• Eid in the Time of Pandemic

    ByAK

    The month of Ramadan has left us. Everyone says this every year, and I say it again: Of all the months, this has always been and will remain the one which passes by the quickest. Even in a time like now. Even though the heart wanted, with a yearning unlike previous years, for it to…

  • Quarantine Reflections: Hope and Fear

    ByAK

    This is my first attempt at maintaining a blog on my website. And what else to start with but COVID-19. Till last week, I felt I will start by talking about my own experience with the virus. But there is better stuff to talk about.

  • It’s been 5 years

    ByAK

    UPDATE: This year, I’ve shifted the blog to my primary website www.asifkhan.in. You can view the updates under Projects, or simply by clicking here.   5 years is a long time. When I started this blog in 2011, it was out of a sense of loneliness. Living alone in a big city wasn’t the best…

  • Nasra

    ByAK

    “The journey took 7 days and 7 nights. It was ’79, and traveling by sea was the only way to perform Haj. At that time, the trip used to be three months long, unlike the 40 days it takes now. Which is why we reached in the month of Sha’baan, a few days before Ramadan. We…

  • Naba

    ByAK

    “It’s really hot over here. I will keep my first roza on returning home from my nani’s place after summer vacations.”

  • Ammar

    ByAK

    “I started observing fasts this year. It’s my fourth one today.”

  • Ibrahim

    ByAK

    “It’s all Abba’s fault. He says that I am not old enough, and it isn’t Farz on me yet. When I’m 10 years old, I will keep my first roza.”

  • Safina

    ByAK

    “Yesterday was the toughest roza. Felt as if all the preceding rozas had added themselves into a single one. No no, not because of the heat. The domestic help went absent.”

  • Fakhra

    ByAK

    “Ammi called over one of our phuphis. She said, come over, and help me prepare Iftar. Normally, everyone in the mohalla gets invited over to attend Iftar when it is a child’s roza-kushai. But being constantly wound-up was Ammi’s nature — ‘bahut ulajhti theen woh’ — so she couldn’t tolerate too many people around the house for…