I just want to cry. And then, I want a new homeland.
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August 2010
I am a bhains. I am now dead. You must have read, recently, a particularly elegiac treatment of the last moments of a prostrate brown-and-white brindled cow in your favorite newspaper. I didn’t read it, but I was told about it. Cow? I said to myself. Cow? We are talking about southern Punjab, yes? Sure [...]
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This was also a seminar paper, long while ago. However, this one became a conference paper (which I gave at Madison) and then I thought of trying to turn it into an article but never managed to do it. If any enterprising editors reading this, want it, I would be happy to send it. Law [...]
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Some of you may be old enough to remember a letter to an academic journal that Sepoy posted last February. Below, I furnish the piece of writing in question for those who are curious. The article, on the portrayal of terrorists in Indian cinema, was written in 2002. It was, I like to think, fresh [...]
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I wrote this many, many moons ago, for a seminar – actually my first year in grad school. Legally, I am no longer responsible for its contents, but I thought I’d share at least the primary source material, here. …We cannot for a moment imagine that the Government will forsake and ignore us or allow [...]
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Follow the #pkfloods on Twitter for latest, as always. 20 million people affected. To be “affected” means to somehow be in need of humanitarian assistance because of the flooding. As of Saturday the official death toll was 1,384, with 1,680 people reported as injured. Over 722,000 houses damaged or destroyed. 6 million people do not [...]
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The flooding in Pakistan is beyond imagination. You can see some of the heart-wrenching imagery here and here. IN USA: Those in America can TXT “SWAT” to 50555 and it will give $10 dollars to UNHCR-PK. Otherwise, please donate via any of the organizations listed here. You can also contribute to the MercyCorps initiative Relief4Pakistan. [...]
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Amitav Ghosh, “The Ghat of the Only World”: Agha Shahid Ali in Brooklyn“, 15 December, 2001. [pdf] He had a special passion for the food of his region, one variant of it in particular: “Kashmiri food in the Pandit style.” I asked him once why this was so important to him and he explained that [...]
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فیض احمد فیض / Faiz Ahmed Faiz, August, 1952 روشن کهيں بهار کے امکاں هوۓ تو هيں / It’s still distant, but there are hints of springtime گلشن ميں چاک چند گريباں هوۓ تو هيں / some flowers, aching to bloom, have torn open their collars. اب بهي خزاں کا راج هے، ليکن کهيں کهيں [...]
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فیض احمد فیض / Faiz Ahmed Faiz, 1958 تم یہ کہتے ہو اب کوئی چارہ نہیں / you say there is no remedy left, now تم یہ کہتے ہو وہ جنگ ہو بھی چکی / you say that war is over, now جس میں رکھا نہیں ہے کسی نے قدم / that war in which [...]
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From the inbox, a great event in NYC, hosted by Brownstar Revolution: THE BROWNSTAR REVOLUTION presents…UNIFICATION 2010 Featuring performances by: DJ Rekha The Kominas Hari Kondabolu Fair and Kind Curated by: BROWNSTAR 11pm Saturday, August 14 Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette Street between East 4th Street and Astor Place), New York City ONE NIGHT ONLY Commencing [...]
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Gordon S. Wood. In Defense of Academic History Writing, Perspectives on History, April 2010. Academic historians have not forgotten how to tell a story. Instead, most of them have purposefully chosen not to tell stories; that is, they have chosen not to write narrative history. Narrative history is a particular kind of history-writing whose popularity [...]
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Like few others, Judt has been a model for a long time, and his passing fills me with sadness. However, I take solace in the fact that his deeds and words will ever illuminate. POSTWAR: An Interview with Tony Judt, conducted by Donald A. Yerxa, Historically Speaking: The Bulletin of the Historical Society, January/February 2006 [...]
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The incomparable Hamid Ali Khan Bela sings. See related: Dard Vachor Da II, Dard Vachor Da
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In February, I posted a review of Amitava Kumar’s novel Home Products. That self-same book, with minor revisions, is now out from Duke University Press under the title Nobody Does the Right Thing. Below is an excerpt from the review; to read the whole thing, click here. This past week, some years after hearing Amitava [...]
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A guest essay by Basanti Mushtaq Bhai: Any last words? Babban: How about a joke? Mushtaq Bhai: Yes, go ahead. Babban: (nervously) There was once this mullah who had a female parrot. This female parrot had quite a mouth on her, always saying the foulest things. The mullah was at a loss, what to do. [...]
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