A profoundly sad article about the mandirs of Lahore. When travelling through Punjab I often look around and try to imagine, on the sides of the roads and in the fields the sites that are now gone. My grandfather, who grew up in Chakwal, used to tell of the Hindu pilgrim caravans going off, laughing […]
Turning tide
British politics offered a brief moment of hope today as the ethical Tories finally rebelled again no-deal Brexit. They’ve been chucked out, and some, at least, should be given medals for the courage of their convictions. Ken Clarke, Dominic Grieve, David Gauke, maybe a few others. On the other hand, Boris and Rees-Mogg both showed […]
Thoughts on two articles in the Observer
The music was very loud again last night and did not stop till 4. There is something about the way that sound echoes in our street, it is very loud indeed so it made for a very uncomfortable night, again. Anyway, I woke up at 7 so feel quite underslept, plus there is no milk […]
Another crack
Another crack appears in our world as we currently know it. The build up was frightful: troops sent to the region, then tourists and pilgrims made to leave, then political leaders put under house arrest, then rumours spreading, then a blackout and curfew and then a constitutional travesty. I don’t see how this will not […]
New normal
I have been watching, appalled, the most recent Brexit antics by all that miserable gaggle of deplorables in Westminster. What seems to me absolutely shameful, and it is something that the way the media is structured to react to the current-shiniest object, is how it has moved the spectrum of possibility from Leave vs Remain […]
Two gods
A verse by the Punjab poet Ustad Daman, written in honour of General Zia and quoted in a very good article about him in Dawn: mery mulk de do khuda la elah te martial la ik rehnda a arshan utthay duja rehnda farshan uttay Even if you don’t know Punjabi, if you know the first […]
Bigger class yet
Two more people joined the class, bringing the total up to four (another left over the weekend and may or may not be back the next weekend). They are perfectly pleasant, even interesting – one a soldier who was posted to Afghanistan, and the other an Instagrammer in the flesh. But yes, too many people. […]
Troubled and concerned
Day after day I get amazed at the passivity of Americans. It seems particularly noticeable at the moment, with mass protests in Sudan and Hong Kong, with even Brexit bringing hundreds of thousands onto the street. Even as Americans are troubled and concerned about everything – from the concentration camps on the border to the […]
Older woman
It is strange to be in the position of being the older woman in a group of younger people. All the others here are college students, and of course stay together and don’t have much to say to, or interest in, someone who is clearly not one of them. So we sit at the breakfast […]
Light relief
Fearing a difficult day, but there was something to cheer me up. Possibly fictitious, but the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province had a live stream on Facebook of a press conference to announce something or other, and apparently forgot to turn off the cat filter first. To think satire is banned in Pakistan.