Hijab and the truth behind it
Hindustan Times published this piece by Sadia Dehlvi yesterday. Two weeks ago, an Afghan woman carrying a baby in her arms and wearing a…
Do not despair, my soul…
Do not despair, my soul, for hope has manifested itself; the hope of every soul has arrived from the unseen. Do not despair, though…
Eid Mubarak – and another winter of discontent
Eid Mubarak to all…. I would like to share an email message sent by the Rural Support Programme Network (RSPN) on the survivors of…
Whether asleep or awake, I am thirsty for that Friend…
If you are not going to bed, then sit, I am going. Tell your tale, I have told mine. I have had enough of…
the beloved you’ve lost
i want to leave this town but you’ve chained me down stolen away my heart leaving yourself behind now i’ve lost my way my…
Orhan Pamuk’s recognition and the complex world we live in..
the characters in my novel are groaning under the burden of universal ideas. Overtaxing yourself with powerful ideas is practically a Turkish passion Orhan…
Discovered: A Raj Pistol in an Unclaimed Locker..
A great story from the Times of India MUMBAI: The British may have left us six decades ago but fascinating traces of empire continue…
Pictures from Delhi – Getting to Nizamuddin and Ghalib
My friend ST was in Delhi recently. After returning to Islamabad, he sent me the following pictures of his visits to the great locality…
saare aalam mein bhar raha hai ishq
What dependent creatures we are.. Since last week, there is no power supply at my house. It has been a time of reflection and…
He set the world aflame – Rumi
He set the world aflame, And laid me on the same; A hundred tongues of fire Lapped round my pyre. And when the blazing…
Forced break from blogging
I have been away from my dear blog… Recent storms here have deprived me of electricity at home and thus distnaced me from blogging…
Muhammad’s Sword
Good old Uri is back with a great piece. Thank God it wasn’t written by another fundamentalist islamofascist….. Since the days when Roman Emperors…
Seek the Fountain Within Yourself
There are two kinds of intelligence. One is that acquired by a child at school from books and teachers, new ideas and memorization. Your…
Let us prove all those who link Islam with violence wrong
Contributed by G.S. Qureshi Does verbal criticism of Islam or Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) justify setting churches afire in the West Bank…
On Pakistani Women Poets (and my friend’s predicament)
An email from a Pakistan based writer friend made me recall Parveen Shakir. The poem, Tomato Ketchup, written most probably in the memory of…
Everything except love is devoured by Love
The wild beast wouldn’t dare to devour the flesh of the lover: Love is recognized both by the corrupt and by the good; and…
The Pontiff Apologizes
The Pope could have avoided this controversy by being a little more sensitive and by applying some discretion while selecting references for his speeches.…
five years since…
As again, am compelled to reproduce Baithak‘s evocative lines published on September 13, 2006. five years since the exclamations came down and the survivors…
Spam Attack – Thank You, Akismet and WordPress..
Today my blog was saved from a low-grade spam attack. Akismet detected 49 spam comments. The websites where the comments originated looked even less…
Atiraf-e-wafaa na kho dena
surmaee  raat  mein  diya  rakha yaad  kay  zakhm  ko  hara  rakha tum  ne kitnaa  hamara  saath  dia! na-rasaai  to khair  seh  len  ge…