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. […]

A man wearing glasses speaking on the phone.

An Exposition on the Anatomy of a Government Officer

‘Funny,’ she said eyeing me up and down, the double lines of lipstick around her nose and chin wobbling in sync with the corn cob that she chewed, ‘You don’t look like one’. The line of children standing beside her nodded in unison. The identical clothes of the girls and boys acting as a camouflage of sorts, hiding the productivity of their parents who had, apparently been celebrating Pakistan’s success every year. There was the famous miracle victory of ’92 Cricket World Cup. She was the oldest, the most in the mould of her sceptical mother. Hockey World Champion ’94 was tired from standing so long and couldn’t wait to go home.  Atomic Bomb ’98 was hissing, not at me but at the world in […]