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@ "I visited your site briefly. I am honestly very impressed. I admire your ethics! It is visible. That is what is required of from most of the media people in this country. You will make a professional journalist!"--Mohamed Shihab, Maldives (4 Aug 2001)

@ "Thanks, Hilath. I think this (Best Movies of 2001 page) is a cool & decent idea. :-) Keep it up!"--Yvette, Malaysia (25 April 2001)

@ "Just checked your site. It's neat and cool. I like the simplicity."--Ali Rafeeq, Maldives (18 April 2001)

@ "I have glanced through your website once. It was cool. Honestly. Especially your own personal reviews. But I was wondering why you have uploaded only 4 movies in your all time favourite movies catagory. Don't you think of making it 10. Top Ten is better than Top 4, I guess. I'll send in more comments after going through it in a more comprehensive manner."--Sharif, Maldives (1 March 2001)

Shari, thanks for the suggestions to my website. Well, it's a coincidence actually that my all-time favorite movies number only four, which makes the list something like a Top Four. I didn't do it deliberately. Now that you suggested it, I, too, find it kind of odd having a Top 4 instead of a roundup figure like a Top 10. But honestly, when I consider other favorite movies of mine like Mission Impossible, Speed, and The Last of the Mohicans, they're still too far behind. I mean, this list (Titanic, White Squall, The Piano and The English Patient) are really unique films to me and the ones which touched my inner self most. So to put any other movies on this list is like comparing these movies with others and doing injustice to them, which is why I don't feel like putting any other movies in this list. Hope you guys can understand what I am trying to say here! And that goes for the books, too. My all-time favorite books make a Top 5 list instead of a Top 10 list! The reason is I haven't come across any more unique and special books for the time being. But there are other really good books, too, which I have put on my highly recommended books list.--Hilath

@ "I love the site Hilath...good job!"--KrazeG, USA (21 Feb 2001)

@ "(Your article Deconstructing Britney is an) excellent piece of article and an interesting choice of topic! I would like to congratulate you for the "deep and intellectual" aspects of pop culture which many elitists find rather distasteful. However, in the capitalist society that we live in today, marketing of the product rules. Even Luciano Pavarotti has been known to perform with "popular" artistes such as Boyzone, Savage Garden, Spice Girls, Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey and many more in his annual concert, Pavarotti and Friends. Naturally this juxtaposition of classic and pop creates a new genre of music, and on a wider set of audience from two extreme ends pop, and of course more sales. Ultimately, if the music is good, listen on!--Tengku Lorena, Malaysia (6 Feb 2001)

@ "I totally enjoyed the story (Here on Earth) ...inspired me to write some of my own misadventures with those of the opposite sex. Nice webpage...the colours are a little striking, and very, very simple. Perhaps you could add a little bit of graphics to the links or something. It looks plain, but simple. Not too bad. Good use of colours! (like I said, the colours are quite striking!)."--Mabel Teoh, Malaysia (17 Jan 2001)

@ "Girl in the Shadow terrific. I just finished reading it. What was it that made you write that story?"--Wadde, Australia (10 Dec 2000)

@ "Damn I liked the story Girl in the Shadow...could there be a SEQUEL to it? I guess you have no problem in talking about your personal life to the public... Hope to read more fantastic stories of yours."--Shahyr, Malaysia (24 Oct 2000)

Thanks for the kind sentiments expressed about my stories. I am sorry but I don't think I can write a sequel to Girl in the Shadow. It was an idea that came into my head just like that. I hope to write some new stories though when and as I have time. Hope to hear more comments from you guys about my webpage and its contents in general. I welcome any opinions and criticisms.--Hilath

@ "Why cannot we directly click on the link to some of your articles and visit them on the website you specified? It's so tedious when we have to cut and past the link on a new (navigator) window."--a friend (18 Oct 2000)

I can understand your frustrations. I regret the inconvenience. But as you see, Geocities regulations state that while we are free to provide links to websites within and that are hosted by Geocities, we cannot provide any links on our websites so that you can jump outside Geocities. As long as you jump around Geocities, it's OK with them. Don't ask me to shift my website to another host. I like Geocities. It has some of the most liveliest personal webpages hosted on the Internet, and I think it will be appropriate for me to host my own website in Geocities and be part of this dynamic people-to-people community.--Hilath

@ "The story (Girl in the Shadow) is great! It talks about reasons for jogging, about sexual preferences, about expectations of one towards one's own self...I liked all the issues it raised. And how you used words like, "Bold", "A little trick", "I know." I like it when just one word or a couple of words bring in a big impact. The story was very vivid and the seduction scene was nice. The guy was you in a way right. I mean the bit about the writer not meeting the right one and about not meeting up the criteria that would make up the hot guy (we'll talk about that later). And about being new to the whole thing. I don't remember anybody mentioning you ever having a girlfriend. That must have been hard for you (sorry no pun intended). I guess that must be the reason why the tongue tied-ness and the awkwardness and the nervous excitement seemed very real. I really enjoyed that. I mean a guy not acting all macho and ultimate stud."--Mariyam Nadhrath, Maldives (7 Oct 2000)

@ "I have read your story (Girl in the Shadow) and I think that as far as the language is concerned there is no problem that I can point out. I can see some of the themes in the story are told quite effectively and some them are quite personal to you. The need of young people to attract attention of opposite sex, the efforts made to stay fit and healthy, the exercises and jogging etc, are told quite well. But the story ends with more emphasis on the relationship between the narrator and the mysterious girl. While the mysterious nature of the girl is portrayed quite effectively - the story had hints of things to come even from the beginning - the relationship between the narrator and the girl was not told very convincingly. The narrator seems to be moved by the girl and treasures the moments he had with her but the attempt to explore these feelings is rather weak. Frankly what I think is that you did not intend this to be a spiritual story in the beginning. I think that it is too personal to you as if it's an analysis of your own life that you wanted to make it less real-life-like by making it superstitious. Anyway, the mixture of those personal matters, jogging, relationship with friends, attraction to girls, with a supernatural being does not deliver very effectively. However, this story proves that you have the talent and that you can do it quite well. Personally, I do not like this romance with supernatural beings that the local writers are so regularly using in their writing. Maybe it's the overdoing of it that makes that such a boring theme. Nevertheless, Moosa Latheef proved that even this theme could be explored well with good story telling in his Hiyani."--Saffah, Maldives (6 Oct 2000)

@ "Your writing style is really good. But it was fast-paced--the story (Girl in the Shadow) ended too fast!"--Mabel Teoh, Malaysia (4 Oct 2000)

Thanks Nadhoo, Saffah and Mabel. I wanted the story (Girl in the Shadow) to read very fast. I'm glad I achieved that. Anyway, next time I will try not to put in things that reflect more of my personal life. It's time to get into someone else's shoes, right? Actually, I've done just that: Read my new story, Here on Earth, which I've now uploaded to the Short Stories section. It's based on a true account of a Maldivian girl's brief meeting with the "kind of guy" she has "always dreamed about." She studies in Malaysia and the said story takes place while she was on holiday in Male' for semester break. No real names were used.--Hilath

@ "The layout of your website is very straightforward. I liked very much the choice of colours you used on your webpages."--Errol Kiong, New Zealand (6 Oct 2000)

@ "You have listed two (now three) fantasies and two science fiction novels as your all-time favorite books. Are you a fantasy and sci-fi fan?"--a friend (4 Oct 2000)

Thanks for asking. To be honest, I'm not an entirely fantasy and sci-fi fan. If you go through my Books I Highly Recommend list, you will see that some of my favorite and recommended books are human dramas that stretch the boundaries of human emotion and relationships, like The English Patient, Snow Falling on Cedars, Lord of the Flies, Dogsong, etc. It just happened that these particular five books--Boy's Life, The Last Unicorn, Jurassic Park, Relic and The Elfstones of Shannara--appealed to me more than any others. The reason may be this: fantasy and sci-fi writers are those few unique authors who have very very wild imaginations that can stretch the boundaries of thinking. Hence, the worlds they create, and their great story-telling power (because of this wild imagination?) make their works outstanding, both in their appeal and literary value.--Hilath

 

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