Another Flight
They always hold back lighters at Karachi airport and I always negotiate my way into keeping them. I have done the drill enough times. The other day, the security guard presented me with a steel Zippo lighter he had earlier confiscated and requested that I not light it on the plane. I assured him that […]
MEANDERINGS WITH MY MOTHER
One of the great pleasures of spending a weekend in my parents’ home is the meandering conversations I have with my mother. Given that I am her firstborn—arriving when she was quite young—we are friends although she reminds me of her more exalted status whenever I bring this up. Today we spoke about how people […]
A Requiem for Raoul’s
One of the legends of Little Venice, the good old Raoul’s shuttered this Christmas. For decades, an institution and a landmark of the area, it could not compete with the host of vulgar chains that have moved in. It was expensive and service patchy at times, but the quality it offered was unmatched. The coffee […]
A Rikshaw Ride
My rapacious rickshaw driver mistook me for a tourist when he asked me for Rs 1500 for a ride to the local club. Puzzled and amused at my Urdu counter offer of Rs 100, he apologized and we settled on Rs 400. We chatted through our 20-minute journey outmaneuvering motorcycles, cars, busses, and the white […]
Nazy Chacha (1936 – 2023)
It was in 1987 when on my way to college in NY—during a layover in London— that I lost my traveller’s cheques. My father immediately called his first cousin, a senior London-based banker to request replacements. Off I was to Ledenhall Street, my first exposure to a plush office in London. I was greeted by […]
MEANDERINGS WITH MY MOTHER
Monday the 6th of June 1960 was a sunny day in Hyderabad Deccan. My mother with her friend Tayyaba were walking back from her school, Rosary Convent. It had been a routine day with the usual humdrum of lessons and games. My mom had four toffees in her pocket that day. One rupee bought six […]
One day in Hyde Park
At Hyde Park with the kids. A young boy approached my 10-year-old Faizaan asking if he spoke English. Faizaan replied in the affirmative. The kid (Konstantin) wanted to speak about Minecraft, a video game kids this age love. I was overhearing this social engagement between the two, when Konstantin remarked to Faizaan “You know something. […]
The Fire Chief at Walton Airport
My father was posted to Lahore in 1979 and my siblings and I, along with our mother, arrived in a new city (and culture) from Dubai. The years in Dubai had medium grilled us into “burger” children (with special thanks to Jumeirah English Speaking School). Luckily, there was enough Eastern culture at home that we […]
Homage or Hautiness?
A week-long trip to the Cotswolds was a much-needed break from the relentless zoom calls that have taken a life of their own. Cotswolds is the quintessential English countryside, arguably the most scenic in the world, and proclaimed by the UK Government as an AOESB (area of extraordinary scenic beauty). Those of you ever in […]
MEANDERINGS WITH MY MOTHER
I had a macabre and sad discussion with my mother who opened the window to some traditions that are best buried in the past. She talked about the events immediately following her father’s sudden death. Widowhood was so deeply frowned upon that women losing their husbands were relegated to “carriers of ill fortune” and no […]