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Umar Hayat Mahal: Chiniot’s dying ‘wonder’
Chiniot, a city in Southern Punjab, is famous for its wealthy traders and intricate woodwork. Chinioti tradesmen once expanded their businesses far and wide, but the fame of the city's woodwork...
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I can see Pakistan rise once more
It has been long, but I can sense it again. After years of despair, I feel optimistic, even bullish, about Pakistan.Why a sudden change in perspective, you may ask. It’s all about the context. The...
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Pakistan’s contrary years (1971-1977): A cultural history of the Bhutto era
Modern cultural historians have usually defined the 1970s as being one of the most implosive decades of the 20th century.Their fascination with the 1970s has continued to this day — they describe the...
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Why Pakistan needs a 400 per cent increase in traffic challans
Accidents caused by traffic violations have been one of the greatest concerns for developing countries. Unfortunately, Pakistan is ranked at number three in terms of number of fatal traffic accidents...
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Occupational injury: How Pakistan is failing its 56 million labourers
A serious physical injury could put an enormous financial burden on a labourer and his family — which is exacerbated if he is the sole breadwinner of his household.This damage has a three-fold effect;...
View Article‘This is not my job’ — Why aren’t we letting our children work odd jobs?
Long ago on one very cold day in Beijing, China, we were issued a warning of heavy snowfall. My father told our Chinese housekeeper that she better head home before the roads get blocked. In response,...
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Nostalgia street: Elphi as it used to be
On August 15, 1947, I was on Rhodesia Pitch along with other 16-year-old boys of St Peters High School, Panchgani, a hill station tucked away in the verdant wilderness of the Western Ghats, 64 miles...
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A night, a lifetime at the Urs in Bhit Shah
On a Saturday eve, I decided to venture off to a town, around 200 kilometres from Karachi. Accompanied by a friend, we drove through the cold night on a highway with heavily loaded trucks hurtling past...
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Confessions of a Pakistani guy who doesn’t like cricket
Conventional wisdom and the media’s tendency to focus solely on the popular narrative will tell you that everyone in Pakistan is a bearded, misogynistic, cricket fan. Fortunately, not everyone in...
View ArticlePakistani Millennials — The expectation generation
It was just another typical Monday morning when just another typical bunch of young people were discussing their work problems. I looked around that group of colleagues and friends and realised that...
View ArticleNo, Hamza, Karachi IS important to Pakistan’s politics
As the only ones in the extended family who were based in Lahore, our home was always open to guests passing through the city for something or the other. Most of these guests would come from Karachi,...
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Chenab: Pakistan’s river of love
I often dream about long journeys that may bring my dreams to life; dreams of far-flung lakes, of colours, of people, of scenic beauty and starry-nights, which appear only at the end of a tiresome...
View ArticleGharelu bahu and other sorry little ‘compliments’
I recently invited some relatives over for lunch. The guests thoroughly enjoyed my new recipe for steaks with white sauce and after eating to their hearts' content, smilingly said, “your bahu is so...
View ArticleAl-Huda, Tashfeen, and the massacre
A young mother who attended a religious school for women in Pakistan weds a conservative man. Months later, the two are accused of murdering 14 and injuring many more in an unprovoked attack in San...
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Learning to love in a culture of hate: My Pakistani-Indian identity
During the past few weeks, I have attended a series of events at Yale University, sponsored by various South Asian organisations. These included a dance and music performance in celebration of Diwali,...
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Understanding Karachi and the 2015 local elections
The Karachi context: cities within a cityKarachi confuses people – sometimes even those who live in it.The capital of Pakistan’s Sindh province, it is the country’s largest city – a colossal,...
View ArticleHimmat na harna: Is Pakistan’s resilience also its undoing?
Exactly a year ago, our already battered society suffered from one of the most horrendous acts in our (violent) history. At least 144 people, most of them children (132), were killed when Taliban...
View Article‘Get rid of Christians, keep Islamabad clean’: CDA’s Donald Trump moment
From the makers of the I-11 human rights catastrophe that left thousands homeless, comes a reinvigorated drive to not only keep Islamabad beautiful, but also dependably and homogeneously Muslim.In a...
View ArticleSalman Khan’s hit-and-run case: Was the car drunk?
Prem acquittal dhan se payo, Salman Khan’s iconic screen name was trending on Twitter minutes after the High Court allowed him to walk free as the prosecution failed to establish its case against...
View ArticleHeart of darkness — Child victims and the media
With the approaching one year anniversary of the Army Public School massacre, we are sure to see on our TV screens, reporters shoving microphones in the faces of the victims’ families. The same inane...
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