By: seneca

Dear Raza,

What a wonderful blog! I am happy to have found it!

I still shiver at the word “Lahore”. It was the scene of some of the greatest incidents of the War of 1857, and I remember some of the chilling stories. I wonder if it’s reported in your literature that, in one attack, tears of pride were brought to the eyes of the British officers as the Indians (now also Pakistani’s) attacked them with great skill and courage.

One of my heroes, Captain Sir Frances Richard Burton, served as a British officer in Lahore. I believe Winston Churchill visited Lahore as a junior officer before he joined Kitchener in an attempt to save Charles Gordon in Khartoum.

Great men! Memorable times!

Does “my Muslim identity, howsoever fractured” refer to the India/Pakistani conflict or to the America/Middle East issue or to something else. It’s not obvious to me in Chicago.

I do want to state that EVERY religion has believers of which that religion is ashamed. A Muslim (called Moslem at the time, when did we change?) told another one of my heroes, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, something like:

“You Westerners have your refrigerators and cars and material goods, but you don’t know the Truth”.

I believe there is much in that statement, which reflects the emptiness of a materialistic culture.

The best to you.

Mike

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