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  1. Pirates books had a long history.Even in developed countries booksellers are selling pirates books openly online.My own published book one bookseller selling in U.S. How can I stop him from India? I know in India this business is flourishing every town.It is very difficult to stop it.There are so many loophole in copyright act so people did not afraid.Singapore Taiwan are main center of pirates business.

  2. This comment has been removed by the moderators.

  3. I lived in Netherley between 69 and 85. We on the Wimpey Estate; which had St.Gregory's, The Blue Peter, The Turtle, The Falcon, The Boxing Club; always considered the Woodlands Estate posh! I do recall the locals there even tried to say it was Gateacre. LOL

    Then there was the Unit Estate which Brittage Brow was part of.

    Then at the top of Wood Lane where the 79 and 73a buses terminated were the posh people. Always thought they were private houses on the Woodlands.

    Good article.

  4. i am not in such position to analysis such a wonder full narration of Kashmir pain and atrocities.but one thing is undoubtedly that BASHARAT PEER has a grift over Kashmir present and past,
    this reportage is excellent.

  5. this is wonderfull,i just love its words ot character and its theme.it is really an intresting to feel the pain of hurt.

  6. I agree with Andrea, its hard to imagine why, but let´s give it a try: someone who have a complex about its origin, resentful for not having any big conflicts other than its own rejection to his situation, and yet with the desire of being provocative and desired by original and provocative others (writers, lets imagine), perhaps? All that would not be of any matter at all if the story was brilliantly written. Which I´m afraid its not the case.

  7. It confuses the reader when the author alternates between using "Paps" and "Papi" to refer to the same character.

  8. hello.
    this is a really nice story. I've a question; how can I contact with mrs. watkins ? (email, website etc.) whould you please help me?

    tanx

  9. This articles are really so good i am not speak because i speech less in this article. The Africa really so good country and read the this country people are so lovable.
    http://www.remarkableatvs.com

  10. What an awfully written short story! It's hard to imagine why someone can select this disgusting fiction and consider its author as one of "the best of young Spanish-language novelists". Oloixarac's agenda of hate and denigration of a generation that was the victim of a genocide that killed 30.000 people is not funny or cool. Especially when the author cannot write.

  11. 'Granta 112: Pakistan' is a disappointment. The fiction is passable, but the other sections are so weak it's an embarrassment to any reader used to Granta's general standard. What to talk of Kashmir? Where are all the major writers of Pakistan? Not here, in this issue, which must be called 'a lost opportunity'. What's the point of picking stuff from a Southall flea market and loading it on to a Khyber Pass painted truck called 'Pakistan'? For diagonal parking in the middle of Addison Avenue it should be given a ticket. Want to read the best Pakistani writers of our time, or the best writing relating to Pakistan? Not here today. Maybe Granta will do another (likely well thought out and worthwhile) issue on 'Pakistan' rather than engaging in such journalism in a hurry.

  12. This story was told with such delicacy and sophistication I hardly know how to praise it.

    The narrative voice was so accomplished throughout, I didn't know what to think or expect. When the revelation happened, I was astonished. Still am. A brilliantly sensitive treatment of such a sad and poignant tale.

    It was an absolute pleasure to read.

  13. Reeading wainaina's article, i could not help but remember the countless times i have been asked similar questions while visiting my fatherland,Somalia. when i declined to answer'What clan are you'i left people confused and amused.
    you see, in somalia, we are all one tribe but different clans. it is hard to tell ones clan by looking at onces features, it is the accent that will identify you.
    In Kenya, you have many tribes, and i hope it stops there.

    When i am in Kenya, it is clear in my facial features who i am; 'shes somali' i am identified by my tribe. People see your skin colour first,then your tribe , then your class.

  14. It was very interesting to read about how you experienced Pakistan pop such as Vital Signs from Pakistan/UK. Though there were some similarities (i.e. the wow factor that Pakistani boys can be "cool"), there are some differences in the way myself, a Pakistani-American, experienced and was impacted by Pakistani-pop. Thank you for sharing. It was insightful and refreshing...

  15. Again, your writing gives me a plethora of emotions and thoughts to sort through.

  16. A shortlist of books that typefy such writing would be useful.
    C'mon someone... Name and shame.

  17. The inability of Kashmiri Muslims to get along with their Hindu neighbors (exemplified in the horrific ethnic cleansing of the Kashmiri Pundits) makes me utterly unsympathetic to their "plight." As an American, I would advise my Indian friends to consider counter-tactics such as allowing Hindus to move to the Kashmir valley and deporting the stone-throwers to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Jai Hind!

  18. Well, there are certainly lots of movies like this and, yeah, the Forsyths and La Carrés have a lot of this. But, gee, there’s lots of good, and decently-known literature that violates some or all of these rules, starting with African literature.

    When I was a boy, I wanted to live in Africa and go to Mars. One down, one to go – but still hopeful about Mars. I spent two of the best years of my life in Benin, upcountry, teaching schools with the Peace Corps. First, to immediately follow a few of the rules myself: Africa had a very definite feminine feel to me, from the moment I walked off the plane at Roberts Field on the way to Benin, until the minute I left Algeria for Paris two and a half years later. I have been back since. Africa still feels deeply feminine to me. Sorry.

    Secondly, the constant presence of lovely bared breasts, at least in West Africa, in my field of view was one of my favorite things about living there. One of the female volunteers, another male friend and I went to the market for beans and rice one night toward the end of our stay and were served by a beautiful woman with very shapely bare breasts, causing Jerry and me to stare. Sarah reprimanded us, asking if we weren’t tired of the sight after two years. The answer was an insistent ‘no.’ Again, sorry.

    It’s the news media that have the real problem seeing anything like an Africa that really exists. I remember a few years back when CBS Radio News announced that “The Pope arrived in Lomé, Togo today to the beat of tribal drums.” I called the national news desk after the broadcast and asked the guy on the phone “Which tribes?” “Huh?” “Which tribes were playing drums for the Pope? – Ewe? Mina?” “Huh?” “What makes the drums TRIBAL? What does TRIBAL mean in that sentence?” Etcetera. It became clear that ‘tribal’ just meant ‘primitive.’

    I had a similar dialogue of the deaf with a newsman a few years later about the fact that in South Africa the death throes of apartheid were called “black-on-black tribal violence,” while the simultaneous breakup of Yugoslavia was never described as “white-on-white tribal violence,” as it clearly was, if either term had any meaning.

  19. The pace was immediately breathtaking; fear, pathos, reasoning with inevitability, the mind reels at the possibilites, the horror, the sad ordinariness of it all - yes, we are all the same.

  20. The fact that Kashmir is actually a very small part of Jammu and Kashmir has other ramifications too. Since Jammu and Ladakh are happy being part of India, it makes no sense to impose so called “azadi” on them. Now that leaves Kashmir with its 15000 sq km area as one of world’s smallest land locked countries – bigger than only Vatican City, Luxembourg and couple of other non-countries. How valid and how long-lived will this “independence” driven by Islamic fanaticism be? Obviously, since they will have just divorced India, they will be absorbed into Pakistan in no time. This is what some of the Kashmiri leaders want in the first place, but is that what most Kashmiris are bargaining for? Will they get a special status like Article 370 in Pakistan? Does such a small land area have enough resources to sustain itself as a country?

    Now, why is this distinction between Kashmir and J&K always fudged and why is this distinction important? It is this small part of the state that is a pain in the neck for India, because it is this Muslim majority portion that is holding the whole state and region to ransom. It is this Muslim majority portion of 7% of the state that cannot see itself fitting in a non-Muslim India. Jammu in the South of the state has a Hindu majority population, ethnically similar to neighboring states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh; Ladakh in the North of the state has predominantly Buddhist and Muslim population, ethnically similar to neighboring Tibet.

  21. A remarkably one sided perspective on the Kashmir issue that leaves out the silent majority and significantly understates the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri pundits. Also left out is any mention of the unfortunately few unbiased polls of Kashmiris on the issue. For instance, a 2002 poll by MORI, a British opinion poll firm, found that out of 850 Kashmiris interviewed, 65% believed that foreign militants are damaging the Kashmir cause but more importantly, nine Kashmiris in ten oppose the state of Jammu and Kashmir being divided on the basis of religion. Further, the poll also found that a majority of Kashmiris prefer the option of democratic elections to resolve the conflict.

  22. A great insight into the struggle of Kashmiri freedom. Even though I'm a Pakistani, I didn't quite understand the conflict until now. I was saddened to hear about the atrocities Kashmiris are facing at the moment...and only pray that insh'Allah one day Kashmiris will be able to live freely without the intruding Indian Army.

  23. Congrats Basharat for narrating the story of pain and agony of Kashmir!This time when no body hears our cries,media is gagged,repression and oppression of the worst sort is the oreder of the day in kashmir,it is a relief to see such pieces in the international media.A grand narrative of kashmir that is representative in the real sense is badly needed though your Curfewed Nights has done a great service to the cause of kashmiris.However,i fail to understand why stereotypes cannot be shunned about Islamists!

  24. A magnificent poem. Have ordered The Silence Room on the strength of it and my response.

  25. I agree with Denis, certainly beautifully written.

    As an almost octogenarian, though, I must say that I have put DO NOT (all those things) on my forms, that is exactly what I mean.

    All that messing about is what I want to avoid no matter what doctor feels he ought to be helping me live on. Prolonging life is not always in the best interests of the patient - and the patient's best interests are what doctors are supposed consider.

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