A little over a year ago, I was at a point in my life when my faith was hitting an all-time low. I had no wish to pray. I felt unworthy of asking God for anything, and I didn’t think I deserved to get what I asked for. I didn’t feel very confident in my […]
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Featured Illustration: Daniela Jordan~Villaveces I’m in my early 20s. Still in university. Single so far. Muslim. Indian. And marriage is a trigger word to me. Not really. It’s not that the very word induces panic. Or that I can’t fathom the idea of it or that I’m against it. But when I’m made to think […]
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Featured Illustration: Raúl Gil At the beginning of the year, I read Fatima Farheen Mirza’s essay, Boxing. Mirza had taken an instant and unquestioned leap into my list of favorite authors after I read her book A Place For Us, a story that I keep coming back to in bits and snippets, and even though it has […]
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Featured Artwork: ‘The Prophet’s Daughters’, a series by Gheorghe Virtosu Sometimes people don’t recognize my name They hear it and say it’s unique It’s an old Arabic name, I tell them What does it mean, they ask I tell them I’m not sure, as far as I know it doesn’t mean anything And then after […]
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Featured Image: Hanifa Abdul Hameed Over the sewing machine Among the steady hum Of the needle gliding into the fabric I hear ‘Ladkiyon ko zyaada nahi parhaana chahiye Unki soch badal jaati hai. Ladkiyaan zyaada parh leti hain Toh bahu banna bhool jati hain.’ Girls shouldn’t study too much Their way of thinking changes […]
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Featured Illustration: Hanifa Abdul Hameed I am told Europe is beautiful in the summer Indian summers try their best to melt you to the ground. How shall I compare thy summer’s day to mine? Our flowers are scorched under the sun The same sun that shines so benevolently on you This same flower that smiles […]
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Featured Illustration: Sebastian Biggeri You’d rather plant roots Than search for them What are trees made of Whatever you cannot deny Is it the immigrant experience Or just experience Do I trivialize it by wondering if it’s just another way to soul-search This is a process You are the process Henna like lace over your […]
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Featured Illustration: Hanifa Abdul Hameed A wedding is supposedly the happiest event in a household, and in Indian households, we like to go all-out. When I was a little girl, I was fascinated with the idea of being a bride — beautiful, elegant, the center of attention, the most important person in the room. All […]
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The air is calm The buildings beautiful The domes catch the light Of the dying sunset And if we were to walk up the hill The roads are wide enough To take us all there We can walk together We can see democracy on the horizon The gate that we made To remind us That […]
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