Borders are Made of These

Urstruly#124;

[Some may disagree with my last statement vehemently but you have to meet a Sikh personally to see the word ``compromise` written all over their forehead]

- Shut your mouth, idiot.

Ras, Ansari, Priya, Aisha Sarwari, Kiran, scout – thanks and, yes, our hearts are in the right place.

ram-rahim (#14):

Post Bombay riots BB tried to use the unfortunate event to make an Indo-Pak point and was silent when temples were razed in her country as a mark of ‘support’.

Joseph (#15):

[While identifying the difficulties of being a minority in India, have you ever given some thought to how your life would have fared had you been a hindu or christian in Pakistan ?]

No, I have not. Just as I have not thought what it is like being a Palestinian, a Jew, a Serbian, a Black. I do not see why as an Indian I should use Pakistan as my yardstick. Pakistan calls itself the Islamic Republic, we are not a Hindu State (as yet).

[p.s: and we do need a war... wish we had a general like Manecksaw out there to teach Musharaf some good english //he he//]

Wish you had said this during the Agra Summit when the English Press was all over him stuffing themselves with an 18-course breakfast.

nasah (19):

[You want to be treated as an independent individual not disturbed by anybody or any event –yet you cannot separate yourself from the collective psyche of the “persecuted” Indian Muslims. At times it appears you are on both sides of an issue.]

If I were not disturbed by events, I would not be writing about them. I would also like to know how those of you who think I make a fetish of my ‘perceived victimisation’ (what if I tell you it is real?) can insist on saying that I am an agent provocateur? My individualism is not at odds with the psyche of the community because one is constantly reminded of it. Just as you may enjoy all the freedom as a person in the US but will not be allowed to forget your colour and race. When I asked to be able to sit on the fence, it was an helpless appeal because taking a stand has too many perils. I want to be like the rest of you.

dost-mittarji (#28):

I do not like the idea of governments ‘using’ opportunitites to hit back; that itself raises doubts as to where those opportunities came from. As you rightly pointed out, people-to- people contact is the first casualty. They have now stopped all STD-ISD calls to and from Kashmir and the Valley has no access to the Internet. This is truly gagging the people. Let us not forget that it was India that decided to stop all communication with Pakistan; we are preparing for war. Are you aware that long before September 11, PIA pilots were not permitted to disembark at Mumbai airport, while their Indian counterparts could do so at any Pakistani airport? This has been going on for years. Is this the sort of trust we want to build?

MaheshG (#29):

[I would really like to know when Vajpayee has asked you to hate Pakistanis just because they happen to be Pakistanis?]

Sorry for bringing this up, but try pretending you are a Muslim in India and in a group comprising largely of Hindus say that you like Pakistanis and then let me know. Try sending a letter to the PM saying the same thing, and you will be tailed, I am sure. And you are talking about ordinary folks, not terrorists. In today’s lingo terrorist = Pakistani among Indians, and Muslims = terrorists, in a large part of the world.

babu (#34):

[Why should an Indian politician negotiate with someone who is trying to kill him ?]

Assuming your contention is right, the Indian politician is not representing himself, but the people of India. And the people of India ought to want peace. The people of India do not like the idea of an invited head of state leaving at midnight only because a few of our politicians start sulking about a draft that could have changed many things for the better.

Mumbhai (#35):

[We never see any morcha from any Muslim party against the ISI backed attacks on the Indian parliament. I wonder why ?]

Just in case you have forgotten, millions of Muslims happen to be Indians. Don’t wonder too much, for how many Hindus, Parsis, Christians, Sikhs have come out in the streets to protest? How many Tamilians protested when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE?

NotAMullah (#99):

[Yes, politicians will put a spin to events but its not a crime. It is in fact a reality of a democratic society where we as informed individuals make a choice. I have neither seen nor heard the Indian leaders of any major mis-leadings apart from polical maneuvering. Tell me one religious, spiritual, political, environmental, human rights leader who hasn`t done some bit of it, and dinner is on me.]

Dr. Ambedkar, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Frontier Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Asgharali Engineer, Swami Agnivesh, Medha Patkar, Baba Amte, Arundhati Roy, Julio Ribeiro…can go one. So, what’s for dinner?

Regards,

Farzana

PS: Other replies are on the way.

Ref Impotent-Rage #: 142

[And what about you, harimuli, what are you marrid to. Is it shaped like a stone d!ldo by any chance?]

The stone d!ldo was specifically meant for your wife.

semipreciousme (#146):

[Farzana # 91

“And most important of all, I am an Indian.”

“I have never believed in borders”

…but aren’t you contradicting yourself?]

Not really. It is somewhat like saying I like men, but I believe in monogamy :)

Studebaker #148
Phir aap ne kyo`n taqleef ki?

btw, not only Maneka Gandhi is kind to beastly creatures, she also wrote a Book of Hindu Names. I suggest since Chowk Staff keeps catching up with your nicks, aage aage aap with names from her book, peechche peechche chowk staff.

Farzana # 91

“And most important of all, I am an Indian.”

“I have never believed in borders”

…but aren’t you contradicting yourself?

sarwar #132:

``That is not clear to outsiders, and it may not even be clear yet to Vajpayee, but he is perfectly capable of any of these actions. This is the man who exploded a whole series of nuclear weapons in 1998, thus breaking a quarter-century-old Indian moratorium on testing nuclear explosives and making the Indo-Pakistani confrontation explicitly nuclear — merely to whip up enough popular support to solve a Cabinet crisis that threatened his prime ministership.``

Gwynne Dyer has got it wrong. There was no Cabinet crisis when the nuclear tests were conducted. Nuclear testing was part of the BJP election manifesto. The BJP came to power in end March 1998, gave orders for the testing sometime in April and the nukes were tested in May 11/13 1998.

The Cabinet crisis that Gwynne may be referring to happened a year later in April 1999 when Jayalalitha`s AIADMK withdrew support and the govt fell. Elections were held in Sept 1999. As we all know, Lahore Declaration happened in early 1999 (before the govt fell) and Kargil happened in May-July 1999 (after the govt fell).

Yes, the BJP govt ended a self-imposed undeclared moratorium on testing, but this was after the issue was explicitly mentioned in its election manifesto and presumably had popular support, given that it was voted to power. There was no Cabinet crisis and the BJP was only fulfilling its mandate.

Well written as always, Farzana. I especially liked the end. However (and this is not a comment on your writing) I felt even more adrift and confused after reading it than I was before. In these strange times when I am forced to re-examine my identity while reacting to other voices and thoughts, sometimes I just want to go to sleep and dream up a better world. zzzzzzzzz

harimau addressing Urstruly,

[{(Ref Urstruly #: 107

[Thanks for singing that love serenade to me but no thanks, cuz I am married to my cause]

I had to read that sentence twice. I thought you said you were married to your cousin.)}]

And what about you, harimuli, what are you marrid to. Is it shaped like a stone d!ldo by any chance?

Narrain to Urstruly,

``Dear Urstruly,

Why are you trying to justify your hatred for India through half-truths and outright lies? What you have written is at best an attempt to create a ficitonal world where you can stand vindicated in your own eyes. It would be better for you if you could look within yourself and find out the real reasons why you hate India so unquestioningly.``

Have you ever bothered posing the same question tointeractors such as Harimau, jay and saxena??? If not, you are a hypocritical Bustard!

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Re: Farzana

``... I think that the custodians of it (The Parliament) are not you and I, but our elected leaders. It is their business to do something...``

Class, it is time for a civics lesson. Today we will discuss the Constitution of India, Fundamental Duties section (article 45), which states:

It shall be the duty of every citizen of India-

(c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;

(d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so;

(i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence;

So, class the lesson that we have learned today is that while we have the right to elect our leaders (amongst other rights) and to seek protection under the Constitution, we also have a few fundamental duties as citizens (some of them mentioned above)to ensure its protection. We ascribed to these duties when our Constitution was adopted through the exercise of our own free will more than 50 years ago, and these duties have remain unchallenged, and have withstood several court challenges.

Urstruly:``We are not a society of wolves, we are humans.``

Don`t worry, chowk will make a human out of you yet. I see improvements, but there is still some way to go.

Urstruly #123
``Hindus have set up torture cells and investigation dungeons but Kashmiris haven`t. So all the things that Kashmniris do not have are actually taken away by the Hindu majority``

??Hindus took away Kashmiris` torture cells??

urstruly #123 You write ``Why so much venom and spite by me? Because I am weak...``

Wrong. Because you are rude, and because you are irrational in your hatreds.

You continue: ``...and yet I have taken on the daunting and back breaking responsibility...`` What is daunting and back breaking about sending posts to a free, anonymous forum like chowk? You flatter yourself too much.

You continue: ``...to speak for the weakest...``

You flatter yourself too much. Since when does hurling insults at people of other religions mean that you are speaking for the weakest... the weakest are those who are poor - and the poor can be find all over South Asia, not just Kashmir, and among hindus as well as among muslims.

You end the sentence: ``...and despite all that I have refused to consider us a pack of wolves.``

Amen. Let us try not to act like wolves, then.

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