Merci, Agnès Varda

Scrolling down my Facebook news feed, I saw JR posted a picture of him and Varda with the caption ‘’For my shooting star, wherever you are’’. I knew  in that  moment that she had passed. As I tried to verify my assumption about Agnès, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. To be honest, …

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Feminist? Oh, je ne sais pas

Sometimes I want to say mean things  about someone who's black. But I worry about being projected as a shallow girl who discriminates on the basis of color to people who will read my posts. So I don't say anything at all. But the truth is maybe I just wanted to say bad things about …

Let’s talk about Katy Perry

A few days ago, my mom sent me the following whatsapp message: Yes my mom knows who Katy Perry is. Kinda cool right? I think most parents will be horrified if they know their children listen to things like "I kissed a girl", but my mom isn't.  (Or maybe she hasn't heard that song yet). …

Blasphemy or Freedom of speech?

Recent incidents like the death of a student for alleged blasphemy and an Indian singer commenting negatively on Azaan (the call to Muslim prayer) has led me to re-think about blasphemy. So what is blasphemy? By definition: Blasphemy is the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverenceto a deity, to religious or …

Lost stars

I genuinely admire artists. All artists of all sorts. Actors, painters, singers, story tellers, magicians, you name it. Even doctors are artists to me. And teachers too. God has given them a gift and they are not afraid to express it, no matter the opinion of others. It's about having faith in yourself. I imagine …

Love

The young Pope says that he renounces his fellow men and women because it is easier to love God than to love humans. He said that he was incapable of withstanding the suffering brought on by loving human beings. He said to the Swiss girl, that it would be wonderful to love her the way …

What’s so bad about a Burkini?

If the current sentiments of French people are cold towards Muslim, I don't entirely blame them. It is hard for us to paint Muslims in a better light for them specially after the Charlie Hebdo incident and all other incidents that followed after. I was one of those Muslims who strongly condenmed the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Not …

Just another honor killing

It's through my Facebook news feed that I realized that Qandeel Baloch was mudered by her brother. The entire nation is grieving over the death of Qandeel Baloch, quite evident through their numerous status updates and Facebook posts. So who is Qandeel Baloch anyway? The word is "social media celebrity". Whatever that means. In my …

The Light

Precisely a week ago, I received an awful news about my visa that got rejected. It had been something I had been looking forward to for a very long time and the idea that it wasn't going to happen was incomprehensible. After letting out an entire army of curse words, the anger changed to supreme …

On Cocooning Women

I see all these posts on my Facebook about Hilary Clinton fighting for feminism and empowering girls and I wonder when will Pakistan actually start working on such goals and agendas. But then I laugh. Our country doesn't give a shite about women. And since we are the "Islamic" Republic of Pakistan, we really don't …

900

It's the month of Ramzan. Or "Ramadan Kareem", as we know call it. Like, calling it Ramzan would make it any less holier. Or make a difference at all. I grew up in a Muslim family, and like most Muslim families, among the five pillars of Islam, there was an emphasis on fasting. Even people …

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité!

For a nation who's motto is "Liberty, equality and fraternity", the shooting of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has caused great distress. Not only in France, but world leaders from all across the world have come forward to express sorrow at the unfortunate events that took place this Wednesday and called on the act …

Congratulation, Taliban!

This post is written not to mourn the children who have been killed in the Peshawar attacks. It is to congratulate the Taliban. It was only when I was purchasing some mints from the departmental store at the hotel that I heard about the Peshawar attacks. Apparently, a couple of self-proclaimed self righteous suicide bomber …

Big Boys Don’t Cry

Three years ago, somewhere in the middle of sociology class, I had an epiphany. Hey! I should take up Gender Studies! It seemed like the most obvious thing to do. Any article online that had the word "gender" or "gay", awoke the curious rabbit inside of me who won't stop jumping until I had memorized …

Malala, not Malaria, Naomi Campbell

When something comes up in the news, praise and criticism surrounds it. Although when it comes to Malala Yousufza, all I see is praise....