A shadow of sun Nice... mellow, yet powerful.

The Fall Incredibly well-written!

There is something so unbelievably familiar about the characters and emotions that I am baffled! Either the author is an exceptionally talented writer, or……………???

Chained Words Beautiful!

Dessert I agree with #12. This one is kind of annoying and lacks depth.

Black in my Rainbow Re: # 6
Well, I still say that it depends on the perspective. The difference is between mixing of lights (additive color mixing) vs. mixing of pigments, dyes, or paints (subtractive color mixing). Scientifically, white may be the ultimate mix of all the lights, but in a palette, a mixture of different paints yield black (Check out the subtractive color wheel). Yep, uncertainty, I say.

Black in my Rainbow Re: # 4
Depends on the perspective/ mood.

``You realize, of course, that black results from the absence of any colors``
Black, to me, is the ultimate mix of all the colors.

``And when black takes over - one can see nothing but darkness. Never any light.``
In fact, the dimmest light appears bright against darkness, just like my favorite colors look their best when paired with black.

``The endless, hopeless darkness of night!``
Darkness is never ``endless or hopeless``. The ``darkness of night`` is always followed by light (a fact of life, not a mere perspective).

``The colors are the reality - the darkness is on the inside. It is man-made.``
I agree to an extent, but what is on the inside is also a part of reality. The colors are reality, all of them, including black.

Black in my Rainbow Nice. Hoping to read more from u (poems, that is:)
Shobig_sifar`s suggestion regarding the last verse is brilliant; changing just the one word would add a lot more depth to it.

Fire Fly Gosh, hon, u`re gifted! Love your work. Love the intensity. Very powerful, indeed.

The Iftaar Party Scene Chill, honey-- Live and let live! Don`t go if you don`t like to- I don`t because I lack some basic social etiquettes to survive these gatherings-- chit-chatting and finding my way through the crowd are some basic skills that I have failed to acquire (I’ve tried) but I don’t have anything against people who enjoy and participate ‘actively’ in these social events. Life is difficult and serious enough-- Why not let people have some fun and laughter with friends, family and food at these iftaar dinners? I don`t fast, so I hardly know what I am talking about:), but I sincerely respect and admire people who do, even the ones who go wild between iftaar and seher. After all, nobody should deny the simple fact that being a saint for 12 hours is better than nothing!

Marriage in Hiding Hmmm. You`ve raised some complicated issues here. You say that marriage is ``not as simple as it used to be``, and then you suggest that love marriage may be the solution to all these problems. I see a slight paradox here, since I don`t think that love marriages were any more popular in Islamic societies when marriages were simple and blissful. So, you may want to give some more thought to the causes of the issues that you`ve raised and discussed, and present deeper analyses of the potential solutions (if they exist)...

``Cheating couples would also not exist if everyone got to marry the person of their choice``.

And if we`re good boys and girls, Santa would bring lots and lots of toys for us, and we`ll all live happily ever after:)


``Today, in muslim countries - there are more sex crimes then anywhere else in the world. There is a whole gay community in every city``

Pardon my ignorance, but is it implied here that being gay is a ``sex crime``?

Soaps Sans Sanity! ``nevertheless women are keen to watch these stereotype figures on screen, dreaming themselves in those gaudy outfits, loaded with jewels, gems and pearls. This kind of fantasy proves a relief to every next-door girl woman; such world of imagination takes them far away from their daily hectic routine life in the form of an escape.``

Believe me, women with ``hectic routine life`` neither have time, nor patience for Soaps. Occasionally, one may pause in front of the TV screen to take a glimpse of the hero in ``stylish clothes and accessories``, but please, why would any woman want to waste time to watch other women loaded with jewels, gems, or whatever? They could, instead, spend the time in taking their you-know-what to work, so that they can afford to buy their own gems and jewels. (God bless the store that sells three pieces of jewellery for $10.00 that can make you look like a soap queen... So, all you women out there, stop dreaming and go shopping!:)

Jasmines in Colorado (final part) The third part more than covers up for the disappointing second one. What can I say in its praise? I don’t want to admit that it touched my heart, but then I would be lying if I’ll claim that it didn’t make me shed a few tears. Oh, what a dilemma!

Jasmines in Colorado (part 1 of 3) Ah, the innocence of first love!
Beautiful writing... So very refreshing in its honesty and simplicity.
Excellent job!

A Free Being Well, the character in the story ``chose`` to play by the rules. It was his choice to succumb to the demands of the society, perhaps, because, he fancied a peaceful life, and was wise enough to know that only obedience to the rules of the game can guarantee that to him. However, all his life, all along the journey, he was making choices, without accepting the responsibility for them. In the end, he simply had the freedom to choose without worrying about the society’s reaction to his decision, because he knew that the society saves all its sympathy for the dead or the dying ones.

Thin as a Pin A major update: Sharukh Khan is out. Emraan Hashmi is in.

The Dark Side of Love ``...many jealous people have great difficulties differentiating between innocent flirting and unfaithfulness...``

I agree that there is a line between the two, drawn by fear or guilt, but there is no such things as ``innocent`` flirting. Has anyone ever felt a pang or even a hint of innocence while flirting? People flirt to experience the thirll that they may be missing in their otherwise ``innocent`` lives!