local — Stories

Return to Rural Life

People of such areas are deprived of basic facilities. They have no easy access to big cities, roads are damaged, and elected assembly members visit every five years, never to return within their tenure. But still, they live happy lives...

Why I Date Guys Who Smoke

They think it’s because of their badass demeanor, their cocky swagger, their muscle cars, and their tough reputations...

Bundu Khan and BBQ Tonight in Australia

Known for its barbeque, it also has karahis, handis, and other such gravy-based dishes, which the Muslim cuisine of the Indian subcontinent is known for…

I Am Not a Tourist Here

I knew that people could look at us and know we were not from there, yet I tried desperately to fit in in this place that I called home...

FARAH

I am local. I am multi-local. My childhood is a collection of short stories that flit between Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Australia...

The Intellectual Applications of Chai

Established in 1940 by two Sikh brothers as the India Tea House, it was renamed Pak Tea House after the partition. What was more significant than the small cups of sugary tea that were served, was that Pak Tea House signified freedom of thought and expression...

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...

AVA

My floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the city street doesn't stop me boogie-ing alone in my underpants at home. Melbourne's ideals about acceptance, love and normalisation of a woman's body have helped me shrug off nakedness as no big deal...

ANTHONY

I am or have been a local of London, Lahore, Dacca, New Delhi, Kuwait City, Dhahran, Manila, Bangkok, Pattaya, Tokyo, Salt Lake City, Evanston (Wyoming), Istanbul, Saigon, Hong Kong, Toronto, Freetown, Addis Ababa, Singapore. It seems like a lot but it's kind of a blur.

ANAM

Pakistan has been flagged by the Australian government as a "terrorist country" and yet I consider it home...

DANISH

I am a reverse brain-drain story. Pakistan exported me for the sake of knowledge creation - however, I came back empty-handed. They still had the generosity to take me back in, but I feel they are having second thoughts...

PAUL

My passports have always been issued from abroad. In the 1980s my passports were changed to blue "Z" instead of the standard blue. I was treated like a second class citizen each time I “returned” to the US and travelling in my 20's through Europe with it in the Cold War was sheer hell on the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain...

But I Don't Have A Footie Team!

I imagine if you're not a third culture kid, the second of hesitation after the question "Where are you from?" must look a little misplaced.

I usually size up the person who's asking...

How Do You Justify Your Customs?

I'd like life to be a big, red, round, spinning Chinese table - take what you want now and keep the rest for later. Unfortunately, it is more like walking through a patch of cold sword-grass on the way out from...