That’s what Nanabu (maternal grandfather) would have said to me if he was still here. In fact, had I stepped in wearing headphones, he would have been even more direct: “Aye ki kannan ich tootiyan laaiyan ne? Kudh enan nu.” (“What are these taps in your ears? Take them out.”) Taps, because in-ear headphones do […]
27th March, 11: 15pm. I called Zubair and Sabina: “We lost money in March again, and April is going to kill us. I’ve looked at our expenses — we need to dramatically cut costs and save cash.” The lockdown had already started in Toronto. Like every other business, we had shut down and were now isolated in […]
This talk was delivered on April 29, 2017 in Oakland, California, to the Fulbright Class of 2017 shortly returning to Pakistan. I have added links and certain references, details and qualifications that I could not mention while speaking (in the interest of time). I was invited by the Institute of South Asia Studies at UC […]
Reading Robert Chamber’s paper “Poverty and livelihoods: whose reality counts?” reminded me of an incident a friend narrated a couple of years back. At the time, he was working for a development sector think-tank in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. The incident occurred after he had just arrived at a 5-star hotel to attend a USAid-funded conference […]
I first saw Abdul Jabbar when I joined LUMS eight years back as a freshman. I last saw him yesterday when he opened the gate for me as I was leaving for home. I, in my car, air-conditioning on full blast, thirsty as hell because I was fasting. He, on foot, fanning himself with a […]