Nida Farid
Author Website
I read an article about the link between coffee and Anxiety, and it changed my life. As kids, we weren’t allowed to have caffeine. I started drinking coffee during my undergrad, up to 4 cups/day. In my twenties, I went through some years of trauma. My memory became like a sieve, my thoughts whizzing at the speed of light, and my sleep restless (waking up every hour). I often had foggy brain and dissociation, my attention span in tatters. Once I removed myself from the source of trauma, I hoped the symptoms would fade over time. Yet, the restless nights…
She pulled open the curtains and let the morning light in. The city sprawled ahead below her. Hundreds and thousands of houses, with solar panels installed on their rooftops, and trees lining the streets between them. The houses gave way to the Margalla Hills in the distance, the early morning rays making the backdrop hazy. A large black bird swooped by her. Her eyes jerked up, taking in the beautiful black bird sailing barely a meter below her. “Is that a raven? Does Islamabad have ravens?” she thought. “It’s definitely not a crow, since there’s no grey.” The bird was…
Happy New Year! I honestly don’t know what to say for New Year’s. I fulfilled one of my biggest dreams (to publish my first novel) in 2025. I also got to visit 3 new countries in 2025. Yet 2025 has still felt like a hard year. I think it has for many people across the world. The ever increasing polarization and oppression of human rights within Pakistan and across the globe, and the continued massacre of the Palestinians (while the Western governments and media continue to enable it) has battered my hope in the general humanity I thought every human…
Please stop telling boys that “Men Don’t Cry”. When you tell boys that it is not OK to cry, you are instead making them suppress their pain. You are encouraging the rhetoric, even if you don’t use the words, that it is OK for Men to get angry, but is not OK for them to cry. That Real Men should get angry instead of crying. Who do you thing they will take out their anger on? The women and children in their lives, and others that are weaker than them. That Anger could even become physical violence. It does become…
What if we stopped doing good in the world? What if we instead focused on doing no harm? As I have seen more and more of the world, the truer the old adage “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” has turned out to be. I realize now that many people do as much harm in trying to do good as others do in intentionally doing bad. Many people start off with good intentions, wanting to save the world. And then they make one decision that is a little morally and ethically wrong, but they make that decision…
Love does not teach to hate. Learn the difference. If you hate another country to prove your love for yours, you are not patriotic, you are a nationalist. And that is as bad as some other “ist” words like facist, racist, etc. Patriotism is doing good for your country and fellow citizens out of love and goodwill. It does not involve hate of another country or a desire to hurt others or to feel superior to others. Patriotism is what drives you to do good in your community. Unchecked nationalism is what drives you to hurt others and to war…
The trawler rumbles across the grey tidal flats, bringing back a group of people and picking up new passengers to take a kilometre out where there are better pickings of shellfish. The passengers getting off all have full bags. Hmm, I wonder what they found? Clams, oysters, conches, crabs, mussels, scallops? They are going to have a wonderful satisfying BBQ lunch-on-the-beach with their hard-earned harvest. The new passengers scramble onto the trawlers, the children excited to accompany their parents on this quintessential Korean family experience. Everyone is wearing rubber boots, with bright vests and aprons on to protect their clothes…
Today, I am excited to introduce you to the main characters of my book, “The Extraordinary Life of Riz”. You may have noticed them on the book cover, too. The illustrations are by my sister, Sama N. Izhar, who is an animator in her day job, and has worked on countless animated movies and TV shows. 🙂First, let’s meet Riz. After learning about his parents’ story from his Uncle Qasim, Riz has always stayed away from the females of his species. He is happy as long as he has Uncle Qasim and Big Al by his side. But deep down,…
Today I am very excited to reveal the final book cover for “The Extraordinary Life of Riz.” You may have already seen this in some of my social media posts. But if not, I wanted to inform you of the progress in this blog, as well. Thank you to all of you who voted in the poll for the book cover contest. You made the decision very very clear for me. 🙂 Here’s another view of the cover, which includes the back cover and the description. Hasn’t the designer, @anja.arho, done an amazing job? The character illustrations are by the…
When I lived in the US, everything was “awesome” and “amazing” and “perfect” and “mind-blowing” and “incredible”. Or it was “awful”, “horrendous”, “criminal”, “terrible”, etc. “It’s fine” meant that one didn’t really like something. Even saying “it’s good” meant it wasn’t good enough for one’s standards. It took a stint in Europe to start tempering and measuring my words. “Good” finally became good again. “It’s fine” started to mean “I’m comfortable. Don’t worry about it”. It came as a shock that complaining about my food was considered bad manners, unless there was something horribly wrong with it. “Horribly wrong” by…
