Celebrate! The month of fasting has come – Rumi
Celebrate! The month of fasting has come. Pleasant journey to the one Who is the company of the fasting. I climbed the roof to…
Anandi Boiragi – the eclectic painter and an urban Baul
With legendary artist S.M. Sultan as his mentor, Anadi Kumar Boiragi from Jessore attended Khulna Art College in the late ’80s, before enrolling at…
On white-women stereotypes
A post of mine on All Things Pakistan, Inhospitable Reception, has generated a good discussion and it is was great to read that there…
Finally some filmi cooperation..
Interesting developments in Pakistani cinema: first the release and accolades that a newly released Khuda Ke Liye (In the name of God) received and…
A damning UN report
The revelation contained in a recent UN report on Afghanistan that “more than 80 per cent” of suicide bombers in Afghanistan are recruited and…
On the “death of Pakistani culture”
Khaled Ahmed is the endangered variety of writers. A true man of letters proficient in world languages, histories and cultures, he is a journalist…
Bulleh Shah – poems and musings
I am free, my mind is free, I can be imprisoned nowhere. Today Bulleh Shah’s Urs (death anniversary) celebrations have commenced in Qasoor, Pakistan.…
Inhospitable Reception
“While the ‘easy-white-woman’ stereotype is being reinforced, how can Pakistan become a tourist destination?” Conversing with Charlotte is always a pleasure. She’s original and…
Qurratulain Hyder
Sometimes a little discovery can be so delightful. The other day I was shown an old book authored by Qurratulain Hyder. The book called…
Isfahan’s Blue Mosque inspires a painting
On a long tiring flight, I was not too amused by another predictable rant on “Intimidation in Tehran” in the Time magazine. However, while…
Saving Kahoo Jo Daro
Read this impassioned appeal in the press – it also alerted me to the situation that haunts this ancient relic. The city is built…
The plight of Bahadur Shah Zafar’s descendants
I had earlier posted on the sad state of the heart wrenching denouement to the dazzling Mughal Empire thanks to Indscribe who related the…
Welcome Hatshepsut
Amazing how the past continues to interact with the present. Hatshepsut was an ancient Egyptian queen who declared herself as the king and ruled…
Dalrymple on gods and monsters
In an era when most British officials were interested only in exploiting India, a few remarkable men celebrated Hindu art and culture. William Dalrymple…
The tributes continue – remembering Qurratalain Hyder
The literati in India and Pakistan are grappling with the larger question of Qurratulain Hyder’s stature in Urdu, and some would say, World literature.…
Why I’ve learned to love the novel…
Thanks to Isa Daudpota, I was introduced to Rebecca Goldstein who marries the art of novel with science in an effortless manner. Her remarks…
Islamic Spain: History’s refrain
Alexander Kronemer writes: “At its peak, it lit the Dark Ages with science and philosophy, poetry, art, and architecture. It was the period remembered…
Qurratulain Hyder -End of an Era
The death of Qurratulain Hyder marks the end of an era of the finest writing in Urdu. Hyder, also known as Ainee Apa, dominated…
Anyone listening?
Thanks to my friend Temporal, I had a chance to read this account of contemporary Pakistan – The diary of a border crosser –…
Qurratulain Hyder talking to BBC on the first South Asian novel
SG has sent me this old audio recording of Qurratulain Hyder when she visited London in the 1990s and was interviewed by the BBC.…