PUBLISHED September 14, 2025 KARACHI: If you are a fan of American humour, and canned laughter, don’t read this. But if shows such as The Office (UK version 2001), Only Fools and Horses, and Derry Girls, Friday Night Dinner, Alan Partridge, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, Bless This House, Black Adder, Fawlty Towers, Yes, Prime…
PUBLISHED September 06, 2025 PESHAWAR: shaam aae aur ghar ke liye dil machal uthe shaam aae aur dil ke liye koī ghar na ho [Evening falls, and the heart longs for home; Evening falls, and the heart has no home to return to] ~ Akhtar Usman Despite our love-hate relationship with those across the border,…
PUBLISHED August 31, 2025 KARACHI: Once upon a time, Pakistan Television was our Harvard, our poetry club, our moral compass, and our neighborhood gossip hub, all wrapped in one black-and-white broadcast. In the evenings, life came to a polite halt. We sat watching Baseerat in the evening, a religious starter, then watched kid’s programmes, then…
PUBLISHED August 03, 2025 KARACHI: On July 24 2025, news broke out that professional wrestling legend Hulk Hogan had untimely passed away at the age of 71, having suffered a cardiac arrest at his Florida residence. What followed, however, was a mixed reaction to the news. To put it mildly, Hogan (real name Terry Bolea)…
PUBLISHED August 03, 2025 KARACHI: Some thirty years ago, as a newly-wed in London, it didn’t take me long to fall in love with the rows and rows of cookie-cutter houses in Wimbledon where I lived, the no-nonsense downpours [that instantly delighted my desi heart, the fish and chips shops emanating aromas reminiscent of fried…
PUBLISHED July 20, 2025 KARACHI: Nordic thrillers are always my cup of tea — a new one on the streamer, and I’m instantly pulled in. This is probably because of the dark-ish stories, intense characters and flawless performances. The Nordic approach is to usually portray characters with depth, allowing older actors to be their age,…
PUBLISHED July 13, 2025 KARACHI: After undergoing various socio-political and cultural controversies, and ups and downs, the new Indian film Sardar Ji-3, has been released globally except its parent country India. This leaves 1.5 billion film lovers deprived of enjoying this comedy feast starring Diljit Dosanjh, one of the most prominent and celebrated stars of…
PUBLISHED July 13, 2025 ISLAMABAD: Some books document history. Others demand that we reckon with it. Danish Javeed’s ‘Incredible and Shining India!’ is one such book — a deeply disturbing and powerfully moving chronicle of a country that once prided itself on pluralism, now slipping into the grip of a majoritarian, ideological transformation. Javeed, a…
PUBLISHED July 13, 2025 KARACHI: When I was writing my Master’s dissertation, a friend pursuing his PhD introduced me to Nicola Wright’s work on the Digital Afterlife – a body of research that examines what happens when rituals, practices and cultural legacies are transplanted from the physical world into the digital realm. Wright’s insights helped…
PUBLISHED July 06, 2025 KARACHI: On paper, M* is living the life. She has a job she likes as a biomedical scientist and research fellow in women’s health. She has found her purpose: working to improve the lives of women with chronic health conditions through her FemTech start-up. So why does she want to kill…
