Gods of War Re: # 24 So does invasion of iraq or Afghanistan guarantee such an incident won`t happen again? COuld the act of a dozen of people be made an excuse to invade the entire country and kill thousands of civilians in the process? And above all, if such an incident does take place again, would it result in the occupation of another country, fictitously held respinsible or linked? Going by that arguement, Pakistan should be next in the queue for invasion, why oppose that?

Gods of War Re: # 7 let me respond by quoting your own words in #1....
[b]Any country, with its interests threatened ,will resort to war--thats for sure[/b]
nuff said!

Gods of War Re: # 6 ironed-musk, that`s by no means a response to #3. Stop digressing :@

Gods of War Re: # 3 Good post Charlie! who in his right mind could presume that the anarchy or `Islamisation` of Afghanistan could pose any danger to the `democracy and liberty` of the US of A, and it wasn`t for the monetary or geo-political interests that it did what it did...

Stealing Air Bags in the Air Re: # 2 lol...so you have already tried your hands on the soaps! :P That means Ameer, you are not the only one of `that` kind here!
Nice piece, much more funnier tan the one actually published under the parallel `Humidor` section. Do keep writing. :)

Chore! Chore! This is a masterpiece indeed! A splendid depiction of the prevailing soceity and its grotesque norms.
All the characters have been beautifully carved out and though some might seem redundant in the beginning, seem to build up well towards the end. It`s been a while since i read such a brilliantly executed piece of fresh prose.
Looking forward to read more from you.

PS. Can`t help agreeing with kaptain...constantly repeated same old political and diplomatic BS keeps adorning the `Main Page` on this website while such exquisite literary works are cast intto these inferior-looking sections hardly noticable when one visits the main page, unless he scrolls down. I find them really pointless and condescending for the writers.

Why Superwomen Have it Bad Re: # 8 lol @ wrong person...it happened in Pakistan, so would have been the only option ;)

Saviour or Tinpot Dictator? Re: # 55 ahhh, so there! so it`s the popularity of MMA that`s your grudge, or the ill conceived policies? Or lemme put it this way, had the popularity of MMA not been a repercussion of the government`s policies, would these still be illconceived, or is this the only guage for their adequacy?

Saviour or Tinpot Dictator? Re: # 39 Self-preservation is the goal of every entity; that`s libido - selfish. At least we know he does not espouse fundamentalism, why beat about the bush, on this one in particular?

ps. drawing a sifar is my ultimate quest. ;)

Saviour or Tinpot Dictator? while creating, perhaps unwittingly, huge public space for the fundamentalist elements who he was always opposed to.

Gimme a break manto. He`s the one to have launched a full-fledged campaign against madrassahs. Military raids in FATA have been conducted under his rule, still such an allegation? Man, you never cease to amuse ... you remind me of that Westlife song ...

we got a little world of our own
I`ll tell you things that no one else knows
I`ll let you in where no one else goes
...

i mean LOL.

Saviour or Tinpot Dictator? Re: # 21 Lost Siachin? Lost Kargil? Under Military?
Guess I am better off sleeping.

Generation Ex ``The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see``.

Perhaps there wasn`t anything special about these people. People like them are generated at random in this phenomenon of continuity. It`s just that they were contemporaries of your father, and he wouldn`t want his time to end. Nobody does!

Well-written.

The Color Yellow #15 And I am gald at least you commented on `the` story and its layout ;) If anybody is going to benefit from these comments, it`s me. As for the simpler words bit, since the day I bought unlimited fast access to the internet and got familiarised with www.dictionary/thesaurus.reference.com at the same time, I just can`t get my hands off it, if you know what i mean. ;)

#16 khammy, children in Pakistan have started maturing a tad too quickly since the day you left. Perhaps you were the last specimen of the case that preceded. :D

Thanks aimie and burpi for your kind remarks.

The Color Yellow Re: # 12 Hi bj. Alrite, lets take it one by one...

1)What`s the boy`s chief beef? hmmm...it could be all of the ones you mentioned, but I wanted to keep the role-play of `fate` as far aside as possible...and concentrate only on the `human` bit...that means here, his chief beef in your words would be `born in this day and age when capitalism rules and that too in a thirld world country. Must admit, I am actually happy you stumbled upon the notion of anti-capitalism buried deep in there!

2)the idea of having questions but no dreams wasn`t my idea at all. It`s just how it happened to be with the boy. At his age and with his plight, he couldn`t afford to look beyond rags and a chunk of bread, let alone dream! But derision from dreams on account of being over-occupied by questions although might be, as we scientists put it, a sufficient condition, but it ain`t necessary.

3) I duely and humbly buy your arguement that fusing narration with dialogue wasn`t a very good idea after all . Consider it an experiment which I would try to avoid in case I venture to write in future.(ref: #6 :) )

4) the boy was three...he was, and that is why after listening to all his questions I had a feeling that he had outgrown his age! Also, it is not an actual dialogue, so although the kid under question was only three years old, I might be foreboding as to what sort of questions he will be asking in a few years time when his conscious has developed enough to realise that there is certainly something wrong with this world.

5) the last paragraph...i`d again refer to my #6...it was supposed to be a scrutiny of our current social norms and a mockery at the system ...rather than pure fiction, that is why I thought it must have been categorized under society and not fiction! Had I made no conclusion, people would have jumped to all sorts of entirely uncalled for ones like the one in 8, which they have all the liberty to do, but I had to put across my intention behind writing the story somehow!

I really appreciate your detailed analysis nevertheless. Thanks for that and for musturing up the courage to read it a second time and then admitting it!

best

The Color Yellow #8 well well, raw paa ji, I did deserve some words of gratitude there, didn`t I? After all, it`s not every day that someone would provide you with a much sought after opportunity to diss and bash Allah - or Islam/Muslas/Mohammad/Koran/religion/faith -for that matter, particularly on a board only remotely related to the question of faith. And you say I got no balls? :(

Religion becomes a toy only for people like you and me...people belonging to the so called higher-class of the society from a monetary or educational point of view...ones who are fortunate enough to be able to `choose` and `experiment`. A poor little boy of three, would desperately need someone to vent his anger and frustration on, someone to curse and complain to for all his shortcomings, or someone to look up to. That`s exactly what he is doing in the story/narration, as nonchalant he is to the `aafaaqi questions` you allege him of asking as he could be . He is just, but oblivious of the idea of choice, not that it matters to him anyway.

And speaking of contentment, that word`s long been obliterated from the human dictionary, especially in our society. People laying claims like the one you did from the comfort of their cozy bedrooms need to take a hike down the countryside and socialize more often with the hoi-polloi. And had you bothered to look deep into the questions of the poor kid (which i must say, much to his dismay, if went unheard or undeciphered even on this board of self-proclaimed intellectuals of the society, how could he expect the common man-in-the-street to pay a heed?), they weren`t directed towards Allah apart from the first couple and those too as a sort of mockery, but were actually supposed to be castigating the injustice and ` lack of contentment` prevailing and ameliorating in the society.

Hope I addressed you concerns adequately. I do, however, fully understand that coming from a presumably Muslim background, it should really feel good and relieving to emancipate yourself of religion, and ergo, of all viabilities and restrictions associated with it, but hey hypengyophobia is as bad as any other phobia, and all phobias must be gotten rid of.

And the song`s cool, Coldplay happens to be one of may favorites too. btw don`t you think `in my place, were lines i couldn`t replace` would also fit well in the context of the boy`s despondence and his queries? thanks. :)

The Color Yellow First of all I would like to mention how indebted I feel to the esteemed chowk-staff for publishing this piece of absolute gibberish and bull-crap, after merely a month`s wait, and that too in this highly coveted `fishy-tank (thanks to Amrita) which would undoubtedly attract anypasser-by`s eye a lot more than an article listed on top ...and not to forget how insightful they have been by listing it under the category `fiction`, and not `society`, which i feared it would fall under and that would have been so utterly derogatory!

Secondly, I would like to thank bjkumar, sameena, nadeem, kalihawa and subroto for not only dropping by taking the pains of reading this `piece of absolute gibberish and bull-crap`.