Our endangered heritage
Delhi’s Red Fort was once a symbol of Mughal power and the myriad India was ruled for centuries from this fort. It has continued…
Mohsin Hamid on Indo-Pak perceptions
Hamid thinks that India is more jingoistic than Pakistan. There were some interesting moments in the interview as the quote below indicates. Full…
Reviewing Pakistani Blogosphere – top ten stuff
I had written this piece for Shirazi Saheb’s wonderful blog – The Light Within. I am cross-posting it here. There is just one omission…
Kafka Country
Kafka Country Surprised by what is happening in the land of the pure? Stop jumping, life is business as usual in the Islamic Republic…
Saving Heritage
Not a day passes when we are not reminded of the gradual erosion of our heritage. It is time that we thought of different…
Feryal Ali Gauhar – femme fatale
Conversations with novelist, filmmaker, feline aficionado, and femme fatale, Feryal Ali Gauhar, as she prepares to launch her second novel Who doesn’t know Feryal…
Striking Prints from a young Pakistani artist
I finally got hold of the digital images of some lovely prints by Samar Ataullah – a graduate of the National College of Arts,…
Surveys show that Pakistanis (and Muslims) reject ‘terrorism’
The Daily Times Pakistan has published a story on surveys carried out by various organizations. The results are quite revealing not least for Pakistan.…
“Seeds of peace on cricket field”
Saw this insightful piece by a Pakistani researcher in the Baltimore Sun. Read more >>…
Friendship Train Blast – Derailing the peace process (yet again)
Blast kills 67 on India-Pakistan friendship train PANIPAT, India, Feb 19 (AFP) At least 67 people burned to death after a blast aboard a train…
Iqbal Hussain – Lahore’s controversial artist
Iqbal Hussain from Lahore is one of the finest painters we have. Most of his paintings depict women from the Heera Mandi (literally the…
No place like home: inventive [homesick] Pakistanis
The popularity of Internet as a medium and the personal space it provides to the diaspora is evident from the growing number of Urdu…
On Mukhtaran Mai (Book Review)
Sadia Dehlvi has sent me this book review that was published by the Hindustan Times. Mukhtar Mai In the Name of Honour: A memoir…
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…
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…
Architectural Neglect – Lahore again..
Random musings in continuation of the discussions on the construction of the 7 (or is it 5?) -star hotel in Islamabad on Adil Najam’s…
Qasmi, literary feuds and national neglect
While responding to the comments on my ATP post on Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi , I rambled a little on the literary feuds among the…
The Suspect Paki – “May God give us many Schindlers”
I have been thinking about this all weekend. Read this post from an aptly titled blog, Suspect Paki on Friday and am still haunted…
Islamophobia of Muslims
A sad day for Pakistan and progressive Islam. A close associate of Javaid Ghamidi– perhaps the best known Pakistani exponent of enlightened (I hate…
Woodcuts in Colour: Mahboob Ali in Lahore
Today, I was delighted to receive and email from a Pakistani artist Mahboob Ali with a few images of his work. Mahboob Ali, is…