Untitled
1.
I am tired of being mistress and a diva in closed doors,
I want you to take me out and tell the world,
that I belong to you.
Own me, the way you picked me up from road.
fearless and bold!
2.
My role in bed is my choice, not your demand.
"Eunuchs" and Rights
The Petition
Under the aegis of his organization the Insaan Welfare Trust, Mr. Aslam Khaki, advocate, filed a constitutional petition (Constitutional Petition no. 63/2009) under article in the Supreme Court alleging the infringement of the fundamental rights of “Eunuch’s” (a term that is used as an English translation for “Hijra”).
The incident...Read More »
عورت کے نام
تجھ کو معلوم یہ شاید نہیں ہم صنف مری
اک تماشا بنا دنیا میں تیرا ہے یہ وجود
بات جینے کی ہو یا بات ہو مر جانے کی
بات کوئی جب ہو تُو ہے وہی پابندِ حدود
تجھ کو مغرب سے ملا کیا فقط رسوائی کے
جھوٹے...Read More »
Unrequited Love
Amongst the a.t.m. receipts in my wallet
I gotta ticket of unrequited love
It’s not as simple as the a.t.m receipts, you see —
like you could punch the numbers on the terminal
and hit the Green Key for “Here she comes” —
She never came out for me
even though she’d signed that ticket
with a...Read More »
Five Prayers of a Day
Fajr, or “when will dawn arrive?”
“Why be infatuated with him?”
“He’s proud, he’s pretentious — the world’s not the right fucking place, now that he’s turned his eye upon it.”
“Yes.
He’s the man I’d die for in one instant, and kill the other.”
I would own you. Each stubborn hair on your head...Read More »
Walking the Line
Every society is an accumulation of certain norms and belief systems which define and establish the standard operating procedures by which it functions. However, the basic difference lies in the nature of the society: traditional cultures have relatively rigid, conservative and holistic approaches towards social institutions and liberal cultures are...Read More »
Review: Lahore Love!
Lahore With Love: Growing Up with Girlfriends Pakistani Style
by Fawzia Afzal-Khal
Syracuse Unviversity Press, 2010
Although this is quite a bold statement to make, I will go ahead and make it: Fawzia Afzal-Khan is one of the most overlooked creative non-fiction writers of our time. She has a linguistic gift...Read More »
Broken Nets
Today I cast my net in lonely red waters. The red river looks redder today and the fish is scarce. Everyone else is fishing in the waters yonder. They have politely but firmly let me know there is no place there for my little boat. All day I have sat...Read More »
*Gasp!* Premarital Sex!
This article has been extracted from a blog I recently started, ‘Nice Mangos’. The blog deals with different aspects of Pakistani sexuality and the difficulties I as a writer have had, trying to convince people to talk to me about this unreasonably taboo subject. Nothing good can come from being...Read More »
Can We Be Sexually Diverse in Bangladesh?
Define yourself sexually.
Pinpoint the first time you became aware of your sexual organs.
Share when you became cognisant of being a different gender from others.
Those were the provoking, intimate, and self-analysing questions and exercises asked to the participants at a recent gender, sexuality, and sexual rights workshop. These inquiries engaged the...Read More »