International Journalism @ CUNY LIVE

Here's another sin right after fireworks

"Chess is strictly forbidden in the hadis; cards and chausar are like chess and therefore are also forbidden. Players' hearts get so absorbed in these games that the players are good for nothing else; they neglect both their worldly concerns and their religious concerns. surely this is very Bad! Kites are exactly the same (<--Oh no!) In the case of kites, moreover, boys have been killed falling off roofs while chasing kites. You must be firm in bever letting your children play such games or giving them money to do so." 

So...what can they do for fun I wonder?

repeated motherhood

For my research I read something interesting about motherhood in India (this is not my topic though). In patricia jeffery's study of the pirzada women, wives of the custodians of the Sufi shrine in a village called Saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, usually have over eight children. The lack of contraceptives, high death rates in infants (and husbands who generally want more children than do their wives) all contribute to the high birth rates (as a side note, this study is published in the 1980s, somethings are not relevant anymore). 

Speaking of high birthrates in literature, many wives in Reza's novels have numerous children. Khairum (khan sahib's wife) has 18 children. Repeated motherhood is not necassarily frowned upon by Reza. However, Chunghtai might have something to say about having too many, as the first few pages of the Crooked Line indicate criticisms for uncaring mothers and indifferent fathers. Furthermore, repeated motherhood has a ruinous effect on women's health. One woman recounts in jeffery's study how plump she was in her youth and that constant worries about feeding the children has taken the rosy colors from her cheeks and how weak she has gotten over the years.

Love comes too late

have you guys read Love comes too late from Manto. i really don't know what to make of this one. Basically, you have a "peave loving man" who hates to "slave for others," kind of like a bum for short, and another faceless woman talking on the phone. They flirt for a while  before one proposes that they meet. He refuses to meet her until he's properly dressed. She goes away for a few days and comes back to phone him, he spits out blood on the other end while she finally gives him her number.

The decorations on Tazias

So i remember in a village divided, in one strip (I forgot if it was the northern or southern strip), the tazias are decorated by the high ranking members of the village only while in the other strip they are lower caste members are given that honor. It turns out, the professor explained that it is not really because of social tolerance and fluidity that they allow the low caste members to beautify the shrines, rather, in that particular part, people with status consider the job beneath them and therefore assign the duty to the bottom caste. Interesting.

passages from Toba Tek Singh

They tried to set his thinking straight. "Look, Toba Singh has gone to Hindustan" one of the guards tried to humour him. "If it is not there we will see to it that it is dispatched there at once." But Bishan Singh was adamant. When they tried to drag him to the other side he stood firmly on his swollen legs in the middle of the road as if not power on eath could dislodge him from there. But he was a harmless man. They left him alone for the time being and proceeded with the rest of the exchange.

Just before dawn, Bishan Singh, who had been standing inert let out a horrible scream. Officers bfrom both sides ran forward and saw that the man who had always stood erect on his legs for the last fifteen years was now lying on his face. On one side behind him stood together the lunatics of Hindustan and on the other side across the road, lunatics of Pakistan. Between them on the no-man's land Toba Tek Singh lay stretched.