My interests and curiosity range across the universe: Usama Khalidi
WHEN I STARTED TO DISMANTLE MY LIBRARY in anticipation of a move to Washington DC area, I experienced an epiphany as I began emptying the shelves and boxing up the…
Turkey’s Secularism almost universally accepted.
I came to Turkey basically to experience this Muslim majority country’s practice of secularism, to see the compromises it has made with the Islamic law, or Shari’a, as it is…
“Turkollu” that’s history for you.
On the long taxi ride from the airport to our hotel in Marmaris, Turkey, it was easy to make friends with the cabbie when we declared our common Muslim faith.…
An Encounter with History in Aurangabad
No one could possibly have imagined that the six and last Mughal emperor,Aurangzeb, would lie close to his enemy, Abul Hasan Tana Shah in theireternal sleep at Khuldabad, which lies…
Colliding Cultures
By Usama Khalidi | A childhood friend Hariz and I met in our hometown after several decades spent overseas in our respective lives, when he told me how he had…
The Ahsan Family
Ikram Ahsan in his teenage was known to be a prankster among his large number of friends in his Mallepally neighborhood of Hyderabad. One day, he led a team of…
Celebration means shared happiness, not speeches!
The 150th anniversary of the foundation of my high school, Madarsa-e Aliya, in Hyderabad, was celebrated with some fanfare, but it was mostly speeches by politicians or the old, disappearing…
