Today, Pakistan’s Supreme Court acquitted Asia Bibi, a Christian peasant woman, of blasphemy. She had been accused by two of her Muslim neighbours after they quarrelled when she brought them a drink of water and they refused to drink from a cup that a Christian had drunk from unless she converted to Islam on the […]
Sea change
The Kavanaugh hearing feels like a sea change; surely, decades from now, historians will mark it as another moment in the decline of the United States. It felt like everyone in the world (granted, in my limited circles) was aware of and watching with horror and disgust. The woman giving her testimony, and then the […]
Belt and Road
I listened to a very good podcast episode today, on Sinica. It was on China’s relations with Pakistan over the years, and particularly around CPEC and the election of Imran Khan. The person being interviewed was uncharacteristically informed about Pakistani politics and how it works (and even pronounced all the names correctly, which is rare […]
Moreover
The dam on one hand. The dam on the other.
Rejection
I have never felt so inclined towards giving up my Pakistani nationality. Really upsetting. Laanat on all their faces.
Blackadder, Pakistan
The Gentleman Friend has pitched a comedy series modelled after Blackadder about the Pakistani Supreme Court. I think it would be hilarious though the comedy might be very black indeed. We could have all kinds of shenanigans. The Chief Justice’s dam fund. chaapas and honey pots will provide very good material, particularly in contrast to […]
A disappointing sequel
I listened to a fascinating podcast yesterday, an episode of the New Books Network. It was so interesting I listened to it a second time. It was an interview with an anthropologist in Australia who has recently published a book on difference and perceptions of difference, between Aborigines and white settlers. One of the most […]
The end of this world
I keep thinking that these are the end times. This does not really distinguish them from other times, since I don’t really have any kind of progressive vision of the world. But I think we are moving, inexorably, towards the end of a phase, the deterioration of global lipservice, at least, to a rules-based world […]
Podcasts these days
The Kermode and Mayo film review. The original podcast on my feed. First listened whilst travelling through Thailand, lying in a hammock on Ko Phi Phi which was then only a couple of years out from the tsunami. I suppose that qualifies me as a long-term listener. The New Books Network. Interviews with academics about […]
Tasla
Does this word even exist? I have used it all my life to mean a low, flat basin, the sort that one might use for handwashing clothes. Probably plastic. But no one other than myself seems to know it. It doesn’t appear in Urdu so far as I can tell. I put my recently acquired […]