an itinerant observer

“Baba, today you may pick me up early and take me to the zoo”. And thus Noori had spoken. Noori the kindergartner was obviously having some withdrawal symptoms since she had not been to the zoo in over a month. Noori and Baba frequented the zoo, at times twice a month, albeit for brief visits. Having a yearly membership to the Houston zoo enabled such frequent jaunts to one of the most favorite shared activity spots for the daughter-dad duo. What was more likely though: Mowgli’s spirit had entered Noori that morning, the way she was rattling off about the characters of the jungle book. After school I took Noori straight to the zoo. Hence, the jungle book, without offense to Mr. Kiping, was re-drafted by Ms. Noori. Mr. Sher Khan and Mrs. Sherni Khanum were ignoring each other. They had an argument about who was arranging dinner that night. Colonel Haathi was brushing his tusks after a huge meal of elephant chow. Bagheera was pacing up and dow...

Day 1 of expedition: On which all, except me, start the ascent to Rakaposhi base camp. Photo of Rakaposhi taken from the apple orchard of the Minapin guest house When I woke up the day our expedition was to start, I felt a bit odd. I couldn’t quite pin point the oddity. I ignored the intangible (not quite bordering on distress at that stage), changed into my tracks and went out for a run, as is my norm. I wanted to get my joints freed up enough so the ascent wouldn’t come as too much of a shock. Surprisingly, I couldn’t run much as I lacked energy, so I returned to the guest house where preparation was afoot, somewhat counter-intuitively, for a hearty breakfast for the eager mountaineers. A simple low fat, high starch/protein meal might be the better approach at the beginning of an ascent, but not being a professional trekker who was I to say that aloud. Seeing the parathas , omelets, scrambled eggs and toast did nothing for my appetite. Au contraire, it made...

Full article available at following link: Children's books from Houston to Karachi: Biloongra goes global - written by students of the CAS school [First published in the Houston Inner Looper Newspaper, Sept. 2013] For additional information, such as ordering & purchase, click on link:  Biloongra bilingual books .

Full article available at following link: Summer Book Launch Event a Success for Biloongra by Frances Allday (Guest Writer) [First published in the Houston Inner Looper Newspaper, June 2013] For additional information, such as ordering & purchase, click on link:  Biloongra bilingual books .

Full article available at following link: Promoting a Better World Through Children's Books by Frances Allday (Guest Writer) [First published in the Houston Inner Looper Newspaper May 2013] For additional information, such as ordering & purchase, click on link:  Biloongra bilingual books .

Why am I so attracted to the way of the birds? I have spent much time watching, thinking about, and photographing them. Occasionally I have been caught writing odes to them. But regardless of all that, I just could not fathom the source of this affiliation that might have bordered on obsession. Furthermore, whenever my child asked ‘why do you love birds so?’ being unable to generate a convincing answer was frustrating. The frustration about not knowing why I was so inclined to birds in my travels was addressed recently in the form of two occurrences. First I came across a word - G oǩotta (pronounced ‘Yo-Koh-Tah’) – that in Swedish literally means ‘dawn picnic to hear the first birdsong’ . It refers to the act of rising in the early morning to watch the birds or to go outside to appreciate nature. And then I came across ‘The Year of the Quail’ . In this book, the gifted and acclaimed photographer Ines Roberts takes you through a photographic journey of the first year in the li...

Today marks week six of relocation from Houston to Karachi. As you are well aware by now, I have been writing the Karachi-Houston diaries. Through these compilations I try to compare and contrast what is in Karachi with what was in Houston. I’m like that. Writing analogically helps me make sense of my present and past life.   Today, my routine muse (in my head and heart) was missing in action. Normally she would assist in helping me focus on something intriguing to write about from both the Karachi and Houston perspectives.   So I asked the child instead. “Today, what should I write about?” I expected either no comment or something noncommittal from the child, since she would seldom take me seriously. But this time the reply came promptly and without hesitation. “Today write about Saffron and Abigail!” Saffron and Abigail are not exotic condiments. Nor are they administrative staff at my workplace in Karachi.    They are two fairy friends of Tinker B...