Telic Chowk: A Personal Odyssey

Telic Chowk moves past yet another milestone. An inner core of volunteer chowkies striving to provide a platform where casual and hardcore chowkies pass by daily, weekly, monthly. It is eclectic: seldom static.

It is a learning experience, informative, educational, entertaining. It is a forum to meet, discuss, debate, expound, pontificate, launch into soliloquy. And it is addictive.

I want to write about Unplugged today. But before that let me review some of the changes made in 2003 and mention some highlights of the past year.

Chowk has undergone another format change. Page one is simpler to read and has the following heads.

gallery
debatethis
politicalcartoon
featurearti cle
ilog
columns
explorechowk
calendar
hottopics
searchchowk
chowkpicksbook
chowkpicksmovie
chowkpicksmusic
newsheadlines

Over the past year Chowk had over 517 articles on the main page read by about 125,000 unique visitors from 80+ countries.

The Wave by Darshan Lodaya received the least number of interactions in the past one year. (The overall record is held by a small time poet for his poem. No prizes for the right guess.) 446 was the most number of interactions this past year on Kashmir: Time for a Radical Approach? by the same small time poet. HisExcellency, PM and nakhok combined contributed more than two-thirds of the interactions there. If a reincarnated Yasser was there he would have been good for another century at the least. Kashmir, regrettably still remains unresolved.

The numbers of interactions per article are lower than in previous years. The main reason perhaps is the shortened exposure for the articles on page one. Newer articles appear fairly regularly. And I like the way the article that generates the most interaction is picked out of the queue and made to stay longer on page one.

Chowk articles are being reproduced in other papers and magazines. They have appeared in Dawn, Midday, and Outlook. As a reader of South Asian Tribune I was mildly amused to find one of my articles there. Before enquiring from Shaheen Sehbai I asked Chowk if he had sought permission from them. No, he did not. Then I sent a letter to him with a cc to Chowk Editor. Upon receipt of that he thankfully pulled it off SAT but as far I know has not apologized to Chowk or the writer for the minor indiscretion.

The past year saw the emergence of many new writers. I would mention a few. Ana Dobarah, Khadijah Hassan contributed one article each. Will we get to read more from them? Khadijah in her debut at Chowk won my admiration for the way she moderated her board. Umair and Godot showed their poetic side.

Of those who contributed regularly and won my admiration I would mention Rasheed Talib, Banjaara, Nazar Khan and dost-mittar. The last two also moderated their board well.

Won’t mention those who moved, left or reincarnated themselves. But there are some who returned after an absence. The most notable among them is SR. Wish BG, Zehra, Anita, Saad and others return too.

ChowkUnplugged

ChowkUnplugged that I mentioned in the opening is the Cyber Hyde Park Corner at Chowk. Be warned: bring your own soap boxes. And gloves.

If you look at the top of the screen on Chowk, tucked below market street and gymkhana you will find Unplugged. Click on it and it will open a sign-in window. Sign in with your name and password and you will go to another screen. There are the following ten forums.



By far the most popular is off-the-wall with over 1500 threads. Anybody who is signed-in can open a new thread, or join an ongoing discussion. Unlike Page One your comments are posted right away. Like its Hyde Park counterpart, you can stand on your own soapbox and lecture, pontificate, address, speak, talk, laugh, yell or scold. Or join in a fray or melee on an existing board. Did I mention gloves?

It was there that Fazana Versey posted a thread listing twenty reasons praising India. Stuka was the lone Indian on that thread that acknowledged and praised her efforts. Considering the knee-jerk flak she receives without fail from certain compatriots of hers on page one I found this quite revealing.

There was a rather heated exchange between saminasha and UmerMurteza. At one point on that thread somebody mentioned temporal to mediate. I pleaded the fifth and suggested Bina Shah. Both of them agreed and Bina conducted the court, heard their arguments and rendered a diplomatic judgment.

In the very open format of the unplugged Chowk editors expect the interactors to police themselves. In ninety five percent of the cases it works admirably. In the remaining five percent cases where the interactor abuses the privilege s/he is first silently ostracized by the regular visitors, and if they do not learn quickly, chowk editors step in.

On Unplugged you will find Khamkhwa, and SameerJB indulging in filbadhi shaeri: instant poetry. I sympathize with those who are caught in their poetic volleys.

In literarture you will find rozaiba discussing Junoon (Pappu Yaar Tung na Kar) and I-am-the-cheese discussing Asra Nomani. Asif Naqshbandi sharing a very personal poem and getting feedback on articles on Bhutto and others he is contemplating writing for Chowk. Or asking others to contribute their favourite Urdu poems. A board dedicated to English poem was initiated by aamir ansari. One on fillums by Ana Dobarah. On lahori women by Stuka.

Bat opened a thread asking for advice on what she wrote. Saminasha turned that thread into a creative writing workshop. It was there that UmerMurteza submitted a very creative take off. He had earlier posted an unfinished work under a pseuodonym to test waters. There is a potential novel there.

Off-the-wall has some of the most interesting threads. There is one by Drumz petitioning Chowk to ban the poetry of temporal and farzana! An Urdu poetry board by manophd. Syd asking for advice on what to take for her majors,
Asif enquiring on ada in girls. It was on that board that Stuka could not resist asking him if he was for real.

Bored? Have something to say? Need to ask something? Bare your soul? Come to unplugged. Open your own thread or join an existing one. Or have your own I-log.

I-LOGS

Taking from the popularity of blogs (personal journals) and adapting it to chowk I-logs are blossoming into another fine feature. Here anyone can express his/her feelings on almost any subject. There is no pressure. You can write on a serious topic or print your laundry list or spill your innermost thoughts. But beware if you do. You may land in trouble as I discovered to my dismay. And this had nothing to do with Chowk Guidelines.

As Chowk is entering into its seventh year I would like to wish the core of volunteers that oversee Chowk all the best. If you ever visit TO, a fine evening is on me.

And if you want to contribute your time and effort to make Chowk a even better site please check out chowkas sociates. This could be the best way to pay tribute to Chowk and its dedicated volunteers.