Who is This Mysterious ChowkStaff ?

hats off to the Chowk people.
It truly is an exhilirating experience surfing through its pages in a somewhat impatient manner -- (thanks to PTCL, it does take quite some time ) to watch the screen disappear
- only to reveal another world in itself.

temporal:

this is overwhelming-I am stunned at the inspiration and your word smithing ability. wow.

thank you very much for all the faith and affection. As Ginni said, we arent dead yet, and feel humbled at your generosity. Inshallah we will have the inspiration and energy to make this poem true.

regards and thank you for the past 6 years.

Saima

Are Saima Shah and Safwan Shah related? Just curious, since they have the same last name....

I would like to thank all the people behind Chowk for the excellent job day have done :-)

I know this is not the right place to exchange messages, but:

Jawahara: That email (dhart2@yahoo.com) isn`t working. Did you make a typo? Email me at: noorulislam@msn.com

``For the rest, if I had one advice for chowkies, it would be: let us stop taking ourselves so seriously!! Come to the chowk, do your thing, and get along with your life...`` (VEERESH)

...and get along with EACH OTHER.....

Sohair:
Parda uthe salaam ho jaye!
Thanks for lifting the naqaab from the parda-nasheeN of chowk so we could salute them. It is not only a labour of love, they presumably are also digging out from their pockets to keep the chowk running.
Thank you Safwan Shah, Saima Shah and Ginni Dhindsa. And may your Laxmi keep your pockets deep.

The chowk has been a great roller coaster ride for me over the past 5-6 years. I have enough reasons to be here and also not to be here. And like most roller coaster rides, you want to go again and again.

Would it become like a real chowk?

Well, in my humble opinion, a chowk is a place where society permits everybody to exist. From junkie to pusher to prostitute to small trader to political leader to soldier to saint to mendicant to doctor to passenger awaiting bus to rich man / woman / child to banker to pickpocket to lunatic to thinker to dog / goat / chicken / pig to sweeper to commissioner to diplomat to student to sailor to spy to software infotech dude to battery salesman to pakoda hawker to good mood to depression to infidelity to navel gazing to non-vegetarianism to fake medicines . . . as a human being you have to spend at least once in a lifetime a full 24-hour cycle at a place like Daryaganj/Chandni Chowk in Delhi to understand this.

The most important thing is that a chowk grows by encouraging crossroads and traffic.

Towards that, any and all participation is of some value.

When I started on chowk, the DTC bus with Delhi plates overtook my desire to drive a Delhi plates car in Pakistan. Now all I want to do is to drive into Pakistan in a car which has Delhi licence plates, and had Lahore plates at one time, an Austin-7 restored by a friend of mine.

For the rest, if I had one advice for chowkies, it would be: let us stop taking ourselves so seriously!! Come to the chowk, do your thing, and get along with your life.

Ref ferozk #6

[...``ich haben ein kamaraden`` - I have a friend. In Chowk, I have a friend, and in the Chowkidars....]

The best way to make friends with Chowkidars is to kiss their butt.

The only reason they tolerate me is because it increases traffic on their website. Otherwise they would happily censor every damn post I write.... as they have done in the past.

But I do persevere in trying to bring some knowledge of history (not the crap put out by Romila Thapar or by the Pak school system) to the one-dimensional beings who form the majority of Chowk readership.

Some very interesting and passionate posts. and an equally passionate and perhaps long overdue article about the creators and builders of chowk, and a nice introduction to Ginni.

Chowk Staff:

Credit should be taken when it is well deserved and well earned. We all know you want it to be about US not you but its our part as equal members of this loving community to highlight the efforts of all `you` from time to time, for the benefit for the new comers and for ours :) so thank you Rabbani Sahib. and thank you safwan, umair and everyone and a special thanks to Ginni and Saima.

I was 16 when i first visited Chowk in its first year and have grown with chowk, and it won`t be wrong to say that chowk has helped me in the process, helped me think more objectively, beyond the box, and perhaps more rationally. Its been my favourite hangout on the net thankfully keeping me away from the menace of irc that was so addictive and popular those days amongst my generation.

Thanks.Viel Gluck.

Ich haben ein kamaraden

fourth line should read `woh khwaab...`

fourth line should read `woh khwaab...`

sub baataiN
aik khwaab say hoti haiN shr’u
fursat kay lamhay maiN
who khwaab jo khulli
aankhiouN say daikhay jaatay haiN
neem khwabi maiN nahiN

great dreams become
infectious and
no barrier
no hurdle for them
is impassable

so with ease
and belief in their dreams
infectious people
make them come
alive


SR:

…you beat me to this:)…now will have to rethink what i would next year…also now i know why ginni was so coy when i gingerly broached the subject with her earlier…

khair…you did a good job in introducing these unsung heroes…

…just a reminder to chowkies…if you have time to volunteer and help chowk grow please check out joinchowkand click on become an associate

rgds,

t

One of the most moving pieces I have ever read.

My deepest respect and admiration for Umair A. Khan, Safwan Shah, Ginni Dhindsa, Radhika Nagpal, Wasiq Bokhari, Saeed Jaffer, Asad Khan, Adnan Lawai, Saima Shah, and Shahid Mahmood-but particularly Safwan, Ginni and Saima.

I believe that Chowk is a cyber ``contact zone`` and has the potential to be part of a South Asian knowledge making and documenting movement. And this potential is unlimited!

Please put this piece somewhere where it is readily accessible-every person who logs onto Chowk SHOULD read it.

Hi MNI *waves* Yes, I am finally zinda. Barely :-) Drop me an email some time. What are you up to? Use my dhart2@yahoo.com address.

Well, I haven`t been on Chowk that much; was briefly interacting for a few months. But good to read the documented history.
And HEELLLOOOOOO.....Jawahara tum zinda ho?

Despite coming to chowk for years I had only a vague idea of its history and its creators. How very cool and interesting. Thanks Sohail.

Sohail -- thanks for introducing the mysterious Chowk Staff -- in such an eloquent way --

CHOWK -- a Brilliant Bridge Built By Brilliant Brains! -- no wonder --

Chowk shows what the subcontinent of India Pakistan COULD HAVE BEEN if populated by such brilliant tolerant minds --

but alas it was not to be so -- as Faiz would say:

yooN nu thaa maiN ne faqut chaaha tha yooN ho jaaey....

Chowk staff has done a good job over the years. However there are areas in which they`ve made terrible mistakes. Chief amongst them was the sudden manner in which they unveiled the `new look` chowk. No new articles were posted and replies were hardly updated for a couple of weeks. I suspect Chowk lost quite a bit of its readership at that time.
The other goof was the entire 12-head fiasco. I believe the guidelines laid out for Chowk interacts were more than enough to deal with the menace. However they decided to let the wound fester for a long long time before taking the drastic step of throwing the bugger out. Whatever the resolution, action should have been taken much earlier.
Also I believe Chowk will not really prosper apart from the 200-300 core following it has, unless a more dynamic and business savvy person takes over its day to day affairs. Even a purely voluntary movement like open-source software has a leader in the form of Linus Torvalds.

later
-sac

As one of those who left and returned, I enjoyed reading this piece.

Wow! This is one of the best articles I have ever read on Chowk. Thank you, Dr Rabbani. I agree with Stuka; this one should be up permanently on the front page, a link to Chowk`s history.

Saima Shah`s article (Say Something Let`s Talk) was the first article I read here at Chowk. (I think I owe her some sort of debt for that, for inviting me here.) I`ve always found her to be a wonderful writer, a pleasure to read, perhaps because she combines her love of writing (which is delightfully evident) with a profound sense of responsibility to her subject.

Feroz sahab`s said it quite nicely when he says ``In Chowk, I have a friend, and in the Chowkidars, I have friends and though we may disagree, there has never been a loss of respect for those, who have helped me better understand the world around me. They have offered and showed me a new way of looking at things and that, in most cases, has made all the difference. My thanks to you all!``

Ich haben ein kamaraden

I believe there was something written by one of the co-founders regarding the making of chowk. But i believe that was two or three years back. And, it was not as detailed as this.
Good to learn more about the people behind such a well-minded effort.
Like F.R.Khan said:
Happy Birthday Chowk! Wish you many more!

This is a surprise! I never thought anyone would unveil ChowkStaff! And I was always wondering about the people behind it and how it came about in being what it is today. Now this is definitely some much valued information. Chowk is most certainly a very commendable achievement, not only for its creators but also those who have kept it alive for six years. It`s great to know that a lot of great minds have enabled this show to be on the road. Keep it rolling, and rolling good.

The Germans have a few sayings, which I would like to share with the Chowk staff and all the Chowkidars, who have made this site the melting pot of ideas, and idealism.

The first one is, ``immer vorwarts`` and it means ``all ways forward`` and I hope, on Chowk`s birthday, that Chowk is always in the vanguard of new ideas and challenging old myths.

The second one is,``ich haben ein kamaraden`` - I have a friend. In Chowk, I have a friend, and in the Chowkidars, I have friends and though we may disagree, there has never been a loss of respect for those, who have helped me better understand the world around me. They have offered and showed me a new way of looking at things and that, in most cases, has made all the difference. My thanks to you all!

Saima ji, this is for you and I apologise to you! I apologise, because you have to read my articles and the fact that you publish them simply encourages me to write more! :)

Best wishes to all Chowkies and I look forward to the day, when the First Internet Consitution for South Asia will be debated, reasoned and written on Chowk ending all our problems! I know! Idealism dies hard in a cynic!

Happy Birthday Chowk! Wish you many more!

Feroz R. Khan

Impressive stuff.....you people deserve all the praise,encouragement and support we can conjure up.
cheers
raza

My first encounter with Safwan was when, in my early interactions, I had posted a nasty post about Altaf Hussain. I feared some MQM goons may try to harm me. I wanted no identity at Chowk. I wrote an e-mail to Chowk asking them to delete all my information from their database.

Safwan responded, assuring me of my safety. I met him when I visited his town a few years ago, to-date the only Chowkie I ever met. He treated me to wonderful Kabul Restaurant. I cannot recall the whole conversation (too much wine, perhaps), expect his first question: why “Godot”? The second thing I remember is that he said I reminded him of...yes, you, Sohail!!! I felt quite offended at that which I cleverly did not show (no offense to you Sohail...it’s just the ego thing...I think I’m unlike anyone else...) I also remember my curiosity about the origins of his unusual name.

What you say about Safwan is all true. He is absolutely a wonderful human being, maybe the finest I ever met.

Chowk by no means is perfect; yet, just like nature, it is perfect in its imperfection. Congratulations to a brilliant idea conceived, put in practice, and maintained so well. That’s no mean achievement. Chowk has given this lonely soul a space and an outlet for which he is truly grateful.

By saying all this, you may just have taken away the mystique from the Chowk.

Or maybe it was time the curtain was lifted.

The earlier theme of ``ideas & identities`` was more encompassing than the revised theme confined to ``India Pakistan Crossroads`` . You are taking out other South Asian states.

My compromise suggestion is to broaden the scope to the ``South Asian Ideas & Identities.``

WOW!!! Thanks for this wonderful article. I don`t think this article should be removed from the Front Page. Or, create a link to this article called the origin of Chowk or something...WHATEVER..ITS NOT THE TITLE THAT IS IMPORTANT BUT THE REQUISITE DEPTH THIS ARTICLE PROVIDES.

Caps were for emphasis..not to shout.

Chowkstaff ...

Hopefuly you will consider me for that TV channel of yours...

:) Looking forward to Chowk revolutionizing Pakistan, and South Asia...

-Manto