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Zumba: Who knew losing weight could be fun?
The typical lifestyle of a typical Pakistani housewife is, in one word, sedentary. Our movements are limited to settling into air conditioned cars and hovering about our servants’ heads as we tell them...
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HEC University rankings: Why not Indus Valley, IBA or NCA?
The headlines are in, folks; scholars can stop holding their breath now. The HEC, or the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, has declared irrevocably who is the best in the business. The HEC has...
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Jamshed Dasti: We get it, you are powerful.
I wrote my first blog for The Express Tribune about two years ago. I wrote it with high expectations, wrote it with all my heart and wrote it with the hope that the readers would feel it resonate with...
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Main Hoon Shahid Afridi: Pakistani cinema has finally arrived!
Pakistani cinema has finally arrived where it was supposed to. (It was supposed to arrive a decade or two ago but anyway.) I am not happy when people start comparisons between a multi-billion dollar...
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What do Pakistan and India share? No respect for women
They call us independent, free nations. Pakistan and India, after 60 odd years of being ruled by the white man, has been unable to break free of one acute problem: The white woman. Whether it is by...
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Of justice in India and Pakistan: Shahzeb Khan and Nirbhaya
There’s a quote by George Bernard Shaw that I love throwing around when I’m trying to prove a point - most points, actually. Most things I want to say or do are defined within these few short lines as...
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When not being able to afford dowry can lead you to kill yourself
What would you say to five women, who are all fairly above the ‘marriageable age’ and yet have no good prospects in sight? Yes, I know that phrase pretty well. ‘Haye bechari!’ (Oh, the poor thing!) But...
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10-year-old boy shoots mother: What happened to gun control?
Earlier this week in Lahore, a 10-year-old boy shot his mother with a 12 bore gun. This boy wasn’t waging a jihad against drone strikes or attempting to rise against the status quo. He shot his mother...
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Dark is beautiful in India but fair is lovely in Pakistan?
Switch on your telly. A tall beautiful girl is running through the field; or a sea of flowers, or walking through a bright mansion. A fashionable gown hugs her slim waist and her hair flows in the air...
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President Obama: The only Nobel Laureate guilty of war crimes
It is a champion of human rights, it is a champion of science and technology. It is a champion of arts and humanities. It is the forerunner in world economy and is a central figure in the global power...
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If Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was Pakistani, she would be doomed
Devyani Khobragade is one lucky, lucky lady. To say that about someone who is possibly facing 10 years in prison and was arrested publicly in front of her daughter’s school over visa fraud, is a bit...
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Can a 12-year-old girl dance with Fawad Khan and sing about being together?
Step aside, Pitbull. There’s a brand new way to be inappropriately close to women way out of your league! It is a lesson not just for Pakistanis but for all humanity, for all men and children who are...
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Sarfaraz Shah murder verdict: Ranger or not, justice is justice
I believe it was J R R Tolkien who said, “Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the...
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A woman’s perspective: Pakistan must not negotiate!
As a woman, you grow up under the shadow of men. You look up to them to make important decisions for you. Ranging from how you have to eat and address your peers to what you should be studying, who you...
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6-year-old child beaten to death in school: Are we teaching our kids to be...
As a parent of a fairly young school-going child, you get a lot of feedback from friends, family, teachers, peers, experts, columnists, TV show ‘analysts’, blogs, books ad infinitum. You get to see a...
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Shhh… my kids are sleeping… I killed them both
As I write this, my little boy sits next to me with a mango juice box in one hand and the iPad in another. I glance at him and think of how wonderful childhood is. Cartoons of five monkeys jumping on a...
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Only in Pakistan: Setting an 11-year-old girl on fire to ‘treat’ typhoid
We were in the middle of a counselling class, whereby our experienced, capable and intelligent course instructor was attempting to answer a fairly difficult question. One of the practicing...
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Tempted to commit adultery? Indonesian governor says ‘Go pray!’
Are you afraid that you will be so attracted to the opposite sex that you will forget your vows to your significant other? Are you afraid that your sexual urges will no longer be in your control and if...
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Common sense, not so common in Pakistan: 12-month-old baby told to appear in...
Pakistan would make developmental psychologists all over the world proud. Asian children (namely those from Hong Kong, Singapore and Shangai) seem to be smarter to the world. But children in our part...
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‘Maid’ in hell or guardian angel?
When my son was born, all the desi rules applied; the Azaan was given in his ear, the circumcision plans were in place, his head was shaved off at the tenth day, my mom made the panjeeri (which was...
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