Blog Posts for Farzana Versey

How High?

Farzana Versey — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:21:12 -0800

Here is my absolutely flat-out adventure. There was a chill in the air as it got dark. We were a group of four. Instead of doing the usual dinner-dance routine - it was New Year’s Eve in Nepal - we decided to start early and walk through Darbar Square and then hit the back-packer hub of Thamel.We kept changing pubs and finally found ourselves at the Rum Doodle. We had no idea about its history. ...

Racism on a Song

Farzana Versey — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:12:16 -0800

“One of the sexiest women in the Arab world” is in trouble. It clearly shows that within Islamic societies there is a wide range of behaviour and disparities.Haifa Wehbe is a Lebanese pop singer and this time it is not her revealing clothes and sensuous moves that are being questioned. In her latest album, Baba fein (Where is Daddy?) there is stanza that goes, “Where is my teddy bear and my ...

Night Void

Farzana Versey — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:44:59 -0800

There is something about night streets. Or is it streets at night? I like the term night streets; it gives it an identity and makes it distinct. Although day and night both last for about equal time, twilight scents are temporary. Days assault our senses; nights lie there with open pores and sores that we cannot see.The other night as we drove and I clicked this picture, the rear-view mirror made ...

Was it bad for you?

Farzana Versey — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:12:22 -0800

What exactly is bad sex writing? Is it having bad sex while writing? Or is it bad to write about sex…cluck, cluck? Of course, all of you know about the Literary Review’s Bad Sex in Fiction Award. Many really good writers have ‘won’ it. No one has ever thought about giving a good sex in fiction award, it must therefore follow that it’s all just bad. The worse and the worst do not count. ...

Loos Morals

Farzana Versey — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:14:58 -0800

Happy Toilet Day! When I saw an ad this morning by one of those toilet cleaning companies, I thought it was a joke. One of those happy bogs thing to market the product. Turns out there is, indeed, more to defecation than a super bowel event. Now don’t go screwing up your noses. It’s got big sponsors and volunteers. Quite happening. This event has a history going back to eight years. In 2001, ...

Desperately seeking Sarah?

Farzana Versey — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:40:30 -0800

What's all the noise about a bit of leg and Newsweek using her picture from Runners World on their cover? It just gives her a boost. She looks fit, young, and ready to take on any call…two Blackberries in the hand are worth a few thousand in a jam!The sob story-tellers aver, "It’s more like a glamour shot. Sure, she’s in running gear but it’s apparent that she hasn’t begun the ...

Within-without

Farzana Versey — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:44:52 -0800

One day there were rains. Heavy winds swept through the windows and started hitting at the collage. I thought there was a lot of mystical stuff in it, so I had called it Within and Without. Created on stiff cardboard it rarely moved from its rather stoical position. But as I sat there writing, it was striking against the wall, beating itself in agony. I did not get up to straighten it, hold it, ...

Moderns, Models and Martyrs

Farzana Versey — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:49:39 -0800

Saturated with Taliban tribal chiefs we found an opportunity to bereave as fashionistas supposedly braved gunfire to strut on the ramp If you believed the Indian media, then not only do Pakistani women possess cleavages and midriffs but their displaying these body parts is considered a fight against militancy. “Bare shoulders, backless gowns and pouting models are wowing Pakistan’s ...

An Actor's Life

Farzana Versey — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:58:35 -0800

Is a story salacious because of what it is or how it has been portrayed? Is it about the man or other people's perspective? Indian actor Om Puri's wife has written his biography. He publicly lambasted her for revealing his sexual encounter with his 55-year-old maid Santi when he was 14; then followed a long affair with a woman for 14 years.(He is now an internationally-recognised actor with ...

Only poems return....

Farzana Versey — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:59:05 -0800

I want to write a poem. I have written some. They sound like sadness. Like happiness. Like deathly smirk. Taunts. Caresses.I want to write a poem now.I can do it.As I poke a sharp nail into anotherAnd wait for pink to turn to red to turn to a squirt.And wait for my toes to curl and sleep like a baby.And wait for the eyes to stop thinking…Wait! Eyes think?Mine do.My eyes think, I can see them ...