The Miami Gym: A safari
I'm grateful that gyms exist; without them, I’m sure I would have turned to messier alternatives for stress relief, such as pooping in mailboxes and shouting at small dogs. But the more time I...
Category: Essays
Fat and disability: what few of you want to hear
The personal narrative is something I have avoid, because the naked honesty also leaves one extremely vulnerable to attack. Living in a marginalized body is difficult enough without showing one’s...
Israel: growing sense of war
And then the conversation turned to the war. The next war. I can’t remember how we rounded that corner, how we hit against that brick wall. It was last Friday, a beautiful evening, and we sat on a...
The shame about Corey Haim
Driving home from work this evening, I head the news that Corey Haim was dead. I guessed it was a drug overdose, but I didn’t guess how I would feel. Gutted. Stupid, I know, considering I’ve...
Ashura explosions: sanctimonious murder
When I was in college in the US, I dated someone who used to say, “I'm a Christian with a big crush on Islam.” I think it's safe to say that I'm a Sunni with a big crush on Shi'ism. This is a...
Curbing our Christmas enthusiasm
Maybe it was something they ate. Maybe they got out of bed on the wrong side. Most likely it’s just a sign of the teenage times. All I know is that it came as a shock. Yesterday, for the first time...
Maps: You Are My Playground Love
Some shapes are beautiful and some are not. It is pretty subjective, I think, save for the regular geometrical shapes. A square sucks no matter what. Clouds, on the other hand, are the best example...
Her Name Escapes Me
Popular culture in India depicts Punjabi girls as pretty and exuberant. Notwithstanding the perils of any generalization and the hyperbole of cinematic rendition, it is not far from the truth....
By George, whatever next?!
Some time ago, I entered a contest. The prize was a chance to star alongside George Clooney in a Nespresso commercial. I never heard back from the contest organizers, so I suppose they picked someone...
From Dierkes to protests: freedom of expression in its hideous glory
Freedom of expression is a fickle beast; inherently crucial in our society, it is equally capable of damage if misinterpreted or yielded by individuals whose intentions are less wholesome. During my...