Mi amore, Mi Monroes!

Dhaka, aka family, fuchka and flip flops. Packing our holiday bags on Christmas Eve 2017, we gleefully collected our skin baring, breathable footwear from the dark corners of negligence and went overboard packing one too many pair of shoes for a 2.5 week trip. It was time to treat our souls and soles to warmth and sunshine….

Dhaka 2017: The Eid Edit

This Ramadan I decided to stop my busy UK life in its tracks and go home for Eid. Six years without Ammu’s Eid shemay was more than the legal limit of self-deprivation. My homesickness was so severe that even hearing a Bangla song was making me howl like someone had died. The cure? A milk…

Revisiting Dhaka Decembers

Hurtling through the Dhaka air felt like a dream. I sat very still as the big bird whizzed past a kuasha-laced landscape that could easily have been any other city in the world by the shrouded looks of it. Night time arrivals can feel a bit ominous like that. There’s no instant visible gratification. One…

Chitkadoni

The tears rose inside her lungs, breaking and scattering with each ragged breath. A shudder ran through her body, tightening into a climax, rippling through the struggling tears and calming them down. Why was she crying? She considered this for a second. She knew the answer, or at least where it hid in the back…

Rajon

The last few days I have been walking around with a sinking realization in my heart. Every time I am brave enough to pay attention to it, my heart sinks a further few inches. It’s an odd realization that should be more prevalent in my life than it actually is and it’s this – I…