Tag writing
A Story of Baghdad, Loss, and the Strange Wealth of Gratitude It rained the night Shahmir Mirza lost his house. Not violently. Baghdad had seen enough violence in its lifetime to know that ruin did not always need thunder. Sometimes it arrived quietly. It fell upon old balconies, darkened the stone walls of the Mirza … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Die Woche läuft gut soweit. Am Montag nach einem 10 Stunden Arbeitstag – der mit der Mail: “Du bist ein Wahnsinn, danke” belohnt wurde – habe ich Wer wird Millionär gesehen, wieder da, nach der Sommerpause. Ich schaue die Sendung tatsächlich schon seit 25 Jahren. Es war auch das erste... mehr auf blog.lei.at
At 2:17 in the morning, Mahnoor received a voice note from her mother. Her mother had been dead for forty days. The message was only eleven seconds long. “Mahnoor,” the familiar voice said, soft but faintly impatient, “stop standing outside closed doors. Some doors remain closed because there is nothing behind them.” Then came the … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
The morning Raza Sethi became immortal for the third time, his widow was standing barefoot in the kitchen, threatening a toaster. “I have survived twenty-seven years of marriage, three children, one funeral and six cholesterol reports,” Meher told it. “You cannot defeat me over half a slice of bread.” The toaster released the bread immediately. ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
The first time Zarar was kind to her, nobody noticed. Not even Hania. It happened at 11:47 on a Tuesday morning, in a glass meeting room on the eighth floor of an office in Lahore where everybody spoke English when angry and Urdu when afraid. Hania was presenting the quarterly numbers. She was good at … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Nobody knew who started it. This was important because by 11:42 a.m., everybody knew. At 9:17 that morning, the CEO had walked into the office with a man nobody recognised. At 9:19, Reception thought he was a client. At 9:26, Accounts decided he was an auditor. At 9:41, somebody from Sales had established—with absolutely no … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
The Girl Who Looked Away The first time Shahmeer Qureshi saw her, she was arguing with a goat. Not metaphorically. There was an actual goat standing in the middle of a narrow Lahore street, wearing a red ribbon around its neck and chewing one corner of what appeared to be somebody’s electricity bill. “Bas, Bano. … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Heute war ich in der Mittagspause wieder im Vapiano (unbezahlte Werbung) und habe mir eine Tagespasta bestellt. Marry me Chicken. KI sagt, dass es deshalb so heißt, weil der anwesende Kameramann zur Food Redakteurin, die das Gericht 2016 kreiert hat, gesagt haben soll, dass er sie dafür heiraten würde. Wenn... mehr auf blog.lei.at
The city had believed it was becoming invincible. It had towers that recognised faces, homes that obeyed voices, cars that could find their own way, and giant screens that promised a more beautiful future every thirty seconds. From the eighteenth floor of his apartment, Faris Ahmed could see cranes lifting steel into the sky and … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Letztens habe ich ja von Chris Messina, dem unterschätzen Darsteller aus Juror #2 geschrieben. Er spielt in relativen vielen Filmen, meist “nur” eine Nebenrolle, hat aber eine ungeheure Präsenz, finde ich. Ich kenne ihn seit Six Feet Under oder sagen wir so: Vor allem aus der vielleicht besten Szene der... mehr auf blog.lei.at
At 8:47 on a Wednesday morning, Faraz Ahmed discovered that God had apparently opened an Accounts Department. The discovery arrived through WhatsApp. His mother had forwarded a message to the family group: “Never hurt anyone. Every tear is written in Allah’s account.” Underneath were three red roses, two folded hands, a crescent moon and, for ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
In Lahore, there was a man called Raza who had become very good at saying Alhamdulillah when people asked how life was going. Alhamdulillah, kaam acha hai.Alhamdulillah, ghar mein sab khairiyat.Alhamdulillah, bas Allah ka karam hai. None of it was exactly a lie. That was the trouble. His job really was good. His apartment on the seventh floor overl... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Mahnoor Siddiqui earned her living manufacturing emotions for other people. She was thirty-eight, lived in Lahore, and worked as the creative director of an advertising agency where twenty-four-year-olds wore black in June and used the word authentic in meetings without appearing embarrassed. Mahnoor could sell anything. She had made a ho... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
The story of a modern dervish in Jaffna The train entered Jaffna as if it had been travelling towards an old memory. Beyond the window, the earth had turned red. Palmyra palms rose from it like thin, stubborn witnesses. Bicycles moved along narrow roads. Temple towers appeared briefly between houses and vanished again. The afternoon … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Maira Siddiqui earned her living by completing other people’s sentences. “I am an innovator.” “I am a woman of substance.” “I am building the future.” From a glass-walled studio in Lahore’s Gulberg, she created public identities for people who already had private ones—and often wanted nothing to do with them. Her company was called IAM. The &#... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
At 8:17 on a Wednesday morning, Zara Siddiqui discovered that breathing could become an administrative task. Inhale for four. Hold for four. Exhale for six. Her therapist had taught her this. Unfortunately, nobody had taught her what to do during the remaining twenty-three hours, fifty-nine minutes and forty-six seconds of the day. “Zara!” Her... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
In Istanbul, people knew two kinds of men. Men who carried guns. And men for whom guns were carried. Kemal Arslan belonged to the second kind. At forty-seven, he owned three restaurants along the Bosphorus, a shipping company that appeared impeccably legitimate on paper, two warehouses nobody asked questions about, and enough secrets to make …... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
The first time Zara saw the dead man, he was ordering coffee in Florence. She did not scream. That would have been easier. She simply stood across the street, one hand around a paper bag of peaches, and watched him argue with a waiter about whether an espresso could be ruined by serving it in … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Moon wird zum Spion unter den Vampiren.... mehr auf bjoern-eickhoff.de
A story from the night a country became two On the night of 14 August 1947, while a new border was being born somewhere on a map, Mehrunnisa lit eleven lamps in her kotha. Not ten. Not twelve. Eleven. Nobody knew why. Her oldest attendant, Banno, finally asked. “Begum, eleven kyun?” Mehrunnisa continued trimming a … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Eigentlich bin ich ja mitten im dritten Band der Moon-Chroniken. Aber irgendwie spukte diese Steampunk-Fantasy durch meinen Kopf, mit Luftschiffen, Drachen und Piraten. Daher kommt heute ein Sneak-Preview des ersten Kapitels. Wann es weitergeht kann ich leider noch nicht sagen. Aber wenn es Dir gefällt, schreib mir doch einfach eine E-Mail.... mehr auf bjoern-eickhoff.de
By the time the last qawwal had packed away his harmonium, the dargah had become quiet. Not silent. A dargah is rarely silent. Somewhere a woman was still whispering a dua into her dupatta. A child was asleep with his cheek pressed against his grandmother’s lap. The old caretaker was collecting rose petals that had … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
The rain had washed Karachi, but it had not cleansed the house. Water slipped from the carved balconies of Noor Manzil, gathering beneath the bougainvillea that Raheela Begum had planted when she first arrived there as a bride. The old house smelled of wet earth, cardamom tea and all the things its inhabitants had refused … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
The first thing Mrs. Sarmad noticed about the man was that everything he wore was black. Black kurta. Black trousers. Black shawl despite the mild Lahore morning. Even the leather string around his wrist was black. The second thing she noticed was that he had parked a very expensive Italian car outside her gate. These … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Mike hat sich Sareth ausgeliefert, um Sophie zu retten.... mehr auf bjoern-eickhoff.de
The trouble began on a Sunday afternoon when Shahmeer Qureshi brought home a man nobody had invited. There were already fourteen people at the Qureshi house in Gulberg. Two cars stood half on the pavement because the driveway was full. The dining table had been extended for lunch. Somebody had ordered nihari from Mozang despite … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
This quote from Janet Frame’s “An Angel At My Table” inspires me a lot. Writing a novel is a multi-faceted experience. Putting pen to paper is the very least of it. There’s a lot of legwork that takes place in your mind. You’re creating a story and characters that exist in your imagination and trying […]... mehr auf selmainthecity.wordpress.com
By nine in the evening, the Siddiqui house in Gulberg looked exactly like a family that had been blessed by God. That was what everyone kept saying. “Mashallah.” “Mubarak ho.” “Allah aur de.” The words moved through the drawing room with the waiters carrying tea. There were white roses on the centre table, imported chocolates … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
At thirty-four, Meher had three things that deeply worried her family. She was unmarried. She had recently resigned from a respectable job. And despite both these tragedies, she slept very well at night. Her mother, Shagufta Begum, considered the third problem the most alarming. “Insaan pareshaan ho toh kuch umeed bhi hoti hai,” she complained R... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
In Karachi, there are families whose wealth is announced by gates, guards and German cars. And then there are families whose wealth has grown so old that it has learned not to introduce itself. The Mirzas belonged to the second kind. Their house stood on Khayaban-e-Shujaat behind an old sandstone wall covered with bougainvillea. It … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
The first thing anyone noticed about the Sharma household was that nobody ever drank tea at the same time. That was because nobody could. There were eleven people under one roof. Dadaji believed tea should be made before sunrise because “the birds don’t wait for lazy people.” Dadiji insisted the tea leaves should boil for … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Welcome to my most recent endeavor, where I push back against the move to generate everything with AI. I mean I get it, I’m not a Luddite. Technology can be useful in certain situations, and AI (artificial intelligence?) has a … Continue reading →... mehr auf revengeofthejpeg.com
Every morning at 3:15, while the city still belonged to silence, a single light would appear in the old lane behind the gurudwara. It was not the streetlight. It was not the moon. It was the faint yellow glow from the kitchen window of House No. 17, where seventy-year-old Bhai Harjeet Singh would quietly wrap … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Some garments are stitched with thread. The rare ones are stitched with prayer. Every morning, before the city had completely awakened, Meher climbed to the old rooftop of her grandfather’s haveli. She never carried a sketchbook. Only a cup of cardamom tea. The pigeons knew her. The breeze greeted her. The rising sun painted the … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Nadine hat unlängst über das Sommer-Mitte Phänomen geschrieben und wie es ihr irgendwie schon reicht vom Sommer und seinen “Begleiterscheinungen”. Ich habe tatsächlich in meinem Roman darüber geschrieben, wie froh die Protagonistin ist, als sie im August das erste mal den Herbst riecht, weil dieser Geruch sie erleicht. “Der Sommer,... mehr auf blog.lei.at
Mike wartet am dunklen Turm auf Gareth. Er will sich für Sophie opfern.... mehr auf bjoern-eickhoff.de
…doch irgendwann wurde ein Roman daraus... mehr auf blog.lei.at
Never forget Your servant. Every morning, long before Amrit Vela had yielded to the first blush of dawn, an elderly granthi would rise from his simple room tucked away within the sacred precincts of Sri Harmandir Sahib. He was not famous. His name was not written in history books. Pilgrims rarely noticed him. He was … ... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
Karachi had taught him one thing: every room already had an opinion before he entered it. The television studios wanted outrage. The party workers wanted certainty. Social media wanted a mistake. Journalists wanted a headline. His own supporters wanted him to speak before he had listened. He smiled, greeted everyone, and took his seat. “Sir,&... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
The Prayer Between Two Floors Karachi did not rain politely that evening. The sea threw itself against Clifton, roads disappeared beneath black water, and lightning flashed over the city’s towers like a camera determined to expose what everyone had carefully concealed. On the twelfth floor of the Raza Grand, five hundred guests waited beneath impor... mehr auf sumitajetley.wordpress.com
