How to Pour Without Emptying
‘How do you pour without emptying yourself?’ I ask myself this question several times. The answer I get is always the same; ‘You don’t.’ The first time I felt this way, like I wasn’t doing
A Letter to Myself on my 20th Birthday
Dear Sobia, Happy 20 vulnerable years of your birth and sigh for Sylvia Plath isn't alive, she would had turned 88 today. Sigh! again. First off, let me start by saying that it's okay to
The Capacity of Language
Although I mostly write about linguistics, I’ve recently wanted to and had the pleasure to write about my relationship with language and language’s relationship with the identity of its speakers. This has left me conscious
My Failed Attempt at Explaining Islam to Non-Muslims
I was eating ice cream with one of my favourite persons and although I do not like to discuss religious matters with him because “he just wouldn’t understand”, but my ice cream feeling was in
#EndSARS in Nigeria: Some Useful Information
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) is a unit that was set up by the Nigerian police in 1992 after a bloody war between the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Police that gave robbers ample opportunities
Urdu Expressions Missing in English
Doosron ko naseehat, khud miyan faseehat (He) gives others advice and he himself is only talk and no action (lit. Mr. Eloquent) This creative Urdu expression (ironically!) describes one of my earliest memories. The head
A Brief History of the Quest for Cowless Milk
At the start of the new year, I made my way into a Manhattan coffee shop, the kind of Greenwich Village establishment frequented by women in white shirts (sans any stains) wearing big earrings and
Going For Walks
What is this life if, full of care We have no time to stand and stare William Henry Davies Going for a walk is important. Being out in Allah's Creation is important. Walking on
SOS (Save Our Sisters) Alert; Independent Women
As a family lawyer I am used to emotionally carrying people, this forms part of my job, I am used to solving other people’s problems, and I let people lean on me. For many of
Listening Is My Superpower
“Why are you so quiet? Can you just say something?” He laughs. My dad. A sanguineous, happy go lucky, constantly trying to make me talk, make me laugh. “Why would I want to talk as