children — Stories

Imagine the chaos of the first few years: Romanian, German and English mixed together in a way that it took us sometimes minutes to realize what exactly it was that our own children were trying to tell us…

Flyway, My Friend

A collaborative project between 20 artists across nine countries came close to that gossamer spirit that has guided me through my travels. That project was The Flyway Print Exchange, coordinated by the Melbourne-based printmaker and artist Kate Gorringe-Smith…

Blood And Water

Declarations such as “shame on them”, “I’d rather my daughter died than bring dishonour to the family”, “she must’ve dabbled in black magic to brainwash that poor boy”, and “I hope they’re found and shamed publicly” were made with great gusto, and to my adolescent brain, conjured up horrific visions which nearly made me throw up my dinner...

The Haunted Ice Rink in Deira

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL:

The golden part of the evening, though, was trick-or-treating. For those of you who may have already thought ahead, yes oh yes, that meant the building became a 31 storey candied lolly-land, with at least 20 apartments on each floor to choose from—though chose we did not—we made sure to pay a visit to every single one…

Karma In A Candy Twist

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL:

In the Pacific, we wore our polyester costumes as loosely as we could to avoid sweating in them. Some of us only wore underwear under them…

What The Birthday Gods Delivered

Then there was the McDonald’s birthday trend. Uncle Sam had muscled his way into the Karachi youth’s minds, and a Happy Meal and rides on colorful slides were the dream in the late 90s. I didn’t have one, but I was invited to one. It was an utter disappointment...

The Man-Child Within

In my native Spain, children at age six could drink 1/4 strength wine. At 16, you went to full strength. In Hawai’i when I was flying, it was “Hey, bruddha, can you drink with us?” Likewise, on Guam, the test would be handing someone a 5 dollar bill and asking them to go buy a 6-pack of beer...

We’re Living On Borrowed Time

Seeing the birthday boy or girl so happy, feeling so fulfilled, you couldn’t help but know it was temporary. Perhaps the year after, that very same birthday boy or girl would be in a new country, with new friends, doing it all over again...

How Long Do We Keep Up This Charade?

When that kind of visual programming is pervasive, and generations grow up watching that kind of trash on a nightly basis, is it any surprise when these countries have fairly high domestic violence rates?

Only Girls Sew

In early autumn when female students in Japan were expected to be making scarves/mufflers and sweaters for their boyfriends as love tokens, my professor would walk into the cafeteria, walk up to a group of women knitting and ask for someone’s. He would peer at it with a critical eye and start knitting and hold a conversation with anyone in the group who was currently a student of his.

Late To The Party

I grew up in Pakistan, where one’s life’s trajectory is comfortably pre-ordained: one must get a tertiary education at a reputable institution, during or following which one must get married and “settle down”, and then, of course, oblige one’s in-laws by producing a strategically interspersed brood of obedient children...