Maria Sartaj

Many love affairs in Pakistan begin with the promise of marriage; the man readily shows an inclination to interact with the woman’s mother even before uttering the sacred I-love-you, which, by the way, retails in our country for a cheap Rs 10 per kg. The shaadi (marriage) bait works almost every time in pursuing the […]

Nothing divides people more than money. No religion, caste, creed or country creates more division than our social status. We are measured by the size of our backyard, the make of our car, the price of our handbag and the zeroes in our pay package. In Karachi, you are largely defined by the area you […]

The 2016 social media Pakistan-India war of words, memes and expletives was a stupefying sight on its own. In the last two weeks, citizens of both sides demonstrated that they are indeed related to each other — in blood, in history and in jingoism. On the Indian frontline was a very loud TV anchor, Arnab […]

Dear Imran Khan, As you embark on another journey to stage another protest, a march towards the palatial estate of Raiwind, I connect to you as a person with concern for Pakistan’s future but, more importantly, as a member of its middle class. For many of us, you have been the only alternative they have […]

“These houses have been constructed with my money,” I said, pointing directly to the adjoining houses of the late Yash Chopra and Dharmendra, located in a compact street of Juhu. Koyal, my Maharashtrian friend and an accomplished struggler in films — she had been auditioning left, right and centre for three years now — managed […]

Last week, global citizens of social media raised a hue and cry over Air China’s racist precautions offered in their in-flight magazine. The booklet while describing London had advised its passengers to be vigilant while entering areas populated by Pakistanis, Indians and blacks. We all felt incensed and flared our nostrils at how dare they […]

“Right around 4pm I start getting restless as if I am possessed by a force each afternoon” were the words of a Karachi-based homemaker to me once. The term Pakistanis often use to denote stress is tension, but it is usually neatly packaged with its link to the unseen. People don’t forget to throw in […]

Last week my social media feed was inundated with images of the ‘Pakistani wedding of the year’; the hashtag #Munush (short for Munib and Anush) was the talk of the town. This young couple belonging to an extremely affluent family (Anush’s father Ammar Ahmed Khan is a former Senator of Pakistan besides helming the affairs […]

Long after Shams of Tabriz had left his company, Rumi, the 13th century Sufi master from Konya, consistently pined for his deedar (sight). One can almost imagine him longing for his companion, burning up the midnight oil, whilst writing the following verse: lovers do not finally meet somewhere, they are in each other all along. […]

They can stock up on all the masalas (spices) from desi (local) grocery stores, yearn for mangoes of the langda variety, watch back-to-back episodes of Mann Mayal back, but their joy is elevated to new heights when a gora (white person) mistake them for being Hispanic, Iranian or even Lebanese. Overseas Pakistanis, in a bout […]