Current Affairs · Reflections
China: What I Really Think
My neighbor — a former professor and police officer — came back from China and said he prays that China takes over Canada. Coming from someone like him, that landed very differently.
June 14, 2026 · 5 min read
Current Affairs · Worldschooling
Canton Fair
Back in Guangzhou for the first time since 2018. Back then I was at a crossroads — struggling to decide whether to continue with my clothing brand, Ateaze, or move on entirely.
April 28, 2026 · 4 min read
Current Affairs · Worldschooling
Dubai
It's been a while since I've sat down to write, but what prompted this was the recent events in Dubai. Looking back, my relationship with the city has been a strange, evolving one.
April 05, 2026 · 2 min read
Current Affairs
Homecoming: 22 Days in Karachi
I arrived in Karachi on February 12th. Today is March 6th. In this city, time has a way of disappearing. Between the noise and the warmth, I found something I hadn't expected.
March 06, 2026 · 3 min read
Current Affairs · Reflections
Jews know it!
In Tel Aviv, some smartphones are sold with a warning label. Like on a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of liquor. That detail, small as it is, says everything.
February 08, 2026 · 3 min read
Reflections
Death
Lately, I've been dealing with a tenant — the kind who pays month-to-month and hasn't been late by more than a week, but who is a real pain to handle. He's quirky, mean, rude.
February 07, 2026 · 2 min read
Current Affairs · Reflections
China. My fourth home!
The one thing I'm profoundly grateful for is the ability to think freely, unbound by place. Three months in China, working on two books, and the language is slowly coming.
January 31, 2026 · 3 min read
Current Affairs · Worldschooling
Final blog post for 2025
We started last year at Whiteface Mountain in New York — Lake Placid. We visited the historic ice hockey rink, went skiing with my nieces, and began a year that took us everywhere.
January 01, 2026 · 4 min read
Current Affairs · Reflections
East Is Best: A Toilet Reflection from Kunming
We've been in China for almost a month and a half and we're about to head off on our first visa run to Malaysia. Small observations from daily life keep shifting something in me.
December 21, 2025 · 2 min read
Travel · Worldschooling
From Richmond Hill onto the Middle Kingdom: Our Whirlwind Move to China
We finally did it. We left Richmond Hill. After nearly seven years of pouring our hearts into renovating a heritage property, we packed up and moved to China in a matter of weeks.
November 05, 2025 · 4 min read
Current Affairs · Worldschooling
On Screens and Silence
Today I bought myself a 15-inch screen. It runs off USB-C and draws power directly from the device. Small upgrade, unexpected thoughts about how we consume everything now.
September 25, 2025 · 2 min read
Reflections
A Winter in Pakistan — From Topi NWFP to Arbab Road
In the winter of 1999, I took a bold detour from the academic path. After completing a summer semester at York University, I decided to skip the winter term and travel to Pakistan.
August 07, 2025 · 1 min read
Reflections · Worldschooling
Benin, Africa
When we were in Dakar, Senegal, we were not for the life of us thinking that we would make it to St. Louis. I had heard things about St. Louis — maybe even mystical things.
July 24, 2025 · 2 min read
Current Affairs · Reflections
Richmond Hill: A Bittersweet Love Story
I have a bittersweet relationship with Richmond Hill, Ontario. We first moved to Canada from Pakistan in 1996 and settled in Scarborough. Coming back to it years later felt different.
July 09, 2025 · 3 min read
Travel · Worldschooling
Reflections from the Road: From Bradford to the Inner Self
It's been a while since I've written, but this trip through the UK stirred up thoughts that needed to be put down. We started in London, drove through the countryside to Bradford.
July 03, 2025 · 4 min read
Current Affairs · Worldschooling
From Rome to the UK: A Day of Trains, Transits, and Truths
We landed in the United Kingdom today, around noon, arriving at Edgware Road. The transition from Rome to London has been jarring in the best possible way.
June 14, 2025 · 2 min read
Current Affairs · Travel
Rome Wasn't Built in a Day… But Why Does It Still Haunt Us?
Every empire leaves ruins. But Rome leaves something else — an ache, a longing, a question about what we're building today and what future generations will think of it.
June 02, 2025 · 3 min read
Current Affairs · Travel
Bikes, Beaches, and the Other Italy
This time in Italy, we drove out to Sperlonga — a beautiful little beach town maybe two hours from Rome. Someone said it looks like the Amalfi Coast, just not as touristy.
May 31, 2025 · 3 min read
Reflections
A Nostalgic Tour of My Schooling Life: How I Became Asad 'G' Halai (G=Great)
A whimsical stroll down memory lane — a tour through the chapters of my schooling life that shaped me into the legendary Asad 'G' Halai. G for great, obviously.
May 25, 2025 · 3 min read
Travel · Reflections
Blood in the Marble: Villa d'Este, Iqbal Masih, and the Theater of Western Virtue
There's a villa in Tivoli, just outside Rome, where fountains still dance in precise harmony. Villa d'Este is breathtaking. But beauty and exploitation have always kept each other's company.
May 25, 2025 · 2 min read
Reflections
The Mir Jaffers Among Us
Today, I want to write about me — not in the personal sense, but in the sense of a type: the Mir Jaffer. The one who betrays his own people, opens the gates, and calls it pragmatism.
May 25, 2025 · 2 min read
Reflections
Karachi — The City That Stayed With Me
The more cities I see — Rome, Granada, Fez — the more I realise how much Karachi is woven into my soul. Even after three decades abroad and traveling across continents.
May 25, 2025 · 2 min read
Worldschooling
A Week in Italy: Pasta, Parks, and Ponderings
Seven days in Italy — pasta, piazzas, and more questions than answers about beauty, excess, and what we're all chasing. The kids got a lesson no classroom could give.
May 23, 2025 · 2 min read
Worldschooling
Boars, Boycotts, and Brandy Melville: Our Fifth Country on the Road
Last night, on the way back from Carrefour 24-hour, we stumbled upon something wild. Our fifth country on the road and the lessons are coming faster than we can process them.
May 17, 2025 · 3 min read
Reflections · Travel
Alhamra, Alhambra, and the Waters That Remember
Standing in the Alhambra, I heard the water long before I saw it. There's something here the textbooks never told me — about what was lost when Al-Andalus fell silent.
May 12, 2025 · 5 min read
Reflections · Travel
Blood, Borders, and Boars: The Reconquista and the Pig-Leg Politics of Spain
Walk through the narrow streets of Granada, and you'll see something strange hanging in shopfronts — entire pig legs, hooves and all. It's not just food. It's a statement.
May 11, 2025 · 6 min read
Travel · Worldschooling
The Price of Convenience — Why Cash is King, and Interest is the Enemy of Peace
Cash is disappearing. Interest is everywhere. And I think both trends are quietly destroying something essential about how people live and relate to money and to each other.
May 09, 2025 · 5 min read
Reflections · Worldschooling
Granada: Blood, Beauty, and the Echoes of La Ilaha Illallah
I'm sitting in Granada, Spain — where the air hums with ghosts. Not the kind that frighten you, but the kind that whisper in arches, gardens, and fountains.
May 09, 2025 · 3 min read
Current Affairs · Worldschooling
From Minarets to Monkeys: A Walk Through Morocco's Paradoxes
Morocco doesn't let you simplify it. From the ancient medinas to the mountains, every corner holds a contradiction — sacred and profane, local and colonised, ancient and wired.
May 08, 2025 · 3 min read
Worldschooling
Catching Up: From Casablanca to Midelt
A week of covering ground across Morocco — the Al Boraq train, the Atlas Mountains, cities that don't care if you're watching. Here's what we saw and what it cost us.
May 03, 2025 · 4 min read
Reflections
Lawrence of Arabia and the Art of Perspective
A couple of days ago, I found myself in Aït Benhaddou — the Aït Benhaddou, backdrop to so many films. The landscape teaches you something about perspective you can't read in a book.
May 03, 2025 · 2 min read
Current Affairs · Reflections
The Great Canadian Deception: Oh Canada, What Have You Become?
They sell you a dream here. A frozen utopia, wrapped in red and white. Hockey-loving, maple-sipping, ever-so-polite Canadians. But the cracks are showing if you know where to look.
April 20, 2025 · 1 min read
Reflections · Worldschooling
The Prison of the Mind (and Why It Ain't Always the West's Fault)
It's easy to blame the West for everything. But some of the heaviest chains are the ones we've forged ourselves — the mindsets we inherited and never once thought to question.
April 19, 2025 · 2 min read
Reflections
Understanding Hijab: More Than Just a Scarf
The hijab has become a symbol in a war of narratives. But before it was a symbol, it was a choice — and that choice deserves more than a bumper sticker debate from either side.
April 10, 2025 · 4 min read
Current Affairs · Reflections
Before You Break Down Our Beaches, Build Up Our Future: An Open Letter from Aftas Beach
Yesterday, I sat on the golden sands of Aftas Beach, watching the waves roll in. A letter about development, memory, and what we owe the places that shaped us.
April 09, 2025 · 5 min read
Current Affairs · Reflections
Morocco's Dance with the Devil: Israel, Arms, and the Price of Power
Morocco normalised ties with Israel in exchange for Western Sahara recognition. It's a pragmatic deal wrapped in moral compromise — and it deserves an honest look.
April 03, 2025 · 3 min read
Reflections
This Eid... Let's try harder.
As we traveled from Casablanca to Mirleft, the desert wind at our backs and the call to prayer occasionally reaching our ears, I kept thinking about what it means to actually change.
April 01, 2025 · 1 min read
Current Affairs · Reflections
The Quiet Sands of Occupation
Western Sahara is one of the last occupied territories the world has largely forgotten. Driving through it, you feel the silence of a people still waiting for a verdict.
March 30, 2025 · 6 min read
Reflections · Worldschooling
Free your mind...
The most dangerous prison is the one you build for yourself. And the bars are invisible — they're made of fear, habit, and other people's opinions passed down as fact.
March 29, 2025 · 3 min read
Travel · Worldschooling
How Much Does It Really Cost to Travel to West Africa? A Family's Journey from Morocco to Mauritania and Senegal
A real budget breakdown for our family's overland journey from Morocco through Mauritania and into Senegal. The numbers will surprise you — mostly in a good way.
March 28, 2025 · 9 min read
Reflections · Worldschooling
From Buses to Business: How I'd Do West Africa Differently Next Time
If I did West Africa again, I'd skip the shared taxis, hire a driver, and stay longer in fewer places. Here's everything I'd change and why it took doing it wrong to understand that.
March 28, 2025 · 6 min read
Reflections · Worldschooling
From Desert to Baobab: A Worldschooler's Journey Through Senegal's Roots, Trees, and Flavors
When we crossed from Mauritania into Senegal by road, I could feel the land changing — not just in its colour and heat, but in its soul. The architecture shifted. The food changed.
March 26, 2025 · 3 min read
Current Affairs · Reflections
Schooled at the Border: Lessons in Worldschooling, Mauritania-Style
Two days ago we were all set to head from Dakar to Nouakchott, Mauritania, in a classic 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser. What followed was the best classroom we've had on this trip.
March 25, 2025 · 4 min read
Worldschooling
More Isn't Always Better – A Worldschooler's Guide to Economics, Happiness, and Sharing Naan
We shared one naan between four people and everyone was satisfied. The lesson took a road trip across three continents to finally sink in — but it did.
March 23, 2025 · 6 min read
Reflections
Laylatul Qadr on Goree Island: Between Chains and Revelation
Tonight is the 23rd night of Ramadan. Maybe Laylatul Qadr. The Night of Decree. Standing on Goree Island, where millions were enslaved, the weight of history and prayer collide.
March 22, 2025 · 4 min read
Reflections
Worldschooling and the Economics of Inequality: Understanding the Global North and South
When you're traveling through the world as a worldschooling family, economics isn't just a subject in a textbook. It's the price of a meal, the cost of a crossing, the weight of a currency.
March 21, 2025 · 5 min read
Worldschooling
Worldschooling & Money: How to Get and Make Money While Traveling
For worldschooling families, one of the most important things to figure out is how to keep money coming in while you keep moving. Here's what's worked for us.
March 19, 2025 · 6 min read
Current Affairs
Reflections from Dakar: The Weight of History, the Grip of Financial Chains, and the Beauty of Resilience
Dakar, Senegal — a city that embodies both the scars of history and the pulse of resilience. Walking its streets, one cannot help but feel the layers beneath the surface.
March 18, 2025 · 5 min read
Reflections
The Passing of Days: Reflections on Time and Life
Subah hui, shaam hui, zindagi tamaam hui. Morning came, evening came, and life came to its end. A reflection on time, aging, and the days we forget to count.
March 19, 2025 · 2 min read
Worldschooling
Longest bus ride of my life
The longest bus journey of my life: Tangier to Dakhla. After a record-breaking 36-hour ride spanning the length of Morocco and into the Western Sahara, everything shifted.
March 17, 2025 · 3 min read
Worldschooling
Worldschooling Through Economics: PPP, GDP, and the Cost of a Camel Ride Across North Africa
One of the best parts of worldschooling is learning about real-world economics — not through textbooks, but by experiencing how money works differently in every country we visit.
March 17, 2025 · 5 min read
Worldschooling
Navigating Cultural Identity in a Divided World
How a Pakistani Canadian brown Muslim feels travelling by road through the Western Sahara — and what it teaches you about identity, perception, and the stories we inherit.
March 17, 2025 · 4 min read
Reflections
Riding the Al Boraq: A Weekend of Exploration in Casablanca and Rabat
On the eve of Ramadan, we embarked on a quick yet immersive journey from Tangier to Casablanca and Rabat aboard Morocco's high-speed Al Boraq train. Everything felt different at speed.
March 08, 2025 · 5 min read
Worldschooling
Tangier: The Gateway to Africa and Our First Worldschooling Stop
After months of preparation and anticipation, we finally embarked on our first major worldschooling journey on February 7th. We left Toronto on a direct Royal Air Maroc flight.
February 15, 2025 · 4 min read
Worldschooling
India-Pakistan Partition for Dummies (Inspired by Chakk De Phatte)
The India-Pakistan Partition is one of the most significant and tragic events of the 20th century. But if you bring it up in North America, chances are you'll get blank stares.
February 13, 2025 · 3 min read
Reflections
Reflecting on Savannah's Beauty and its Shadows
Savannah, Georgia — a city known for its charm, beautiful squares, oak-lined streets, and a rich sense of history. When I was in Atlanta, I found myself dreaming of making it here.
January 14, 2025 · 2 min read
Reflections
Gratefulness and Sunrise: A Reflection
Sunrises have become a special part of my life in recent times. There's something about witnessing the break of dawn that fills me with gratitude — for life, for the people in it.
January 12, 2025 · 2 min read
Reflections
The Summer of Freedom: A 2000 Road Trip to Remember
The year was 2000, and I had just turned 21 that July. It was the age of possibilities, when the world felt vast, and every road seemed to lead to adventure.
January 12, 2025 · 5 min read
Reflections
A Journey Through Philadelphia: A City of History, Culture, and Art
Philadelphia is a city that seamlessly blends history, culture, and modernity. On a chilly Thursday morning, I left Toronto at 4 AM with Philly as my destination.
January 11, 2025 · 2 min read
Reflections
Starting 2025 with Gratefulness
As I sit here at the start of 2025, I find myself reflecting on what it truly means to be grateful. This isn't the typical New Year's resolution post — it's something more honest.
January 02, 2025 · 3 min read
Reflections
Washington DC: America's Rome Filled with History
Rome... in its glory! As I wandered through the streets of Washington DC, from the grandeur of the National Mall to the quiet side streets, I kept thinking of Rome.
January 01, 2025 · 2 min read
Reflections
The Real Joke Was on Me
We were cruising out of Moab, heading towards West Yellowstone, with landscapes so stunning they could've been plucked from a movie set. But instead of enjoying the ride, I was worrying.
December 30, 2024 · 1 min read
Worldschooling
Worldschooling Adventures: Strengthening Family Bonds
A grateful heart in constant motion. As the year winds down, I find myself reflecting on what worldschooling has done not just for the kids' education, but for us as a family.
December 25, 2024 · 3 min read
Worldschooling
Taos Pueblo: A Window into History and Humanity
The road to Taos was an adventure of its own, winding through old villages and breathtaking landscapes. We took a detour to a Christmas market before reaching Taos.
December 25, 2024 · 2 min read
Reflections
Crazy Horse Memorial: A Journey into Conflicted History
As a worldschooling family, we often encounter places we've never fully understood before stepping into them. The Crazy Horse Memorial was one of those stops that reframes everything.
December 25, 2024 · 3 min read
Reflections
Life Lessons from My Cars: A Journey Through Time
Cars are more than just vehicles — they are companions on our journeys, witnesses to milestones, and sometimes, the source of the clearest lessons about life and loss.
November 25, 2024 · 5 min read
Reflections
My First Worldschool Hub Experience: Washington, D.C.
Embarking on our first worldschool hub experience with my three daughters, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. As we arrived in Washington DC, it started to come together.
November 21, 2024 · 3 min read
Reflections
A Journey from Tradition to Freedom
Worldschooling wasn't a plan — it was a realisation. That the education we were giving our children was adequate, but the world could do far better. The leap was terrifying.
November 14, 2024 · 3 min read
Reflections
Gandalf's Journal: A Gentleman's Reflection on the Leaf
Ah, dear reader, you've found your way here, no doubt wondering about the pipe-weed I'm so fond of. Perhaps you're also wondering what wisdom a wizard can offer on the subject.
November 11, 2024 · 1 min read
Reflections
Embracing Awareness Through Bibliotherapy: My Journey with Anthony DeMello, Die With Zero, and The Four Agreements
Life has a way of leading us to the exact tools we need, often just when we need them the most. For me, that first tool was a book — and it changed the direction of everything.
November 07, 2024 · 2 min read
Reflections
A Journey of Humor and Inspiration
Growing up, I think my first encounter with Mad Magazine came thanks to my cousin Akeel. He had a stash of them, and as soon as I got my hands on one, something clicked.
November 06, 2024 · 2 min read
Reflections
The American Election: A Canadian Perspective
As the U.S. presidential election unfolds, conversations from breakfast to late-night chats with my brother-in-law are dominated by one thing. Here's what it looks like from Canada.
November 06, 2024 · 1 min read
Reflections
A Journey Through Perspective: Who Does the Land Belong To?
When I first arrived in Canada, I knew little about what it was — about who had been here before the settlers, before the highways and suburbs. That ignorance didn't last.
November 05, 2024 · 3 min read
Reflections
Superman and Spider-Man: The Tale of Two Superheroes, or One Alien's Immigration Mystery
Let's talk about superheroes. Spider-Man bites a radioactive spider and becomes extraordinary. Superman arrives as an alien and becomes American. Sound familiar?
November 05, 2024 · 4 min read
Reflections
Beyond the Glitz: Examining India's Troubling Reputation Under Modi's Legacy
Modi's India is celebrated in business circles and condemned by human rights groups. The truth, as always, lives somewhere in between — and it's worth looking at honestly.
November 05, 2024 · 2 min read
Reflections
The Inefficiency of Road Closures in Toronto: A Frustration That Needs Fixing
If you've ever driven on Toronto's major highways — the 401, DVP, or 404 — chances are you've been stuck in one of those notorious traffic jams that stretch for kilometres.
November 03, 2024 · 2 min read
Reflections
Discovering Worldschooling: Transformative Family Adventures
Worldschooling wasn't on my radar for most of my life. My partner first brought up the idea about six years ago, but it felt like a leap I wasn't ready to take.
November 02, 2024 · 2 min read
Reflections
Moving Countries: The Emotional Journey of Starting Fresh in Canada
Moving from Karachi to Canada was one of the most significant transitions of my life, a journey that uprooted me from a familiar world and planted me in an entirely new one.
November 01, 2024 · 2 min read
Reflections
The Evolution of Vince McMahon: A Look at Netflix's Riveting New Series
Netflix's documentary on Vince McMahon is riveting — not just as wrestling history, but as a portrait of power, excess, and the machinery of spectacle in American entertainment.
October 31, 2024 · 2 min read