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How to fall in love with a city: Embrace the adventure, Marco Polo ki aulad!
As I sit on the plane headed for Pakistan before moving to Paris, I silently grieve for what was home for two years and go over some of my most memorable moments as well as my mental notes about the...
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Noor Inayat Khan: The Muslim WWII heroine who helped Jews
Noorunnisa Inayat Khan, also known as Madeleine or Nora Baker, a Muslim woman who is known for her valour and fearlessness during the World War II, was introduced to the world in the recent docudrama,...
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Karbala and universal truths
There comes a moment in our lives when we realise the ‘Great Truths’ around us and this happened to me a decade back in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, India. I was taking part in a Muharram procession when I...
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Here is why Paris is always a good idea
Having lived in Paris (well, not in the heart of the city but in the suburbs) for over eight years, I can safely and confidently say that I know this city and its off shoots quite well. This is not...
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JUI-F chief visits Jim Morrison’s grave
Paris: Chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman visited the grave of Jim Morrison at the Père Lachaise Cemetery here on Thursday. Fazl embarked on the spiritual...
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Why #IAmNotCharlie
There is no “but” about what happened at Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015. Some people published some cartoons, and some other people killed them for it. Words and pictures can be beautiful or vile,...
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Wanderlust
I want to do more with my life Than just be a Pakistani girl, a wife, a mother, I want to take two years off, And backpack through Europe! I want to watch the sun set over Paris from the Eiffel...
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Memories of Shikarpur, the Paris of Sindh
The news of a bomb-blast at an imambargah in Shikarpur rocked the nation on Friday. But the attack was particularly shocking for my family. They remember a different Shikarpur – a land of peace,...
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10 great foreign language films that we should all watch
While all of us have seen classic Hollywood, Bollywood and Lollywood blockbusters, many of us are unaware of a lot of amazing movies that have been directed by foreign film industries which are equally...
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Everything I hate about the Pakistani fashion industry
If you are a young struggling female journalist in Pakistan with big dreams of reporting stories that matter, you will probably spend a few years reporting all the stories that don’t matter! Among all...
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Complete your Eid Feast with a Shahi Zafran sherbet, Kebab-e-Dayg and a Date...
In my ancestral home in Lahore, on Eidul Fitr, our table is adorned with Bohemian crystal bowls filled with fruit or chickpea chaat and mithai in kitsch colours, laid out on silver platters. But as in...
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What they didn’t tell you about Pakistan: Seven common myths dispelled
Pakistan may be one of the most misunderstood countries around and it is certainly easy to see why when you hit the layman’s ceiling of knowledge in about 10 seconds. What most people don’t see is what...
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Modern Romance: Revolutionising relationships and the internet romance realm
As the yearly calendar enters the blistering heat of July, I find myself contemplating all possible avenues of relief. My list starts off with ice-cold smoothies and ends on clichéd American action...
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Why doesn’t Pakistan care about climate change?
You may have come across news about climate change or an agreement in Paris in December, and ignored it. For many of us, this threat seems far off from Pakistan; but it is coming our way, and if we...
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Stories from 2015 that could only have made headlines in Pakistan
It is the first day of January of 2016. Yes, the New Year has begun. We are all a bit older, wiser, and sadly, a little closer to death. Naturally, this is the perfect time to look back at some of the...
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The ugly truth about Muslims in New York
Recently, when I took the subway in New York my heart skipped a beat when I saw a poster that showed the Empire State Building on one side and on the other it said, in bold print, “The ugly truth about...
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Master storyteller, Patrick Modiano, casts a delicious spell with Suspended...
For anyone who has read or is generally interested in the works of Marcel Proust and is in search of a contemporary French novelist, Patrick Modiano is a thrilling new discovery. In 2014, when the...
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Terrorism doesn’t care if you are non-Muslim or Muslim, Brussels and Turkey...
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack in Brussels. This could be a revenge attack in response to the Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam’s arrest in the city, last Friday. This could also be a...
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The Year of the Runaways will be remembered in the years to come
Sunjeev Sahota’s second novel, The Year of the Runaways, is a rare piece of literature that has been lucky enough to receive timely praise. Eliciting a largely positive reception, it has been called...
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Portugal’s victory in Euro 2016 proved that the whole is greater than the one!
The final of the European Championships took place in Paris, France, with Ronaldo’s Portugal against a resolute French team that had thumped Iceland in the quarter finals and edged past Germany in the...
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