unflinching idealism ... since 1997 archivessitemapabouthelpfeedback
where paths intersect
  • Home
  • InFocus
  • Themes
  • Columns
  • Articles
  • Fiction
  • iLogs
  • Gallery
  • Unplugged
  • Writers
  • Interactors
  • Tags
Sign in | Join Chowk
web chowk

Articles with tag: child

The Reflection In My Window

Salma Omar   Jul 2, 2008   interacts: 5

As he twisted her wrist, the little girl writhed in pain, tears welling in her eyes as she struggled to free her self. Her brother, pulled at the man’s other arm ...

We Can Make a Difference

Bhaskar Dasgupta   Jun 30, 2008   interacts: 5

They are the children who have been abandoned, have run away from abusive homes, were orphaned or simply got lost.

Children of the Streets

Ather Naqvi   Apr 23, 2008   interacts: 4

His frail hands make a slight mistake and draw the wrath of the Ustad who lands a kick in his side. The boy gives out a painful scream but quickly turns back to work.

Child Interrupted

ehsan syed   Jan 14, 2008   interacts: 3

The boy who blew himself in Dera Ismail Khan last Muharram was hardly 17 years old. Still a child, legally speaking, dying a violent death, martyr to some, and terrorist to others.

Kibera Inside and Outside

kashkin dabruski   Jan 5, 2008

Bullets inside my head
And hunger outside me
I am a little child
My mother gone

The Reality of Disposable Kids

Faris Kasim   Sep 11, 2007   interacts: 12

Child laborers, Sex workers and factory workers in the third world are all really slaves. Victims of the people's residence in unreality and constant indifference.

My mother, me and my daughter

farheen zehra   Aug 27, 2007   interacts: 10

There comes a moment in everyone’s life when a door bell or a telephone call changes everything.

Child Prostitution in Arizona

Sidra Omer   Mar 22, 2007   interacts: 3

Although the Task Force is focusing its efforts on the supply, mainly prostitutes and pimps, there’s a practical problem of how to help these children.

The Fall

Zahra Romana   Jan 8, 2007   interacts: 14

I used to have such a round full face as a child. Plump red cheeks, the sort of face that aunties kiss and uncles pinch. So why is it that in every picture I see of myself I am frowning deeply, so very serious?

Fruits of Western Civilisation

Afaq Ali   Dec 11, 2006   interacts: 13

The first psychiatrist he saw, at age 7, decided after a 20-minute visit that the boy was suffering from depression.

Jihad and Chicken Pox

Khalid Bhatti   Oct 25, 2006   interacts: 45

I was hardly thirteen and had two problems. Firstly, I was continuously embarrassed by the hard thing in my thighs that always gave away itself in lose Shalwar Qameez, and secondly what to do during long vacation that are to follow the 8th class board exa

The Balloon Seller

Shashi Gupta   May 15, 2006   interacts: 5

Chutki fondles its sand-ridden scabby skin. Rani responds with an effusive wagging of it’s balding tail. Dog and girl sit together for sometime. With a brisk movement Rani aims at one of the balloons

familiar junction/beggars galore/avert eyes/ignore ignore

Mariam Shoaib   Dec 6, 2005

Reality hits as traffic lurches to a start.

Poor People are Dogs or Even Worse!

Mubashir Butt   Oct 11, 2005   interacts: 55

He was full of energies and sympathies for the cause of human rights and children rights in particular ... He was the perfect personification of a romantic revolutionary that I thought Pakistan needed.

Savita’s Choice

Kalpana Sharma   Sep 18, 2005   interacts: 6

Hundreds of child marriages are held across Rajasthan with no one stopping them. The reality sinks in when the children attain puberty by which time they are told they have no choice. But they do.

The Buddha is Smiling

Bhaskar Dasgupta   Jul 26, 2005   interacts: 22

An orphan’s curse would drag to hell

The Ultimate Betrayal

sajal javid   May 26, 2005   interacts: 381

She sobbed as he put his hands around her and whispered in a hushed voice, “Don’t cry honey, I am here and I love you, its ok! Don’t worry, I am here”, as his hands drifted all over her body making her cringe with revulsion.

Kati Patang

Azmat Hussain   May 10, 2005   interacts: 9

could never figure out why my mother thought that she was protecting me from some danger that lurked on the roof. Those were the best of times; it was when I was totally fearless.

A Letter from the Village

Aamir Ansari   May 7, 2005   interacts: 4

His mother’s voice, rising like ribbons
In the molten sky, fetching him home.

Why Not Adopt

Ghazal Mir   Apr 10, 2005   interacts: 31

What I would like to tell people who fear they cannot do justice to an adopted child is to have a better opinion of themselves.

Lahore Street Scene

Tauheed Ahmed   Apr 5, 2005   interacts: 34

On a hot summers day I see
A child cross the melting street
A load on her head
And no shoes on her feet


Corporal Punishment

Kinza Farhan   Mar 22, 2005   interacts: 25

The moment a child is admitted to school, he or she starts serving a sentence of corporal punishment and verbal abuse. No doubt, every child today is somehow affected by violence and abuse at home, on the streets, in the media

Holistic Education

Shandana Minhas   Feb 28, 2005   interacts: 10

Because of the very silence they believe will nurture their children’s innocence, families place their children at greater risk even as they seek to protect them... In the absence of a parent child dialogue, teachers can talk to children about cult

Child Camel Jockeys

Reza Malik   Oct 25, 2004   interacts: 26

Inhumane practice of using little children as camel jockeys in the UAE and the resulting mental and physical torture they go through.

The Olive Trees

storyteller    May 21, 2004   interacts: 17

On our way to Khan Yunus we had seen thousands and thousands of trees that had been cut down. Olive trees. The trees of peace.

Outside Looking In

Amanullah Kariapper   May 16, 2004   interacts: 4

She asks about the way – robbers, road conditions, ETA. The drivers and local staff inform her that there have been robberies on the way and the town itself has a ‘dangerous reputation’...

Care Taker

Satish Tumne   May 7, 2004   interacts: 9

'I work there,' he said as matter of fact.
'Work?' I was not expecting from little boy.
'I look after these things so that no one can steal it'

Searching for Infantopia

Shandana Minhas   Apr 8, 2004   interacts: 8

Motherhood is only one aspect of the female of the species. The growing number of early childhood care and educational initiatives is one of the most obvious indications of this shift in attitude.

The Thirteenth Hour

Faiza Hussain   Feb 2, 2004   interacts: 19

She could never survive without me; she could not withstand my trials and tribulations, she must leave before I make my final exit.

What Cats Dream

Shandana Minhas   Jan 21, 2004   interacts: 37

Inspector Duffy-u-Din Bangash of the FIA (Feline Investigation Agency) versus Bhooki Aloo (It was her passion for crime, that made her a household name.)

Monsoon Days

Bina Shah   Jul 6, 2003   interacts: 137

The woman on the television tells us it’s raining in India. This means the monsoon will come to Pakistan soon. You only have to see the satellite map on television to understand the Siamese nature of South Asian weather.

I’m With Stupid

Haroon Moghul   Jul 3, 2003   interacts: 6

thought to myself, as I searched for the right kind of chocolate fudge cake, that I was now living in an ascendant empire, the most powerful country on earth and perhaps in all of human history. An empire!

Broken-Hearts, Dream-Filled eyes

Hamid Mahmood   Jul 2, 2003   interacts: 42

You see them everywhere. You see them on the roadside begging, or in a waste dump collecting worthy trash, or bringing you hot cooked food on a roadside restaurant, or trying to sell you roses or a cheap bouquet at a traffic signal. They are everywhere.

The Conversion Chiaroscuro

Farzana Versey   Jun 30, 2003   interacts: 131

Didi became a Hindu. Long before the RSS and the Pope got into a tiff about conversions. At that time it meant nothing to me.

Spare Us The Smoke, Please!

Madiha Waris   May 26, 2003   interacts: 51

non-smokers seriously need to start realizing their right to health and safety

How to kill your Wife (Unedited)

malik khar   May 26, 2003   interacts: 74

for killing women, a plethora of options are available

Takht-e-Bahi

Saima Khan   May 10, 2003   interacts: 15

Takht-e-Bahi is famed for the quality of the kebabs available here.

The Educationist

Zafar Anjum   May 7, 2003   interacts: 10

When Mr. S, the educationist, came to the village of monkeys, a murmur spread all across that he has brought along something very strange and interesting.

Air Cdre Rizwanullah Khan Shaheed Memorial Trust

Samina Rizwan   May 4, 2003   interacts: 26

how will we make sure that the contribution to this world happens anyway, in the name of the dearly departed

My Beautiful Rizwan

Samina Rizwan   Apr 5, 2003   interacts: 79

Such was the overpowering presence in my life, of Rizwan - my husband, my friend, my soulmate, my shaheed.

Protest March on the 30th of March (no pun intended!)

Hira Nabi   Mar 31, 2003   interacts: 28

We call ourselves citizens of the world.

Baghdad Lullaby

Bina Shah   Mar 23, 2003   interacts: 45

They say the price of war is never cheap ...

French Fries vs Freedom Fries

gullu gullu   Mar 18, 2003   interacts: 65

’One tuna wrap and one coke. Would you like a side order of freedom fries with it?’

Tales From Yore

Jagmohan Chadha   Mar 12, 2003   interacts: 35

success in business

Under the Hill (part 2)

Abdullah Arian   Mar 12, 2003   interacts: 2

short story--part II

Under the Hill (part 1)

Abdullah Arian   Mar 10, 2003   interacts: 8

Do not enter, for you may not like what you will find...

The New Jews

Bina Shah   Mar 8, 2003   interacts: 173

In this world, where Muslims are the new Jews, where Pakistanis are terrorists, visa cheaters and total bastards, What am I?

Travels through America - Deep Thoughts

Nazar Khan   Mar 5, 2003   interacts: 44

Finally, it was one sight that took my heart and left a lasting impression on me of the beauty and simple innocence of a human being...

Expectation

Haroon Moghul   Mar 1, 2003   interacts: 23

The desi family has all the identity of a post-colonial nationality

Who Wants Peace, BAYBEH?

Farzana Versey   Feb 27, 2003   interacts: 36

Buy and sell what you saw yesterday--Even a model of a burning train.

Ramblings On the Fence

Jawahara Saidullah   Feb 19, 2003   interacts: 44

Searching for your realities in a melting pot.

An Interview with Govind Nihalani

Zafar Anjum   Feb 16, 2003   interacts: 9

For Hindi film buffs, Govind Nihalani needs no introduction.

Almost Dead

arunima sengupta   Feb 7, 2003   interacts: 8

maybe 'art of living' classes are good things afterall

Maternal Suicide

Ameer Afraid   Feb 4, 2003   interacts: 14

Melancholy and Sadness in Lahore

A Day In The Bazaar

Sobia Aslam   Feb 3, 2003   interacts: 29

The young boy bumping into her made her mad, madder than she had ever been, but he escaped on his bicycle, grinning, that little bastard.

Agent Pinkyfeld

Chowksters    Jan 30, 2003   interacts: 44

the glamorous life of a Hindu Jewish spy

Life with Wife

Nazar Khan   Jan 22, 2003   interacts: 38

The only mysteries left in each other's anatomy are perhaps lungs and liver.

Tying The Knot - Village Style

Nazar Khan   Jan 8, 2003   interacts: 61

maids who can conveniently meet their boyfriends

Serendipity in Sri Lanka

Shabbo Shabbo   Jan 4, 2003   interacts: 12

I’m a tourist again, but this time in the comfort of my own country, and the time frame of more than thirteen days.

Antarctica

Quinton Zondervan   Jan 2, 2003   interacts: 7

Once again the world was engulfed in war. For what reasons no one knew, least of which the soldiers, for the reasons had been so contrived and ill supported that they were also soon forgotten.

The Case For and Against The Satanic Verses

Subroto Roy   Dec 28, 2002   interacts: 33

Evaluating Diatribe and Dialectic as Art

Documentarians Hope to Enlighten Americans about Prophet

Richard Scheinin   Dec 24, 2002   interacts: 138

the program provides a more balanced explanation of Muhammad's prophetic message of justice and mercy

Wanderings in the Twilight Zone

Shashank Lele   Dec 23, 2002   interacts: 40

Serialized Novel

Musings Of A Suspected Terrorist

Beynaam Badshah   Dec 20, 2002   interacts: 168

I admit I have hated America...but there is another side to this story.

Sohail Rana: Musings on music

Anis Shakur   Nov 26, 2002   interacts: 31

His adorers are surrounded by a lifetime of numerous memories of his immortal compositions.

The Gray Cotton Shawl

Hamidah Hemani   Nov 21, 2002   interacts: 22

Kashmira is the bastard child of Pakeezah and Indir.

The Endangered Species

Bina Shah   Nov 15, 2002   interacts: 146

I’m just waiting for the day when South Asian women are added to the WWF’s endangered species list.

The Sad Reality of Arranged Marriages in South Asia

Aqdas Afzal   Nov 2, 2002   interacts: 165

Arranged Marriages are Racist and prevent Social Mobility

A Captain's Dream

Mohan S Chabba   Oct 31, 2002   interacts: 4

I met up with Mohan, an old friend going back to our days as cadets under

Perfect Women. Imperfect Men

Nafees Ghaznavi   Oct 24, 2002   interacts: 68

women should also be able to fulfill their responsibilities towards their homes

The King’s Gambit: Chapter 5 (The Diplomat)

Omer Rafique   Oct 21, 2002   interacts: 65

Carl Davis had just lost one group of swing votes in his home state. He was going to make sure he did not lose the other group also.

From London to Sydney

Shravani Dang   Oct 14, 2002   interacts: 4

The greatest thing we have learned is that people across the world are remarkably similar

Ahmedabad. Sept 23, 2002

Leya Mathew   Oct 13, 2002   interacts: 22

26 people have been killed in a terrorist attack in some mandir in Gandhi Nagar

In Afghan Refugees’ Camp

Sheharyar Khan   Oct 4, 2002   interacts: 20

As I entered the camp, I was stunned by the contrast between the posh villas at my back and the mud houses on the bank of sewerage line in my front.

All The Way To Maine

Dilip DSouza   Sep 12, 2002   interacts: 30

How some Pakistani and Indian kids found out that the enemy has a face.

Bitter, Not Sweet

Bina Shah   Sep 11, 2002   interacts: 95

We were treated to a shootout between seven Al-Qaeda suspects hiding in a residential apartment about three minutes away from my house.

The Thousand-Yard Stare

Zafar Anjum   Sep 8, 2002   interacts: 9

The story of Samira, a Palestinian girl, from the refugee camp of Gaza.

Return of the Blob

Shandana Minhas   Sep 4, 2002   interacts: 23

Mothers hold the key to heaven.

Action To Support Displaced Community in Gujrat

Ajay Raina   Aug 22, 2002   interacts: 190

I grow more certain day by day that we must start in Gujarat, what we did not do in Kashmir

Search for Identity -1, Saeed Anjum’s Short Stories

Saadat Saeed   Jul 25, 2002   interacts: 17

The day you kill me.
in my pocket you will find
a ticket to Loveland.

The Riverbank

Hamid Mahmood   Jul 22, 2002   interacts: 63

Mahmood felt as if he was choking. Choking in the polluted environment of our society.

Kashmir Fatigue

Ajay Raina   Jun 17, 2002   interacts: 705

I still have a home there and I am looking forward to my permanent return

DIL’s Caravan of Hope

Ras Siddiqui   Jun 6, 2002   interacts: 36

DIL has already changed the lives of over 8000 underprivileged children

From The Table

Temporal    Apr 16, 2002   interacts: 44

You can’t dance around or over me, cannot provoke me, arouse me or hear the scream of my soul.

The Red Dress

Zafar Anjum   Mar 29, 2002   interacts: 70

With the mountainous weight of forty-three years

Caesar, Mata Hari, and Mirza

Godot    Mar 22, 2002   interacts: 45

Translated from Urdu, a story by Mushtaq Ahmed Yusufi (1962)

We, The Muslim Americans

Anne Shamim   Mar 21, 2002   interacts: 499

We envisioned a happy co-existence

Riots

Farzana Versey   Mar 6, 2002   interacts: 520

Here are people afraid of their own

Forced Marriages in the UK

Tariq Ali   Dec 30, 2001   interacts: 41

Parents don’t listen to what their children want

The Taste of this Eid

Bina Shah   Dec 23, 2001   interacts: 10

it made no difference that we had all tried to be so good

Reaction

Zehra Rizvi   Dec 22, 2001   interacts: 128

Terrorists Breeding In Your Gentrified Neighbourhood of Ft. Greene, Brooklyn.

Diwali...Then

P Venkatraman   Nov 22, 2001   interacts: 35

A humourous and nostagiac look at Diwali preparations in middle class Bombay 30 years back.

When the Lights Hurt the Eyes

Farzana Versey   Nov 14, 2001   interacts: 384

Our superstitions are world-renowned. We feed the poor in designated months...

Some Birds Don’t Fly

Hamidah Hemani   Nov 11, 2001   interacts: 20

I can hear the jingle of her ankle bracelet in rhythm to the heavy tabla beats

Open Letter to O. B. Laden

Shahgul    Sep 14, 2001   interacts: 106

Bin Laden! Yes, I am talking to you. Person to person.

A Pakistani School’s Visit to India

Alia Amirali   Aug 16, 2001   interacts: 1051

Nowhere else in the world can one enter an enemy country and feel so at ease.

Devi Dies ...

Gomathy Venkateswar   Jul 15, 2001   interacts: 13

It was April 1939, hot and sultry in the district forest town of Tirupattur.

The Girl in the Meadow

socratez    Jul 9, 2001   interacts: 13

A story for young children and their parents

The Indus that Strayed

Gomathy Venkateswar   Jun 30, 2001   interacts: 28

It was the summer of 1944, and Delhi was like a furnace ...

Little White Pills

A Bismil   Jun 17, 2001   interacts: 76

Warning (Mature Content ) - He said goodbye to Rahul and his misery.

The Shah of Chicago II

A J Nabi   May 25, 2001   interacts: 18

the place was thick with smugglers and heroin factories

Just Another Stupid Love Story

Urstruly    Apr 8, 2001   interacts: 224

Women show varying degrees of interest in my wrists

A Tyre In E Flat

Wajahat Malik   Mar 18, 2001   interacts: 14

Five year old boy drowns in the lake ...

They Changed My God

Anwar Iqbal   Mar 7, 2001   interacts: 314

I do not know how God is related to me

This Visit To Pakistan

Hassan Gardezi   Feb 21, 2001   interacts: 412

one notices some interesting adaptations in the life styles of upper classes

Spew

Shandana Minhas   Feb 12, 2001   interacts: 27

the city staggered to its feet like a dazed Cockroach

Brocade

Jawahara Saidullah   Feb 3, 2001   interacts: 74

Like a worm they have crept inside my perfect daughter’s heart and mind

An Eyewitness’ Account of Death, Horror And Misery

Veeresh Malik   Feb 2, 2001   interacts: 42

The enormity of the quake had still not hit us

Sheher Ka Larka, 1947

Rehan Ansari   Feb 2, 2001   interacts: 34

he saw Amritsar aflame from his passing train

The Day When God Died

Urstruly    Jan 13, 2001   interacts: 284

I have an innate fear of the news of someone’s demise.

Beating the Donkey

Bina Shah   Jan 8, 2001   interacts: 30

The Minister roared from the ground

Marital Rape

Aurangzeb Haneef   Jan 8, 2001   interacts: 432

A man can’t rape his wife

Defending the Indefensible

Pervez Hoodbhoy   Jan 7, 2001   interacts: 12

a lazy and heartless educational bureaucracy

Remembering Mushtaq Gazdar

Beena Sarwar   Dec 5, 2000   interacts: 12

In the memory of Mushtaq Gazdar

DOST of the Hopeless

Zeejah    Nov 23, 2000   interacts: 19

there, but for the grace of God, go I

An Obituary

Shandana Minhas   Nov 20, 2000   interacts: 17

Whatever you did to the least of my children, you did it for Me

Anything But Vacant

Omar Phoenix   Nov 19, 2000   interacts: 29

I would like some thighs, cut the fat, I want it lean

Ganapathy and The Drillmaster

Bindu V Shridar   Nov 9, 2000   interacts: 12

Ganapathy loved food. In any form, shape or size

Ismat Chughtai’s Autobiography -- A Transalation

Muniba Kamal   Nov 8, 2000   interacts: 47

Let her, said my father

I Am Wierd

anNy    Nov 3, 2000   interacts: 30

I seem to overflow from them all

The Relationship That Heals

Ali Hashmi   Nov 1, 2000   interacts: 27

no one comes to see me because they are happy or content with their life.

Neither Heaven Nor the World Under My Feet

Onaissa Qais   Sep 4, 2000   interacts: 20

Before Rayan was born, my days were perfect

Yaksha-Prashna

SSS    Sep 3, 2000   interacts: 13

But I know Charlie Brown explains everything

Is the Language of New Fiction Androgynous?

Harish Nambiar   Aug 31, 2000   interacts: 7

Does literature too have sex?

Banyan Tree

Jawahara Saidullah   Aug 24, 2000   interacts: 26

a lone boat on the sea of the universe

Piecing Together Old Bahawalpur

Wasiq N Khan   Aug 18, 2000   interacts: 14

A call to preserve Bahawalpur’s architecture is long overdue

My Identity

Godot    Jul 10, 2000   interacts: 56

So, what is my identity?

The day I got circumcised

A Shiraz   Jun 12, 2000   interacts: 102

a purple bank note (50 rupees!!) if I go through the operation like a man. . .

Run Ayesha Run

Shandana Minhas   Jun 9, 2000   interacts: 12

Women are not built for speed

Oi, Kinniyaan Memaan Keetiyan Ne.

Omar Phoenix   Jun 1, 2000   interacts: 19

It’s a clean slate,
The Paki’s had his fun,

Tower of Babel

Shehlah Zahiruddin   May 31, 2000   interacts: 12

My language was peppered with baithtta hoon and khata hoon along with the elongation of almost all Urdu words with aan such as ainak-aan...

Touch

A Shiraz   May 25, 2000   interacts: 29

In the West, by the way, that is where our son will eventually go to study...they brutally electrocute an animal to death...

The Point

Shandana Minhas   May 23, 2000   interacts: 123

“main Mussalman hoon”...Can a man dressed like this do something like

The Louder Echo

Nauman Khalid   May 14, 2000   interacts: 2

children are more comfortable, knowledgeable, and literate than their parents

Calendarical Sense

Owais A Saeed   Mar 24, 2000   interacts: 9

What has cricket got to do with my problem?

A Full Belly Speaks Persian

Zeejah    Mar 20, 2000   interacts: 8

I resented the hill-folk the luxury of modern technology

Goodbye, yellow brick road..

Shandana Minhas   Feb 12, 2000   interacts: 23

today is the first day of my last week as a teacher...

Unquestionable Changes?

Sobia Aslam   Jan 25, 2000   interacts: 42

Where did the sehra go?...once a part of the ~QThings to wear on the Big Day~R manual for men...

Fate

Anita Zaidi   Oct 30, 1999   interacts: 18

What happened to you, my friend?

Revolution in the Westerlies

Tariq Ahmad   Sep 10, 1999   interacts: 13

The prodigious son of a devout nation, Karachi sleeps late into the night.

San Diego Warming’

Rizwana Z Khan   Sep 4, 1999   interacts: 4

... fifty plus people of all sizes and ages convened for a slumber party

Of Boylove and Boylovers

Sabia Ahmed   Aug 31, 1999   interacts: 223

We (even in the oh-so-liberal West) live in a more conformist society that we are led to believe

Threads - Part 2

Star Marlboro   Aug 28, 1999   interacts: 11

the city she would greedily crave for after she left

The Bird of Crimson and Gold

Jawahara Saidullah   Aug 17, 1999   interacts: 19

And it said to her, “it is coming. Be patient.”

Eqbal Ahmed - As I Knew Him

Pervez Hoodbhoy   May 27, 1999   interacts: 10

I had not heard of Eqbal Ahmad until I heard him speak in 1971 at an anti-war demonstration at MIT

Lies of the Western ‘Science of Islam’

Parvez Manzoor   May 1, 1999   interacts: 17

Mass killing in the name of the state is legitimate and justified; sporadic acts of violence in the name of religion (read: Islam) are illicit and immoral

My Name is Alijah

Syed Amir Husain   Apr 22, 1999   interacts: 2

I will plant a rose, in Kosova.

The Maze

Amber Bokhari   Apr 21, 1999   interacts: 5

A doctor’s experience.

Snakebite

Bina Shah   Mar 30, 1999   interacts: 13

From the hole, a large hissing sound escapes, and she shrieks..

Shaam Ki Biathaak

Content    Mar 9, 1999   interacts: 10

A place almost completely secluded from the rest of the world.

Buta, Pattey and Allah Chowrangi

Saima Shah   Mar 6, 1999   interacts: 22

In a lonely December night four men died in the city of Karachi ...

Jaya: Chronicle of an Anonymous Death

Jawahara Saidullah   Feb 9, 1999   interacts: 9

There is no one here, Jaya, only you, I tell myself.

Dust and Color

Anne Shamim   Jan 25, 1999   interacts: 19

From the world of glass and gray to a world of dust and color.

The Never-Ending Story

Kaneez Rehman   Jan 23, 1999   interacts: 117

A womans take on being a ’druggie’ in Pakistan

Lillie

Nishith Vasavada   Jan 2, 1999   interacts: 13

An essay on child labor

The Daily Grind

Saad Shafqat   Dec 5, 1998   interacts: 51

Deodorant and excrement in Karachi, circa 1985.

A Courier With Urgent News

Saima Shah   Nov 14, 1998   interacts: 9

Out there, up there somewhere is tomorrow and tomorrow will make today okay

Waziria’s Dilemma

Ajnabi    Nov 13, 1998   interacts: 12

The Minister sweated with excitement. His agents had brought him news of very serious weight.

Bookstore Lessons

Bina Shah   Nov 5, 1998   interacts: 7

Watching the two boys... I was seized by the impulse to do something for them...

Evil Spirits Travel in Straight Lines

Sheldon Pacotti   Oct 19, 1998   interacts: 3

Two French scientists go to Senegal to fight a resistant strain of malaria.

The Lost Generation

Shandana Minhas   Oct 8, 1998   interacts: 17

You cannot throw a stone without hitting a cynic here

Listen South Asia

Ras Siddiqui   Aug 20, 1998   interacts: 4

A poem of protest

Khodoki

Sheldon Pacotti   Aug 11, 1998   interacts: 1

Down and out in Leninsk, Kazakhistan: an old technician at Russia’s largest spaceport

Incantation

Sheldon Pacotti   Jun 29, 1998   interacts: 3

Where intelligence can be enhanced with expensive pharmaceuticals, a poor boy needs an alternative medicine

The Judge

Saima Shah   Jun 22, 1998   interacts: 27

It was an ordinary summer in a very hot country. Life was full of possibilities and poetry.

Sins of a Freeborn

Sabrina    Jun 16, 1998   interacts: 2

or Dialogue With Myself

End of a Long Winter

Sheldon Pacotti   Jun 10, 1998   interacts: 3

I wish they could make you better

Calligraphy of Coils

Rehan Ansari and Rajinder S Pal    May 11, 1998   interacts: 1

A conversation with Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Ali

Azadi

Sheldon Pacotti   Mar 24, 1998   interacts: 5

A woman in Tehran intervenes when her husband becomes a smuggler of alcohol

Status of Parents in Al-Quran

Kashif A Shehzada   Mar 19, 1998   interacts: 7

What sort of a relationship should we maintain with our parents? In what matters are we not allowed to obey them? Answers from a Qur’anic perspective.

The Bitter Taste of Milk: A Novel

Quinton Zondervan   Mar 18, 1998   interacts: 3

Chowk showcases the work of a young writer with the weekly serialization of his first novel

Climate Controlled

Shan Anwar   Mar 1, 1998   interacts: 6

The stench of poverty, was real,unfiltered, emanating from the open sewers, over which, now, a dark, naked child smiles, squats.

Pirani

Jamal Abro   Feb 14, 1998   interacts: 8

The mother broke down, her heart crushed, her very vitals cut into pieces. She screamed, Pirani, oh, my little Pirani! The girl shrieked back...

On The Other Hand

Tahnoon Pasha   Feb 4, 1998   interacts: 27

I have spent five of my twenty-nine years in Pakistan ... They were the best years of my life.

The Good, the Bad and the Anxiety

Bad Girl   Jan 27, 1998   interacts: 60

Can’t we make choices about how to lead our lives without someone out there thinking that we are breaking a religious or cultural law? Who decides what these laws are anyway?

Selective Islam in Pakistan

Imran Khan   Jan 21, 1998   interacts: 50

I feel there are certain western countries with far more Islamic traits than us, especially in the way they protect the rights of their citizens.

The Highway of Death

Aatish    Jan 19, 1998   interacts: 18

And as my children also die to feed you
A fire smoulders again

Swinging Cradles

Ras Siddiqui   Dec 21, 1997   interacts: 2

This poem is dedicated to Bilquis Edhi and Karachi’s Khazana-I-Atfal (Babies Nest)...

Love Means Never Having to Say You Are An Infidel!

Moe Chaudry   Nov 26, 1997   interacts: 21

Can you be a Muslim and marry a Jew? A closer look at inter-religious marriages.

Tania

Umair A Khan   Nov 20, 1997   interacts: 15

Tania. He has looks, he has a BMW, he has all the girls he can handle, said Saadia beginning to wrap the phone cord around her fingers.

The ABCD of Melting Pots

Moe Chaudry   Nov 12, 1997   interacts: 7

We swallowed the melting pot myth of America hook, line, and sinker … we ate spaghetti, chicken fried rice, and hot dogs and believed that these culinary delights originated in places like Boston, Wichita, and Phoenix.

As Long As It Does Not Affect You

Umair A Khan   Oct 23, 1997   interacts: 5

So a woman needs to get married but a man doesn’t?

On the Costs of Self-Reliance

Tahnoon Pasha   Sep 9, 1997   interacts: 3

and we can’t build in brick because we keep stealing each other’s bricks. There’s a little twist to this tale. The wolves aren’t at the door. The werewolves walk among us...

Akbar Mai

Afzal Upal   Sep 9, 1997   interacts: 18

Ramzan had offered to have her as his second wife but Akbar Mai had refused.

Sahara Cup: A Preview

Abdul Hussain   Sep 9, 1997

However much the authorities in the sub-continent try to kill the whole bribery affair, the fact is that it will not die...

Reminisce

Kenyan    Aug 8, 1997   interacts: 1

Our first entry in The Leafy Glade Inn’s Victorian Study, is one in which the author softly remembers people in a place far, far away in the past.

Write on Chowk Interact Guidelines Privacy policy Terms Contact

Copyright © 1997 - 2008 chowk.com. All Rights Reserved
Reproduction of material on any www.chowk.com pages without prior written permissions is strictly prohibited