I attended a talk last weekend on bilingualism and its effects on cognition as part of the Cambridge Festival of Ideas. As expat parents, my husband and I often talk about bilingualism and what we can do to help our...
Category - Culture, Society & Economy
Slap a charge on reservations and bam, book borrowing will plummet. Slap a charge on noticeboards and bam, the noticeboard will turn into something no one notices any longer. Slap a charge on anything and it will reduce...
An article popped up all over my Twitter feed this morning on how working women are treated shabbily by Pakistani organizations which, according to the writer, do nothing to accommodate pregnant women. Since it was being tweeted...
“Pakistan would get the status of Least Developed Country (LDC) in 2014 and subsequently get the opportunity to export duty-free textile products to European countries.” So begins a news article that appeared in the Business...
Karachiites are notorious for their apathy, their bayhissi. News of bomb blasts and killings and crime stirs no emotion in us anymore. Some laud our resilience. But honestly, it’s more out of resignation. Our need to get on...
In recent months, a number of stories have surfaced about kids from disadvantaged backgrounds securing top positions in local exams. Now there is no denying the achievements of these students or that they deserve appreciation for...
The biggest threat to feminism is women’s attitudes themselves. Yes, it is true. At the mention of feminism, mass rolling of eyes may have ensued. Many actually seem to think feminism is a bad word. “Kaafi feminist hai”...
Karachi is a city of paradoxical coexistence. The immense diversity of this city, the existence of so many different social classes and ethnicities, fills me with immense pride. Agreed, there is a very dark side to this...
The incumbent government has successfully eliminated poverty. Let me clarify. Eliminated only from official national statistics. Officially, there is no recent data on poverty. A few days ago, I was in need of recent poverty...
Much is being said and written about the issue of dual-nationality on an everyday basis recently. What puzzles me is the often repeated argument in support of the “right” of dual nationals to hold public office or to vote –...