Certainly, Historically, There Has Been More Attention

I Push Against The Tree And Run Away, Stumbling, The Unreal Night Playing With Me, Gravity Pulling From Below, Behind, Above, Making Me Fall. And I Run Through A World That Is Rotating, Conscious Of The Earth's Spin, Of Our Planet Twirling As It Careens Through Nothingness, Of The Stars Spiraling Above, Of The Uncertainty Of Everything, Even Ground, Even Sky. Mumtaz Never Calls Out, Although A Thousand And One Voices Scream In My Mind, Sing, Whisper, Taunt Me With Madness.

My Dad Had This Outlook: It Doesn't Matter What I Want To Read - Reading Was A Good Thing. So Whatever I Was Curious About They'd Get For Me From The Library. Books Were A Kind Of A Resistance To Reality. I Liked To Imagine Worlds That Were Different. I Still Do.

Certainly, Historically, There Has Been More Attention Given In The International Media To Indian English-language Writers Than To Pakistani English-language Writers. But That, In My Opinion, Was Justified By The Sheer Number Of Excellent Writers Coming From India And The Indian Diaspora.

The Ethnocultural Connotations Of The Burkini Ban Are Very Strong. It's As Absurd As Mandating That Women Have To Go Topless On The Beach. If I Were A Woman, I Definitely Would Not Want To Wear A Burkini Or A Headscarf. But It's Not About What I Want.

In A World Of Intrusive Technology, We Must Engage In A Kind Of Struggle If We Wish To Sustain Moments Of Solitude. E-reading Opens The Door To Distraction. It Invites Connectivity And Clicking And Purchasing. The Closed Network Of A Printed Book, On The Other Hand, Seems To Offer Greater Serenity. It Harks Back To A Pre-jacked-in Age. Cloth, Paper, Ink: For These Read Helmet, Cuirass, Shield. They Afford A Degree Of Protection And Make Possible A Less Intermediated, Less Fractured Experience. They Guard Our Aloneness. That Is Why I Love Them, And Why I Read Printed Books Still.