The Maulana bends down at the washbasin and draws water to his face.
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The tourists are gone. They’ve fled to Islamabad, along with the landlords and the hoteliers and the battalions of police that used to defend them, and certainty has left with them.
The Maulana bends down at the washbasin and draws water to his face.
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‘Feelings can be very obscure but numbers never lie.’
Kevin Brazil on metrics, obsession and fitness.
‘An intense workout is an ecstasy of punishment packaged as self-improvement.’
Mary Wellesley on exercise, ritual and Barry’s Bootcamp.
‘I was not good at sports because I would not do sports because I did not have the body for sports because I would not do sports.’
Saba Sams on girlhood, embodiment and avoiding sports.
‘Following United rarely brings me any great joy and most often it depresses me. If I could disengage, I would.’
Jonny Thakkar on Manchester United.
‘I deployed my body against an opponent like a blunt and effective instrument.’
John Patrick McHugh on playing Gaelic football.
Fatima Bhutto was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and grew up in Syria and Pakistan. Her most recent writing includes the novel The Runaways and a non-fiction book about the changing world of global pop culture, New Kings of the World.
Photograph © Pankaj Mishra
‘In a connected world, how can anyone close their doors?’
‘Though I have had dogs all my life, Coco is my first real companion.’
Fatima Bhutto on grief.
‘I have gone to the forest to lie among the moss and sleep under a canopy of trees. I have gone to the forest to root among the soil and listen to the birds.’
‘If you happen to be friends with one of the world’s most fearsome food critics, don’t cook for him.’
‘She didn’t trust us because, to her, tenants were like children.’
Kate Zambreno on negotiating with her older landlady.
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