Remembering Dulla Bhatti, the landlord who stood up to the mighty Akbar
By: Haroon Khalid Surrounded by thousands of others, there is nothing remarkable about the grave of Dulla Bhatti, on a raised platform, plastered with cement under the shade of an old tree. There is no mark on the grave but a board next to it identifies its occupant. Occasionally, an odd visitor brings flowers or […]
Humanity is doing fine, just don’t ask about individual humans
BY: JENNIFER SZALAI Steven Pinker doesn’t just want you to be happy; he wants you to be grateful too. His new book, “Enlightenment Now,” is a spirited and exasperated rebuke to anyone who refuses to concede that the world is becoming a better place. “None of us are as happy as we ought to be, […]
A HOUSE DIVIDED
By: Sajid Iqbal In a world where belief and militancy are becoming fused, there are peaceful yet puritanical forms of religion that still capture peoples’ imagination. One such form is advanced by the Tablighi Jamaat (TJ), a worldwide Islamic missionary movement popularising the concept of inner reform among believers. What makes TJ fascinating and relevant […]
How Life as a Foreigner Helped Shape a Man of Letters
By: DWIGHT GARNER The Dutch-born historian and New York Review of Books editor Ian Buruma spent several years in Tokyo when he was in his early 20s, and he picked up a nickname. Because “Buruma” sounds a bit like the word “bloomers” in Japanese, at least one acquaintance — Hijikata Tatsumi, the father of Butoh […]
Sheela Reddy’s book Jinnah in a positive light
Well researched book recreates those times in a thoroughly enjoyable if not, at times, scintillating manner
BY: Tariq Bashir A highly successful barrister in his early forties – known for his icy and incisive demeamour and having a dashingly impressive personality – was making waves in the political and social circles of the Bombay high society. The tall, lean and slightly greying Mr Jinnah did not so much owe his success […]
Sridevi: The diva who lit up Indian cinema screen
Tributes pour in as legendary actor Sridevi passes away at 54
The sudden demise of veteran actor Sridevi has sent shockwaves throughout the Indian film industry with many Bollywood celebrities such as Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan mourning and expressing their condolences. The actor, who was 54, died late at Saturday night reportedly due to cardiac arrest in Dubai, where she had gone […]
‘The thing about writing sex is that it is as complicated as humans are’: Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
An interview with the Nigerian author of ‘Season of Crimson Blossoms’, a searing novel about a taboo relationship set in a conservative Muslim community.
When Nigerian writer Abubakar Dam Ibrahim published his first novel in 2015, he was prepared for a fatwa against it. The Season of Crimson Blossoms, featuring a 55-year-old Muslim widow’s romantic and sexual relationship with a 25-year-old criminal, was unlike anything that had come out of Nigerian writing in English until then. Set in the […]
Lahore’s Hazuri Bagh – a historic complex with a new look
The breath-taking garden will be opened for public in March as parts of efforts to revive night tourism
As you make your way to Lahore Fort from the newly built Greater Iqbal Park, a straight passage will lead you to the historic complex called Hazuri Bagh. This antique garden is a huge enclosure between the Alamgiri Gate of Lahore Fort and the Badshahi Mosque. Right there in this garden, in an instance, you […]
American Blindness, Abroad and at Home
BY: JENNIFER SZALAI Amy Chua has Donald J. Trump’s number. Not literally (I’m guessing), but unlike some of her elite peers at Yale University, where she teaches law, Chua isn’t endlessly flummoxed by the president’s ability to brag about how rich and “very greedy” he is while also resonating with his working-class supporters. As she […]
Obit: A tale of an empowered woman
BY: Akeel Rashid Nowadays when it comes to heading a household or a business establishment by a woman, it is a peculiar thing to witness for the people in our part of the world. We people are stunned on finding a woman riding a scooty and women empowerment is perceived as a new-sprung development in […]
