July 2025
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Koko, Williams, and me
Furqan Ali shares an original poem written after watching a video of Robin Williams embracing Koko the gorilla.
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Reading the Reader: On Ammar Ali Qureshi’s Views and Reviews
Furqan Ali reviews Ammar Ali Qureshi’s Views and Reviews, a collection of essays on Punjab’s history, Pakistan, Iran and Iqbal’s love of Persia, praising its range and its melancholy portrait…
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War in the Sanskritopolis
X.T.M reads the Thailand–Cambodia border dispute through the shared Hindu-Buddhist heritage of Southeast Asia, noting the Theravāda and Mahayana divide, and argues India should act as a civilisational fountainhead in…
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Dead Poets of Pakistan
X.T.M argues that Pakistan’s creative energy lies with a Westernised, English-fluent ‘boundary class’ outside patronage and power, and contrasts India’s confident, 80 per cent one-faith civilisational script with a Persianate…
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A commentary: Ganesh, in a confectionery mill
Furqan Ali annotates Afshan Shafi’s poem ‘Ganesh, in a confectionery mill’, reading its placing of the Hindu deity in an industrial setting as a surrealist, biting comment on consumerism, decaying…
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A flying peacock
Furqan Ali describes seeing a peacock fly in a village near Peshawar and shares the poem it inspired.
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Open Thread; Trans in the Muslim World
Open thread of 26 July 2025 on trans people in the Muslim world; the opening post lists four Indian news stories, including a fake-embassy loan fraud, a GST notice to…
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Brown Pundits: Broad Church or Narrow Canon?
X.T.M answers Kabir’s charge of ‘soft Hindutva’ bias at Brown Pundits, arguing the forum’s bias is civilisational engagement rather than Hindutva, that Hindu introspection drives much of its energy, and…
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What Kind of Space Is Brown Pundits
X.T.M relays the authors’ discussion about what kind of space Brown Pundits should be, calling it a bridge across nations and faiths, with some feeling one ideological current dominates and…
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and What Is a Civilizational State?
X.T.M argues that moderation exists to keep open discussion open, then defines a civilisational state as a nation that sees itself as the continuation of an ancient cultural memory. On…
