You Can Live In The Same City

I Am A Strong Believer In The Intertwined Nature Of The Personal And The Political; I Think They Move Together.

Like Many Of My Friends In The Pakistani Diaspora - And Many Of My Friends In Pakistan Itself, For That Matter - I Have Sometimes Looked At The Country Of My Birth And Wondered Whether Its Future Will Be One Of Steady And Sad Decline.

My Aunt Used To Say, "it's Between Me And My God; It's Got Nothing To Do With You." It Was A Good Enough Answer For Me As A Snot-nosed College Kid Angling For A Religious Debate, And I Still Think It's A Good Way Of Putting It.

I Think I've Always Been Drawn To The Second Person. When I Was Growing Up And Playing With My Friends, The Usual Way We Interacted With Imaginary Worlds Was As Characters: A Bench Was 'your' Boat, Leaves On A Lawn Were The Fins Of Sharks Out To Get 'you.'

Lahore, The Second Largest City Of Pakistan, Ancient Capital Of The Punjab, Home To Nearly As Many People As New York, Layered Like A Sedimentary Plain With The Accreted History Of Invaders From The Aryans To The Mongols To The British.