Walking the Mezquita

Walking the Mezquita

As my family negotiated the narrow, winding street, well before reaching our destination, we could hear the tumult ahead. It led us to a square overwhelmed with sightseers. This could have been any tourist trap in Europe. We battled through a surging tide of humanity...
Pride, Prejudice, and the Efficacy of Brown Humour

Pride, Prejudice, and the Efficacy of Brown Humour

I quickly learned the art of self-deprecatory humour in my pre-teens. Thrown into an all-white, uneducated, low-income housing estate outside London, I was the only coloured inhabitant. Love playing football (soccer), I would trawl the streets on my bike searching for...
Welcome Home

Welcome Home

When I was born, Dar-es-Salaam (Arabic for Haven of Peace) was an idyllic harbour on the coast of East Africa. After an absence of forty years, only a chance sojourn in Dubai and an advert in the Gulf News offering a three-day excursion enticed me to return home. I...
Made in Heaven

Made in Heaven

“Hon, some good news,” Laura exclaimed one day while we were dating. “All my brothers and sisters are returning to the Philippines this Christmas. If I go, what will you do?” “If they’re all coming, why can’t we go and get married there at the same time?” She started...