Essays

Lahore Between Two Trains: Then and Now
by Faizan Ahmad
Issue Six – Autumn 2025

Lahore felt like another world. Even at night, it was never quiet – horns blaring, bikes and buses still running. The lights were so many, so bright, you couldn’t find a single star. The air was thick, smelling of petrol, kebabs on hot coals, and that wet dust smell after rain. Roads were wide and kept going, turning under big flyovers. The buildings were so tall, I had to bend my head all the way back just to see where they ended.

Reflections on Jagged Movements
by Durre Shahwar
Issue Six – Autumn 2025

Through my daily entries, I have chronicled stories of destruction, loss, death, weakness, displacement, hunger, pain, patience, resilience, and brokenness. In my works, I expressed the story beyond the official propaganda narrative. I have my own story that sits neatly within these narratives; it defines my own difficult relationship to the concept of movement, as it is the reason why mine is “jagged” – rough, uneven, irregular, punctuated by doubt and hesitation, as opposed to fluid and unafraid. The latter arises out of “scattered” or “dispersed” movements of people under colonialism, as often referred to within postcolonial frameworks. 

A Letter From Maisara Baroud
by Maisara Baroud
Issue Five – Summer 2025

Through my daily entries, I have chronicled stories of destruction, loss, death, weakness, displacement, hunger, pain, patience, resilience, and brokenness. In my works, I expressed the story beyond the official propaganda narrative. 

Lebanon
by Farah-Silvana Kanaan
Issue Five – Summer 2025

میری خاموشی کو آواز دینے والی نظم
by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, translated into Urdu by Zafar Malik and Faisal Mohyuddin
Issue Five – Summer 2025

 ۲۰۱۴ کی گرمیوں میں میں کئی گھنٹے سکرینوں کے سامنے بیٹھی رہی۔ بالکل بےبس اور بے اختیار جب غزہ پر پھر سےجنگ مسلط کی گئی۔ شروعات میں میں نے بہت شرکت کی۔ اخباروں کو لکھا۔ اپنے سیاسی نمائندوں کو فون کئے اور جتنا سوشل میڈیا پر شرکت کرسکتی تھی کی۔ میں اپنے شہر کی ہر ہفتے ہونے والے مظاہروں کا حصہ بنی۔

ایک گلاس پانی، ایک جلتا ہوا لڑکا: فادي جودة اور غزہ کی تصاویر
by Fady Joudah, translated into Urdu by Mir-e-Shaheer
Issue Five – Summer 2025

 اور کیا تمہیں لگتا ہے کہ جلادوں کو پرواہ ہے؟ تصویروں اور ان میں بسی زندگیوں کے پس انجام کا کلچر۔ نیشنل جیوگرافک کی سبز چمکتی آنکھیں۔ جنس اور ماحول۔ ایک گِدھ، جو غیرجانبداری سے ایک نیم مردہ بچے کو بھوک سے مرنے دے رہا ہے۔ 

Poetry on Drums
by Muneeb Ilyas
Issue Four – Spring 2025

Dizzy with excitement and fear, I sat cross-legged and nervous in the Gol room, scrutinized by Ustaad. With ragas playing in accord in ways not familiar to me, I finally saw how poetry danced to rhythm.

Jun Kazama in Lahore
by Rana Saadullah Khan
Issue Four – Spring 2025

Next to Joyland’s ferris wheel, a small, whitewashed building once housed an arcade. Within it must have been several shooters – some involving zombies, many robbers in a bank – and there certainly were more than a few racers, perhaps even two air hockey boards. But on one end of the room, there was a Tekken machine…

Notes on Clifton, Block 2
by Eman Farhan
Issue Three – Autumn 2024

Tonight, a pack of dogs is howling at the moon. This neighborhood is teeming with them; every corner you turn, you’ll see a dog standing there. Beautiful, brown and black fur with white spots. Noses that are always wet. Their eyes all look like my brother’s.

The Streets Are Not for Me
by Sundus Saqib
Issue Three – Autumn 2024

I didn’t know where I was going; it wasn’t a planned liberation. After walking aimlessly for a few minutes, I halted in front of a small park. It was midafternoon and the park was completely deserted, as were the roads. The choking summer heat had forced everyone inside while it had compelled me to do the opposite.

Ports
by Bassam Sidiki
Issue Two – Spring 2024

On the day of my diagnosis in Kalamazoo, they whisked me away from my mother’s unrelenting hands on a wheelchair, even though I felt perfectly capable of walking.​

After Winter
by Samee Ahmad
Issue Two – Spring 2024

When I was a child, he delivered a solemn sermon at the blue tiled mosque every week. Later, we piled into the car, we picked up his friends and drove to Shah Jamal.​

The Money Plant
by Tabinda Khurshid
Issue One – Autumn 2023

It has been more than 15 years now that I have been living on my own. One particular plant that has been recommended to me multiple times is the Epipremnum aureum, more commonly known as Pothos or Devil’s Ivy.​

The Road to Closure
by Roha Arif
Issue One – Autumn 2023

I remember my attention zeroing in on my thumbs and feeling relief. I loved that they were more square than round on the edge, and my siblings usually teased me about that

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