Preventing More Lal Masjids #670 by zeemax:

[The only thing that disappointed me in bulleya`s post was his attempt at discrediting you by reducing you to the level of a `lafafa` journalist, plus insinuating the insult that it is all that women journalists are good for, in response to your invitation to get in touch while visiting.]

No one and nothing can reduce me. Their attempts, though, reduce them considerably...isiliye itna chhatpatatey hai...aur rang badalte hai...if bulleya has tried to insult me, then I have not `received` that insult and therefore it remains with him! However, I don`t think he would imagine I would be a ``lafafa`` journalist. He hasn`t offered to pay, though if he has made such an error in thinking then he will have to pay for it in other ways...arre, not even the most important people, and that includes my friends in the BJP, have tried such stunts with me...I am happy to let you know that a RSS ideologue has called me ``an honourable enemy``.

But someone else has offered to pay...``Farzana, I am ready to pay for your expenses to travel to visit this school again, meet with the teachers, students, their parents, lawyer and if possible the judge. Have the judge order these guys pay for the land at the fair price, and set up the trust to run this school and build more such schools.``

Giving me instructions sitting in Silicon Valley...and offering to pay me... heck, how would it sound if I came on a public forum and talked about wanting to make a donation to that institution? But some people thrive on such public displays...I have seen it elsewhere too...

Re. liberals...my post 144 talks of ``vocational liberalism``. You know, collect funds for Hillary Clinton types...

PS: You don`t have to label yourself as anything...I do not agree with your views on several subjects, esp. atheism and cheese, but it is easier to deal with. At least one knows the POV won`t change like a chameleon...this applies to the hardliners among Indians too.

Anyway, am done with this board...

Preventing More Lal Masjids #644 by zeemax:
Your response to bulleya:

[#643,
p.s. can you use your journalistic connections to get a cover shoot for me, with ashwariya rai, for stardust.........?.....if she is not avaible, then priyanka chopra will do.........however, that is where i draw the line.....

Are you being condescending to FV by stereotyping her? I take this as an insult to FV. Did you really mean that?
Very disappointing.]

I would smile at the naivete, it is almost like one of those crazy teenage fans, and this is quite common among both Indians and Pakistanis. Just for the record, I do not use my contacts; I have never got a press card made because I wanted to approach people and go to places like a citizen. And I don’t ‘do’ film stars and the likes, not as a ‘journalist’, at least. But I think this was bulleya’s innocent way of sounding interested in my country!

Besides, generally speaking and nothing to do with the above, stereotyping here is quite a normal practice; some are the usual suspects and get caught. The ones to watch out for are the supposedly level-headed ones, you don’t know when they will change their ‘concerns’. Kitni asaani se patli galli se nikal jaate hai, aur woh bhi jhanda uthaakar.

By the way, who are you voting for? That is enough. You have done your duty. But me? I have to write, reform Islam and go visit some school (and why only that one? Oho, Sonia Gandhi’s driver’s son studied there and it produces MBAs and other such) to show that I am genuine…phew…anyway, you see in my country there are millions of children who go without food and nutrition, and the organisation I was once with had adopted a village, they used ‘key workers’ that is those from within the small community (not religious, but socio-economic) to bring about change. That is activism. Incidentally, I have NEVER called myself an activist; I dislike the term.

And if people are just so caught up in my dupatta, then it is entirely their problem. Obviously, they do not understand symbolism.
- - -

#650 by Salim_Chauhan:

I am not partial to Pathans, but I do like some of them. And not the list you mentioned.

[There is nothing wrong with niswar as long as it is not mixed with Lassie. :)]

I don’t care much for mixed-breeds, especially Collies :-)

[You might be the only Indian Muslim who has no relatives in Pakistan - I am sure that members of your immediate or extended family claim to have at least one long lost cousin in Garden East. :)]

I said no one left during Partition…I did mention, “A few relatives who left married in the wrong family. That they were happy, sexually and otherwise, is a matter I am still exploring...”

My khaala lived in Karachi until a few years ago before she had this desperate desire for Dunkin Donuts and since she felt Lahore was too far, she moved to the US, which is a dunked donut.

[Happiness, sexual or otherwise, and marriage are often at odds - the trick is to commit to both without impacting the other. :) Now, figure that one out.]

No trickery needed, just jugglery will do…

[When are you going to write another article on FP?]

What will “another article” do that a few sighs escaping my lips occasionally don’t?!

Preventing More Lal Masjids #629 by bulleya:

Why does good work always have to be written about? I know many people and organisations who in fact discourage publicity... and name-dropping. But that is another matter...

If you visit India, and feel like it, do get in touch with me. I would like that...kaaghaz.kalamATgmailDOTcom

Preventing More Lal Masjids #619 by bulleya:

I think I was articulate and as logical as one could be. If you haven`t already, do read the posts of Bluegaze and PM and my #144 (where I state, ``not everyone has to follow the straight and narrow path of a given ideology``).

And re. being made a to play a role, here is something that might fit:

``Apni mehroomiyon pe sharminda hai
Khud nahin rakhte to auron ke bujhaate hai chiraag``- Faraz

Here is a link to something I had written long ago should you be interested, posted before in another context...it does mention reforms:

http://www.rediff.com/style/jul/28farz.htm

As for transferring knowledge:

[.........hmm.........a tit?........}

Tit:

Quick search results:
# noun: small insectivorous birds
# noun: either of two soft fleshy milk-secreting glandular organs on the chest of a woman
# noun: the small projection of a mammary gland

Tat:

# noun: a projective technique using black-and-white pictures; subjects tell a story about each picture
# noun: tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar
# verb: make lacework by knotting or looping

- - -
It is Saturday, and casuals allowed...

#587 by Salim_Chauhan:

[Hailing from Bombay or any other part of India other than Patiala, Jullunder, Ferozepore, Pathankot, or Gurdaspur, you would be conscripted a ``Mohajir`` regardless of the amount of niswar you claimed to chew. :)]

Since I had no intention of depending on just you as my source of knopwledge, I found out what niswar was. It can truly reform the mindset. But you are wrong; Afghans in NWFP are called mohajirs too. Now if I stuck my neck out and got a rusty rifle maybe I would be called a mujahideen as well.

To get more serious, no one from my immediate or extended family left India during the Partition. The general impression is that they must have all been holed up in the Taj Mahal hotel`s Sea Lounge sipping orange pekoe or cappuccino with a touch of hazelnut, but those were trying times indeed. There was not enough money and although they were told that they had a better future, they decided to stay back.

I partly attribute my laziness to this inherited trait. Or just the old idea of being sexually loyal to your country.

A few relatives who left married in the wrong family. That they were happy, sexually and otherwise, is a matter I am still exploring...
- - -

#570 by zeemax:

[My favourite is fried Camembert ... :-)]

Are you not worried about your rep as a jihadi? What next - Beluga caviar at the JH? Or is this one more of those Pak halwa-puri things, you know, oye, thoda chhaunk daal ke Kamm-barth ko ghee mein tal lena hain ji...but our snoops tell us otherwise...that you might like yours with lobster sushi.

Being a lightweight Islamist, I prefer Camembert Dariole - it`s here one minute and gone the next :-)

Preventing More Lal Masjids This is truly amazing....

THEY (#552) start by talking about reforms in Islam, and then they wonder why we are not doing anything about ‘real’ issues.

[A battle is going on in Delhi High Court. Fazrana can do better exposing such scandals and save the institute that has already created chartered accountants, MBA, engineers and doctors from a group who without it had no dream of being beyond drivers.

This is level of reform I am talking about.]

No. This was what you started:

[#165 by anil on July 11, 2007 7:23am PT
Professor Hoodbouy;

For all the analysis, you have not touched the basic question. Why no one has heard of progressive reformers of Islamic society? Why it is all these reformers, if you can call them, mullah brothers to Bin Laden are all regressive reformers?

Until, muslims can understand the root cause, they are unable to produce progressive reformers who could build a Tsunami of progressive reforms.

Would some one care to answer my questions, of every one is busy expressing hapiness or sorrow on the defeat of dynamic-duo of regressive Islamic reformers.

Pakistan lost, and regressive Islamic reform is not even dented. Why this gloating?]

And it continued. Till this particular post. Do not get personal. I am sure there are several people in Delhi who will write about the school. What do you know about the work I have done? Only because one does not list out such things all the time? But here…(and Dr. H should excuse…oh, btw, do not worry about whether I had a tough time explaining myself to him; he in fact immediately acknowledged my post as graciously as I chose to clarify). There was a case in the Supreme Court about legal shanties being bulldozed for RS Members. FV was there, with those slum people. Okay? She does not understand legal stuff, but she went through those papers...they have won the case because they have it in them. No FV or anybody can claim reforms. FV works with children of CSWs. They have no religion and they don’t give a damn about who she is. But this is not reform. FV taught the visually impaired. She did not know their religion; they did not know hers. This was no reform. So, yes, bloody hell she is selfish. Because she gets a whole lot out of this…and she will choose the kind of work she thinks she can do. No one will tell her what cause to fight.

And giving a list of who is married to whom is really about details...let us not even get to what secularism really means.

I am sure you are doing something for the causes you believe in. I am not interested in the subject anymore…
- - -

Re. the point made by someone: “How many muslim marches against
Israel/Rushdie/Iraq/US/Danish cartoons?

How many marches against things that(or should) really matter?”

Yeah sure. And how many times have you bothered to interact on articles that talk about such subjects? Go check for yourself where you have gone and supported such causes even with your ‘talk’… And protest is a valid form of dissent.
- - -

#526 by bulleya:

It would not be a tat if there wasn`t a tit. I do hope you can transfer knowledge, except now you will have to tell them about your `walk` not just `talk`. Good luck.

- - -

DMji (#553):

[``My Muslimness is one part of my identity, just one.``

This is the key. I think that most of us are too wrapped up in defining Muslims by their religious identity alone; forgetting that they are, in your case, Indian, Gujarati, Mumbaikar, author, feminist (?). Those of us who make this mistake - I do, too, sometimes - not only do injustice to Muslims but also force them to think of themselves primarily - if not solely - in terms of their religious identity.]

Yes, that is a problem. It is one hell of a trap laid out and now I don’t care. I will not fall for it but gobble up the cheese…and the important thing is I can tell the difference between Brie and Muenster.

Regards,
FV

Preventing More Lal Masjids
#465 by bulleya:

What is wrong with you? Why are you going out of your way to tell people whether reform in Islam is possible or not? Who is an individual to decide if ``Farzana, Bulleya, Hoodbhoy, Yasser, and yes Hamidm too`` can bring about this change? Have we got a list of reform movements in Hinduism? Why do you have to feel defensive about being westernised or secular? Who the heck cares if someone from another belief system has to wait for years for the so-called reform in Islam, when there are dozens of interpretations already in existence?

[......westernization, amongst a poor country cannot, necessarily, be equated with progress......and secularism is not a reformation of religion......it requires a rejection of it.....at least of its public side, though not its private side......]

Westernisation is consumerist progress. So if you have call centres where people speak in American accents rather than madrassas where they shake their heads, they call it progress. But, the call centre employee can be a fanatic and the madrassa student need not be. I completely disagree with you that secularism is a rejection of religion. Secularism is an acceptance of various religious streams of thought, whether one practises any one or not. And secularism does allow you to be able to say that the works of Neruda or Shakespeare have equal validity and sanctity in your life as any holy book might. It does not reduce the latter in any way, unless one is heavily into reductionism.

What do you mean by public side and private side? Religion is a belief system and therefore in the public domain. You visit places of worship, sign hymns, and become part of a community. What you do in private is take this public learning and transport it in your homes - whether it is a puja room, a picture of Christ or Quranic sayings and then you pray. It is akin to a closed-door meeting about the declaration of a publidomutual fund`s progress.

[........islam cannot be reformed, either for good or for bad, because it does not have a clergy, by design.......it may actually be the only religion in the world that does not have a clergy.......a religion without a clergy becomes very fluid and dynamic.......there is no one to define the rules.........each person defines his/her own rules and own interpretations.........]

I don`t know why Islam needs to be reformed. If you have some element of intellect, then you choose what floats your boat; if not, then you sink with it or swim with whatever tide takes you wherever. The problem is that non-Muslims of not understand this lack of clergy aspect. Islam is more a way of life than Hinduism; it tells you how to wash your elbows, for god`s sake...how much more can an instruction manual do?

[.......due to the above, it becomes very easy for any person to exist within the boundaries of islam.......hamidm mian for all his rhetoric is raising his kids as muslims.......why?.........he, himself is a still a muslim.......i am still one........i have absolutely no reason to be one........but i am..........turks and saudis are opposites socially, yet both are heavily muslim........neither has denounced their religion........]

It is likely that the Muslimness rather than Islam prevails here. It is a community identity more than a religious one. And trust me, when you are pushed to prove yourself and your moorings, then you will feel a greater sense of belonging.

[hence the, ``reformation`` that you are refering to is actually an economic and educational rise in islamic socieities which will give muslims enough confidence to stand up to external aggressors and to tolerate and accept those who are different than them domestically.......]

Right. The reason I mentioned the doctors involved in the UK bombings is because education can be used in a negative manner. However, even more pertinent, as I mentioned elsewhere, is that for two guys a whole community was being tarnished. And this is what they ask ‘moderates’ like us to explain.

Re. tolerance, of course IMs tolerate the rest domestically, but you know what happened when I said it in one of the articles? It was like, how dare? Who does she think she is? It is my contention that tolerance is not the prerogative of the majority. If the minorities can tolerate and be at peace, then perhaps that is the reform that is getting everyone so hot and bothered.

PS: There is no reason to deny that the basis of Islam is violence as it is of all religions. Islam has just polished its sword to look shinier. It does not mean that the others are playing chess…heck, if you read some of the epics even chess has a violent and devious motive.
PPS: I am not interested in reforming Islam at all. Besides being ill-equipped to do so, it just does not make logical sense to me. My Muslimness is one part of my identity, just one. If some people wish to fall in this trap of playing to the stereotype of ‘people on the mend’, then please do so. Leave me out of this. If Islam says live by the sword, and I think it works for me, I shall sleep with one by my side. It does not mean we cleave whatever comes in the line of the sharp edge. Some of us are very picky.
- - -
#454 by Salim_Chauhan:

[…how a potential Mohajir gave him a free sugarcane without the Splenda.... :)]

It is unlikely that I would have been a mohajir. Don’t have the mindset of a refugee. Given my rather ‘wild’ ways I would more likely have been in Pashtun territory, making occasional trips to Pindi to find some chemists…

Preventing More Lal Masjids Dr. Hoodbhoy has written to me asking, “Did I say that I ``barely see any bare-faced women in the streets``?” He has quoted from my comment in #183 where I stated, “Prof. Hoodbhoy says he barely sees any bare-faced women in the streets. I was there last month and, heck, that is what I saw...faces...some being touched up at restaurants. And yes, I threw my dupatta away because it was too heavy. No one gave a damn. In fact, I had fallen for the stereotype and taken `proper` clothes.”

My statement had followed this one posted as a response to an interactor: “You haven`t heard about the reformers in Eqypt, Turkey...are not nations like Malaysia and Indonesia `reformed`? And who is to decide what is regressive reform? I have said this to you earlier, why only look to Muslims for progressive reform? How do you define it?”

So, did Dr. Hoodhoy say that he did not see any bare-faced women in the streets? I realise I made a sweeping reference to his exact words, which were:

“This silence has allowed tribal extremism to migrate effortlessly into the cities. Except for the posh areas of the largest metropolises, it is now increasingly difficult for a woman to walk bare-faced through most city bazaars. Reflections of Jamia Hafsa can be found in every public university of Pakistan. Here, as elsewhere, a sustained campaign of proselytizing and intimidation is showing results. In fact, it would do little harm to rename my university, now a city of walking tents, as Jamia Quaid-e-Azam.``

He further elaborates in his letter: “The situation is as follows: One certainly sees women in every kind of dress in certain areas of Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad. But try Peshawar, Bannu, Kohat, Nowshera, Gujranwala, Gujar Khan, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Jacobabad, Leiyah, Quetta, Khuzdar,...For these places - and many many more - it is absolutely true that I barely see any bare-faced women in the streets.”

Thanks for this and the misunderstanding was unfortunate. The idea was most certainly not to put words in his mouth, although I should have specified which streets. I am glad to note that no one has responded to that specific stray sentence of mine and taken the post as a whole.

Except for this ‘generalisation’, I stand by the views expressed in all my posts and my comments #23 {“If you are speaking from the idealistic POV, then Pakistan will need to change its Constitution. If it is practical considerations (poverty, illiteracy), then even if you wipe out all the madrassas, will the mindset change? You yourself mention the failure of BB and NS to bring about change”} and #144 very clearly explicate my POV, which is much beyond that one sentence.

Regards...

Preventing More Lal Masjids hissing in the wind

#344 by hamidm2:

Now that you are all wet, let me tell you that had Jinnah decided to stay back and give it to that naked faqir, then you would have been an Indian Muslim....so stop calling us losers.

You have to live with one idol (a statue of a naked woman with an urn is not an idol, but a statue of a naked woman with pigeon shit...unless your neighbourhood does not have Syeds who worship pigeons). We have to live with like hundreds of idols and idolators...

The Dr. Guptas and all Guptas I know are not S. Indian, but perhaps you can only smell the South of anything...

I have great respect for your father, simbbly because he produced you (yeah, IMs are losers in a way), but spitting on the floor, as opposed to spitting at the moon, is a very Indian tradition.

Now, the great thing is everyone, including losers, will say haha, he is so damn funny, men...all because they think you have Indian blood...so just remember history and occasionally accept it.

Thanks in advance...

PS: What happens when you are bone dry?

Preventing More Lal Masjids #236 by bulleya:

Excellent...if only you weren`t Canadian your points would have more legitimacy!
- - -
#238 by Faruk:

[“A scapegoat has no choice...”

They have a choice, they are being paid for their services and for playing the scapegoat…]

Then they are running a business and it is a transaction...at worst it would be called a scam.

[“I don`t think the mullahs are blaming anyone for their situation, “

Then why are the fighting the Americans?]

Where are the mullahs fighting the Americans? The Afghans fought the Russians, Iraq fought Kuwait, Pakistan fought Pakistan...okay, never mind...the point is that the mullahs are anti-US, as is most of the world in matters of ideology. Incidentally, the mullahs are the ONLY ones who oppose fully, unlike civil society that continues to enjoy the McBurgers. (I don`t enjoy them but am still lovin` it...). Rabid mullahism is the result of US policies. Osama was taken away from his nice club armchair and forced to become a `gee-hardy`. Imagine, he might have been sitting with Hamidm, sipping merlot and logging onto Chowk to hit out at the beards or go tch-tch each time a poem is published...

Re. being able to change politicians as the choice we have, do you still believe so? With coalitions around do we even know who is going to ally with whom? I agree with you that most of the good work is being done by nameless souls...but the common folks do not have as much of a free hand in acting out their thoughts.

[“Well, as one who thinks that Jinnah was among the best leaders in pre-Partition India, I still believe it is time to give up the ghost of his expectations. Just as in India we do not care about Nehruvian socialism.”

Oh! If I did not know better I would say you are trying to indianize Pakistan…]

That isn`t necessary. Our soaps are doing it. Besides, one has to Indianise India first...before these NRIs come and make it any worse.

- - -

#283 by PM:

Patrick, your post is relevant, at least no one will start discussions titled, ``When will ferzana revert?`` Revert from what and to what? And no one will call you an Islamic apologist...heck, I am not even apologising. I am saying, yo, bring on them empty horses...but in this little `family drama` that takes place here, you need to be pinned down as a `begum` or some such thing to let others feel `modern`... I am happy enough licking the cream from my very elitist coffee...

[Have I told you lately that ... your voice of moderation is lovely to hear? :-)]

No, but I hear you now...am doing everything in moderation, so that I can enjoy my extremism and extremes in peace. Oh, and does feeling good about others chuckling qualify as patronising them? Then I shall desist.

Off to comfort food...

Preventing More Lal Masjids #169 by Faruk:

[“We forget that the US has been making Pakistan a scapegoat. Was it the doing of mullahs?”

We must add that Pakistan was a willing partner.]

A scapegoat has no choice...

[The problem with militancy is that it is not capable of solving a problem. Liberalism is not a spokesperson for the west but recognition that renaissance is a change of mindset. You have to accept responsibility for your situation. You have to think long and hard how to change that situation. Let’s take the example of the Chinese, they hate the west a lot more than the militants do. They are beating the crap out of the west one paper clip at a time. Not very romantic, but they are winning and the militants are going nowhere.]

I don`t think the mullahs are blaming anyone for their situation, however much we may or may not agree with their long-term goals. A renaissance is a slow movement...it isn`t a political election, right? Yet, we trust the politicians enough to bring them to power. Why? Are they going to change the mindset? What reforms has ANY political party brought about?

Re. the Chinese, we have their track record in Tibet and putting their own insurgents down. And they have become westernised...so the cultural colonisation is there. (Pakistan is yet to reach that level.)

[“This whole business about Jinnah would not have approved makes no sense because 60 years on it is time to grow up and grow out.”

Jinnah is the only person respected across the religious divide in Pakistan.]

Well, as one who thinks that Jinnah was among the best leaders in pre-Partition India, I still believe it is time to give up the ghost of his expectations. Just as in India we do not care about Nehruvian socialism.

Regards,
Farzana

Preventing More Lal Masjids #165 by anil:

[For all the analysis, you have not touched the basic question. Why no one has heard of progressive reformers of Islamic society? Why it is all these reformers, if you can call them, mullah brothers to Bin Laden are all regressive reformers?}

You haven`t heard about the reformers in Eqypt, Turkey...are not nations like Malaysia and Indonesia `reformed`? And who is to decide what is regressive reform? I have said this to you earlier, why only look to Muslims for progressive reform? How do you define it?

Prof. Hoodbhoy says he barely sees any bare-faced women in the streets. I was there last month and, heck, that is what I saw...faces...some being touched up at restaurants. And yes, I threw my dupatta away because it was too heavy. No one gave a damn. In fact, I had fallen for the stereotype and taken `proper` clothes.

The root cause of the problem is how others choose to perceive you. How many moderates are asked questions about Islam? Watch the panel discussions. There will be one token moderate...and if it is India, she will flaunt a bindi as though that makes her moderate.

Last night I was invited for one such discussion and I told the person that if I chose to appear in purdah would she still think of me as a `liberal`? She kept quiet. Then she said, ``what sort of subject should I approach you for?`` I told her, ``Sex.`` Silence again.

You realise as your last para states that the gloating reveals the `other` mindset. The Book is the last word, technically speaking. So is Shakespeare and Neruda for many of us...If that Book had been the only sacrosanct things, then we would not have had so many versions of Islam.

PS: Next time please do not sound patronising. Will you tell me a bit about reforms in Hindusim...contemporary reform movements and not Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar and the Brahmo samaj.

Preventing More Lal Masjids #129 by bluegaze:

Spot on. This is the problem with a certain sort of `vocational liberalism` everywhere. In that it becomes a spokesperson of the West. I have in my earlier post #23) talked about how the example of Vietnam was a disingenuous comparison. We forget that the US has been making Pakistan a scapegoat. Was it the doing of mullahs?

You suggestion of having an enquiry is of utmost importance, for right now all manner of theories are being flaunted. FYI, militancy - and I am sticking my head out on this - arises as much from a need for a renaissance as any liberal thought. Marxism hardly has a history of peaceful resistance.

The sort of drama surrounding the `escape in a burqa` underlined the complete disregard for the more important issue of why women participated in the movement. And I see no reason if they are called ``our daughters`` by the maulvis. After all, the most prominent woman politician in Pakistan happily called herself ``Daughter of the east``.

Again, the same liberals who want to fight the establishment remove themselves from others who wish to fight it.

The history of militancy has its basis in a humanitarian need, for the most part. Incidentally, the Taliban did not sprout up in a vacuum. Is it right or wrong? That is for each society to decide.

This whole business about Jinnah would not have approved makes no sense because 60 years on it is time to grow up and grow out. Pakistan has to live with its madrassas, unless it changes its Constitution to that of a secular republic. And even if ti does, then it will have to live with the religious elements wanting a bit of god, as we in India have discovered.

PS: Am glad you identified yourself as a leftist. It shows that not everyone has to follow the straight and narrow path of a given ideology.

Meeting Poet Ahmad Faraz #20 by teshah:

[Farzana

Excuse me, dear, it is not the question of language. You added `even` when even there was no `bhi` in the original because perhaps you were not aware even of the truth Faraz intended to depict in the stanza. He probably wanted to say that sincere love (`wafa` has no exact substitute in English or the culture which it represents) always leads one to bad shape...]

I already explained why I added `even`. Having said that I don`t see why a translation has to be literal. I do not agree with you when you say that `sincere love` always leads one to bad shape. I am far more optimistic and maybe your interpretation of Faraz is closer to his, but mine is mine.

I believe that in looking within barren souls is itself adorning them with `pearls`. Agar khud par yakeen nahin tau auroun se kya umeed rakh sakte hai?!

Preventing More Lal Masjids Dr. Hoodbhoy:

If you are speaking from the idealistic POV, then Pakistan will need to change its Constitution. If it is practical considerations (poverty, illiteracy), then even if you wipe out all the madrassas, will the mindset change? You yourself mention the failure of BB and NS to bring about change.

[Imperial America’s policies in the Muslim world are usually held to blame. But its brutalities elsewhere have been far greater. In tiny Vietnam, the Americans had killed more than one million people. Nevertheless, the Vietnamese did not invest in explosive vests and belts. Today if one could wipe America off the map of the world with a wet cloth, mullah-led fanaticism will not disappear.]

This is a disingenuous comparison. Vietnam was not being used the way Pakistan is by the US, which is not a new phenomenon. It isn`t ``imperial America`s policies`` but crusading American policies that have exacerbated the problems. However, the Pakistan problem has essentially to do with prudence, unlike Afghanistan or Iraq or Iran. The mullahs of the Lal Masjid were fighting the Establishment within. Activists do it for different reasons. So, we are talking about ideology, more specifically the ideologies of disparate groups.

Pakistani fanaticism can most certainly not be seen as perfectly representative of Islamic fundamentalism, which has at its very basis an anti-colonial stance.

[The government’s madrassa reform program has fallen flat on its face, and future efforts will do no better. It was absurd to have assumed that introducing computers or teaching English could have transformed the character of madrassa education away from brain-washing and rote memorization towards logical behaviour and critical thinking. Did the adeptness with which Lal Masjid managed its website really bring it into the 21st century? Madrassas are religious institutions; they cannot be changed into normal schools. It is time to give up wasting money and effort in attempting to reform them and, instead, to radically improve the public education system and make it a viable alternative.]

Change is usually slow. Knowledge of English (despite skewed and bad spelling) has not altered the face of American `fundamentalism`, which is essentially xenophobic. What you call normal schools may equip people with a scientific knowledge but not a scientific temperament. The best bombs are not crude bombs. And then we do have doctors at work, too.

There is a resurgence of fanatical forces in all religious streams of thought. Blair is getting to be in love with catholicism, Hinduism has found its ancient heritage delectable enough to eat, and the Dalai Lama too is giving speeches that don`t sound sweet.

The Lal Masjid situation is only one of Pakistan`s hiccups.

Meeting Poet Ahmad Faraz Rahul:

The `even` was in fact an afterthought; I felt the `mumkin` in the next line talked about possibility, therefore there was no certitude.

But thanks for the ``2 cents``. Urdu ke muamle mein, among other things, hum muflis hi hai...learning...

Ras:

The jazbaat should get rusty when you are SURE you are getting old; ab tau sirf guesswork chal raha hai! And, as Noorjehan sang in `Jawaan hai mohabbat`...``Abhi tak humein yaad hai woh kahani``.

Be well...

Meeting Poet Ahmad Faraz Ras:

Kaise hai aap? Good the read this account. I have a precious gift from Faraz: a collection of his translated work, with the inscription in broad strokes. Ab woh kya hai? Let us just say it makes me happy! His words do, his charisma did...he is by far the finest contemporary Urdu poet. I met him at what was then his office.

Indeed, it is tough to `bring him` to an English-educated and reading audience, but you should have translated the lines with some of your jazbaat too. Poetry, good poetry, has that quality. Not complaining, but...

[“Is se pehlay ke bevafaa ho jaayen, kyon na ai dost hum juda ho jaayen” (Before we become unfaithful, to our cause, why don’t we just part ways, my friend).]

``to our cause`` (even though part of the whole poem) sticks out here...the deceit should be left to deceive itself!

In ``Ab ke hum bicchade`` my favourite lines, and those that may apply to the one above and to several other things...

``Dhoondh ujade hue logon mein vafaa ke moti
ye khazaane tujhe mumkin hai kharaabon mein milein``

May I attempt a rough translation?

Search for faith even amongst barren souls
Who knows what pearls might be buried in those ruins?

Not literal, but I should hope it captures the essence.

Regards,
F