DIL’s Caravan of Hope Zeemax,

Thanks, that was quite informative. On the subject of SME, didn`t Nawaz and Co. start a similar venture some years back? I vaguely remember a ministry that was later dissolved by PM.

What is the source of your information, I would like to read up on this subject?

Cheers,

Faisal

DIL’s Caravan of Hope Ras,

Thanks for promoting DIL. I was involved in the LA fundraiser and I have been working to a very small degree with this organization for the past three years. It is so heartening to watch the organization grow tremendously to try and create a larger impact on the lives of the impoverished and the underprivileged. The women who run DIL are absolutely amazing and they are completely dedicated to the cause of literacy in Pakistan. I hope chowkwallahs will come forward and contribute to this noble cause.

Bala say hum nay na dekha to aur dekhaiN gay

Farogh-e-gulshan O saut-e-hazaar ka mausan

Sadna,

Thanks for taking an interest. I will try to answer you questions tomorrow.

Zeemax,

``Pakistan is not a poor country. Nor is it a weak one.`` Have you been there recently? Do you look at economic indicators or fiscal figures put out by governmental as well as independent organizations? Yaar, khuda kay wastay stop talking this PTV rhetoric. You want to see the success of NGOs, look at Bangladesh with Younis Ahmed’s idea (yes we can debate they are all Shafai Muslims and speak the same language but that is another debate). Did you see what Orangi pilot project has done in Karachi- hats off to Akhter Hameed Khan and the transformation he brought to that area? Have you visited Gilgit or Hunza before and after the Agha khan project? Have you looked at the remarkable impact Sangee has had in the Swat and the Abottabad area? As far as overseas Pakistanis being involved in the political process, I don’t think you are too well informed about that either. I hope you don’t take this personally friend but talk is cheap, do something.

Cheers,

Faisal

Onwards from Empress Market Kiran,

Thanks. I also thought the other one was better. This was a little forced at times. As another friend commented, this is a functional poem... like light bulb when switched on lights up. I tried to work around the last sentence but gave up after a week.

Cheers,

Faisal

Onwards from Empress Market Temporal:

Thanks. Rashid has been an intellectual father to me since I was a teenager and I have tried to follow his traditions and interests in all my English poetry as well as all my Urdu compositions. It is heartwarming to see that someone has recognized this. The lament ``Mariam is gone`` is a parallel to Rashid’s fallible hero Hasan Koza Gar, when his creations (yeh kozay...) whisper ``Hasan Koza Gar ab Kahan hai.`` I took the tone of this sentence and changed the meter to fit my poem.

I loved the translation. Is this a full publication? I have been trying to translate Doi Ki Abna for six months now? I can use some help.

Samina:

Thanks for sharing this information with us.

All:

Please try to keep your replies pertinent to the article.

Thanks,

Faisal

For Most People ``Most people, unlike some people...`` did you even read this rubbish. Do you read poetry?

Most people undermine the art of poetry...

``Till we be rotten, kan we not be rypen-`` Chaucer

1971: A Forgotten Story Ras,

``...demented cries wafting towards his cell from the other side of the barracks...`` Right on Ras, they were indeed PPP supporters, some from the MRD as well. Mushtaq Gazdar made a documentary on this (I think it was called `Halqa meri zanjeer ka`) he got some hazy footage of PPP workers being tortured by Pakistan police. I don`t know if you can get it now. I saw it at Jaun Ailiya`s house a long time back... You might want to ask Rehan Ansari, he seems to be more in touch with the film media in Pakistan.

Farzana,

Thanks for bringing up the issue, but please be a little less melodramatic. Histrionics won`t substitute for sincerity; we know you care... chill out and keep on writing!

Cheers,

Faisal

Rowing across Lake Austin Thank you everyone for taking time to read this. Have a wonderful new year!

Faisal

Rowing across Lake Austin Ras: Thanks for appreciating this poem. Some of the indentations were left during the submission process. I just emailed the poem to the editors again.

Kiran and Farzana: Thanks for taking this much interest. This is from a snapshot in memory and I was pondering on the displacement of being so I used this old anecdote...

I was thinking that the sky, the journey, the lake, intellect and more importantly a river is an abstraction and as they pour into a metaphor I tried to give them a place or conversely a sense of displacement by using ``brown skin`` instead of ``skin,`` and so forth. That would explain the manifestations of these labels throughout. However a lot of the form was lost because the indentations did not get printed (chowk staff will probably fix that).

``The sun above...`` is almost an afterthought to the narrator in the form of stream of consciousness. It`s place is not entirely elemental, as the river below and the sky all around, instead metaphorically a wiser presence that juxtaposes the narrator’s conclusion. This is something I picked up from Urdu poetry, especially N M Rashid. You take the age old characteristics of nature (falak, behr-e-zulmat etc) and humanize them.

I hope this answers your questions. It is really not a deep poem, so don`t read do much into it. I have struggled with clarity in all my poetry...

RSaxena: I couldn’t agree more :)

Cheers,

Faisal

3 Haikus Semiprecious

You are right, I stand corrected.

Cheers,

Faisal

3 Haikus Zinnia,

I like the Haiku form, but like many of the people on this forum, I could not fully appreciate the one`s you wrote. Maybe they are not absurd / disjoint enough, if that is a literary argument. It would be interesting to see more work from you... keep writing!

The classic form is 5 then 7 then 5 syllables to make a total of 17. Maybe I didn`t read carefully, but did you follow that structure?

Something from the master of Haiku, Matsuo Basho

as I clap my hands

with the echoes, it begins to dawn --

the summer moon

Cheers,

Faisal

He had no Choice! Bilal,

This is Faisal Rizwan here.

Give my regards to your dad. Its been a while since we met. We were in Quetta together when your dad and mine were in Staff college.

I agree with you whole heartedly but also believe this could be the last chance at redemption for our country. We have a chance to make it right once more and if we blow it this time we will become a laughing stock for the world.

Send me your email address, I would like to stay in touch with you. My email is faisalsiddiqui@hotmail.com. I had to use my family name ``Siddiqui`` when I moved to North America.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Faisal.