Love Letter

My Sorrow, when she`s here with me,

Thinks these dark days of autumn rain

Are beautiful as days can be;

She loves the bare, the withered tree;

She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.

She talks and I am fain to list:

She`s glad the birds are gone away,

She`s glad her simple worsted grey

Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,

The faded earth, the heavy sky,

The beauties she so truly sees,

She thinks I have no eye for these,

And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know

The love of bare November days

Before the coming of the snow,

But it were vain to tell her so,

And they are better for her praise.

--Frost

Zeemax #33:

Well, with clinical precision, SR has dissected your query. Cannot add any sober thoughts to his interpretation of an a--- retentive and almost paradoxical lack of display of Victorian prudence among a certain class of the Desis. (Sad, very very bad!----agree SR.)

I can only pick up the jazbaati aspects and present this poem by Anon Anonabadi.

enjoy,

t



MERI JANNAT

MaiN aur tu
ik kash`ma`kash-e-azli
nehraiN, mewah`jaat, hooraiN
aur husool oonka
arzi hawalouN say.

Aankh jou khulti hai subh-e-dam
laati hai mauj-e-zindagi
ik khafeef mouskurahat labouN pay
naya din, naya oo`jala
aa`mud-o-raf`t-e-nafas
shish jehat pur-oom`meedi
hoor pehlou nashin aur bahar har soo`
tou phir aye hamdam
kaisi hay yeh joos`tu`joo
kaisi hay yeh kaavish sookouN ki
oon boot kadouN maiN
oon panah gaa`houN maiN?
Jannat meri tou
yaheen hay
yay hee hay.



MY PARADISE

You and me
the eternal struggle
canals, fruits, houris
and their attainment
in earthly context.

As eyes open up in the morn
ushering life and
smile subtle on these lips
new day, new glow
ebb and flow of breath
multi-faceted hope
houri beside and spring in the air
then O friend
why this striving
why this search for peace
in those temples
in those refuges?
My heaven
is here
My heaven is here.

------30-----

Zeemax: ``Why``, you ask, people (at Chowk) write about politics (you said CE, Kashmir etc., buts its all `politics`) instead of LOVE.

A Capital question...

Pakis (and perhaps even Bharatis) are not too good about being honest to their own feelings. We are supposed to be `emotional` people, but that appearance of emotionalism is there because we are taught to quell our true inner emotions where they really matter, and therefore that repression surfaces in all sorts of areas where others races are rational and thus we look as if we are suffering from `hyper-emotionalism`. But when it comes to our intimate spheres of life we appear cold and distant because that is supposedly `proper`. Sad, bad!!

So what do we do? We vent our frustrations by being extraordinarily interested in irrelevent nonsense such as `mulki siasaat` and Pak-Bharat dushmani. It gives us a venue to channel our repressed `jazbaat`. Sad, very bad.

``Imagine there`s no country``...``imagine all the people,living life in peace...yuhooo...`` ``youmay say, I`m a dreamer, but not the only one...`` etc.

What`s the answer?

A) Islam
B) Nationalism
C) Materialism
D) Sex, drugs and Rock & Roll

...SR

Why is it that more people would like to write about the CE and the Kashmir issue, rather than `Love`.

Just wondering aloud. Any ideas temporal ? SR ?

Zeemax #31:

Follow the previous inter-acts here. A certain SR will be the ‘defendant’. There will be other Chowkies that you’d perhaps know from here. “Here” is Toronto. Depending on which runway is used the plane does a ‘semi-tawaf’ of Niagara Falls and sometimes the CN Tower, d’town Toronto.( Pls. touch base:
temporal3@hotmail.com)

rgds

t

Reply #: 30 temporal

Huh ? Pow Wow ? What`s the agenda ? Where`s ``here`` ? Who else is invited ? Is it a slumber party ? If it is I just mike make it !!!

Zeemax #29:

If you manage to occupy that jump seat on the A-310 you are welcome for the pow-wow here in August. Accomodation provided. BYOS.

Sorry, thermal currents not favourable for gliding the distance.

rgds

t

On the subject of love letters, the best one I received by mail (i.e. snail mail) was in a perfumed envelope with real dried rose petals pasted on it; and painted with red, green & blue flowers all over by hand at the front and back. What was inside ? Hmmm .. it was heavenly stuff.

The lady got married, then divorced and re-married, then divorced the second husband too and married the first husband all over again !

She`s still going strong. Beutiful as ever! Gained a bit of weight though ...

``She`s always a woman to me``

She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes

She can ruin your faith with her casual lies

And she only reveals what she wants you to see

She hides like a child, but she`s always a woman to me

She can lead you to love, she can take you or leave you

She can ask for the truth, but she`ll never believe

And she`ll take what you give her, as long as it`s free

She steals like a thief, but she`s always a woman to me

Oh, she takes care of herself

She can wait if she wants

She`s ahead of her time

Oh, and she never gives out

And she never gives in

She just changes her mind

She can lead you to love, she can take you or leave you

She can ask for the truth, but she`ll never believe

And she`ll take what you give her, as long as it`s free

She steals like a thief, but she`s always a woman to me

And she`ll promise you more than the garden of Eden

Then she`ll carelessly cut you and laugh when you`re bleeding

But she brings out the best and the worst you can be

Blame it all on yourself `cause she`s always a woman to me

She`s frequently kind and she`s suddenly cruel

She can do as she pleases, she`s nobody`s fool

But she can`t be convicted, she`s earned her degree

And the most she will do is throw shadows at you

But she`s always a woman to me

(Billy Joel)

Zehra #24:

The ‘Mulzim’ has entered a plea of guilty as charged. Perhaps we can go after the second charge?

Yes the August prospects look good. Ofcourse, you can drop in anytime before with DadiJaan.:)

SR #22:

You want to know “Who are Baba Mullahbaba Mullahabadi and Fakir Istinjakhelvi of Kandahar?”
Just some colourful characters am mulling over for my next short story in say another 25 years to be titled with typical modesty, humility and simplicity ‘The thirty first chapter’.

Gaze carefully into your crystal ball and tell me the date that pops up in August. I know, I know dates have not the same relevance for you but there are other mortals involved who have to make plans.

What? You are not leaving your papers to Darul Uloom Rabbania? Looking forward to your `de-classified` mementos. With a foreword by Zeemax?

love (for the former)
regards (for both)

t

ylh #25 [``...I HATE JERSEY...``]

I knew you were not an ABCD, but now it seems clear that you are not an EFGHIJ either.

(EFGHIJ = Emmigrated From Gugrat, Happy In Jersey)

...SR

Zehra #24,

Thank you very much for asking, I am quite well, thankfully, and still chugging along managing to read between 25 to 35 % of the stuff (gone are the days of 100% -when Chowk was made of roads less travelled) that comes through here. Unfortunately, don`t get to participate much. These days the wife and child are out of town (they return tomorrow) so I get to spend a bit more time on-line. We do need more off the wall stuff here, this Pak-Bharat political stuff and that god-awful `crook-it` are subjects that I just can`t stand the sight of any longer. It induces emesis. So, please keep on writing.

This was a good subject: love letters. I`ve considered `declassifying` some from my youth too.
Some of them could even make for decent reading.

...SR

I hate JERSEY CITY!

yasser..wrong forum :)

temporal..hehehe...funny :) when do we convene and convict?

its a wonderul excuse to make another trip up there..

SR..how are you? im glad it made you smile..i use the same measurements for poetry. i cant deconstruct it.

faraz..you have my permission..you can just write (c. zehra) next to it..haha..

rizvi.

This message is for Sakina Rizvi ...

You have misquoted me ....

but first let me tell you I have known about the Taliban Issue since 1995 ... when they actually siezed control of some villages in parts of Afghanistan ........

However .... I want you to decide whether the question of women`s rights (a worth while cause no doubt) is more important or the issue that has already claimed a hundred thousand lives and may even claim upto something between 500 million to 2 billion lives if god forbid it escalates into a Nuclear War .... a Nuclear war in South Asia will lead to the FIRST NUCLEAR WORLD WAR .... and MAYBE THE LAST WAR EVER ............

-Yasser Hamdani

re: temporal

PS:

Who are Baba Mullahbaba Mullahabadi and Fakir Istinjakhelvi of Kandahar?

And yes, Southern Ontario is August would not be a bad place. It gets too hot down here at that time any way.

Re: Zeemax

[``…You can go ahead and publish all or any exploits that tickle your fancy. No problem at all …``]

Each of our own exploits mean a lot more to us than they do to others, even if the `other` is a dear one. I am glad for you for all the good you`ve seen and experienced in life, as I am sad for you for your pain. Being a childhood friend, neigh, a `brother`, I`m sure, you feel similarly towards me. However, it is not my place to measure your `exploits` by the yardstick of my own `tickled fancy`, and decide what`s to be volunteered in a public forum. That is entirely your prerogative, and that of the editors.


[``…Love has nothing to do with giving. Love has everything to do with TAKING. When you love someone you want the person to become your own ! Your personal possession ... to do with at your pleasure…``]

This is where we`ve long disagreed.

It entirely depends on whether one has been the pursuer or the object of someone else`s pursuit? Having, at different stages in life, being on both sides of the `one-sided-love` equation, I`d like to say that your above statement is only half right. But if one was the object of someone else`s vigorous (or even virulent) pursuit then the perspective changes. Then one believes in such notions as the following:

If you love something,
set it free,

If it returns to you, its yours,
If it does not, then it never was.

In the end, one has to conclude that this is not `love`. This is just a part of our built-in `mating ritual`. The word LOVE is to reserved for a higher form of devotion. One that is enduring. And the only one that can endure is the one that is self-less.

Romantic love, therefore, can seldom, if ever, reach this exhalted state. Parental love has a far better chance.

[``…Giving in Love is as wrong … lends a noble feeling for the time being …, but the loss remains and embeds itself in the psyche to come out sooner or later. ..Love dies and revenge takes it`s place. .. you hold the other person responsible .. that person … the fulcrum of your being…``]

This is what psychologists call obsession and fixation. Don`t bring love in and give it a bad name. All what you mention above is tied to issues of our personal sense of security, our measure of self-esteem, the tenderness of our bruised egos, etc, etc.


[``…Have you discovered Love ends when a person will not stop leaving the tube of toothpaste without it`s cap on, on the bathroom sink ? And that irritates the Love of your Life ? …``]

Love it. That`s real funny. Add to this list the toilet seat being left up or down, as the case may be.

[``…Love is just a juvenile emotion which is essential to growing up and in knowing the meaning of things. Nothing more - nothing less. …``]

My, my, my…! Are we jaded or what?

This reminds me of another saying, that will suit your taste: ``Love is misunderstanding between two fools.`` Meaning, therefore, that if (at least) one of the two fools turns wise, its all over.



Re: temporal,

I plead `guilty as charged`.

Bhari bazm meiN raaz key baat keh di
Barah be-adeb houN, sazaa chahta houN

(I`ve let the secret out in a public forum, I want punishment for my bad manners.)

...SR