Dr Aftab Husain in his essay critiques South Asian literates’ response to catastrophe and epidemics and how writers in Pakistan react to COVID-19   There is a proverb in Persian and Urdu that could be roughly translated thus — ‘A collective death has an air of festivity’. The great Urdu poet, Ghalib, however, would have not subscribed to this notion …

Five-wives-of-Khodja-Nasreddin_-dir.-Olim-Salimov-Mayakovskiy-theater-photo-Ulugova Lolisanam Ulugova traces the roots, evolution and contemporary theatre in Tajikistan which goes back to ancient centuries. In her essay in the online magazine Voices on Central Asia, she discusses in detail how do theaters in Tajikistan thrive and act at times when politics in the arts is too dangerous? My recent visit to Tashkent (the capital of Uzbekistan) …

  by Harris Khalique | | It is indeed a matter of profound privilege and great pleasure to deliver this speech at the closing ceremony of the 11th Karachi Literature Festival. Particularly, because this city by the sea is my birthplace and although I have not been living here for long, “to my soul/ the streets anywhere are the streets …

The artist took photography as seriously as painting By Celia Stahr Frida Kahlo, like her father, used photographic images—often with written words accompanying them—much the way she used painted images: as a repository for her profound and sincere emotions and ideas. When Frida was in San Francisco she continued this photographic tradition. The calculated image she projected for the camera was intended …

This issue of WWB is concerned with exploring new approaches to Urdu feminist writing. The field of Urdu writing generally, and Urdu feminist writing particularly, is so woefully unknown in English that our most urgent task is to bring attention to extremely important but underrecognized writers. There is simply so much to read and translate that has not been looked …

Abhrajyoti Chakraborty on a giant of the Bengali renaissance   When Rabindranath Tagore died in 1941, crowds gathered outside his ancestral mansion in Calcutta hoping to catch a last glimpse. As soon as the body was brought out of the house, everyone charged toward it at once. Hairs were plucked from his beard, wreaths tossed from buildings on the funeral …

In Askari’s view, the West became victim to depravity in its quest for progress Raza Naeem on the modernism of Muhammad Hasan Askari (1919–1978)   In order to understand the depth and causes of Muhammad Hasan Askari’s disenchantment with modernity, Marxism and “the West”, it is necessary to go over the fundamental Marxian ideas that became so distasteful to him …

High Asia Herald Report There are certain food taboos in some Asian and African communities and tribes that are prohibited for women. Especially pregnant women are prohibited from taking in essential food and drinks. It is transferred from generation to generation and has a negative effect on pregnant mothers’ health.  In Ethiopia’s eastern district pregnant women avoid linseed, coffee, tea, …

Ikat is a fabric that got its name from the resist dye technique used to make its patterns. But Professor Elmira Gyul, Chief Researcher at the Institute of Art Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, explains about ikat from a different perspective not as a unique artistic creation, but as a social phenomenon whose role has changed from …

Mirzaie, founder of a Sama Dance group dances with her teammates in Kabul. Reuters Fahima Mirzaie hopes the Sufi dance called Sama will help students fight depression and find inner peace in Afghanistan.   https://ca.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idCAKBN1ZG01P   KABUL: Fahima Mirzaie set up a dance school for women in the Afghan capital last year, hoping to help her students fight depression and …