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‘Denial.’ def.: She’s Dead and I Can’t Write About it
I want to write about my poor obese grandmother lying on her back with her mouth slack and her hair damp in a shabby government issue hospital bed, illuminated by a single flickering fluorescent blue ceiling light that can’t make up its mind. →
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I Have Not Forgotten You
This is for you, hungrily hunting for anyone/anything that will make your heartbeats sound like festival music and not a funeral march. →
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Bashing Me(mes)
There’s no future time to accomplish things and get goals done – it’s basically right now. Right now is all we have, so don’t nap. →
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I Sold My Soul And It’s Making Me Nervous
They adopt a certain paternally forbearing attitude towards new (young) female employees, all the while checking them out head to toe. Oh, I added the (most) earlier because I didn’t want to wake up to a tinny chorus of “not ALL men!” in the morning. →
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Bye Bye Birdie
Now that I have no way of actually speaking to you, let me speak to you. Let me talk to you for a little while. Why don’t you make yourself a cup of coffee – even though it makes you sick – and settle in. This might take a bit of time. →
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Better Me Than You
Relationships, especially modern long term relationships, are as difficult as they are gratifying. Yes, you get the fabulous experience of always having someone to rely on and talk to and what’s more, they’re yours and isn’t that great? But then there are more insidious effects: you become so used to talking to them and relying… →
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Exploring Tinderland
Gabriel, 25, from Spain loves to read obscure German novels but Andrew, 24, from Canada writes complex and tragic haiku! However will you choose? →
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Shiny Things!
To you who doesn’t know how to love, and to you who effortlessly takes me for granted, oh, and to you who doesn’t even see me. To all of you, adieu. →
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London and I: A Tragedy (3/3)
Remember when I called you crying? And I said I’d had it: fuck the internship, fuck my degree, I’m coming home! You listened and then you told me to keep my head high. You told me I was better than the stupid anxiety, the isolation and the fear. →
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London and I: A Tragedy (2/3)
I had about 3 weeks left when it happened: I had an anxiety attack. You have to understand: I grew up with family and loving friends always around. I was used to sleeping next to and waking up with my sisters. →
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London and I: A Tragedy (1/3)
I collapsed while standing and couldn’t get out of bed for 3 days straight. My throat kept constricting, I couldn’t eat, and I threw up record amounts of pasty grey phlegm. There I was, utterly alone in my springy double bed, sedated with heavy painkillers, drifting in and out of miserable sleep at odd hours… →
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Boy, Bye (OK, Not Quite)
But I’m learning that maybe, maybe this isn’t the time for anyone new. It seems alright to learn more about the person I thought I knew. →
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Shut Up Fahad, You Know Nothing: are you a ‘real’ Pakistani?
I’ve kissed a boy in my garden, under the pitch black mantle of night, and giggled with my sister all night afterwards. I’ve had my heart broken and put back together in the arms of this city. This has been my Lahore. →
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“Soulmates”
I met someone for the first time recently; I had been apprehensive and worried about what I would say. I dreaded an awkward silence and fumbling for words to make small talk with. Would we talk about the weather? Even fierce thunderstorms become glamour-less if you discuss them over and over. →
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On First Love
When I think of first love, I don’t think of him. I don’t think about the soft bridge of his nose, or the way his eyes slanted away from each other in small, sloppy angles that I could only see if I was close enough. I don’t remember the contours of his face, or the →
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Protected: The Definitive Guide to Being Single, LOL jk
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post. →
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Hi, could I return some of this freedom?
I never said it was because my parents were worried I would be murdered or kidnapped; I just shook my head and said, sorry I have a family dinner to get to or maybe next time? I have to finish up some homework. I didn’t want them to think my parents were insane, or you… →
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On Katniss and Tampons
Was it just like, “Oh, Katniss is about to get her period, get the sparkly tampons that also shoot fire and put on a show…” I don’t know. →
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Super Brown Girls, You Have No Future
Aunties don’t like our butts, they don’t like our boobs, and they don’t like our blemishes. A well endowed girl is vulgar, a well made up one is a slut, and tanned girls have no marriageable prospects. →
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“Let’s Break Up Today!” or you know, How To Not Do That
Dating tips invariably end with warnings that say: “He/she doesn’t have to be the one!”, “Just have fun while you’re in it!”, “Don’t date someone who lives close by, because when it ends, it’ll be much harder to get over!”, “If they hold you back, leave them immediately!” and more and more. Stupid, stupid. →
Nayab Malik 