A collage of black music images

A Trip to A Museum Made Me Rediscover Melody

Melodies have woven a deep cultural thread in my life growing up in Pakistan, where songs and lyrics carry the weight of family histories, blessings and prayers. Whether at weddings, celebrating a new birth, or marking Independence Day, every occasion has its song, passed down through generations, binding us to tradition and memory. When I moved to London last year with my family, I was unnerved by the absence of a symphony in our lives. It was a balmy summer evening in London when I finally realised what our new lives were missing. It was the sound of music. I was reminded of the words of the great French Romantic poet, novelist and dramatist Victor Hugo, who said: “Music expresses that which cannot be said […]

Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in an angry pose

How Rocky IV Inspired Me to Tackle 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  — a word to the wise, don’t believe the hype; the onion under the armpit trick doesn’t work. But there are other, more […]

Ernest Hemingway writing at a table.

How to Avoid Procrastination and Write Productively

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. […]