Saints who ruled India
‘The War that Wasn’t: The Sufi and the Sultan’ By Fatima Hussain Publisher: Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi Pages: 245 Book Review Last…
Travelogue (final) Entangled destinies
Contrary to the Mall culture booming across India, Khan Market is a high street experience. I am claustrophobic in Malls and therefore a place…
Post-floods: Pakistan must embrace a comprehensive reform agenda
Pakistan’s governance is a nightmare for its citizenry. More importantly, it is also an international issue now. The multi-dimensional disaster in Pakistan could lead…
Rescuing the Pakistani state
Pakistani, and by extension the global media, are regurgitating tiresome cliches about corruption without talking about reforming state institutions. For instance, not a single…
Travelogue (Part III): India’s Silicon Valley
The tragedy of this first-ever visit to Bangalore was its short duration. Having said that, it is always better to have seen a city…
Sanity at last: Pakistan accepts flood aid money from rival India
This is a sensible thing to do. Finally sanity has prevailed. We hope that Pakistan’s neighbours – India, China and Iran help us out…
Generous and timely: US Response to Pakistan’s Disaster
Ironic that the United States has been perhaps the most pro-active and generous country in helping us with flood relief. Pakistanis, especially those were…
Pakistan’s misery is just starting
Pakistan commentator and editor of influential cyber-magazine Pak Tea House Raza Rumi also warns of systemic collapse if the needs of millions of poor…
Pakistan’s disaster could lead to a collapse
The colossal humanitarian tragedy and the imminent economic meltdown, will now shape a new Pakistan or rather, exacerbate its predicament in the months and…
Ali Sardar Jafri’s amazing poem
14th and 15th August are two dates that evoke mixed feelings for those of us who want a peaceful subcontinent free of jingoism and…
Pakistan needs immediate assistance
I just wrote this on Pak Tea House: PTH is starting a series of posts devoted to the Pakistan’s current crisis effects of which…
Disaster management; which way now?
The NDMA also needs to be taken seriously by senior decision makers. Its capacity should be strengthened and the organization decentralized through investing financial…
Moenjodaro might have been washed away
I just read this message (pasted below) from the Director of the World Heritage Centre on impact of Pakistani floods on the Archaeological Ruins…
Can we afford to bypass Jinnah’s Pakistan?
Published today by Jinnah Institute, Islamabad: Notwithstanding the contradictions inherent to pre-1947 Muslim politics, Jinnah was clear about certain fundamentals. Pakistan was to be…
Floods’ management: Perfect script for a black comedy
They say that individual and collective characters are exposed in times of crisis. Indeed the Pakistan ruling classes have exposed themselves for their historical…
Recognition is endearing, after all
NYT blog has noted the cyberzine – Pak Tea House – that I founded and manage. Each time it gets cited, I am encouraged…
Pakistan: A transitional polity
Pakistan’s existentialist crisis is no longer a strictly Pakistani issue. Its potential repercussions have emerged as a cornerstone of global debates on regional stability…
Travelogue (Part II) – Yeh hai Bombay meri jaan
Things had changed. Bombay has metamorphosed into Mumbai (shining India is also more parochial); Sahar airport had been renamed (as Chatrapathi Shivaji International Airport)…
Travelogue (Part I) – Jammed in Delhi
The more we fight, the more similar we look. After the 2008 tragic incidents in Mumbai, the Indian and Pakistani media displayed their raw…
Oldest university on earth is reborn after 800 years
Nalanda, an ancient seat of learning destroyed in 1193, will rise again thanks to a Nobel-winning economist By Andrew Buncombe During the six centuries…