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Posts tagged with: New York
Aug 7, 2010    |       19 comments

Breaking point?

Guest Post by Faisal Kapadia from DeadpanThoughts

As Muslims, we are often informed by the local and international media of our innate ability to react emotionally to anything concerning religion. They say we react too aggressively to any remarks on our faith or system of values and have knee-jerk reactions to issues that can be solved through dialog.

Yet, we have been openly harassed since 9/11 world over, for having a beard that is too long or for wearing a veil. 9/11 was a tragedy which should never have happened, thousands of lives were lost. It is also the tragedy that led to religious and cultural intolerance. Muslims living in the US, Canada and even Europe live in perpetual paranoia, with some resorting to non-disclosure of their culture and religion in the desperate attempts to blend in, to find refuge from the scrutiny in their adopted countries.
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Mar 5, 2010    |       6 comments

Daniyal Mueenuddin, a Pakistani wins The Story Prize

A Pakistani-American author—cited for the empathy, depth, and complexity of his work—is the winner of the $20,000 The Story Prize for his book In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

At the end of an evening of readings and conversation, debut writer Daniyal Mueenuddin took the stage and accepted The Story Prize for his collection In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, a book of eight connected stories set in southern Pakistan and centering around the estate of a feudal landowner. The curators of The Story Prize, Dark and Lindsey selected the three finalists from among 78 books entered in 2009, representing 53 different publishers. The Story Prize is the highest prize money given in the literature award

Its interesting to read the experience that shaped his debut book from being a student at the Lahore American School to graduate from Yale and working for some time as a lawyer at a New York law firm only to quit a few years later and return to his homeland to compose this book, the story is definitely worth reading. It is mostly his own personal journey across the years that has shaped this 256 page collection of short stories. Daniyal Mueenuddin links a number of short stories to describe the interwoven lives of an aging feudal landowner, his servants and managers, and his extended family who have lost touch with the land. The stories in – In Other Rooms, Other Wonders make up a vivid portrait of feudal Pakistan, describing the advantages and constraints of social station, the dissolution of old ways, and the shock of change.
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Oct 1, 2008    |       16 comments

Zardari’s disappearance from New York Iftar: Found at Geisha Restaurant

OscarTango, a blog managed by Irshad Saleem from New Jersey has reported some juicy news about Asif Ali Zardari’s sudden disappearance from the Pakistan Embassies Iftar party last Friday in New York city. The President arrived at the event which was hosted by our US Ambassador Hussain Haqqani and on his arrival the President went around a couple of tables shaking hands and chit chatting with the guests, but then suddenly to the surprise of all guests he simply disappeared from the event. Some attributed this unannounced disappearance due to a turf war between Hussain Haqqani, the host and Hussain Haroon the ‘uninvited’ Pakistans’ UN ambassador. Some even speculated that Asif Ali Zardari had an urgent meeting whilst the official statement given to the guests was

Guests were officially told that the president had left because he had been overwhelmed by the emotional welcome he had received by the audience and was almost choking

The expensive dinner left a bad taste and many of the invited guest simply left in utter confusion as to not having had the opportunity to meet the Honorable President.

OscarTango has yet another twist, true or not, but definitely worth looking into.
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