Who Is The Stranger?

ANSWERING MRS. NIDA MAQSUD (rhymingreason)

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#70 Posted by rhymingreason on April 11, 2009 6:45:59 am

"i'm...dumbfounded (tahir, parthaab)."

Many writers here have been found out, and that's why they stay mostly deaf and finally dumb (dumbfounded).

"i'm also having a hard time keeping track of who's quarreling with who..."

This is Chowq's very own Turkish hammam!

"i'd be happy to send a link of my story and all the ensuing comments to my father, brothers, and husband. My father, i'm guessing, would be proud of me for trying to portray a woman's unhappiness so honestly and without fear of (male) censorship."

If I were a woman, I'd admire your husband. What does he do really (apart from acting like a husband whose wife is free to expose her innermost feelings disguised as FICTION while standing in the middle of Chowq)? Have you lived in Frankfurt in a flat above Dr. Mueller's shop? In my 'depressing country' men indulge in authorized SM when their womenfolk go about publically advertising their 'those kinds of' thoughts.

"...by the way, i would like to state at this point, my dear tahir...."

No female on Chowq gets to 'dear' me. Dear me!

"...that i am not the one who's had your comments red-flagged. i would never do that."

Okay, excuse accepted. It's a Sihooni sazish of monstrous proportions that's attempting to separate the Siamese twins.

"i do not believe in censorship; so perhaps, on that account, we are on the same page."

Which page of the K-sutra is that?

"moving along, my brothers might cringe at the story, their level of modesty and humility being far greater than mine."

Now THERE's the TRUTH! You live in the FOREIGN, and the brothers live in that 'depressing country'.

"..but despite their response, they know i am a self-assured (Muslim, if you must know, not that it should matter) grown woman, who doesn't need their approval/disapproval to make decisions, although i certainly respect them dearly."

Show them your article and my posts, and let me know what daddy and the brothers (never mind the busy liberal husband) say.

You're never alone, you're always connected to this thing called religion, which you say is Islam for you.

"and my husband has already read the story and most of these comments, and has asked me in his gallant way if i want him to give anyone a sound verbal thrashing, but i politely declined."

How nice of you dear sister to have stopped him from using that bullwhip!

"...i don't need anyone to fight my battles. and, the way i see it, it's not really a battle but a difference of opinion."

It IS a battle. I would still advise you to write but write cleanly without inviting the naked readers to applaud and turn you into a balloon. Notice how our Indus-ian Islam-bashing readers (the same ones who abused my family and whom chowq did not ban permanently) and the exceedingly aazaad-khayaal ladies here clap when they see one more Muslim girl walk down a despicable path.

"my only question is why tahir and parthaab feel so threatened by women such as myself and...."

Threatened by women? Why, my mother is a woman and so is every lady in the family! I love them all according to merit.

.."if you don't like the look of us or our work, then feel free to disengage with us, or as the Quran states, "lower your gaze"."

Lower my what? How convenient for you to quote the Book! I'm talking about the DIFFERENCE between the right and the wrong path for your benefit, and for free!

"...read the story, and try to imagine what it must be like for a woman to endure a mental illness like depression in a country like pakistan...."

This is an insult! What on earth do you mean by 'like Pakistan'? Do you find your adopted country 100% perfect? No country and no society is, especially the one where one must do one's own dishes, the laundry, the garden, the toilet and what not.

"the story is not about....and by sharing my work of fiction, i was hoping to raise the reader's level of empathy, so they would be able to put themselves in another's shoes."

Oh really, all my life I've been waiting for this hair-raising experience. Why would you want men to wear ladies'  shoes?

"it seems to me, in general, that kind of humanity, or willingness to engage in such empathetic gestures, is lacking thesedays, and has led to the creation of the bush's and bin laden's of today"

More like GWB, the ugly war-president of the Untidy Satans of Amreeka.

And now will all the liberal ladies of Chowq stand up as a sign of respect; we'll quote the famous lines from THE STRANGER?

"Then she gently pushed him down onto his back, and swung her pajamed legs onto both sides of him. Standing up in the darkness, she cautiously undressed. Then she returned to him, lying on top of his stomach, holding his hands down to his sides. Slowly, she moved her body in practiced strokes, making sure he couldn’t feel any part of her that wasn’t soft and unscarred."