Varisha Tariq

“I don’t understand why I have to put a stole to cover myself up,” I said, horrified. I was fourteen, with simmering teenage anger, making sense of the world and not liking the position Muslim women were often put into. I had clarity; if you want to wear something, you wear it, whether Hijab or dresses, and if you don’t like something you don’t wear it. But my extended family was insistent that it was the ‘right’ age for me to start covering up, a narrative common for many Muslim Women.

In all our homes, we all have dining tables to serve our everyday needs, but if you know South Asians, we often have more than the selected number of people who can sit at the table. So, what do we do? A Dastarkhān, or dastarkhwān is the name used to refer to a dining spread on the ground, on top of gorgeous tablecloths, laid out with many different dishes. Found across Asia, this concept allows for many people to sit comfortably; ideal for when the gathering is large and space is limited.

On 10th October, 2025, the Afghan Embassy hosted a forum with Afghanistan’s Foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in New Delhi, India. The embassy had invited over sixteen journalists, and not a single one of them was a woman, let alone a woman from intersectional identities. In the forum, it was observed by other journalists, how women and foreign media were turned away from the gate of the embassy, and has been widely discussed in the media. As a young woman journalist, based out of India, wi