Category: Identity

  • thoughtsofnissa

    Turning 30: Journey Towards Self-love

    Sipping on cold ice drinks until midnight in mid July. Chattering nonstop on my parent’s balcony until our voices trail off in the dark sky. Spontaneous late night drives with friends around the city. The only worry keeping me up is the research paper I need to submit by Tuesday.  This was my life in […]

  • thoughtsofnissa

    In Search for Home

    In Search for Home  Since my early twenties, I’ve asked the question of where I belong. I questioned my identity and where I was from, who I was and how I identified as. My concerns came from a political standpoint. I questioned my political identity with everything happening in my birthplace. I was becoming a […]

  • thoughtsofnissa

    Return•واپسی

    This was a return. A return to the motherland. A return to my roots. A return to self-discovery. A return. Eik wapsi.  A year later and I was back on the soil that completed my other self. A land where I found myself. A place that connected me to my history. I returned to Pakistan, […]

  • thoughtsofnissa

    Homeland•وطن

      For a while, I was searching. searching for familiarity. searching for belonging. But I was searching on foreign land I call home. A home that has no trace of my other self. My other reality. My ancestors. But, I found what I was longing on a land known to me as home. Pakistan. I […]

  • thoughtsofnissa

    Home•گھر

    Immigrant Child by Hina SanaUllah (Skin Tones and Heart Beats) “I connected two lands like a human bridge. a token. a symbol. a moving ridge. Two languages, one tongue. Born to bring people together, yet an outsider among. Two cultures, two diets, too much reconciled. I am an immigrant child.” … Where is home? What […]

  • thoughtsofnissa

    Caste•ذات (Part 2)

      I now want to address issues of zaat that directly affect young Pakistani women who live in the West. I want to point out that my words that will follow come from my personal experiences, from my family and from my surroundings. My words are from  various discussions that took place with close friends and […]

  • thoughtsofnissa

    Caste•ذات (Part 1)

    Yes, the following post will be about caste or zaat, as it’s generally referred to in Pakistani society. I want to first provide a definition of zaat to understand how it plays a role in families and how it impact the way different communities and groups interact among each other. Zaat, its roots are derived from the […]