by Emil Rem | Jun 25, 2026 | Analects
My dad had an uncanny knack of converting every stranger he met into a bosom friend. It drove my mother nuts with embarrassment. Yet, it taught me there was nothing wrong in emulating him. Dad never owned a car. in our small, close-knit African community, he only had...
by Emil Rem | Jun 20, 2026 | Analects
It’s 2 p.m. on a muggy Bombay afternoon as I stand in front of the Gateway of India. As anticipated, the suffocating crowds have dissipated, gone to partake in their daily siesta. The screech of birds, the smell of salt water and rotting fish waft across the harbour,...
by Emil Rem | Jun 11, 2026 | Analects
A few months ago, my younger son Christopher fell desperately ill. For several weeks he was on the verge of death. Desperate, I fell on my knees to pray. But to which God? In what language? I was born in a small, close-knit, Muslim community that had flourished for...
by Emil Rem | Jun 4, 2026 | Analects
Continued from Part III What possessed me to flout my mother’s counsel? As a baby, when dandling me on her knee, she had warned ,” NEVER go into business at the same time with two Jewish-Russian ladies with the same first name, one opening a haute couture ladies’...
by Emil Rem | May 28, 2026 | Analects
Continued from Part II I met Anna L. at the same time as I was working in partnership with Anna S. Both were Jewish Russians and both seeking financing to start their own business. Anna L. had none of the intelligence nor glamour of her counterpart. She was the...
