MADRASSA

  1. Read more: Chaska

    Chaska

    by Saad Khan

    The Urdu and Punjabi word “Chaska” is derived from the word ‘chas’ (chas chukna: take pleasure; chas aa gayi ay: what a thrill), which literally means pleasure. The English word that comes quite close to explaining full scope of ‘chaska’ is thrill. Mainly, chaska involves talking about relatives, neighbors, friends, and those living nearby. The […]
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  2. Read more: 1970s Lollywood Club Culture: Where Lust, Danger, and Deception Collide

    1970s Lollywood Club Culture: Where Lust, Danger, and Deception Collide

    by Saad Khan

    Written by Omar Ali Khan Lollywood, Madrassa, Pakistan Lollywood historian Omar Ali Khan dives into the significance of the nightclub, or ‘Killub’,...
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  3. Read more: Pitcher and Dust

    Pitcher and Dust

    by Saad Khan

    As a child, I wanted life around me to be seen in the media around me without a top-down gaze as lower-class stories are represented…imitated. As a grown man who could speak English, I got access to the guarded spaces of the upper and the middle classes, of rich diasporas and the whites. I wanted the life I had known around me to be understood by these others: the culture-makers, the trendsetters, the ones whose narratives are imperial, are heard, acknowledged, and lauded, and whose hot-takes, opinions, and stories are ‘nuanced’ and thus overwrite our stories.
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