On Awakening Shandana Minhas:

A titillating masterpiece. Fact or fiction ? Regarding your article:

You poignantly depict how the brigadiers with badges are so vain as to set the lowest value upon those things to which nature has assigned the highest vantage point.

What can be more coarse and rude in the mind than the sight of a mother yearning to extract from her womb a breathing life only to be savagely interrupted by the goons in Matrix uniforms. Surely the “Oracle” will cast upon their precious badges a spell.

Yet they defile our minds and bodies more acidly than epidural pain. Making the possessor fouler than the artificer.

Medallions and bullets are haughty. But one day ``On Awakening``

They too shall topple.

More than a few centimeters dilated !

Compounded Waste Re: # 6

Gracias Harish. Your comments on Kashmiris and Naxalites are spot-on.

Compounded Waste Temporal you pose a pertinent question:

````As a Muslim I cannot decide what is worse the US intransigence or Osama’s arrogance. Or the reverse``

But are US intransigence and Osama`s arrogance not two sides of the same coin ? Both are hunters with hungry intent. Any diplomat attired to the nines who embarks on the strange voyage of war can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The soft-spoken statesman who yields to war is as much a villain and a precursor as the bearded caped-crusading tyrant cocooning in caves.

Countless are the calculating eagles who descend from the Pentagon and Mazar-e-Sharif to live with moles that they may know the secrets of the earth and wreak havoc. A tongue-tied President or a suicide-tied beard ? Both lieutenants of lunacy. Surely the tailor sees the two erroneous sides of the cloth that he weaves ?

Perhaps, in his infinite wisdom, Mahatma Gandhi, had answered your predicament years ago:

`` What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the Holy name of liberty or democracy?

Mahatma Gandhi, ``Non-Violence in Peace and War``
Indian ascetic & inspirational leader (1869 - 1948)

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 57

Vivek you raise an interesting point. Just as an addendum to your comment herein lie the ``official`` benefits brought to the UK by Tony Blair and his navigation of the Labour Party . Do not buy into his ``sailing-skills`` wholesale, for at times he has pirated the seas akin to Captain Jack Sparrow, especially on Iraq, though there is a dosage of truism in a lot of these oceanic achievements:

Labour.org.uk

Labour`s top 50 achievements since being elected in 1997:

1. Lowest inflation since the 60s
2. Lowest mortgage rates for 40 years
3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage
4. Record police numbers in England and Wales
5. Cut overall crime by 30 per cent
6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools
7. Best-ever primary school results
8. Funding for every pupil in England to double (since 1997) by 2007-08
9. Lowest unemployment for 29 years
10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest counties
11. 78,700 more nurses
12. 27,400 more doctors
13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards
14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament
15. Devolved power to Welsh Assembly
16. Banned anti-personnel mines
17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice at any time
18. New Deal - helped over a million people into work
19. Local government funding has increased by a third in real terms
20. Equalised the age of consent for gay men
21. Free entry to all national museums and galleries
22. Overseas aid budget more than doubled
23. Restored city-wide government to London
24. Child benefit up 25 per cent since 1997
25. Created Sure Start to help children from low income households
26. Introduced the Disability Rights Commission
27. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & extra £100 for over-80s
28. The biggest rolling stock replacement programme ever seen on our railways
29. Negotiated the historic Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland
30. Over 28,000 more teachers in England schools
31. Implemented the Freedom of Information Act
32. All workers now have a right to 4 weeks’ paid holiday
33. Record rises in the state pension
34. 700,000 children lifted out of relative poverty
35. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents
36. Banned handguns
37. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent
38. Free nursery places for three and four-year-olds in England, Scotland and Wales
39. Free fruit for all four to six-year-olds at school
40. Free school milk for five, six and seven-year-olds in Wales
41. Record police numbers in Scotland
42. Implemented the Human Rights Act
43. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since the industrial revolution
44. Free TV licences for over-75s
45. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals
46. Halved maximum waiting times for NHS operations
47. Free local bus travel for the over-60s and the disabled in Wales and Scotland
48. Record number of students in higher education
49. Extended the Race Relations Act so that all public bodies and functions now have a duty to promote race equality
50. Five, six and seven-year-olds in class sizes of 30 or less


Want to comment on the list? Please call us on 08705 900200 or email info@new.labour.org.uk

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 49

Van Gogh,

Your feudalistic mentality of stoking fire between Hindus and Muslims is stale.

It is precisely this rivalry-ridden lunacy which a portal like Chowk seeks to disparage.

Get your facts straight and stop waxing lyrical.

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 51

Arjun, with typical neo-fascist rhetoric exhorts

“enough of the “oh we`re just driven by the sufferings of our fellow human beings already”

The above statement portrays your sentiments towards fellow human beings and speaks volumes of your lamentable attitude: Arjun why are you a character so impregnated with the heaviest chip on your shoulders? Lay it down.

Or it will ravage you into yet more hatred.

Stop trying to spin this forum into a hindu-muslim trash-fest. Grow up. That game has been played a million times before.

You carry on lifelessly lamenting

“When saddam hussein killed ``thousands of Iraqi mothers and children``, was military action to stop that killing the number one issue for brit-pakistanis?

Has your head been buried so deep in the Saharan sand that you did not take heed that Brit-Pakistanis, Brit-Hindus, Indian and Pakistani diplomats campaigned head-strong round the clock and relentlessly for years to push forward multi-lateral legislation against Saddam and his brutalities: to cite but a few concrete examples:

U.N. Security Council Resolutions 686 and 687, demanded that Iraq return all prisoners from Kuwait and renounce all involvement with terrorism.

Security Council Resolution 1373 unequivocally certified that Saddam continues to shelter and support terrorist organizations that direct violence against Iran, Israel, and Western governments.

I sincerely hope that NO ONE in this forum slants toward sympathy for a vile tyrant like Saddam. At the same time WE have fundamental problems with unilateral “machismo” by the US Congress, pushing its beak into waters without the sanctity of international treaties under the mantle of UN auspices.

Arun and Theo Van Gogh, your facts on what stance “the majority of Indian and Pakistani citizens, whether of British background or not” took against Saddam is flimsy, and legally baseless. Please be informed before waxing lyrical.

Arun and Van Gogh, your feudalistic mentality of stoking fire between Hindus and Muslims is stale.

It is precisely this rivalry-ridden lunacy which a portal like Chowk seeks to disparage.

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 52

Aslam

By voting for the Liberal Democrats you, and thousands of others are garnering an evolution which will seismically stir Westminster-based politics away from its suffocating two-party stranglehold to a variegated three-party system.

Oxygenizing The Lords and Commons with pluralism.

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 55

Cayenne

Gracias a million times for your take on Mumbai`s nightlife. Sorry fellow participants, just this time my leaves wither away from the topic at hand, for Cayenne has given an exhaustive low-down on Mumbai`s nightlife, which merits a response.

Cayenne we may have started off on a wrong footing but you sound like me: a real party animal ! If you are in London we should get royally hammered as you can sip some of the finest cocktails here.

Seems that Mumbai`s impresarios excellently fling the hat of entrepreneurialism into the clubbing/nightlife scene. I guess apprehensions dissolve as you walk into an avant-garde floating bar named ``Suzie Wong``. Here in London we sometimes have ritzy boat parties
aboard the HMS Belfast, sinking into a prestigious boat-fest gala. Most boat parties leave from Westminster pier pass Embankment and end up at Greenwich.

Sounds like Mumbai`s party aficionados promenade into the inviting hospitality of the Resto Pub Onyx, Enigma and Athena. The caviar-like rarity of Mumbai`s eclectic boho chic crowd and the themed Olive venue, as well as Goa surely summon titillating tribes of party aficionados from far a field.

I usually spend time tasting the rarest champagne with chums at various London hot-spots, namely The Light Bar, Fifty which is a casino/2 restaurants V and Rama and private members club. Worthy of mention are also the Kingly Club, Number 5 Cavendish Square, Pangaea, Noble Rot, Aura, Embassy, Penthouse with a scenic view of London from its 8th floor and bespoke Sketch.

I would relish the opportunity to one day visit Mumbai and mingle with the Fashionista tribes and new-media heavy-weights flocked and cavorted unabridged and uncensored to soulful funk tinged with desi vibes ?

Converting Pound Sterling into Rupees probably means guzzling down the finest cocktails in Mumbai without having to shell out astronomical sums. The party scene in Bharat sounds like a refreshing gem as compared to the trashy tourism throw-away clubs mushrooming in and around Leicester Square.

They shall only be a crude map of disheveled memories a few months down the line.

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 45

Cayenne,

Point taken with a pinch of salt. Since you do mention the industry i work in, that of night-life/entertainment, any suggestions on the hippest dance clubs in Mumbai ?

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 41

Arjun

Of course you would not dream of giving an iota of importance to the thousands of innocent Iraqi mothers and children getting pillaged and slaughtered by foreign troops?
Surely more than a “tinge” of neo-fascism on your part amigo?

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 36

Urstruly

Compelling as it may sound, this perhaps is one conspiracy theory taken too far in the case of Britain. The conservative religious-right of Republican penchant hold much more sway across the Atlantic !

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 30

Fuzair

It is noteworthy to observe how you take into account the ``latent`` calculations or ``Machiavellian machinations`` going on behind the scenes, based on pricing parity which reflect more acutely the figures. Cayenne kindly do take note.

Sound analysis by Fuzair.

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 29

Re: # 32

Zakkk and Sajj

Right-wing extremism and xenophobia as both of you poignantly observe, have contemptuously ripened their seeds in Europe. Whilst in the UK inroads have been built for the deplorable BNP anorexics, not too long ago Jean-Marie Le Pen`s Front National nearly took France to an electoral slaughter-house.

Unfortunately this omni-present racial cancer has spread through the European veins far a field. From Italy`s post-fascist National Alliance`s Gianfranco Fini and the Northern League`s Umberto Bossi, to Austria`s far right Freedom Party megalomaniac Joerg Haider.

It is only hoped that forgiving gravitational forces will pull down this torrid tidal wave of anger.

And have it sunk deeper than the Titanic.

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 16

Arjun

Truth be told the most famous Pakistani in Britain by far is Sir Anwar Pervaiz, a savyy businessman who went from rags to riches and stands as an exemplary benchmark for all South Asian aspirants on these shores.

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 35

Syke,

Merci beaucoup for the statistical correction on the Lib Dem vote numbers. By the way what is your take on Galloway`s anti-war stance ? Dirty politics, but sometimes means do justify the ends ?

As for Charles Kennedy Junior well the apple never falls far from the tree...who knows maybe in a generation`s time he churns out more effectively an evolution that his dad kindled ?

2005 UK General Elections Re: # 28

Cayenne

Another feather in the cap to Mittal Steel, at the helm of it Britain`s most affluent magnet. With an ``official`` net worth of $2.2 bil surely if this country were in the pits, as you so sorely suggest, then why would Lakshmi and Usha Mittal still be here ? You are a living paradox. Yet again contradicting yourself.

Surely the fact that ``some`` South Asians are towering like minarets in Britain is a salutory emblem of their hard work and enterprise. I think for once we both concur: deservedly so.

My firm helped organise Amit Bhatia and Vanisha Mittal`s wedding in Versailles. Renu and Arun Bhatia were up-to-the minute and exemplary. The wedding extravaganza took six-day long, which saw over 1000 guests, ceremoniously concluding at the Grand Intercontinental in Paris.