Syed Kamran Hashmi

Christmas is no longer an exclusive religious event in the United States of America anymore. There is no doubt about its theological origin but nowadays it is mostly a social and cultural celebration referred to as ‘holidays’. During this time, Americans travel long distances to reunite with their families, specially their parents, host big parties, […]

Most of us believe in celebrating birthdays. Birthdays are awesome, occasions where great company, good food and a bad cake are found together. On a personal level, that day is important for all of us because, cosmologically, it is meant to signify only one thing: our own priceless existence. By virtue of that, we want […]

A long time ago, the assessment of one’s net worth was not a cumbersome process at all. All you had to do was calculate the value of livestock in your possession, as it was the most reliable marker of wealth in those days. Other assets such as gold coins, land ownership, slaves (both male and […]

Mumtaz Mufti might have been the first novelist in Urdu literature who ventured to add mysticism in an explicitly romantic story. Considering our religious affiliations and ideological boundaries, it was a dangerous experiment; however, it was done so tactfully that it yielded great success for the author, both commercially and religiously. On the one hand, […]

Not too long ago, many Pakistanis would have used the ‘L’ word to describe their religious and political inclinations. It did not carry a stigma since ordinary people were more tolerant and less judgmental in those days. As a result, it was not unusual for people to first lock horns with their conservative opponents, and […]

Everything was sailing quite smoothly for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), its eyes on the next elections, when the Panama leaks questioned the financial credibility of the Sharif family. The leaks demoralised even its staunch supporters, leaving them with no choice except to retort with mean-spirited accusations aimed at the Shaukat Khanum Momorial Hospital, and […]

With the help of a walker, a frail old man plodded to respond to the doorbell. Now, it had rung twice in less than a minute. He had recently been discharged from the hospital after a major abdominal surgery and could not rush with his stooping, unstable gait to receive his visitor. Out of breath […]

If religion was the opium of the people for Karl Marx, it was a source of great inspiration a few hundred years ago for St Thomas Aquinas. And, if God was dead for Fredrick Nietzsche and humans had killed Him, it was the strongest reality for Abu Hamid Al Ghazali in the 12th century. With […]

Years ago, I suffered from a common yet severe bacterial infection and typhoid fever in Pakistan. As I was considered ‘charming’ and ‘nice’ (a rare combination in my family), I was initially diagnosed by our in-house physician (my mom) with the usual suspect: black magic. Notwithstanding that I lived in Lahore and belonged to an […]

In Freudian psychology, displacement can be roughly defined as a defence mechanism in which you find the easiest target to express your anger. Notwithstanding the fact that Freudian psychoanalysis is not very popular in Pakistan for obvious reasons yet, displacement has almost become our official business. It reads as: if you are upset with the […]