The Bhopal Tragedy Continues

On June 10th a global hunger strike was called to bring justice to Bhopal victims and put the corporation Dow Chemical, to shame, since the Indian government does not seem to be doing its job.

Hitched Hikers Guide

I never aspired for such superficial goals. Being mature beyond my age, I always dreamt of being a Groom (Dulha).

Life Long Commitment vs. Singledom

Marriage, I think, is highly overrated. Marriage being the perfect happily ever after and the solution to life’s problems is ‘just a myth we’ve been fed since childhood’

A Little After Three

I lay face down, pretending to have fallen asleep. Soon I heard random words like boy, Muslim, Sindhi, dowry, next week, dinner, and blood pressure.

Still Looking!

“No, no, no!� I had stormed out yesterday leaving my Mum baffled and Shabbi Auntie angry, when she brought in yet another rishta-seeking brigade.

Small Spies Must be Hanged , While Bigger Ones Prosper

The law is basically for the poor man. In cases of espionage official secrets act of 1923 , no politician bothered to revise this arbitrary British law.

Late Afternoon at Masjid Wazir Khan

“Aapni ki Bengali�? I asked him as we finally reached the lattice worked balcony that encircled the minaret from where the muezzins have been calling the faithful to prayers for centuries.

The Vicious Circle of Violence

The birthday of The Prophet Muhammad is a good time to remember that he was a man of peace. But the intoxicating violence now makes it difficult to go back to the origins.

Starting from the End

Wapda and the ministry of power have implemented an emergency load shedding plan to plug the gap between electricity supply and demand leading to more misery for millions.

It's ME on Both Sides!

I was told that my dad had been by my mother's side when I was born but left only after he found out that his child was a girl.

Rashidabad: Beginning Charity at Home

Irrespective of race, religion, language and ethnic background, all children in the hostel and the orphanage are provided equal opportunity to prosper.

Indian Supreme Court says- ‘Live in is marriage’

A momentous turn that will create upheavals in Indian society from bottom to top.

Ashes in the River

...at that stage all the differences are really wiped out.

Courage in a Time of Chaos

The enemies of our country are vast and they are clever; they would like nothing better than to see us sink into lawlessness and despair.

Search for Origins of Mahayana Buddhism

The land of Pakistan is blessed with one of the most important treasures of the world, the glorious civilization of Buddhism flourishing in the North Western areas of Pakistan.

My Teenage Years in Lahore

As I sit here on my desk at work, sipping my persimmon white tea in a delicate persian tea cup, I close my eyes and let my mind wander to my teenage years in Lahore, Pakistan.

Artifice of Scholarship : CSPI on FrontPage

Where will Mr. Warner hide when faced with the ignobility of logic deserting his beloved Christianity? What will he do when the devil of duality is discovered in his own sacred texts?

Clarity

“Arunivas! Arunivas! Make sure you get me a gold set! Last Diwali you forgot completely that I am allergic to non-gold. How can you forget such important things?�

The Cost of a Pakistani Journalist Life

What matters more? the media coverage or the person covering it? Ask a media owner of newspaper or the television and it’s the coverage.

Short

The day had gone well. Dow was up. NASDAQ was up. Sensex was up. But he was thinking about his Indian IT stocks

Hisab Barabar

She is a regular in the gym. She walks with a lazy step, does halfhearted aerobics, and barely moves on the bike. On the treadmill, her whole body heaves with an energy-less movement.

The Price of Loving Karl Marx

Spouses have to offer financial, economic and social sacrifices to maintain a marital relationship with creative personalities. Karl Marx was no exception.

Curse of Arranged or Forced Marriages

He is from a “good� family or biradri! The girl might be given a chance to look at her future groom once if the parents are “Progressive�

Relevance of English Studies in India

The need of the hour is to decolonise our English Studies by judging English literary texts not by European critical tools, but by Indian critical theories.

Young and Old

When I see her motionless, swollen hands with disfigured nails and twisted fingers, I remember that those same hands gently soothed me as a child when I had asthma attacks.

The Quest

“Amman can you tell me who my real mother was?� Nazish asked gazing at the wall in front of her.

My Life Story

When I close my eyes in solitude and think about the goings-on in my life during the past 17 years, I realize that a big part of my life is gone, withered away, wasted...

Book Dropper

Nicholas Nassim Taleb says there are two ways to look at your bookshelf. The books you have read and consider yourself well read or...

Traumas Tattoos and Teenage

Considerate ‘grownups’ are as rare as good politicians, and the problems of teenagers are larger than those of any nation.

The Choice of Leading a Gay Life

‘forcing them to marry hoping he or she will change’ – such a approach invites anger, irritation, tensions and worse absolute breakdown of relations.

Window Shopping

Since the female/object in question is not really required to speak or profess her opinions during the proceedings it allows her free reign to watch at will.

Worlds Apart

‘Home? Where was home, anyway? Don’t they say home is where the heart is?’

Thirty Six Murders in Search of a Resignation

The perpetrators of May 12th may lie, but dead bodies don’t.

Stopping the Clock

The young Julius Caesar talks about Alexander the Great who at his age had conquered half the world and what has he (Caesar) achieved. This made me wonder what I have to show for my thirty years of life?

Of horses, and garbage

Its about how we as a society dispose off “our garbage”, and at a deeper level, how we deal with our problems. The fact is that we don’t! We leave them for other people to deal with.

The Power of Positive Thinking

After almost thirteen years working at a large multinational engineering firm, he had attended a workshop conducted by a consulting firm. He was so impressed (and probably so tired of the corporate treadmill) that he immediately began learning more, event

Pataudi’s Plight : The game of religious stereo typing

If Pataudi were to grow a beard and appear for photographs wearing a skull cap at the doorstep of a mosque, would he have become a better Muslim?

Computer Literated: Writing Preliterated?

What is the future of handwriting in a world when one in three children has a computer in the bedroom.

How Not to get Irritated with Hindi

Hindi has conquered India despite the Hindi zealots. Thanks mainly to the six hundred odd Hindi movies of generally unspeakable quality that emanate from Bollywood every year.

Thanksgiving as Tragedy

Thanksgiving: a feast as a prelude to a massacre.

Hala – City of Crafts

Once you’ve seen what poor, almost rag-tag, artisans can do with the paper, glass, cotton and wood you get convinced quite easily that art has no limits.

A Tribute To Heritage Of Poonch

It may sound little ludicrous that had there not been this building in the decade of 1930s, the geopolitical shape of this region would have been entirely different. It was this building which enticed a royal ruler who agreed to send the son of the owner

Marriage in Hiding

A muslim female cannot marry a non- muslim man and a Muslim man can marry any muslim, christian or jewish woman. Who decides who wants to marry who? The ones getting married and no one else.

Out of the Woods Yet

One evening, as I was packing for the day, my eyes set on an intriguing post in the electronic bulletin board, “Wet weekends at Hermann’s Palace”. The post carried the address and a map as well...

Quiet Company

Frames of life,
Crawling regressively,
Smoothly slowing.

Jasmines in Colorado (final part)

Nothing in life had prepared me for the past four months. The highs and the lows; the excitement and the pains; and most of all, the truths and the lies. I feel like an amateur caught in a world made for professionals...

Dreaming of an Indian Renaissance

In an era of unprecedented upheaval and transformation in India, one young man is making waves with his vision for the future called Dreaming Of An Indian Awakening (DIA) through which he aims to usher in an appreciation of India’s rich cultural her

Men of Letters

I used to think the three letter acronym (TLA) was a yuppie fixation. This opinion was reinforced by a cruel boss who for years mystified me by sending e-mails which read something like: “FYI & A. PFA your KPIs for rest of FY. YTD review dates T

Writers Writers Everywhere, Not A Teenager Around?

We are supposed to be acting adults, showing our worth to not only our country, but also to the world.

American Ambivalence on National Language

The American nation consists of immigrants from diverse countries. For fear of imposing any specific language and the associated culture on the diversity of the American population, the question of a national language is left in limbo

Three Score and Ten?

You see, the reason I have brought in this matter is that I am 66 years and just four years from the biblical limit! Having worked full-time like a donkey till last year, I as a retired man now am freely indulging myself

Thin as a Pin

Most bachelors will regurgitate the socially-acceptable rhetoric of finding the “traditional good girl”. What they fail to mention is that below the tip of the iceberg lies an enormous list of demands that are to be met before these young sta

Deranged Arranged Marriages

I’ve got some advice for all you brown kids out there, take your chances, fall in love, get a date to prom, need an excuse? lie about sleeping over at Abdul or Sana’s house its as easy as that, chances are that the girl won’t feel like p

unexpected life

Opinionated Jaahilism

If society were a person, it would be an obese one. Just like all the useful flesh, muscles and tissues are in a small amount buried under the mass of useless meat on an abnormally enlarged body, only a small number of people actually serve any useful pur

Hidden Desires

Oh, chaste wither away! And set her lust free--
held incarcerated, long ago a romance ceased to be
to whisper a hymn of infidelity

Neglected Victims

Paedophiles Duncan Grant and Alan Waters have been convicted to six years rigorous imprisonment. The critical question that needs to be looked at first is why underprivileged children fall easy prey to child abusers and molesters

Distorted Image of the Untrue Self

Break free from the chains
The chains I let others bind me with
Tying me up tighter, and closing in still
Leaving me no option than to submit

Laddo Ki Shadi

She would bluntly reply to the question, “ Will you keep me instead of my sister?” This was obscene when said to males, but not that she cared

Superstitious Me: Pappu decides to marry for Allah

Pappu, my close friend, decided to get married for the sake of Allah Subhanahu watallah and to fulfill his deen.

Thoughts on Life Before Death

...the invading marauders, the exploitive landlords and the apathetic rulers were a threat to the family unit

Night Out

Mrs. Da Cuhna handled death like she handled life. Head-on, with zest. Today was Joe, her husband’s funeral.

Language of Power: How it is getting more exclusive

Cafes, restaurants, boutiques, designers, the media, in essence the whole socio-economic machinery identifies with the English-speaking world.

Autumn Harvesting

with ever so trembling hands
he felt for his back pocket
in a gesture reminiscent
of slow motion pictures

Savita’s Choice

Hundreds of child marriages are held across Rajasthan with no one stopping them. The reality sinks in when the children attain puberty by which time they are told they have no choice. But they do.

Do Corn Pops Really Determine the Future?

I am normal. My other half is not. To answer your next question, yes I do prefer a venti white chocolate mocha with no shot of raspberry over a tall white chocolate mocha with a shot of raspberry

Why Teach a Language Properly?

It is easier to blame Urdu language for all the ails in every area of education in Pakistan. It fulfills our need for a scapegoat that can be blamed for the total break up of the education system.

Saudi Government to Demolish Prophet Muhammed’s home

It has been reported that a majority of 1,000 year or older buildings in Mecca have been demolished for commercial development.

Pardon, didn’t mean to kill you...

Three frozen moments of grief, captured by wire photographs at different parts of the world in one day last week stand out... Anguished families in Brazil, Kashmir, and Iraq, captured by Reuters and AFP cameras and printed in newspapers on July 25 are tie

Hole walli Haveli

“Aray baba, why do you ask such questions. Come and sit here. After your baray mamoo and your parents, hai hai all of them died in that mua car crash, I was left all alone. I asked your Chotay Mamoo to come live with me. Buss, after that all he a

Muslims Not Married in America

How hard is it to find a good man? Or a good woman for marriage?

Fauzia’s Rejection

Fauzia stood in front a full length mirror, staring at her naked body. Her skin was a smooth mocha colored canvas of beauty on which were painted the dark chocolate areolas and a black triangle of hidden mystery.

Adultery Anonymous

The Other Woman is a floozy? The Other Man is a slimeball? No. In fact, it could be you.

Punch Drunk Love

He lay on the drawing room carpet; face down, totally drunk and vomiting. My eyes welled up and I could not stop my sobs.

Visitor

He didn’t know what he’d say, but he couldn’t wait to see her. Now all he wanted to do was fall into bed and close his eyes, wake up in his bedroom back home. He got up.

Linguistic Elitism

From immigrants learning English to assimilate into the culture of the majority, to the millions of English speakers worldwide, who learn the language to compete in the world markets, the feeling toward the language is paradoxically both of resentment and

Pakistan Travelogue I

This is the first ever visit to the land of my forefathers that anyone in my extended family has taken after the 1947 migration.

Doctors Role in Organizing Health Services

Our health system has been designed, developed and maintained by politicians rather than physicians which is one of the most distressing aspects of health care infrastructure.

The Last Leaf

Up in the tree
Touched by the breeze
What must it be
For the last of the leaves

Catfood and Little Women

Life, then, comes down to a debate as to which is worse: death by dreariness or death as catfood.

More on the Price of Love

They hailed from different ethnic communities, lived in different cities, and their family backgrounds were entirely different. But they met, became friends, and wanted to marry.

Ruzbihan and the Eunuch

Being the smallest in his family, little Ruzbihan had a hard time trying to figure out ways to end his post-marriage misery. Sometimes he thought about divorce, but he knew his mother would kill herself if he did that. Sometimes he thought of committing s

Strangers in California

It’s one thing to come out to your wife and another to come out to your entire family

Premala ka Pyar

She waited with patient resoluteness for the rising sun as he slept with his fingers entwined deeply in her hair…

The Baby...

Sometimes he was unable to hide his impatience with her when he came home from his job at the pharmacy and saw her sitting in the same hunched over position as he had left her that morning.

’NO’ to Ostentatious Displays and Wasteful Expenses

Supreme Court had banned serving of meals at hotels, clubs and marriage halls for marriage ceremonies. The Court, in its order, specified that ‘no meals or edibles other than hot and cold drinks could be served to guests.’

Aging Gracefully

The cold, steely chain of suffering
Circles the night decked with sorrows

Secret Passages

…..she was unmindful that the sharp red lipstick that matched her toenails, had spread all around her lips and mingled with the color in her cheeks that reddened with her struggle. Zamir’s heart suddenly filled with newfound respect for that d

The Gun

A life which, after his retirement kept him on edge, surprised in a world that had changed so drastically since he had entered the service so many years ago. His wife was the biggest surprise.

A Woman Scorned...

This could be an act of defiance. Perhaps she couldn’t forgive Imran even though she so magnanimously accepted Tyrian. Perhaps she is revolted by the holier-than-thou attitude of us desis, the double standards we harbor and our failure to practice

Bulleh Shah

A man, whose writings - barely understood, even by those who speak his language - contain, amongst them, such enlightening and powerful Sufianic philosophies that even Smith, Voltaire, Rosseau, Kant et. al. would have been proud to claim them, as their ow

A Liftman, A Job Well Done

“Why does your mother have to carry your bag ?”
“I can’t.”
“Why not? You have one hand, don’t you?”

The Incurable Bedding Flu!

The novice would like to believe that this surely accounts for all the items in the bedding. However, don’t make the cardinal sin of forgetting the bedskirt

An Open Letter to Jemima Khan

Many celebrated alliances in the West have fallen apart due to straying and jealousy. But you, Jemima, were one neat shoulder from which to fire the gun at the ‘jihadis’.

Haraam Bombay

It wrenched my heart to see the city of my dreams and my life look like a patheticwax work. They talk about tits as though Bombay does not know about them.

The Kumbh Mela of the South

The next morning, I am woken up by the muezzin’s call to prayer from a nearby mosque. Shortly thereafter, the Someshwar Temple starts some recorded chant on its loudspeakers.

Solace

My eyes fail the fight to remain closed. I can hear the muezzin just finishing the druud-o-salaam before he begins waking those who are faithfully asleep.

Junk-Urdu Phenomenon

Why Urdu words are so frequently substituted with that of English. Are we so embarrassed by our own language that we feel we must make it more fashionable?

What Is the Point of Marriage?

All went well until people began to fall in love with anyone and everyone.

A Guide to the Street Language of Karachi

Profanity.....We wouldnt be the same without it.

Hold Karain! Movie Bun Rahee Hai!

Flashes go off from around the room as friends and relatives try to greedily capture the moment through their lens while those looking on blink their eyes from the glare. Soft music is being played in the background ...

Conversion Confusion

Naila’s wedding is as old as Uzma’s younger son…running into six…and she is still issueless. Initially, the delay was intentional…the family is not sure if it is so anymore.

History, Culture and the Mullahs

Once again Lahore is getting ready to enter into its most festive, cultural and colorful month... It seems however that Basant has suddenly over night become controversial for those in the city who are the self styled guardians of this country’s mor

This side of 30 in the Noughties

Then, I found them. Amidst the heap of Dinkies, Yuppies, Queers and Metrosexuals, there stood a new breed of Tireds. Craving a better balance between career and personal life, these Thirty-something Independent Radical Educated Drop-out’s have jumpe

Charbagh

Entering Gulgee’s gallery is like stepping into a wonderful surrealistic painting in which odd shapes, images, and objects stare at you as you pass by, giving you the feeling that you’ve turned into Alice and are stepping into Wonderland.

A Case for Banning Polygamy

The practice of polygamy preceded Islam, and Quranic injunctions sought to first limit and eventually dispense entirely with the regressive custom.

Destruction of World’s Eastern Heritage in Iraq

There was an international cry and outrage in April and May, when following the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime, US armed forces as the occupying power, had allowed the heritage Museum in Baghdad and other museums in Iraq to be damaged and looted al

The Drive

She unclipped his seatbelt and hers, moving closer to him, forcing him into an embrace. He resisted for one long moment before collapsing into her arms. Together they cried, each holding the other, in the darkness of their car, not knowing where they were

Indifference and Difference

Has Shampa started liking him? She hasn’t told him though. Could she be in love with him? The difference between their ages is hard to ignore...

Death Be Not Proud

It was close to midnight when I found out that Mani had died.

What time is it? Marriage time

In comparing these two systems (East & West), many people point to India’s low divorce rate and therefore claim innate superiority. However, the analysis is inconclusive when taking into account the cultural stigma associated with marital termin

To Love or to Like?

Cross gender and cross generation friendship is an under explored subject in literature and in movies. Yes, we have Sugar Daddies and Mammas and Trophy Wives and Girl Friends. But that is exploitative and not the norm.

Do Foes of Gay Marriages Simply Fear Joy?

As these couples embraced their future together, we couldn’t help but feel sad for Canada’s gay and lesbian couples who are being pilloried for seeking the same happiness.

Of Weddings and Disney

When I saw the movie, Father of the Bride, I thought wow! these Americans spend so much money on their weddings. Hell, they have a wedding planner. Lo and behold, Pakistanis are no lesser mortals. We not only have our very own wedding planners, our weddin

The Ugly Empire

Over the last year, I’ve become colder, harder, more indifferent to other people, and though sometimes it’s nice to brush everyone and everything off, it is also worrying

The Karachi Airport Ayatollah

Pakistan will somehow and eventually explode the Earth

The Ghost of Urdu

The truth is today’s market of languages, Urdu is a loser. People would rather learn French and Chinese and what not, guided by their economic needs. One must understand that cultural changes and economic changes are inter-linked.

Foreign Qualified

ilm hassil karo chahay is kai liyae tumhain cheen bhi kyoon na jana parai

Running Fast & Going Nowhere

i would like to leave this city / this old town dont smell too pretty/ i can feel the warning signs/ running around my mind (Oasis - Going Nowhere)

Sufi, Practice Love Because Mathematics is Difficult

Sufi’s real name was Muhammad Afzal. I met him for the first time when I went to Islamia College, Railway Road, Lahore, for my Faculty of Science (F.Sc.) education in 1951.

The Blackboards

Here is a bit of advice from some body who knows. Never be the middle child in the family if you can help it. Especially if your older sibling is the perfect son/daughter.

I’m With Stupid

thought to myself, as I searched for the right kind of chocolate fudge cake, that I was now living in an ascendant empire, the most powerful country on earth and perhaps in all of human history. An empire!

Of Early Marriages

My just-turned-twenty friend tries to maintain a balance between the robust baby in her right arm, and her large, stuffed hold all in the other. She tells me he’s being naughty today; he isn’t this bad tempered usually.

Do it like the Dutchies Do

In this country you need a doctor’s prescription to buy tablets of paracetamol with codeine. However if you walk into any coffee shop in Amsterdam you can easily legally buy Marijuana!!!!

Trembling Camera Flare on a Column Within a Column

women who end up in this exclusive club-like section

The Wheels of Time

We join the pathway of time, with our joys and tragedies and then leave, while the time moves on uncaring.

My Beautiful Rizwan

Such was the overpowering presence in my life, of Rizwan - my husband, my friend, my soulmate, my shaheed.

As the Bald Eagle Tries to Rule

I knew some guys who hitch-hiked this route.

Tales From Yore

success in business

The New Jews

In this world, where Muslims are the new Jews, where Pakistanis are terrorists, visa cheaters and total bastards, What am I?

The Infidel

Translated from Urdu, Ismat Chughtai’s short story ‘Kafir’

The Yellow Coup

Are we all living in a yellow submarine?

Forty Winks

Where do you draw the line between fantasy and reality?

A Day In The Bazaar

The young boy bumping into her made her mad, madder than she had ever been, but he escaped on his bicycle, grinning, that little bastard.

Life with Wife

The only mysteries left in each other's anatomy are perhaps lungs and liver.

Antarctica

Once again the world was engulfed in war. For what reasons no one knew, least of which the soldiers, for the reasons had been so contrived and ill supported that they were also soon forgotten.

The Case For and Against The Satanic Verses

Evaluating Diatribe and Dialectic as Art

Shammo’s Curse

falling out of love is easy if the foundations are weak

Towards a Ramzaan Sunset

The world is getting ready to open the fast.

Larka, Larki Aur Smartee

I failed to comprehend why a perfectly sane English description was being replaced by a ghastly Urdu word – one that evoked images of barbers’ shops, naked men and an equally rude Urdu idiom.

Teasing or Torture?

both men and women are equal losers when it comes to sexual harassment in our country

The Sad Reality of Arranged Marriages in South Asia

Arranged Marriages are Racist and prevent Social Mobility

Sir Syed Day in Northern Calfornia

Event Coverage

Perfect Women. Imperfect Men

women should also be able to fulfill their responsibilities towards their homes

The Politics of Rape

Why the Meerwala Jatoi panchayat thought they would get away with it

All The Way To Maine

How some Pakistani and Indian kids found out that the enemy has a face.

Don Shultz

He was a thin dangling creature nearing eighty

Action To Support Displaced Community in Gujrat

I grow more certain day by day that we must start in Gujarat, what we did not do in Kashmir

DIL’s Caravan of Hope

DIL has already changed the lives of over 8000 underprivileged children

Confessions of a BJP Supporter

Why was the philosophy of the Sangh Parivar attractive to so many urban middle class Hindus?

The Red Dress

With the mountainous weight of forty-three years

Caesar, Mata Hari, and Mirza

Translated from Urdu, a story by Mushtaq Ahmed Yusufi (1962)

From Across The Border

full of the likes of us who grow up in an ideology laden environments

Whose Iqbal — Ours or Theirs?

As if I am the traveler as well as the destination itself

Forced Marriages in the UK

Parents don’t listen to what their children want

The Brahmin Warrior

He found Hey Ram disturbing, but not in a good way.

When the Lights Hurt the Eyes

Our superstitions are world-renowned. We feed the poor in designated months...

The Virgin Bride

The idea of doing that with some sophisticated American bombshell...was paralyzing

The Evolution of Urdu Literature in the 20th Century

Literature is the narration of time

White Charade

Based on true events, circa early ‘90s, Karachi, when The White Charade became a symbol of terror

The Meaning of Pakistan

Metaphysical Politics of Pakistan

Degrees of Horror

Someone in Kutch is just a few degrees removed from me

Ismat Chughtai’s Autobiography -- A Transalation

Let her, said my father

I Am Wierd

I seem to overflow from them all

The Relationship That Heals

no one comes to see me because they are happy or content with their life.

The Young Philosopher

who can resist a Pakistani philosopher

The Dream

The door opened stealthily

Run Ayesha Run

Women are not built for speed

Oi, Kinniyaan Memaan Keetiyan Ne.

It’s a clean slate,
The Paki’s had his fun,

Tower of Babel

My language was peppered with baithtta hoon and khata hoon along with the elongation of almost all Urdu words with aan such as ainak-aan...

Mecca or Mohenjodaro?

A living religion is more eloquent than a dead civilization

American Born, British Born, Canadian Born but still Desi

I thought that the desi’s living abroad would have the best of both worlds.

Her Other Self

Why did she wake up in nightmarish sweats chased by dark fears?

Of Boylove and Boylovers

We (even in the oh-so-liberal West) live in a more conformist society that we are led to believe

Marriage from a Man’s Point of View

I have three words for other men about to take the plunge, when in doubt, smile and nod

An Inward Journey to Pakistan - Part 1

An introspective travlelogue of a journey to Pakistan after 16 years of absence.

Talaaq 3 Times She Said

Marriage is a strange habit

Corporate Battles

the seductive sweetness of ripe mangoes fresh from a tree

What is Pakistan to me?

What sort of people are these Pakistanis, anyway?

Full Moon on the Ganges

Night time on a cremation ground, among the bones and the spirits.

Growing up an American Muslim

You’re related to Saddam aren’t ya?

The Marriage Trap

Why aren’t we getting M-A-R-R-I-E-D?

Just Another Woman

They used you as a guinea pig, an experimental drug.

The Bride Burning

Mankind will not stand by and witness our burning:  Mankind will not immolate truth.

Conversation with Mukul Kesavan

What was your Akbar S. Ahmed thinking casting Christopher Lee as Jinnah

The Rhino

This is the era of ’nuclear giants’ and ethical pygmies

Evil Spirits Travel in Straight Lines

Two French scientists go to Senegal to fight a resistant strain of malaria.

A Pakistani Teenager in Canada

A 14 year old Pakistani teenager gets some things off his chest

The Judge

It was an ordinary summer in a very hot country. Life was full of possibilities and poetry.

A Wedding with the Divine

let us, oh Khusro, return home now, the dark dusk settles...

The Quranic Concept of Love

A Quranic perspective on love, choosing one’s life partner, and intimate relations amongst the sexes.

For My Love

...mullah wife gadding about in a dodge ’em car, quaking with full blooded mirth.

Azadi

A woman in Tehran intervenes when her husband becomes a smuggler of alcohol

Phuppi ki Beti, Mamoon ka Beta

The dilemma of cousin marriages and inbreeding.

Aitchison: Scenes From Within

...the old architecture, the grand cricket pitch in the main grounds, the smell of the rose bushes, the water heater radiators which never functioned well...

The Basanti Dye

By four-o clock in the morning the whole sky became Basanti. It seemed as if mustard was flowering in the eyes of the sky….

The Good, the Bad and the Anxiety

Can’t we make choices about how to lead our lives without someone out there thinking that we are breaking a religious or cultural law? Who decides what these laws are anyway?

Selective Islam in Pakistan

I feel there are certain western countries with far more Islamic traits than us, especially in the way they protect the rights of their citizens.

Massacre of a Language

Is this what the language of Mir, Ghalib and Faiz has been reduced to?

Love Means Never Having to Say You Are An Infidel!

Can you be a Muslim and marry a Jew? A closer look at inter-religious marriages.

Tania

Tania. He has looks, he has a BMW, he has all the girls he can handle, said Saadia beginning to wrap the phone cord around her fingers.

The ABCD of Melting Pots

We swallowed the melting pot myth of America hook, line, and sinker … we ate spaghetti, chicken fried rice, and hot dogs and believed that these culinary delights originated in places like Boston, Wichita, and Phoenix.

As Long As It Does Not Affect You

So a woman needs to get married but a man doesn’t?

My Fallible Lord

And do you think the big man upstairs is satisfied with his creation?