Rodeo Drive to Raja Bazaar: A review Sounds like an interesting read. I might try and get a copy of this.

What Drives Men and Women of Indian Subcontinent to Infidelity? Quote: ``She was not particularly attractive but when she wore her cardigan inside the British Consulate one could discern her rather excited anterior aureoles.``

Hahaha - what a clinically sterile manner to describe breasts...

And no, I didn`t understand what the purpose and conclusion of this article was either.

Linguistic Imperialism So, it seems that in the linguistic food chain of eat or be eaten, Arabic devours Urdu which has already devoured and de-supported Punjabi in West Punjab. People shouldn`t start beating their chests and wailing the end of the world just because a language borrows words from another.

In a hundred years time, regional languages will become defunct anyway giving way to 3 or 4 major global languages, two of which it seem will be English and Mandarin given current geo-economic realities.

A Cinephile’s Choice ``10. Maula Jatt (Pakistani)``

Wow..?!

Should I educate myself and go find a copy ? :))

Pakistan’s Choice Godot,

Excellent analysis. Couldn`t agree more.

As a nation-state, do you think Pakistan will one day implode given all the domestic regional strife between Punjab (read army) and the other provinces ?

Our Turkic Connection What a great article.

Cold Flesh Thanks for translating.

The use of full names throughout the story I found slightly bizarre.

Sultan Mints Based on your writing there is hope for us all yet.

Makes one wonder about all the submissions that Chowk editors actually reject.

Can an American Student Survive in Pakistan? Interesting article to read...thanks for submitting. You mentioned your parents felt homesick and returned to Pakistan. How did they not take into account the cultural upheaval that their offspring would have to bear ? I have heard of similar stories for Indian NRI families, but in many of those cases the reasons were partly economic (eg. Silicon Valley types returning to start up their own consultancies in Bangalore or somewhere like that - but those places seek to replicate the American lifestyle anyway).

Reading your article gives the impression that the US and Pakistan are at the opposite ends of the lifestyle spectrum. I hope you have now found the intellectual fulfillment that was lacking in the `homeland`.

Rage Against the Dying of the Light Transmigration of souls is a utopian concept, ungrounded in realities. At best it provides a safety net should you not realise your dreams in this life, at worst it provides a raison d`être for justifying an exploited conformist underclass whose aspirations of emancipation can be conveniently deferred to the next `life`.

The Genie Nice effort.

ps. and I thought I was the only one who watched re-runs of `Goodness Gracious Me`. :)

Media: Defining Roles Interesting article...even more interesting are the first two sentences of your essay.

First sentence: ``The media, in all forms, SHAPES our perception of what it means to be male or female.``

Second sentence: ``It is a REFLECTION of the society and..REINFORCES certain traditional representations...`` ..and therein lies the quandry. Which is it - does the `media` (a nebulous term) affect or reflect our views of gender development ?

It is tempting to villify the media as propagating patriarchal ideology and engaging in negative stereotyping, but is that the whole story ? Yes, concentrated ownership of the media is an issue, but so are the inequities of a global socio-economic system that promotes the need for an exploited underclass of workers including both women and men. Are not educational opportunities (and the potential for emancipation) constrained by economics (at a global level) and theocratic thugs (at a regional/local level) ?

Is there anything that so-called progressive countries like Sweden, Norway and Canada have anything that we could draw upon (eg. childcare, employment law, education) and extend to South Asia ? Or are we beyond hope ?

The Tale of Five Rivers Interesting reading....especially the part how West and East Punjab diverged in their approach to the development (or non-development as is the case in Pakistan) of the Punjabi language and literature.

Are there any Punjabi mass circulation newspapers in Pakistan ? What about the local broadcast media ? Is everything in the Lahore area broadcast exclusively in Urdu ?

The 786 Cybercafé on Tariq Road (continued) Excellent stuff ! This is first time I`m reading any of your writings...though I have previously heard of you via Chowk. Look forward to reading future instalments.

Massacre of a Language Before I opened up this thread about linguistic massacres, I naively assumed it was about the state of the Punjabi language in Pakistan....silly me....

Musharraf Will Die Excellent analysis.

I fear your depressing prediction may come true. Then what ? It is not outside the realms of imagination to speculate that the United States may do another `Iraq` - this time to Pakistan...