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Musings: It’s Good To Be A Girl in Qatar
They started smiling, their eyes clearly roving up and down down on my person. While this was clearly ogling, it didn’t bother me as much as what I did next. →
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Like Blood From A Tap: Let 2015 Flow In
(Our) Blood runs through cracks in the sidewalks and drips drips drips into the sewers below, mixing with the mulch that is later recycled for tap water. Do you know what you’re drinking? →
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I See Dead People Every Night
I see feathery carcasses on the floor: mangled remains of monstrous black birds, their wings slashed and guts spilling onto the grey marble. →
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I Won’t Sit In Grass But I’ll Eat It (‘long as it’s organic)
Rape, trauma, globalization, elections, cheap burgers, expensive salads, two story planes, the ebola virus, acne medication, daddy’s credit cards, abandoned castles, automatic traffic lights, endless highways, and amidst all of these, people who don’t know where they’re going. →
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Watermelon for breakfast
Today I had watermelon for breakfast. I had eggs in the morning – but that was a year ago. Yellow omelette with green pepper flecks; the ting of the toaster the maid’s brown hands on the crusty bread. Baba at the table: two silver forks on his plate; one waiting for me. * I flew →
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These Are The Things I’ve Learnt
There may be a boy who inspires you to be better, and once that happens, you may leave. There may be a girl who you adore from the delicate nape of her neck to her pink painted toes. And those may be the only things you love about her. Love is love. →
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Lahori Blues
How many people here have had the chance to almost dislocate their shoulders with a bhangra? A good bhangra with family can keep you happy for days. There is nothing like Punjabi music and people who love to dance. →
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One Of Those Nights
Sometimes there are those nights, you know, when the moon wears a watery halo and the sea seems to be sewn into the sky; grey and white waves sailing and ripping through the dark, lined in silver. Gliding and leaving no mark. * These are the nights that make me feel lucky. You know, The →
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Before You Go Tripping In Love
He looks at you. Smiles, the gaze with the half lidded eyes; He sees you, As you. When you don’t see him, his eyes are plastered open: He tells his friends about you; As a thing to possess. And in that neon bright room with burning minds, the questions begin; You’re on the table as →
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About The Woman Who Raised Me
The woman who raised me is not my mother. The woman who raised me is not a mother. This woman has a tiny heart, and a smaller spirit. I have learned this the hard way. She was always too busy to read me bedtime stories but never too occupied to later point out →
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Bird In A Doll’s House
When I was younger, there used to be times when misguided little birds would accidentally fly inside the house. The thought of those tiny sparrows straying in from the open skies to the four walls of my home continued to interest me. The bird would hop from the shelf to the television, then on to →
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How To Be Proud Of Your Thin Skin
I have a new mantra for you. Over-feeling is not a bad thing. Going through the world with your heart on your sleeve is not a bad thing. Feeling others’ pain as you would your own is not a bad thing. Taking things to heart and hurting is not a bad thing. There are people who will →
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How To Love Your Looking Glass
What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see you? You have bumpy bits and wobbly bits and parts of you you wish you could photoshop away. It doesn’t work that way. To throw some ideas out there, for example: What do you need for the perfect bikini body? Why, a bikini, and a →
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The Coward Does It With A Kiss…
Have you ever loved someone so much that it takes over an entire city? The walls of your home have sponged up bits of the love you had. And now they’ve turned on you. Every street you walk on, each corner you turn, it’s there. The love, it stares you in the face. The rain →
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“If You’re Going To Have Two Faces…”
You know those people who walk around with their heads high and look like they’ll slap you if you say hi? I’m one of them, or so I’ve been told. But, I’m nothing like that once you get to know me. I have a big mouth sometimes, I’m outspoken and sometimes tactless. All my flaws →
Nayab Malik 