On nachos on bagels & more

Maersk ships blocked by Spain after mobilization by Palestinian Youth Movement // The world’s largest shipping company, Maersk, was circumventing Spanish law and attempted to evade the country’s active arms embargo against Israel through U.S. freight forwarding firms. The discovery was led by PYM & Progressive International’s investigation, prompting Spanish authorities to block Maersk vessels from docking at its ports. The devil works hard but Palestinians work harder ✌🏼🍉

The Franchise // This new HBO comedy brings a sharp satirical edge to the madness behind blockbuster superhero movies - fragile star egos, eccentric directors, studio execs’ endless meddling. Every character is hanging by a thread, scrambling to save a struggling franchise. Also, the title track can totally fit into the Challengers universe - so good.

‘Greenwashing conference’ underway in Azerbaijan // Greta Thunberg, among other activists, raises concerns that the climate conference COP29 may serve more to promote Azerbaijan's oil interests and cover up its human rights abuses than work towards genuine climate action.

11,000-year-old Roman temples under Israeli attack in Lebanon // UNESCO has called for an emergency meeting on the triad of temples in Baalbek devoted to the Roman deities of Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury. These are among the world’s best preserved heritage sites, but are now in the line of direct Israeli bombing. Everything the Zios touch - or in this case fly over - turns to ash.

A Personal Portal @ Dastaangoi // This gallery show on third spaces opens on 15th November, featuring work by AB Rehman, Ahsan Javaid, Ahsan Memon, Arslan Farooqi, Hamid Ali Hanbhi and Syed Hussain. If not for the art, go for the gorgeous location.

Zikr-e-Watan @ IVSAA // I stopped reading after Fareed Ayaz & Abu Muhammad. Sign me up!

Introducing the 3rd set of Pastel Everything postcards: Jashn - inspired by works of Gaston La Touche in the public domain. Each set contains 3 4R-sized notecards (4x6"), printed on 260gsm, resin-coated, water-resistant luster paper, and reinforced by an additional layer of 230gsm matte paper on the writing side at the back.

Jashn is priced at Rs. 950 + Rs. 300 delivery, exclusively discounted from original price of Rs.1450 for subscribers of Jungle Mein Mangal. Online payment, no COD. The first batch only has 14 pieces, and there won't be more than two batches produced. Order by replying to this email with your name, address, contact number, and order quantity. I’ll send you the payment details then 🫰🏼💌🌷

Hafsa Ashfaq’s album artwork for Bayaan’s Safar // You know how there is art that you see and can immediately tell which artist it is? That’s Hafsa for me because of how consistent and consistently good her work is.

Nisarga Art Hub in Kerala, India // The meaning this space holds for culture and music is another story altogether, but oh my god the architecture of it.

We had a work retreat this weekend to Khanispur. Shared a bunch of stuff from it on my stories already, BUT saved my biggest takeaway for here.

On our last day, we were running short on time so couldn’t cook anything for breakfast. All we had were toasted bagels and stuff to put on them. Cream cheese by itself just wouldn’t do so, keeping up with questionable food combinations, I added Noms Nachos to them. And it was so good?? It had just the right amount of crunch. Like lighter papri. This is going into everything now. Sandwiches, burgers, lasagna. All of it.

You’d be lying if you said this doesn’t look good.

I’m planning a trip to Karachi for a week in December, but haven’t decided on the dates yet. Let me know what interesting stuff is happening in the city so I can coincide my dates to that.

Until the next one, shaam bakhair 🌅🤍

If you want to talk about my work, bounce some ideas, or just have a casual chat fangirling over a film, feel free to reply to this email or schedule a jam session with me here.