Nazia Hassan and the heritage of music on December 12, 2019Once at a worn out party, everyone stacked up on each other on the sofa, a boy who had been dancing alone all night went up to the speakers and played “Boom boom” by late singer and songwriter Nazia Hassan and I saw the life left of every drunk lover in that room come to […]
On break ups on November 9, 2019Although, I know that there is no clear disclaimer about a break up. But I like to believe that we are always warned. I wonder, what the signs are that a relationship is approaching its end. On a warm evening, a friend said that the best way to break up with someone is to invite […]
The sweet taste of ancient Lahore on November 3, 2019Right now, I know you may have many places to taste Lahore, let that be Alamgir in Main Market or Paradise right around the corner of Liberty. But the sweet that our ancestor grew up, and where the lineage men and women with sweet tooths began & where our forefathers sat together, cracking jokes about […]
Bano Bazar and the city with one heart on October 30, 2019I was born in a house where we had three native languages. English was imposed, Urdu was convenient and Punjabi was a promise to our ancestors. I was born to a father that knew the heart of the city he lived in. He knew the food, the people, the betrayal & that which soon swallowed […]
The old ice-cream store and the romance of letting go on September 15, 2019Alamgir Ice-Cream in Main Market has become a store called Waffles now. And it stings slightly, to see a place I once loved change into a place I no longer recognize. And perhaps it’s natural for things you love to be unrecognizable after a certain time. We are all one heartbreak away from learning the […]
The millennial musical heritage and the survival of Taylor Swift on August 24, 2019Singer and songwriter Taylor Swift is the artist we will pass on as musical heritage to the generation after us. Like the music our parents passed down. I remember my parents playing ‘pennylane’ by the Beatles loud in our car as we waited for our ice creams outside of Alamgir which has now grown out […]
‘Chandni Raat’ by Ali Sethi talks about the resurrection of love on March 5, 2019It is rather a luxury to have someone describe heartbreak to you in a way that is hopeful. This is the part of the year when all poetry reminds us of warmth and the arms that we have always had the yearning for. Ali Sethi and his song “Chandni Raat” have gathered a cohort of […]
We owe an apology to our women on February 9, 2019The glow of the sun has no credit of its own but the hope we gather from our dreams that lights the entire world. God only touches the souls that are pure and have sinned only with a guilt around their neck. I am still grateful of how religion teaches me to fear the things […]
A dulcet sound of hope on January 23, 2019A season that leaves both a stain and a stench is better than a season that freezes our tears in the falling. I would rather smell terrible than tragic, which is what most of this country smells like in this part of time. When we are finding a reason to laugh and sing, as the […]
Karachi, art and music! on January 13, 2019If you are feeling, you’re alive. I mean that’s the fundamental purpose of living, to feel; sorrow, pain, creativity, abundance, anxiety, grief. Existence is dependent on the evidence of feeling. In that regard, Karachi has a lot more of living than most cities, they feel blatantly and echo the emotions for others to feast on. […]