Last night I went to a dinner for Lahore’s beautiful people, a crowd I was not particularly interested in when I lived in Lahore, and even less so now that I feel so far away. It’s funny though how one can feel sad about not fitting in, even with a group one doesn’t particularly want […]
Fallout
A bit of Brexit fallout already as I hear that a relative by marriage, a French national, has had her application for indefinite leave to remain in the UK (with a British spouse and two British children) declined because she didn’t have proof she was in the country during the period of her maternity leave […]
Morning after
So Britain has left Europe, and like millions of others in the UK, Europe and beyond, I feel an inestimable sadness. I became a UK citizen only about seven years ago, and lived in the UK only about 11 years in total, and in all this time the European Union was a shining light that […]
Sad day
Today.
Kya dekhein
I was saddened, no, enraged, by a podcast which claims to be about Urdu poetry and which I had really been excited about. The first episode I listened to was about Faiz’s Hum dekhein gey, which I translated a few months ago when it was used in the Kashmir protests. It’s being used in protests […]
Tea break
A friend popped in for a cup of tea and brought over trifle, so I had a pleasant break from work. We tutted over the whole Prince Harry business, generally agreeing that it was all nonsensical on every side, and the press is particularly shameful, but it’s certainly good gossip fodder. Other shameful news from […]
Start of something new
The news this morning is distressing, terrifying, even. It is infuriating to read a site like Metafilter where it is viewed so intensely through American eyes that much of the discussion so far is about Democrats being better. As though it matters? As though they are? But I have just read that discussion coming from […]
Graceless
OK, never mind. The detailed judgement has come out and includes the immortal order: We direct the law enforcement agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk, Islamabad, Pakistan and be […]
Engrossed
So engrossed in work was I yesterday that I completely missed the big news of the day – the verdict against Musharraf and his sentencing. Can’t approve of the death sentence, of course, but this is basically the least likely one to be carried out, ever. But otherwise it is to be celebrated. There must […]
Filth
What a bloody miserable result. Worse than I could have imagined it. It’s really truly devastating. Brexit now a certainty. Austerity, Tory cruelty to the poorest and weakest. Rising nationalism. Destroying institutions. Institutionalising lying. It’s unbearable to see this tide sweep across the world. What we had was imperfect, but it was not the brutishness […]