Tag: Belonging

  • thoughtsofnissa

    Journey to Umrah

    I hold my 5 month old in his carrier. My bare feet touch the marble white floor as I make my way toward His house. “Don’t look up, don’t look up, keep your eyes down”, I remind myself as I walk towards the main gate with my husband and toddler on my side. I lift […]

  • thoughtsofnissa

    Power of the pen

    Illustration by @safiyas_designs 100 days of ongoing bloodshed. Mothers mourning the death of their babies. Fathers kissing the lifeless bodies of their children. Entire generations are buried beneath destroyed houses. Dried blood on rubble is all that remains. Broken bones. Amputated legs and arms. trauma. blood. death.  The land will bear witness to the slaughter […]

  • 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

    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 […]