Recovered Pages #001

Written: 8 March 2017 Source: Office Notebook Context: Found in an old office notebook while looking for someone’s passport. Flipped through the pages. There, sitting hidden amidst a sea of technical notes, were these Urdu lines. ہم نے جس جس کو بھی چاہا تیرے ہجراں میں وہ لوگ آتے جاتے ہوئے موسم تھے زمانہ تو…

Recovered Pages #000

These pages were never meant to be published. Most were written years before this blog existed. Some come from old diaries, notebooks, loose sheets of paper, forgotten files, and half-filled journals that somehow survived moves, cleanups, and the passage of time. I’m sharing them exactly because they belong to a different version of me. Some…

Thought of the Day #004

Some versions of us only exist in certain cities. When I’m in Pune, I’m bold, independent, ruthless and rude because I have to survive there, on my own. When I’m here in my hometown, I’m still bold, I’m still independent and still ruthlessly rude, but I need to look at my parents’ face first before…

Thought of the Day #003

اگر آپ باوجود کوششوں کے چائے کی عادت چھوڑنے میں ناکام رہے ہیں تو ایک بار میری بہن کے ہاتھ کی چائے پی کر دیکھیے، انشاءاللہ دوبارہ چائے پینے کی خواہش کبھی نہیں ہوگی۔ ~~~ Want more of my trademark philosophy daily? Do three things, not necessarily in that order.     Subscribe to my…

Moment of the Day #5

My 19 months’ old nephew Abdul Haadi and I were playing. I just wanted him to remember my name… Me: Main Shabana hoon. Him: Haada (which is his way of saying I’m Haadi) And then we did this for fifteen minutes. ~~~ Want more of my trademark philosophy daily? Do three things, not necessarily in…

Shayeri of the Day

یہ کلام ایک مشہور نعت “کملی والے محمد ﷺ توں صدقے میں جاں” ہے، جس کی مکمل اردو تحریر درج ذیل ہے کملی والے محمد ﷺ توں صدقے میں جاں، جینے آ کے غریباں دی باں پھڑ لئی میری بخشش دا وسیلہ محمد ﷺ دا ناں، جینے آ کے غریباں دی باں پھڑ لئی اوہدے…

Moment of the Day #4

Today’s temperature is 44 °C and it feels like 70 °C. ~~~ Want more of my trademark philosophy daily? Do three things, not necessarily in that order.     Subscribe to my blog.     Find  my books on Amazon.     Show some love! Shabana Mukhtar

Thought of the Day #002

The thought of posting “Thought of the day” is three months old, and I posted my first thought of the day on February 22, 2026. So either I don’t get new thoughts that often, or some thoughts are so good they keep coming back. ~~~ Want more of my trademark philosophy daily? Do three things,…

10 Things I Noticed About | Wild Target

  As the title suggests, this movie was kinda forced upon my as YouTube kept recommending it to me for more than a month. I was like, what the heck! Premise Some movies are super slick and calculated. Wild Target is not one of them. It’s messy in a good way—kind of like it knows…

Moment of the Day #3

My sister had planned for a angethi feast. What we call angeethi is this: thin, runnycurry is made with meat of your choice thick naan is made with dough of flour, turmeric, kalaunji the naans are crushed and kneaded into small bits then cooked with curry until it gets soft. decorated with a lot of…