CV: Notes – IX: The Year of COVID?

(started writing on January 10) It’s been a year since I arrived in this city, and over the span of twelve months, I’ve had ten nasal swabs done as part of COVID testing. On January 9 last year, I came out of isolation having tested positive right after my arrival in the US. I had …

CV: Notes – VIII: Nothing to write

I am writing after a break of six months, during which,I had a spring break and wrote nothing,learnt cycling at the age of 25 and wrote nothing,got injected with a vaccine to protect myself from COVID with excruciating side effects both times and wrote nothing,spent my first Ramzan away from family and wrote nothing,hosted an …

CV: Notes – VII: 20 days or 2 months

To be published on February 27, 2021 It’s been 2 months in a new city. On February 27 last year, I was correcting assignments when it was announced that schools will be closed. It’s been a year since then. After I arrived in Seattle, I documented my first 20 days in short sentences, and took …

CV: Notes – VI: Synonyms of hope

I started writing in April, documenting a journey through a pandemic. The last time I wrote for the blog was in August 30, and now it’s been 3 months. In these three months, we have seen the spread of COVID declining, schools and wedding halls opening across Pakistan, and the beginning of a lethal second …

CV: Notes – V: Scattered memories

I’ve been thinking about writing about the Hajj because August continuously reminds me about the Hajj from last year. Last year, on August 29, we were in the city of Madina. I remember thinking how I’d find my way to the holy mosque for prayers and once I went out onto the street, everyone was …

CV: Notes – IV: Teaching

June 1 passed by but schools did not open. When I started these ‘notes’, I was expecting them to open on that date. What happened instead was a different kind of teaching format. I say ‘happened’ because we’ve all been caught by surprise. For example, when I was planning to check a pile of assignments …

CV: Notes – III: Writing, Reading, Listening

Today, June 1 is 11 days away. When I began writing these notes, it was 50 days away. With June 1 11 days away, I came across a new post by Manan Ahmed titled 'Movement'. As I read it, I was reminded of my recent piece for Dawn. The newspaper carries a Sunday magazine, Eos, for …

CV: Notes – II: The Times They Are a-Changin’

I borrowed this title from a song that I got to know of while watching The Crown's trailer for Season 3. I've never considered myself to be a person who can watch a TV show. In February, I started watching Anne with an E. I took my own sweet time to savour every episode, because I absolutely …

CV: Notes – I: Tracing a Virus

"And now God’s world is paying us back with this invisible miasma which makes us afraid even to inhale. Putin and Trump, masters of nuclear arsenals, are staggering back from its influence, discovering, perhaps, the Naqshbandi rule of khush dar dam, mindfulness in every breath. So small an enemy to have overthrown our world: too …