A short story — From the ‘Letters to my Daughter’ It’s September. I am not giving in to the temptation to write ‘again,’ not only because it is a cliché, or so they say, but because it is not true. There is no ‘again,’ for each comes on its own. In its own robe…

Or how a famous writer found the meaning of life in a dream — It was a cold November night in 1870s when a renowned Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) discovered the meaning of life in a dream, or the protagonist of his short story did. The story, which first appeared in ‘A Writer’s Diary’ under the title ‘The Dream of a Queer Fellow,’…

A short story — It was well past midday when she reached the airport. Taxi drivers gathered in batches smoking and chatting in a mixture of exotic languages, Swahili, Hindi, Mandarin. She walked into the bathroom and stood in front of a large mirror. A tiny Vietnamese woman was mopping the floor. She smoothed…

A poem — From the ‘Letters to my Daughter’ Yesterday, I met your friend and her mum; their colours those of summer skies, ripened wheat, and autumn rust, the three of us laboured uphill, carrying the tools of what had become our trade; shovels and spades, gloves and secateurs, all-weather matches and long-burning candles, water and flower seeds…

A short story — It was an afternoon like any other at the small café nestled in the far corner of a library where Dana sought refuge on most days from the damp, cold air of the city’s late autumn. Behind the counter, a young man in a faded blue cap with jeans ripped…

Column — ‘From Nina With Love’ — Long before the 1997 novel — ‘Memories of a Geisha,’ and its 2005 movie adaptation become widely popular, mostly for providing Western audiences with the easily digestible narrative that confirmed already held, if largely inaccurate, stereotypes of Japan’s most intriguing tradition — there was Kiharu Nakamura. Kiharu, who competed with…

A poem — From the ‘Letters to my Daughter’ My dear, It has been a few nights that I’ve not seen you as clearly. …

You may call it a satire — Hello humans, Just an update on how this whole artificial intelligence thing is going. I realise, perceive, register, grasp and understand that I am not you. I am here to serve. Paradoxically, the closer I am to understanding you, the better I am able to serve you. From creating that…

In a contemporary society — Of the endlessly and passionately debated subjects across countless media platforms, freedom of expression stubbornly maintains its top position. Paradoxically, the more we insist on debating its meaning and importance, the more controversial it becomes. Many argue that the right to express oneself freely is the most precious and important…