Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in an angry pose

How Rocky IV Inspired Me to Tackle Bullying

How a misunderstood lyric from Rocky IV allowed me to adopt a different approach to bullying Unless you were living under a rock, marooned on a deserted island, or trapped inside a psycho’s basement, there was no way you wouldn’t have heard of Rocky Balboa. Although growing up in the ’80s in Pakistan felt like a version of all three of the above at different points, I wasn’t immune from the ‘Italian Stallion’ bug. If there was a vaccine to ward off the allure of those adrenaline-pumping muscles and fight scenes, it hadn’t yet breached through the martial law government’s iron curtain. Bullying was an Epidemic The point is, the day I skipped school with a fake fever  — kids don’t believe the hype; onion […]

Day 1: Dispatch from the Trenches

Not a great way to start your day, I’ll admit. In my defense, I was half asleep when I stepped outside to begin the morning school drop-off. If it hadn’t been for my daughter—bright and alert after an hour of Roblox while I drooled all over the couch in my bid to catch a few more z’s—I would’ve humiliated my Rafa tennis shoes, already relegated to school and grocery runs, with the occasional tennis match thrown in. Thankfully, the danger was averted. Whatever creature made the effort to climb over our motion-detecting gate and then position its posterior on the small, worn-out welcome mat—talk about taking things literally—outside our door to leave its opinion on the sudden change in London weather, has my grudging respect. […]

Raising Your Parents 101

After more decades than I care to recall of rinse, lather and repeat, I can now say for a fact that mornings are not my thing. Clarity has no fixed timeline. But this much I know; if waking up is hell, Monday mornings are the cherry atop the icing on the awfully-tasting cake, I prefer to call office. But it’s all good. I’m a pro by now. Even if my physical body consistently rejects the process, muscle memory helps me do the bare minimum to make it through the day. Heck, way before ‘quiet quitting’ was a thing, I was already doing the beta ​version. But I digress, back to the morning ordeal. Before I decide to haul myself out of bed, my mind is the […]