Dusk Re: # 116

Saj you constructively commented;

`` post modern society with all its incidental peculiarities``

That is interesting. Generally speaking, and not with specific reference to this article, what do you feel the incidental peculiarities of post-modern societies are ? Could you elucidate upon them ? for they are of great personal relevance/interest to me.

Furthermore you state;

``a more direct article on the specific reasons for the gradual emergence of some the factors that have led to this society could be an interesting enough read``

Saj,

In other words you are compelling me to expound on what has greased the wheels for an imbalanced punctured post-modern society ?

Fragrantly raped laws promulgated by Magistrates living in a Victorian era, switched-off mindsets utilising switched on technology to further their parochially diabolical interests. Financiers whose double-standards and promiscuity are as volatile as the unfettered stock markets.

Political impotence, barefaced aristocratic snobbery, unashamed male-hype for a “blingocracy” and all that glitters, unwarranted macho testosterone, gratuitous female lack of decisiveness in a consumption-addled social strata where status is worshipped and consumerism is its temple.

Alas this list incessantly goes on. The gist of this bewail has been re-cycled so many times which is why I thought let me present these travesties in a diverse light. As I commented earlier, if there are echoes of pomposity I do apologise for that was not the intent.

Dusk Re: # 115

Ok one last attempt at explanation. Tourists get aroused, excited (therefore titillated) when they hear meaningless symbols like the tolling bells of the Big Ben.

Dusk Re: # 114

T Ahmed

Point taken with granular pinches of salt. You raised interesting observations. I would like to expand on your comment regarding ancient Greece, and thread its relevance to this article:

No Greek philosopher born before Socrates was fired with more ingenuity than Heraclitus of Ephesus (today Efes in Turkey). The dawn of the 5th century BC, ignited a prose that made him proverbial for obscurity, I guess I have been tarred with that brush as well eh ?

Heraclitus criticized conventional opinions about the way things were and attacked the authority of slavishly following social norms of writing. I too have skinny-dipped into non-conformist forms of prose, which demur prone to criticism but hopefully immune from banality. I welcome criticism much like he did in the 5th century BC !!

His surviving work consists of more than 100 epigrammatic sentences, complete in themselves and often comparable to the proverbs characteristic of `wisdom` literature. Notwithstanding his sporadic presentation and transmission, much like my own !! Heraclitus` sentences comprise a philosophy that is clearly focused upon a determinate set of interlocking ideas- a sniper aimed at conventional modes of thought.

As interpreted by the later Greek philosophical tradition, Heraclitus stands primarily for the radical thesis that `Everything is in flux`, like the constant flow of a river. This organic mode of thought is in tandem with my inner belief sanctums.

Although Heraclitus took this thesis to be true, I feel that universal flux is too simple a phrase to identify his philosophy. His focus shifts continually between two perspectives – the objective and everlasting processes of nature on the one hand and ordinary human beliefs and values on the other.

He challenges people to come to terms, theoretically and practically, with the fact that they are living in a world with an ever-living fire kindling in measures and going out in measures`. The flames of which tear integrity. This in essence is the spirit of my article ``Dusk``.

T Ahmed

I, like any other author am not immune to criticism, in fact I relish it. In most disciplines the great truth is that `All things are one`, but I feel that this unity, should encompass difference, opposition and change. Though not malignantly scathing diatribe.

Change and ``constructive criticism`` enveloppes our universe as a continuous state of dynamic equilibrium.

Day and night,

Up and down,

Living and dying,

Heating and cooling

From ``Dusk`` till dawn

– such pairings of apparent opposites all conform to the everlastingly reverential formula (logos) that unity consists of opposites; remove day, and night goes too,

Just as a river will lose its identity if it ceases to flow.

Dusk Re: # 107

Instant Karma

Time is a ``revocable`` privilege for it is incessantly ticking like a biological clock. Time is never on our side.

It is a scarce commodity in the scheme of life.

A lifetime goes by and with the blink of an eye we grace the Afterworld (or re-incarnation) depending on subjective belief.

Time can be revoked since it can be taken away from us with the click of a finger. By our Creator. That we should not waste time was the message I was attempting to convey to all the shallow urbanites.

Dusk Re: # 102

Instant Karma

That would be independent thinkers trying to dot the canvass of literature somewhat creatively

Dusk Re: # 109

temporal if they say ``nay`` to peace then this will be one cinematic experience you will thoroughly enjoy nail-bitingly from the edge of your comfortable seat. Get that popcorn on the bunsen burner. Or just maybe if the ``gentlemen`` seek not to engage in crowd-pleasing mischief-making antics then you might plunge into a meaningfully pensive film. The WOW factor will certainly go amiss....but for the better...methinks....

Dusk Re: # 104

Instant Karma

Cerain tourists who grace the greyer skies of London do so with unnecessary ``arousal``. For them every nanosecond or sound is akin to a ``Karmasutric`` experience, hence the reference to ``titillation``. Big Ben embodies an epicentre a powerful symbol like Buckingham Palace where touristic hollowness is portrayed with full-fledged mediocrity. Tourist jubilation is devoured in a degrading notion that every street in the West is paved with gold.

Aspirants coming from far afield litter cities with cheap snapshots and fake smiles, rather than appreciating a deeper cultural understanding of a metropolis. They worry more about the battery in their JVC handycams than savouring the moment itself. Hope this sheds light on why I used the word titilation with tinted sarcasm ?

Dusk Dear Chowk Staff and fellow readers,

You all know that my interacts endeavour to be constructive, suggestive and meaningful. Despite avowed pleas for peace, if certain members on this forum do not bury the hatchet and persist under an ill-trodden path of animosity I will have to render them long-overdue type-lashings. You must excuse my errant ways. I do it not out of spite. Merely to pop over-inflated egos. ``And Im not speaking about anyone in particular``.

Being a skilled craftsman I deploy type-lashing merely as a last resort. Not as a first course of action. If and when necessity dictates I can be gleefully chirpy or ferociously venomous: I can urge healthy debate or smash stringless-puppets into smithereens. I hope their internal reasoning will propel them toward the path of common courtesy.

Once more Chowk staff and readers, despite my attempted diplomacy, if a blood-bath ensues, do forgive me. I was left with no other choice.

After all is not all fair in love and war ?

Dusk Re: # 98

T ahmed

i will be popping onto this forum ubiquitously. if need be day in day out. i revel and bask in controversy. so my knives are sharpened.

To you as well I urge peace ?

If not be prepared for a royal world war 3.

Im no lightweight.

Do you want showmanship and arm-wrestling or peaceful understanding ?

If you chose peace I will drop the knives.

If you desire war then EVERY SINGLE interact of yours will be haunted and plagued by my criticism which could potentially pale you into annihilation. For as long as you are on Chowk.

This is not a threat. Just a plea.

Take your stand man.

Whats it gonna be ?

Dusk Re: # 98

tahmed:

califragilisticexpialidocious contextualized pedantricide

nice one soldier !

Dusk Re: # 97

Hamid M

you state:

``i am sorry if i sound mean-spirited ``..........

Hamid I welcome constructive positive criticism, or even alternative suggestions/ideas/views from yourself or any other Chowkis. I would much rather you critique the content of the article from a literary/artistic/intellectual standpoint rather than turning this into a visceral vendetta.

I have no beef with you, and both of us sharing a similar South Asian background and being fellow ``Chowkis`` can find more endearingly diplomatic ways of airing our opinions rather than descending down the slippery slope of amateur and degrading tit-for-tat.

I joined Chowk to build bridges.

Not burn them.

The high-octane language and metaphors I use are a jibe at the ``chattering`` classes, ``arm-chair`` activists, a by-product of my style of writing. Which is freelance and prose. Delusions of pomposity need to be dismissed for that is not the intention of this author.

Now I am gently, purposefully and delicately calling for a peace truce ? For the sake of exercising magnanimity and to herald a more mature discourse. If on the other hand you letch onto the easiest form of slanderish critique then do expect reciprocity. The ball is in your court :

Are we gonna wave the white flag and settle this like grown-up gents or is it going to descend into mutual recrimination, which undoubtedly will hasten the belts for an ill-begotten blood-bath?

Now for a sterile juvenile audience a ``Gladiator`` style sword-flinging between us will be juicy...but for a more grown-up audience this will just render a meaningful debate into savagery.

I sincerely hope you take up the peace truce and we can move on to sanguine greener pastures. We might even notice similitude in ideas and gear up for a more intellectual Chowk following rather than engage in meaningless crowd-pleasing antics.

Hamid: The choice is yours.

The cards are on the table.

Truce or tyranny ?

I expect you will instinctively chose truce. For purposes of tact. If you desire peace I will bury the hatchet. If you chose vindictive behaviour I will retalliate in not too pleasant a manner.

Sometimes it takes a bigger man to endeavour a truce.

Im appealing to your conscience. I hope you take the right decision.

For both our sakes.

Let us see how the tides turn....

We do have a captive audience.

Dusk Re: # 92

Saj,

This piece may come across as incomprehensible to yourself for it is steeped in metaphor. It is just my personal mode of committing thoughts to electronic format. It can be interpreted from various angles.

A most commonly held belief is that ``dusk`` is
a lament vis-a-vis postmodern society and all its underpinnings. An emblem of angst/depression weaved into a contradiction-laden world.

Basically Im venting off my spleen with regards to urban living, its sheepish mandates and its ill-begotten actors.

Dusk Re: # 75

Amrita

You type:

``I am one of those people who liked your effort. Isnt it brave of me to turn up? :)

Given the ``toothless`` predators here you are a valiant crusader indeed LOL !!

``I thought it had great rhythm, flowed well and had a certain novelty to it - I dont see too many prose poems on this site. Your appetite for language was also very apparent and you definitely have a voice``.

Amrita, what enamours me about prose is that it allows freelance kindred spirits to unleash, uninhibited, uncensored deep-seated emotions/anger/passion/apathy through the prism of a lingua franca: I do concur with you that language often devours us in our own trappings yet it is all we can rely on. If only I could truly pin down into words what ravages my heart....

You observe `` you depend too much on metaphor. Some of it is well done, but there are spaces where you appear to have fallen in love with the voice or caught up too much in the excitement of the work to pay attention``

Amrita, if you get the chance look up Umberto Eco`s ``The Name of the Rose`` and how Eco depicts language as a trapping and cultural confinement.

Gracias for your post. At least your observations/critique were of an enlighteningly well educated genre.

Dusk Re: # 84

Miriam K

Very apt of you to bring up Allen Ginsberg’s “howl”. A truly inspirational poet. The poem`s plummeting hallucinatory style and the subsequent obscenity trial which it provoked, not too dissimilar to the venom being lashed out on this forum ! was an eye-opener to many a literary critic.

I am enamored by Ginsberg’s “howl” and its ability to communicate scenes, characters and situations drawn from his own experience, and the community of poets, artists, political radicals, drug addicts and psychiatric patients which he encountered.

Miriam “Howl” goes on to lament at the state of America, named as `Moloch` in the poem. In my soul there lurks a similar lament, especially for South Asia, which I see as such a cradle for potential and opportunity being misused, misplaced and misguided.

Ginsberg was inspired to write Part II of “Howl” when he saw a hotel as a monster he named Moloch during a “peyote” vision, and much of the section itself was written while under that same “peyote” influence.

Part III of howl is directly addressed to Carl Solomon, whom Ginsberg met whilst both were patients at Rockland, a psychiatric hospital, and relates shared experiences, hopes and fears.

Despite the ferocity of vindictive social critique against him, Miriam and fellow Chowkies witness the piercing depth of Ginsberg. When reading these parodied debut lines of Ginsberg I was merely in awe:

``I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the streets at dawn looking for an angry fix (Hamid M perhaps LOL !!!)

Ginsberg continues:
``……who lounged hungry and lonesome through Houston seeking jazz or sex or soup, and followed the brilliant Spaniard to converse about America and Eternity, a hopeless task, and so took ship to Africa …(Miriam you can tell that Ginsberg, has widely trotted the globe)

``who dreamt and made incarnate gaps in Time & Space through images juxtaposed, and trapped the archangel of the soul between 2 visual images and joined the elemental verbs and set the noun and dash of consciousness together jumping with sensations of Pater Omnipotens Aeterna Deus `` (note a gleaming spirituality in Ginsberg`s work).

Miriam what inspires you most about Ginsberg ?

Dusk Miriam K

Very apt of you to bring up Allen Ginsberg’s “howl”. A truly inspirational poet. The poem`s plummeting hallucinatory style and the subsequent obscenity trial which it provoked, not too dissimilar to the venom being lashed out on this forum ! was an eye-opener to many a literary critic.

I am enamored by Ginsberg’s “howl” and its ability to communicate scenes, characters and situations drawn from his own experience, and the community of poets, artists, political radicals, drug addicts and psychiatric patients which he encountered.

Miriam “Howl” goes on to lament at the state of America, named as `Moloch` in the poem. In my soul there lurks a similar lament, especially for South Asia, which I see as such a cradle for potential and opportunity being misused, misplaced and misguided.

Ginsberg was inspired to write Part II of “Howl” when he saw a hotel as a monster he named Moloch during a “peyote” vision, and much of the section itself was written while under that same “peyote” influence.

Part III of howl is directly addressed to Carl Solomon, whom Ginsberg met whilst both were patients at Rockland, a psychiatric hospital, and relates shared experiences, hopes and fears.

Despite the ferocity of vindictive social critique against him, Miriam and fellow Chowkies witness the piercing depth of Ginsberg. When reading these parodied debut lines of Ginsberg I was merely in awe:

``I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the streets at dawn looking for an angry fix (Hamid M perhaps LOL !!!)

Ginsberg continues:
``……who lounged hungry and lonesome through Houston seeking jazz or sex or soup, and followed the brilliant Spaniard to converse about America and Eternity, a hopeless task, and so took ship to Africa …(Miriam you can tell that Ginsberg, has widely trotted the globe)

``who dreamt and made incarnate gaps in Time & Space through images juxtaposed, and trapped the archangel of the soul between 2 visual images and joined the elemental verbs and set the noun and dash of consciousness together jumping with sensations of Pater Omnipotens Aeterna Deus `` (note a gleaming spirituality in Ginsberg`s work).

Miriam what inspires you most about Ginsberg ?

Dusk Re: # 55

Hamid M

To my delight i see you are one of my favourite fans !! I just logged on and was smitten by your shower of praises. So many of them in abundance !

Now ofcourse since I have to go out time does not license me to reciprocate this utter kindness.

Be sure when I log on next time

I will reward you with a present you least expected monsieur.

A present you have never ever received before.

Though please be waiting.

For it will shock even your beloved self.

Ciao.