The Kite Runner; Stealing is the only Sin????

 I came across an interesting movie/novel, following words made me think about the whole concept of morality. Conversation between child and father conveys a universal message; "Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that? "When you kill a man, you steal a life," Baba said. "You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?" Think about it.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist “Love & Hate Relationship with US”

Lately I came across an interesting book; The Reluctant Fundamentalist, it is a novel by Mohsin Hamid that was published in 2007. The novel takes place during the course of a single evening in an outdoor Lahore cafe, where a bearded Pakistani man called Changez tells a nervous American stranger about his love affair with, and eventual abandonment of, America. The Ego Magazine did an interesting review of the novel, it writes “Much like the narrator Changez in his new novel “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid grew up in Lahore, went to college at Princeton, worked in a corporate firm in New York, and felt compelled to return to Pakistan following the events of 9/11, giving him the starting point to get inside the thoughts of an “outsider” in the aftermath. Written in the form of an extended monologue delivered by Changez, a foreigner who has embraced the Western world only to find himself repulsed by it, the novel packs a powerful punch that is nothing short of breathtaking. Hamid says, “By allowing readers to feel what that man feels, I hope to show that the world is more complicated than politicians and newspapers usually have time for.”

Novel gives a good account of a guy falls in love with America, and then comes back to Pakistan. His hatred towards America grows and tries to find out superiority of Pakistani society. More and more, it is as if he is trying to convince himself of the moral and historical rightness of his return journey to Pakistan.

It is fun read for those who want to migrate but what if they fail to gel in the foreign land the plight would be similar to Mohsin Hasid’s novel character CHANGEZ.

Forget about Printed Books, Kindle 2 is the Future!

During my February 09, US visit I came across an interesting device at Barns & Nobel Bookstore, called Kindle . It is such a sleek and eyesoothing digital reading device, i think I would be using pretty soon.

If Kindly 2 were cheaper, it could have affected the sale of printed books, it is presently priced at $359. Hmmm spending that much for pleasure reading device it makes one rationale buyer to think. But sooner or later Kindle would be in every bag and every hand.

Kindly 2 is better than original It's sleeker, more pleasant to touch and easier to read (though the screen is the same size), and the battery lasts forever--more than two weeks if you keep the wireless connection off.

It also adds a supercool feature called Whispersync, which automatically notes where you left off reading. So if you use more than one Kindle or download the free Kindle reading software to your Apple iPhone, you can move from one device to the other without losing your place.

Days are not far when we start reading books on our iPhone? iPhone!!!! I am not kidding, with a 1o inch IPhone touch screen.

Pirates of the Caribbean; Axis of Hope

Lately everyone was talking about the Axis of Evils, here comes Tariq Ali with his new book title Pirates of the Caribbean; Axis of Hope.

Recent global financial crisis has started a discussion among political economist; last night few friends posed following questions;

Was Marx right?

Is Capitalism teetering at the brink of disaster?

Socialism is the answer!

Greedy Capitalism dying natural death!

Interesting discussion, fruit for thoughts.

Well, anyways, Tariq Alis book is about Cuba, Venezuela and Bolovian leaders, he writes "Since 1998, the Bolivian revolution in Venezuela has brought Hugo Chávez to world attention as the foremost challenger of the neoliberal consensus and American foreign policy. While Chávez's radical social-democratic reforms have brought him worldwide acclaim among the poor, he has attracted intense hostility from Venezuelan elites and Western governments.

Tariq Ali draws on first-hand experience of Venezuela and meetings with Hugo Chávez to analyse the Bolivarian revolutionary process. He discusses the influence of Castro on Chávez, Bolivia’s Evo Morales and Ecuador's Rafael Correa, the latest addition to the 'Axis of Hope’."

Creative Desi Babe Writes 'Tunnel Vision'

Tunnel vision is an artistic creation of Shandana Minhas, emerging desi novelist.

She is just 29, few years younger than me:P, to her, writing first novel is like “having a baby, ejecting an infant from your uterus is excruciating, but the body forgets.
Tunnel Vision is another fresh literary wind after Exploding Mangoes of Muhammad Hanif, name Tunnel Vision is all about 80s, the Zia era and it affected everyone in contemporary Pakistan

She thinks Karachi is friendlier towards writers as compared to Lahore because she hails from my city ‘Karachi’, but to me Lahore is also adorable, it is my second home and academic abode :P

One thing I like about desi novelist, they are writing towards hardcore political realities in literary context, it is not all about fairy tales but hardcore socially sensitive literature.

Tunnel Vision is a good read and food for thoughts, a fresh young wind.

Exploding Mangoes; A Case of Sex, Lies & Drugs

A case of sex, lies and drugs is all about the nightmare military era of late Zia. Mohammad Hanif, a guy from Okara, migrated to London, lived for over ten years in London, he is back in town.

He is well known, anyone who loves reading novels, know his credentials.

His novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes is different, a thought provoking political subject. He was invited at T2F but unfortunately I missed it, but his talk mesmerized my friends.

I just read intro part of the book but friends who read it, to them Mangoes is a mystery novel that pulls together a variety of thematic strings all converging to the assassination plot that killed General Zia.

The favorite line in novel which intrigues the readers is “My optimism went straight to my bladder”. Another interesting analogy of Zia in comparisons with Musharraf, he writes, “We lived and are still living the same nightmare but probably in reverse”.

An interesting and must read novel, strongly recommended.

Intellectual Masturbation

Hey guys I am not talking about usual masturbation that 99% of normal guys do, either during shower or in bed.

Over here, I am talking about another kind of masturbation that is called mental masturbation it is “the act of engaging in impractical/nonproductive mental exercise/thinkings/writings through which a practitioner only comforts oneself mentally. Such acts don't lead to any constructive results what so ever in the real world; some might even imagine oneself being transformed into superman, or simply the opposite sex, etc.In short, it's just bs/crap”.

These days so called enlightened, moderate sitting in drawing room, Jacuzzi or at coffee shops just talking big ideas or thoughts, most thoughts lack the context and background, just engage into superficial intellectual discourse.

It seems a non productive exercise with no base, just dwelling in the world of imagination, for self gratification. Masturbation could be the analogy to use for these so called pseudo intellectuals, self enjoyment for mental orgasmic thrust.

To me these so called intellectual sounds like mind wankers, mind masturbators.

They are such a queer; they stain me by their Intellectual Jizz!!!