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Shaadi 2.0
Society’s attitudes are slowly changing as people become more tolerant of a woman’s decision to marry again but for a majority of women, the concept of a second marriage still carries a stigma so...
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Brighter horizons
Saima Mohsin has gone from fronting the flagship show on Pakistan’s first English-language news channel to munching stir-fried locusts in the Netherlands. In normal circumstances, this would be a...
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Positive Pakistani: Turning lives around
For Ghulam Sughra Solangi, recipient of the International Women of Courage Award 2011, a forced marriage and the denial of an education became the basis of a movement that changed her life and that of...
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Sufism and the city
Completely exhausted and enervated three quarters into a 90-minute hot yoga workout, the voice of Kathryn Leary — an instructor at a Bikram Yoga facility in New York City reciting the great Sufi poet...
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The farthest shore
“Zardari uncle, my name is also Bakhtawar, the same as your daughter’s. Please bring my father home.” This appeal comes from a four-year-old child who hopes the president of the Islamic Republic of...
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Defence against the dark arts
ZK: Apart from Somalia, what are the kidnapping hotspots in the world right now? FB: Latin America is an area which often doesn’t get as much press, perhaps because people are a bit more used to the...
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Strangers in a strange land
Sharifo, a Somali single mother, decided to flee the conflict at home to secure her son’s future. She made the long journey to Pakistan, thinking they would find refuge here. But over the years, hope...
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Warriors of the waves
On the way to the first floor galleries of the Pakistan Maritime Museum in Karachi, one comes across a wall with names of martyrs, or Shaheeds, who died during the 1965 and 1971 wars. The list...
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Smelling like roses
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has a dangerous premise. Seven British retirees travel to a hotel in Jodhpur, India, that advertises itself as a post-retirement haven. In the process they re-discover...
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Better off dead: 'Osombie'
Osombie – The Axis of Evil Dead is an independently produced low budget zombie film, which fails to live up to the cleverness of its title and the delicious novelty of its concept. Instead of taking...
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How to save a life
Anwarul Haq was disconcerted when his son Naveed came up to him with a most unusual request: that Anwarul Haq honour his wish to have his organs donated in the event of his death. “When you have...
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Hashish, hippies and hedonism
A visit to the ‘Gateway of Scandinavia’ takes the author to Christiania — the anarchist tribal area that the Danes would rather you didn’t know about. Denmark — a land of fantasy right from the fairy...
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The original iron man
“On mountain soil I first drew life, The mists of the Taglay have shed; Nightly their dews upon my head, And, I believe, the winged strife; And tumult of the headlong air, Have nestled in my very...
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Our man on the moon
The year is 2112. Pakistan has finally managed to put a man on the moon. He lands in one of those American colonies that former president Nut Gingrich promised exactly a hundred years ago. It wasn’t...
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Film review: What to Expect When You’re Expecting - tales of the expected
As expected, the formulaic romantic comedy, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, isn’t a film pregnant in originality. While it does have its share of amusing moments, thanks to some one-liners from...
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Go East, young man!
“Higher than the Himalayas and deeper than the oceans!” These are the hyperbolic words used to describe Pak-China relations. But despite the closeness of Sino-Pak ties, very few of us can actually...
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Forgiven but not forgotten
For those who are willing to learn, China’s Nanjing Memorial Museum offers lessons in overcoming the tyranny of the past. Despite a history spanning over 2,000 years, the events that truly crystallise...
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London, London hai
Lahoris often love to say, ‘Lahore Lahore Hai’ and ‘Jin-ne Lahore nayi dekhia — O jum-miya hi nei’ (one who hasn’t seen Lahore — is yet to be born). In my opinion, the same can be said of London. Who...
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Positive Pakistani: Wise beyond his years
Always mindful of the plight of others, 17-year-old Ghalib Khalil decided to wade right through to the ones who needed to be rescued during the 2010 floods and has won international recognition for...
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Meet Nazo Dharejo: The toughest woman in Sindh
When the floods of 2010 swept away their homes and livelihoods, the villagers of Qazi Ahmed Taluka in Sindh’s Shaheed Benazirabad district knew who to blame. The natural waterway that the floodwaters...
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