author - oman observer

One of the most interesting world history books I’ve read so far is by Spanish author Juan Eslava Galán called History of the World Narrated for Sceptics. The book is divided into 125 short...

For the past few months, my brother has been insisting that I should watch Korean mini-series Squid Game on Netflix.Having sleepless nights after watching Korean horror movie: The Tale of Two Sisters...

My friend Isabel invited me to visit Al Mawalih dog shelter where she volunteers. As we entered, I was welcomed by Batool the shelter’s manager having a tug-of-war moment with two puppies who were...

Fathers and Sons is a novel by Russian author Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883) that was published in Moscow in 1862. The novel is set in 19th century Russia, where two friends Arkady Kirsanov and Yevgeny...

When Qatar announced hosting the World Cup, I nagged my brother about attending as we missed many World Cups before for excuses that included long distance and Islamophobia. I even signed up with the...

When the World Cup Started, Sham the helper appointed himself as our sports’ analysist and gained the nickname Sham Shobair (Shobair is a famous Egyptian goalkeeper from the 90s who later became a...

With a heavy heart, I’d been following the wake of stray dogs shooting that happened in many areas here. Emotions were high on social media, between anguished locals and concerned Europeans...

Years back, while exchanging e-mails with my dear American friend Deanna and while discussing yoga classes she asked if I’d ever tried something called hot yoga. Never hearing of it before I asked...

A few months after the Spanish Civil war broke in 1936, George Orwell travelled on the pretense of covering it but, his true intention was joining the fight against fascism. He enlisted in an...

After leaving Mani’s still feeling hungry (what’s with the new Barbie portions of pancakes and French toast for breakfast? My unsatisfaction is best described by grandma’s words ‘the fox who...

If you’re not familiar with classic Indo-Pakistani writers, I’d like to invite you to watch Nandita Das’s film Manto (2018). Born in 1912, Saadat Hassan Manto was an author and a playwright who...

In July 1950, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg — an American couple of Jewish ancestry — were arrested by the FBI for espionage and passing top-secret information to the USSR that helped them build...

Mansoor was curious about the new visitor and tried to make contact from the second day by jumping on the artist’s lap. The artist was freaked out by the act and apologised by saying that he still...

The minute the artist set his foot in Kitzania, he was pretty nervous. Never being around cats meant that he had the typical misconceptions of all non-cat owners: cats are sly and good for nothing but...

When my aunt announced that she’s coming for a short visit to Muscat along with her husband the artist — a man with no pet experience and innate hate for cats- it was the time for an urgent...

Whether you’re a fan of Iranian cinema or had never watched an Iranian movie before, Mohammed Rasoulof’s There is No Evil is a must-watch.The original Farsi title of the film is: Satan doesn’t...

Being from the Gulf and going through its education system meant two things: 1) The words Darwinism and Evolution were merely mentioned in our biology syllabus but were never taught as it opposed...

On one of those mornings where you expect nothing, I heard one of my kittens meowing persistently and went out to check if it was stuck on a tree (the usual kitten trouble!). As I approached the...

What is love? Is it everlasting the way it’s presented in art and literature? Most importantly, what happens to it after marriage? Does marital bliss exist or is it hard to attain? These questions...

16) There was a man who owned a date shop in the city of Al-Mada’in near Baghdad. He had a young assistant who sometimes locked himself in the shop. The owner suspected that he’d be eating dates...