Still in seclusion

Another day in seclusion. This morning I had my Spanish class, which went quite well – a bit of reading (Primero estaba el mar by Tomás González), some conversation about dogs in prams. A brief chat with the GF last night which was pleasant, and the start of the third of The Wire which remains […]

Slight untilt

After the heightened worry of the day before, yesterday felt a little calmer. Not that things were much better. My possibility of return to Pakistan has been blocked as the government has put in a requirement that all travellers be formally cleared of coronavirus in the day before travelling, which is just closing borders without […]

Doubting Dalrymple

A very interesting review of William Dalrymple’s latest, on the rise of the East India Company, in the LA Review of Books. Articulates my vague unease about his school of post-imperial wokeness that is so popular amongst the chattering Pakistani readership.

Global sniffles

Fires, wars, fascists, now plague. Probably more that has slipped my mind. The decade continues its winning streak. A hypochondriac aunt is convinced she’s down with coronavirus in the States; every sniffle and sneeze here in Lahore is regarded with suspicion. Unfortunate, as in this smog season everyone, including myself, has a cold and a […]

Night terrors

I woke up in the middle of the night, convinced that everything had gone terribly wrong with work and that I would never recover. It took me a long time to get to sleep and I only managed after making a careful plan for the morning to double-check everything and after reading a couple of […]

A bit of shopping

Last night my host and I went shopping for me and I returned with three new kameezes, and narrowly left behind one more. I had realised, you see, that of the seven kameezes I had to wear to work, three were plain white, which was a bit much. Got home and realised that I’d spent […]

Sinking

So here I am, back. There is not a great deal to report as I sink back into Lahore life as though I were sinking into a swamp. The air is very slightly cleaner – the day I landed was one of the worst this year and since then it’s only been veering between unhealthy […]

A very long day

And still many hours to go. I woke up early, around five, as I have been in recent days, and then had a phone meeting about a bit of work that remains very fuzzy and unclear and is due very soon. Then there was some frenzied packing – frenzied largely because I did a wash […]