iBlog by Sasha

By Sasha Scheherzade April 24th marked the death anniversary of late Sabeen Mahmud (shared) and amidst the people going through this pandemic drama-in-real-life, it slipped quietly by. Gunning her down was a cowardly attempt to silence a brave woman who provided this chaotic city of Karachi with a  much needed wonderful community space for shared discourse and healthy dialogue between the have's and have-nots. It was everybody's retreat. It was my retreat. My kid and I met some like-minded happy souls and participated actively in toddlers's music, craft workshops, Sheemajis theatrical activities, Pervez Hoodbhoy's very piquant lectures and soulful Qawwalis. I made some great new friends, conceived my first Readers' Group, conducted active book sessions and stayed inspired. After the quietus of the ingenious and brave Daughter of the ever chaotic yet all embracing Karachi, which was a traumatic demise for the peaceful people of my city, I stopped m...

By Sasha Scheherzade A native language spoken by a parent/father or mother tongue, is one that an infant gets exposed to from the time of birth. In some countries, the term native language or mother tongue refers to the language of one's ethnic group rather than one's first language or mother tongue or any language that is spoken at home. . Pakistan is fortunate enough to enjoy a geographical location that not just traditionally but linguistically rich with an equally diverse nation that is known for being dynamic in all cultural aspects out of which mother language comes first and foremost. Nearly 74 mother languages are spoken in Pakistan according to stats shared by UNESCO Islamabad. The five chief regional languages Punjabi, Pushto, Sindhi, Siraiki and Urdu have more than 10 million speakers and almost all mother languages belong to a Indo-Iranian group from the Indo-Europeon family.  Ethnologue ,  an online reference print publication lists 74 spoken lan...