Blogs

The Queen Is Dead! Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully on September 8, 2022; I’ve heard and read of very little else since then. Bapre. You’d think the world was about to end. Okay, so, almost all of us know who she was, as she reigned over more than a billion people of the Commonwealth at…

Rape And Kill – Applaud And Ladoos Happy birthday India I land in Mumbai on a very soggy morning, after a very turbulent flight from Dubai, buffeted by clouds that are heavily pregnant with monsoon rain. I am returning after a year, prevented by other pressing worldwide CAI projects and doodoo protocols. Nobody asks me…

A Fine Squatting Act – Ali Syed Khoja TRS (New Zealand) and CAI (USA) are partners in several medical and orphan care projects around the world so it is natural TRS personnel want to visit some of them. Shaida Hussain Bhayani, Imran Chunawala, Mohammed Mithani, and Ali Syed Khoja come to visit Tanzania and Kenya.…

Muharram Rituals – Have We Lost It? Muharram, the first month of the Muslim calendar, is immensely significant, especially to me, as a Shia Muslim. It is the month in which the grandson of my Prophet (s) and his family and companions were surrounded, traumatized, inhumanely denied water in scorching heat, and the men butchered.…

A Suitable Groom Mullah Mchungu sits on his easy chair slurping steaming chai from a saucer. His blinding dentures sit by the side table, ready for action as soon as the old man is done with his breakfast. Hameesi, the Mullah’s personal assistant and in-house manservant stands by patiently, a half-filled cup of the chai…

Crummy Iraq When Emirates Airline’s vehicle tries to drop me off at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai, the drive-up is packed with other cars and gawkers. A couple in a Lamborghini is creating a huge tamasha, blocking traffic. No matter that the vehicle color is vomit green. No matter that the person driving…

RIP – Neka Anissa I meet 4-year-old Neka Anissa as her mother totes her on her back, wrapped by a kanga-like shawl. They are among at least 5,000 people gathered in a village about an hour’s drive from Manakara, where CAI is currently constructing a handsome school for about 500 girls so they, too, have…

Shafiq Kutchee, née Fernando Sancho, messages me on WhatsApp about a month ago, towards the end of Ramadhan. I have no clue who he is until he calls me to jerk old cobwebs fogging my mind. He was scouring the social media for anything related to Tanga and chanced on reading one of my Blogs.…

Eeeeeuuuuu / Pathani Hospitality / An Ear Itch Eeeeeuuuuu I’m on my way to Islamabad from Dubai, sitting next to a British / Pakistani teenager, who is attracting a lot of amused attention from our fellow passengers, especially the menfolk. Almost all men, even the ones returning from Umrah, give her curvy and hugging attire…

Aghaa Thokam-thok   As Kisukaali heads to the mosque for jumaa salaat, pregnant skies above threaten to open up any minute. About time, he reckons, the long rains for this city should have begun over a month ago; bountiful showers will cool him and the city down, insha’Allah. The Khoja masjid is packed, waiting for…

A Kabul School Bombing, Deja-vu I’m seated at my dining table/desk, writing away and listening to a beautiful rendition of dua – e – ifteteh by Abather Al Halawaji when Dr. Assef, the CAI Afghanistan Medical Director now living in Islamabad for his and his family’s safety, texts a message stating a school in Dashte…

De Mullah! De Moon! De Schools! It’s an oppressively stifling morning here in Dar es Salaam. I’m not sure what happened to the prevailing winds; they’ve stopped blowing now – climate change effects, perhaps? Usually, a stiff cooling breeze from the Indian Ocean less than half a mile away circulates on the 10th floor of…

Jollibee, Durians And Multiple Wives  I am on my way to the Philippines to inspect a work in progress CAI school project that got infected by the doodoo. Now that the doors to the country are open, Sohail will join me from NY and we’ll get the project restarted, insha’Allah. We then plan to visit…

A Birthday So, it’s my birthday, again. These damned events seem to hit the pedal to the metal, accelerating unrestrained, as I approach the day when I will fall permanently asleep. But it is not an ordinary day, this year, however. I turn 65, you see. Time to think about Medicare and social security and…