Love and the Law: An exerpt from Bulleh Shah (Required reading if you have studied the law)
By Sovmind Bulleh Shah (1680 – 1757) was a Punjabi Sufi poet, a humanist and philosopher from what is now considered Pakistan. As one…
At this one point, all talk ends – Bulleh Shah
Bulleh Shah Pakar saaf dile diyaan khavaabaan nu. Gal aise ghar vich dhukkdi eh, ik nuqte vich gal mukdi eh. Hold tight…
The land of his dreams
Professor Javaid Iqbal Syed’s memoir traverses the political and the personal, the mundane and the sublime, and weaves a narrative that reflects the decades…
My Master has planted jasmine in my heart
Shahidain has sent another Bait from Sultan Bahu for Jahane Rumi “Alif-Allaah chambe dee bootee murshid man wich laee hoo Naffee asbat daa panee…
The Journey Within
By Wanderer It was in August 1989 and the date was either 10 or 11. I had a strange dream, a dream that I…
The teachings of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti
1. The heart of a lover is like a furnace of love. Whatever goes into it is burnt to nothingness because there is no…
Eighteen years later…
It took eighteen years to locate a friend. Much like a star, the moon, a constellation and an ancient river my friend R has…
Journalism
My writings for the Pakistan weekly The Friday Times My articles published by The News, Pakistan My writings for DAWN newspaper My articles for…
At the red-bricked house
It rained in Lahore the other night. They say rains at this time of the year are terrible for the wheat crop. For us…
Whatever shrine I go to
Another readable piece by Dr Sher Zaman Taizi This poem in ghazal form is very simple and direct. It starts with a direct address…
Cascading Chandni
By temporal guess or foreguess she a work in progress they aiming to regress antediluvian lashes travel from Chand’s back to the cobwebs in…
A sufi in Budapest
Legend has it that a Bektashi dervish who was also a companion of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent introduced roses to the city…
Jinnah’s fabulous picture
Amit has asked me to find a framed copy of this picture and what a great portrait it is. The only other portrait that…
A special message for Jahane Rumi
Sometimes I am most touched by such messages concerning my blog. I am posting this message not because I want to beat my own…
Carpet cleaning methods
Discovered that there are multiple methods of carpet cleaning. I thought there was just a single way. Before engaging carpet cleaners, it is important…
On Buddha, Silence and Impermanence
The celebrated artiste Vidya Rao from Delhi has sent this tender and profound letter after reading my post on destruction of Buddhas in Swat (and the painting that…
She Would Not Be Wrapped
For the British, anxious to distinguish themselves from the natives, nothing was more galling than Indians in European attire. The elite women, especially, in…
Black Lives Matter: My Interview With Faisal Devji
Faisal Devji is a professor of Indian history and a fellow of St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford. In this discussion, he…