Maria Sartaj

Imagine being at a Pakistani funeral: everyone is sobbing away and the newly widowed female is trying to smash her bangles ala Hindi movies but is unable to. She faints every few minutes saying, “But kal hi toh yeh salad khaa rahe thay, walk bhi karte thay kabhi kabhi, around the building” (but only yesterday […]

If you are able to read this column, chances are that you belong to a privileged caste within the Pakistani Muslim society that has access to English medium schools and, more importantly, the social right to move up the hierarchy of life. We do not get to choose the homes we are born into; from […]

In the good old days of PTV, news meant sitting in front of the television screen at 9 ‘o’ clock to get one’s daily fix, and only then would many households settle down for their dinner. And, after that, people mostly discussed political situations over cups of hot chai or paan in their lawns. Back […]

“O baaji (sister) buy this rose, I have not sold any since the evening baaji,” the street side flower seller pleaded at the traffic signal. I pretended to look at the super skinny models on the brightly lit hoardings. “Buy it baaji, Rs 50 only.” I paid no heed. The signal opened and my vehicle […]

The alarm rang at five am sharp. I hurried to perform my wuzu (ablution) and quickly got down to reading certain ayats (verses) that had been prescribed to me by the new maulana on the block. “Read this 1,000 times, followed by reading that 300 times and repeat the process three times a day,” he […]