Still Looking! I enjoyed your story telling. You have a lively funny voice. I like the fact that there is an unhappily married woman at the office who has captured the attention of Raamis. And it seems that the narrator, connects with Raamis so... nice setup for something interesting to happen. A suggestion for the dialog. Start a new paragraph every time someone speaks..so:

(new Para) I love you" said Jim.
(new Para) And I love clothes said Jane.

You can easily write a sequel to this story with some of the characters showing up again. The Aaloo paratha guy can show up again. You know like, youhve gone some where for chinese and he is sitting on some table near by. Make it really awkward and funny.

My last comment is to ignore all the idiots on Chowk who will try to politisize your funny story. Trust in the life that you see around you and keep writing.

Science and the Islamic world --- The quest for rapprochement Hi Dr. Hoodboy, Enjoyed reading your clear sincere words as usual.

The Horse and The Zebra wow!! I loved it. Very nicely told without the fancy analysis and descriptions. The character of Shazi is fascinating. And the story teller's voice is rationale but there are hints of hurt and emotional involvement which made the story mysterious and meaningful.

Complex Problems can have Simple Solutions Great essay! I have the mettalic silver sun screen sheild thing for my car which I spread across the windsheild (when I park). ANd it really helps. The car stays much cooler. And things inside it also survive. I had these very nice sun glasses. They melted on my dashboard! The silver sun screen sheild could have saved them. But I was too lazy to use it. I paid the price. I really miss them.

Bad Vibes Meanwhile the driver of Principal’s car had informed him of the calamity of “Raining Books”

Another great absorbing essay. I like how you describe events from your life.

Guddi so as to develop empathy for their misfortune. I hope I succeeded

you did.

Guddi Beautiful. I would suggest to keep going with the story.

Nietzsche – the Overman and the Three Metamorphoses Thank you Sidra! Wonderful selections! Please share more soon.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid Thanks for the review! Its on my list. The title. `Reluctant Fundamentalist.` made me think, Can a person be reluctant and be a fundamentalist? I thought fundamentalism is all about removing reluctance. Its about being sure. Maybe he has dealt with this idea in the novel.

Despite his good writing, what I find lacking in Mohsin Hamid`s writing is the viewpoint of middle class or the masses.

Isnt that a good thing?

The Invisible Men minhaj-man: Nothing is sacred when you are in your 20s (assuming you are a 20-something) least of all ``memories``, which should be cherished as opposed to worshiped, from a distant future, of the past that was yesterday.

Thanks yoda.

The Invisible Men The job started. I was good at it, I liked it and the pay was generous. The best of all the worlds. A loving wife, prime of my youth and plenty of money should have automatically been translated into “the best days of my life” but it wasn`t so. What happened was that I had consciously shunned my own culture, my own society and my own religion while being in Pakistan and had tried to embrace the Western one. What I had forgotten was the fact that how sham or how hypocritically nonsensical my religio-social heritage might be, it was my mine and the two of us were inseparable, how hard I might try. On the other hand, no matter how hard I try to integrate myself to a foreign culture, there would be minute details that would continue to escape my attention plus that biggest factor, “GORA doesn`t care”.

A very enjoyable and honest essay! I like the point you made that when we make a `conscious` attempt to free ourselves from something as natural as the culture and events of our childhood things like Sehri or watching Knight Rider, we lose an important emotion and we mock our most sacred memories.

Secondly I had to, since GORA was displaying his “Sang-Froid”, look for Indian/Pakistani couples with the same social/job backgrounds: Just to have some sort of social existence. That had its own drawbacks. That severely limited the choice of company that I could keep.

What is a Sang-Froid look?
Yeah I would hate that! To make the transition from real friendships to `taalukaat` type of relations so that you can mantain a family environment where every one can have fun. Maybe your kid likes to play with their kids but you dont nessessarily like the parents. Still you go there because your wife needs an `outing.` A person may feel that he works day and night to keep others happy and himself miserable. I am very interested to know if you became happy after returning to Pakistan. Do keep writing as frankly as you did.

God is a Metaphor Hi Dr. Sohail,
I loved this essay. I disagree with one thing you said. You mentioned that Hazrat Mohommad was using metaphors and people took those things literally. In my opinion, he was being literal. I think when he spoke of fire and maidens in heaven these were not metaphors. Even back then the Arabs were into excellent poetry and literature. So I think they could make the distinction between metaphors and literal claims. People dont die for metaphorical statements. They die to gain actual eatable rewards like honey and grapes and things they can feel like cool breezes and gorgous companions. But I whole heartedly agree with you that to fall for such claims is not the act of a bright man.

Teaching Science Badly – and Well Dr. Hoodboy,
I love science. Thanks for your sincere feelings and rational thoughts.
Best wishes,
Minhaj

Education Reform: Signs of Hope Mr. Urstruly,
Thank you for your response.
You can not shift between faith and history as if they were one. You seem to speak of Adam as if he is a well known historical personality. We know absolutely nothing about Adam or Eve. Even men like Moses are shrouded in mystery. What we do know for a fact is that Mecca was a polytheistic society and their norm of worshipping many Gods was well established through values, economy and tradition. One may argue from your perspective that Hazrat Mohammad had an inferiority complex and imposed on his Arab nation, a Jewish idea of God. Perhaps Mr. Urstruly that is what you would have done as a proud citizen of Mecca? My point is that your stand on this issue is nationalistic, reactionary and tribal. It is not based on actual thought, but vents in a more fancy way the simple anger of being conquered by the west. Also you said that ideology defines a human being. But the human being may also alter and define the ideology an example set by Hazrat Mohammad.

Education Reform: Signs of Hope Mr. Urstruly,
You wrote:
Makes me wonder, how long a curriculum that has no roots in the society, its norms, and history and which is enforced upon the nation by half a million gun totting criminals, would last.

Islam was in complete contradiction with the norms and history of the people of Mecca. They went from worshipping hundreds of Gods to just One God. And that curriculum has lasted for a very long time. Had you been alive when Hazrat Mohommad was preaching, would you have opposed him because he attacked the norms the roots?

From Tribalism to Humanism e.g. the mineral value alone of just the asteroid belt between mars and jupiter has been calculated to be worth trillions and trillions of dollars. add to that the materials in the rest of the solar system - giant planets and scores of moons some almost the size of earth, the millions of objects in the kuiper belt, and the massive energy generatd by the sun itself - all this is within reach.

if this ``tribal mindset`` was not diverting resources into wars, those resources would be going towards these true frontiers - mankind`s control of the solar system, curing disease and prolonging life...

Golden.