When I was four, I started school. Our class, unpromisingly enough, was referred to as Junior Infants. Our teacher, an earnestly benevolent dictator by the name of Ms. Tracy, paid homage to three deities. The Catholic Church, tomato sandwiches, and the Gaelic tongue. Not necessarily in that order. So determined was she to keep the dialect alive, that she had decided every child in her class would enter the classroom by way of asking permission in Gaelic and exit it for whatev

When I was three and a half , we lived in a little flat in Bahawalpur . The flat had a sum total of two bathrooms and both were Indian...

At 11, I was a wonky looking kid. How wonky you ask? Well, I didn’t have any extra limbs sprouting from my forehead, no obvious...

Quite a few of us seem to have the usual in-law issues. I'm sure each and every one of us swore we would never be THAT daughter in law. You know the ones I'm talking about . Stereotypical and scheming. Passive aggressive and myopic. Superficial and petty to a fault. Not that I would know about any of that malarkey, I hold myself to much higher standards, thank you very much. I can almost say that with a straight face. OK. Here's the story. Once upon a time there was this aggr

Two emaciated men sit on a makeshift raft piled high with the everyday bric-a-brac of village life, Ropes and pots and pans. A sad-eyed...

"And and and if you recite the kalimah ." You will no longer have to go to hell. You'll go to heaven .You know , with us." This last...

I sometimes envision my uterus as an ornery old Japanese biddy . Let's call her Yui. Yui is nurturing and life-giving but let's face it....

I recently performed my first but hopefully not my last Umrah. Since we shifted a few months ago the mister had taken it into his head...

Female protagonists of a certain type of novel. Some of these are classics, others not so much. After being jilted at the altar you vow...

For some writers thoughts and ideas show up perfectly formed, raring to go. All smooth hairless limbs and seamless tans. Perfect tens. ...

Not too long ago, I decided my woefully unkempt locks warranted a little TLC and a keratin treatment was the way to go. Spurred on by...

Not all heroes wear capes they say. Well, not all villains are frightening... at first When I leave my apartment, for my daily walk. I'm...

This year we adopted a cat. For the uninitiated. Adopting a pet is an entirely different process from bringing home say, a baby. For...

This summer we decided to take a family trip to Hunza. For the love of family and the doubtful pleasure of squabbling over the window...

Its Summer ! What's more it's lawn season! Excuse the enthusiasm. It is very very contrived. There are women out there who breeze through...

Four years ago my second pregnancy coincided with summer. I was seven months pregnant and I had Hyperemesis Gravidarum. I couldn't keep...

My immediate family seems to court low level disaster of some variety or the other with distressing frequency . One Ramadan in my mid...

I have killed before. Death by septic tank, by scalpel, by electrocution, by acid and occasionally by wiper. Once, the husband brought...

I. Love. You. I reluctantly scribbled the three words on the inner leaf of a handmade mother's day card. Inwardly I was appalled. The ...

Let's talk hair ladies. I have it, you have it. We all have it. Unfortunately less of it on my head than I would ideally prefer and much...