A Fallen Man

Reminds of some lyrics :

``Everybody`s talkin` at me .. can`t hear a word they`re saying .. Only the echoes of my mind !

People stop and stare .. I can`t see their faces .. Only the shadows of their eyes !

I`m going where the sun keeps shining, snow fall or rain ..going where the weather suits my clothes !

Heading up to the north-east wind, sailing on a summer dream .. skimming over the oceans like a stone !``

[Harry Nilsson - Theme from Midnight Cowboy]

A very American tale, almost reminded me of a hero from Jack Kerouac; there`s a nobility to living on the edge, rejecting the mainstream, and fueling one`s senses with alcohol and coke; but as you point out--a dead end. I`ve run into a few Pakistanis from ``good families`` who become drug addicted rebels in the West and the one thing that keeps them from feeling fulfilled and happy, unlike some of their American counterparts, is that in our culture, this sort of end (as you imply) is not, going against Kerouac, at all heroic.

wah ji wah...

kya dil par jakar baat lagi.

a part of me wanted to reach out and help deano...but help him to what? i symbolize everything he wanted to get away from, everything he felt himself threatened by. my good intentions a waste almost. its a deep dark abyess deano fell into..and hes not done falling.

very nicely done :)

z.rizvi.

Powerful stuff!!!!

an exceptionally good read!! Indeed the story spoke volumes on the impact of being osctracised in a foreign culture, without hope for recovery or salvation, when one gets pulled into the whirlpool of evil and decadence, (though often not by ones choice), but not in this case...

I dont know if i feel empathy for Deano or outright condemnation for having broken away from his roots, his hate for his own country so explicitly stinking and emanating forth from his words ``Why do i want to go back to that s h i t-hole, India.``. Yet i must say, i have come across ``losers`` like Deano, just like the next Pakistani Abroad, but it takes courage, like the taxi guy to go and actually take an interest enough in the debilitated, infirm Deano to visit him at his digs, and have some conversation with him. Indeed the foreign experience we all cherish is the notable Successes of quite a few Pakistanis, and our ability to ignore and forget about the bums on the street, who too might have had ambitions when they first came to the promised land ``Umreeka``, but for whatever reason, the land or they could not deliver, or they could not command it to deliver...really sad, and moving stuff..

Rebellion away from Norm and ones cultures, does not pay off, no matter how restricting or backward the values of that culture... it is still the old reminiscent behaviour on the part of Deano in so far as his listening to ghazals and speaking in his native urdu, which perhaps brought him some comfort.... in the big, cold, mainlands...

Nathan, you did a great job...

asim

P.S I did not know that the interact section screens peoples language... as it stopped me from using the authors sentence about deanos not wanting to go back to that * * * * hole.....hence i had to improvise it as s h i t -hole. Amazing..

Good one Umair :)

Excellent tale Nathan, and well-written.

``Awaargi`` has to be the title, though, not ``fallen man``.

See you again on Chowk.

Bauhat acchay.

Tragic and powerful, eautifully captured! A sad tale written with elegence.

...SR

Nathan, you have written a very powerful story. A sledgehammer that does not stop. Thanks for sharing it with us. Brilliant, Brilliant.

Brilliant!