sewer gas 12 May 2012 | 01:22 am

...In the 14th Street and 8th Avenue subway station, an alligator in a suit and tie reaches out from under a manhole cover and grabs a passerby; the passerby’s head is a smooth, full sack of gold. New...

Jinnealogy (outing a concept...) 7 Feb 2012 | 07:05 am

The jinn, much longer lived than human beings, have memories stretching back a very long way, several gen­erations of human history. They can connect individuals hundreds of years apart instantaneousl...

Sarai in Meybod, Iran, June 2010 17 Jun 2011 | 09:55 pm

that which was named delhi 30 Mar 2011 | 04:58 am

This is a translation of the opening page and a half of Urdu writer Intizar Hussain's literary memoir of Delhi, “Dilli Tha Jiska Naam”, published by Sang-e-Meel Publishers, Lahore, 2003. No settlemen...

the faded colours of delhi 13 Mar 2011 | 11:00 am

Aaj rang hai ri ma, rang hai ri. Mere mehboob ke ghar rang hai ri… There is colour in the beloved’s house today. These lines are attributed to Hazrat Amir Khusrau Dehlavi. Some say it is a song about...

the ethnographer in his youth 12 Feb 2011 | 07:44 am

S’adat Yar Khan “Rangin” (1755-1835), true to his takhallus or nom-de-plume, was a “Colorful” character; “A mercenary, a horse trader, and a poet (Kidwai & Vanita 2000, 221),” he lived and worked and ...

open city 9 Feb 2011 | 11:44 pm

My friend Teju Cole's book is out. Here's a glowing review of Open City. Buy it. Beg, borrow, steal it. Most importantly, read it.

beeta saal 21 Jan 2011 | 12:42 pm

Over a year went by in which I wrote nothing on the blog. It wasn't that I wasn't writing, but I was in Delhi, doing research, and it all seemed a little unbloggable, as it were. I worked on the city,...

universal ethnic. or, this happens to me a lot. 10 Dec 2009 | 09:14 am

Two carpenters are tearing down the front door of my apartment. One of them looks at me in the hallway, and asks, Are you Greek? The other turns around, looks at my beard, and says, No, he's Egyptian....

faiz on the d train/ tere gham ko jaan ki talaash thi 2 Nov 2009 | 06:47 am

तेरे ग़म को जाँ की तलाश थी तेरे जाँ निसार चले गए तेरी रह में करते थे सर तलब, सर-ए रहगुज़ार चले गए तेरी कज-अदाई से हार के शब-ए इंतज़ार चली गयी मेरे ज़ब्त-ए हाल से रूठ कर मेरे ग़मगुसार चले गए न सवाल-ए ...