Countdown Interviews – Asma Jahangir: 3
ChrestomatherShortly before August 29, 1998, when I interviewed Asma Jahangir Asma Jahangir, Lahore 1998 in Lahore, a Constitutional Amendment was introduced in Pakistan’s Parliament, the Majlis-e-Shoora, proposing…
Countdown Interviews – Asma Jahangir: 2
AG: “What would you say needs to change in Pakistan?” Asma Jahangir, Lahore 1998 Asma Jahangir: “First of…
Countdown Interviews – Asma Jahangir: 1
My essay Countdown, was written against the background of the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests of May 1998. It appeared in The New Yorker of October 19,…
Agha Shahid Ali Journals – ‘Bearer of Arms’
Agha Shahid Ali May 5, 2001 Strange irony that Shahid only recently got his United States…
A Laskari Lexicon – 2
Lascars and European Officers of the steamship Oolobaria; 1890 (Memorial University Maritime History Archive ) There are several striking differences between the Laskari dictionary of Lt Thomas…
A Laskari Lexicon – 1
Lascars at the East India Docks London I have long been fascinated by nautical dictionaries, especially those that relate to Asian seafarers (or ‘lascars’…
My review of Abdulrazak Gurnah’s novel of Zanzibar
By The Sea begins with a prospective refugee presenting his passport to an officer at an immigration counter in a British airport. At desks such as…
Real and Fictional characters: The case of Neel Rattan Halder
In my post of Nov 12, 2012, I wrote about a letter that revealed to me that Benjam Burnham, a character in Sea of Poppies and River of…
Painted an Elephant Blue
In my research I’ve come across many stories that have led me to wonder what really happened. This one is about the crew of a German steamer, Barenfels…
Correspondence with István Perczel on History, Hellenism and the idea of ‘Civilization’
I’ve written about the work of Dr István Perczel, the Hungarian scholar several times on this blog. I posted this before I’d met István, and this shortly after…