY VOWEL SOUND, to increase the duration of the sound.

e- Since a very high number of words start with Alif and Mud, some (not all) of the Urdu dictionaries index the words starting with Alif-Mud seperately, AFTER the words starting from Alif.





3 - A ``Gol Tay`` does not belong to Urdu Alphabets. It comes from the Arabic Language, where it has the following use:

- It is a type of Gol Hay that only comes at the end of the word

- It is a Hay when it is at the end of a single word, Such as in words ``Jannah`` or ``Sunnah`` or at the end of a phrase or a sentence, for example, ``Ashaabul Jannah``.

- It is a Tay when it connectes the word to another one, such as an adjective in ``Jannatul Khuld``, or occurs in the middle of the sentence with any connecting word ahead, such as ``Janatin Arzuhass Samaawaato WalArz``


When the words ending with this chatacter are written in Urdu, it is replaced with a _Proper Tay_. However, while quoting Koranic verses or religious terms, it is left the way it was in Arabic.



4- The ``Two-Eyed`` Hay is another way of writing the round Hay, but it has a proper use:

It depicts a ``Common`` sound with the alphabet coming before it, for example
- in ``Abhi`` with Bay
- in ``Chhota`` with Chay
- in ``Jhoota`` with Jeem

When a Seperate sound is intended for Hay, we write it the other way, such as
- in ``Haathi``, where it occurs at the Start
- in ``Jihaad``

Romair #1 you`re true to an extent, but remember, if we put the Two-Eyed Hay in ``Jihaad`` it would become ``Jhaad`` and if we put it in ``Bahaar`` it will become ``Bhaar``.




5- Noon Ghunna is just a variation of noon. It depicts the Incomplete Noon sound, by removing the Dot.



6- Yes, there is NO letter in an Urdu word which will not have a punctuation mark. It was ironic to see one Gentleman named ``Ghalib`` claim otherwise. But yes GhalibZaman, most Urdu Dictionaries, when describing the pronounciation, will go for Bay and Wow without a punctuation marl. Romair #1, a ``pesh`` Will make it ``Bool``. Try Zabar with a Jazam on Wow.




7- a- As I said, there is only ONE Yay in Urdu

b- When it comes at the end of a word, it can be written as a Choti Yay for the EE sound as in ``Jee``, ``Acchi``, ``Chhoti`` and Barry yay for the Aay sound as in ``Achhay``, ``Chhotay``, ``Bachay``.

c- Within a word, a Yay is a Yay! In class one, for your ease, they divided the Yay sound into 2, so you could learn easily.


d- In the word Bay-Yay-Laam, if you have a ``Zer`` on B, it will be pronounced ``Beel`` and if you have a ``Zabar`` on Bay it will be pronounced ``Bail``. It has nothing to do with how big or small the Yay is. Its about punctuation!




8- Before Einstein were born, what name did they recognize him with??



9- Sorry to tell everybody, ``Hamza`` is an Alphabet and is NOT included in the ``Airaab``.

I have no idea where people got this notion from, but I would like to see anyone to post me ONE word in Urdu, Arabic, or Persian, Old or New, Any one word where a ``Hamza`` is used as a punctuation mark.




10 - I speak Jaangli so count me out :)

Coincidental Consequences
The moderate elements of Pakistan have always been to weak to strengthen.

Liberal Raiments?
Some people. like my own mother, are apprehensive of the new trends in clothing. It has nothing to do with modesty, they are apprehensive of new (or modern) trends in literature, education, philosophy and religion as well. They have a conservative mindset.

Others, like my father, welcome new trends, accept the changes and become a part of the new (modern) world. They can be referred to as liberal. They accept changes.

Changes and modern trends of the society are not always from modest to immodest. Sometimes they are the other way round. A conservative person will tend to argue about the immodesty of the new trends if they`re the former type and their disagreement from the socio-cultural norms if theyre the latter type, the fact of the matter is, some people apprehend changes, and anybody, no matter how immodest they are or whether they go to co educational colleges, who apprehends new trends is conservative.

This article revolves more around how girls and women dress up. Here in the Pakistani society, you can guess almost to certainty, by the appearance of a girl, what her parents(or Husand) score on the conservative-to-liberal scale.

For guys in the urban middle class Pakistani society, appearance does not depict much. I knew of a guy who was 25 and his father forced him to have a long taleban style beard, wear a nimaz-cap, shalwar kameez and did not let him watch cricket.

Problems with Universities in Pakistan This was an excellent article and the writer`s views are quite realistic. I would want to read more from the author on this topic, something more constructive as to what a modern, liberal, responsible university in Pakistan should be like.
Both my parents are educationists and we will be greatly helped by reading more about this.

Question Authority
Seven years back there was a supposed ``undergroud revolution``, thats when I took up guitar, but it died off eventually. Lets be careful this time.

Dear Saba, restrictions and suppression of individualistic thought is something the youth from the ``non-elite`` schools can relate to, probably more than you can, yet theyre generally not a part of the underground culture. Where are we wrong?

The non comformist feelings probably die out with age, let the players change but the game must remain. Can it create an uprising from the roots of the society, and go on to be more than just abstract headbanging to something constructive?