My father was in the foreign service, so we moved from country to country. For me Pakistan sounded like a foreign country. Had visitors from there. Except for them and my own family spoke Urdu, The minute I stepped out spoke that country's language.It defnitely did not feel like home. All 'fresh fruit' was in cans, when I returned to Karachi, I found what fresh fruit was like, the smell itself was intoxicating,there is no smell in canned fruit,Having canned fruit only begun to seriously believe that was the only way offered. I was in a cold country, I hated the cold,
I was relieved when I returned to Pakistan. particularly, Karachi. I no longer needed to wear anything warm, no sweaters, no gloves. The sun was pleasing. I stayed in it as long as possible. I was staying at my khaalas place. She called me back in and handed me a glass of water and a soft drink.
"It's so hot outside did you not feel it?"
"No" I replied
Years later in a routine medical examination the doctor told me, my skin had a strange condition. I was highly sensitive to cold, but heat did not bother me. Only a heatwave would make me sweat. It was so nice to hear people speaking Urdu. Made really feel at home.
Back in those days there were no cars. A guest came in a car; After a few minutes, kids and young men were huddled by the car, some went under it, others looked through the windows. These people had never seen a car in their life, only heard about them. How times have changed, Karachi now has 6 million cars, old and new combined. My late khaala's house we had stayed has become Karachi's biggest car market.
As for grown ups, everyone played bridge. It was part of social life. Scrabble and Mah-Jong were not that popular Every night was Bridge night.One my elders was extremely addicted to Bridge, After his 9-5 job, he would be playing Bridge all at someone's house the rest of the evening and night. Go to office from wherever he was playing Bridge.
As soon as we cousins were allowed to leave home, took a rickshaw a taxi in those days were too expensive. Bought tickets for Rs 3.50 the other 50 paisas were for cold drinks. Then we would back home. If you had the right contacts one could see porn films (then known as Blue Films). In most cases movies released in the US, would be available three or four years later. Rarely did some movies had their worldwide premier, being shown all over world at the same time, it was expensive.
Later much of the value of cinema films had declined when VCRs came around. This would seem odd to todays' kids that we actually rented porn.
Automatic cars were unheard of. By the time they came around we would ne busy working. We remembered the time that Karachi hardly any cars and massive traffic jams a fantasy. A film maker created the illusion that Karachi has huge traffic jams. He asked friends to lend their cars to create the illusion. What was fiction then was become a nightmare.
My generation in its youth never had cell phones, many of them did not have telephones. So the only way to chat with ones friends was to go over to their house. To see young people use cells is baffling. For instance some young person asks me to note down a number, I look for a pen and paper to note it down, if my son is around I hand over the phone to him, he does something, without using a pen and paper and tells me that the number has been saved. I never ask because I know I will never understand it.
In my childhood there were a few cultural norms in place and I never thought them see go. One of them we as children, would make it a point to visit our elders i.e. uncles and aunts. For no reason that they were our elders. But by time we reached such an age, that era had long since gone. My siblings, my cousins had not only sent their children abroad for studies and to permanently settle there, suddenly loneliness set upon us. We have been denied the privilege of seeing children and grand-children.
So the country I grew up in has vanished. A new one is emerging, by the time we will become accustomed to we would be long since
Three elders
I had three maamoos. all very different from each other. The eldest strongly believed in arranged marriage, though he himself married a woman of his choice. He had arranged the marriage of all three of them. His daughter's had no say in the matter. The eldest did marry a man of her choice but her husband had huge dick which he could not hide even in his baggy trousers. The second maamoo had four daughters, he did the exact opposite of what his elder brother had done. He left his daughters do as they please, marry, divorce, remarry. The third Maamoo had the misfortune of being the father of children with birth defects. The question of what he wanted for his daughter(s) did not arise.
My khaalas had arranged marriages, two of them failed because they were suffering from some mental illness.One merely trudged along a marriage which was merely surviving.
There was one common factor amongst those who lived in Karachi - never expressing ones emotions. Clapping, singing,whistling and laughing was discouraged.
In the late 1970s weddings took a turn.It was something to celebrated by singing and dancing. It was a trend which caught on. Though Indian films were banned, people watched via the VCR and things which the Censor Board would have banned. All the Indian film songs were played used in Mehdis. Everyone danced to them.
Times had changed arranged marriages are slowly getting out of fashion. It is happening right before eyes, Gay marriages have taken place, there are single mothers. It is as if the world has turned upside down.
I was relieved when I returned to Pakistan. particularly, Karachi. I no longer needed to wear anything warm, no sweaters, no gloves. The sun was pleasing. I stayed in it as long as possible. I was staying at my khaalas place. She called me back in and handed me a glass of water and a soft drink.
"It's so hot outside did you not feel it?"
"No" I replied
Years later in a routine medical examination the doctor told me, my skin had a strange condition. I was highly sensitive to cold, but heat did not bother me. Only a heatwave would make me sweat. It was so nice to hear people speaking Urdu. Made really feel at home.
Back in those days there were no cars. A guest came in a car; After a few minutes, kids and young men were huddled by the car, some went under it, others looked through the windows. These people had never seen a car in their life, only heard about them. How times have changed, Karachi now has 6 million cars, old and new combined. My late khaala's house we had stayed has become Karachi's biggest car market.
My family
My maternal aunts, khaalaas were too many to count and remember. My maternal uncles too. I had just about too many cousins. Before we were allowed to go out we would be up to something or the other. things which kids would find silly. Competing at crosswords, joining lines Made a hash of chess and scrabble. by destroying every single rule. Playing bluff with scrabble. Even today I ask the same question if chess can have squares, why not other shapes,round shape, star shape, rectangle shape and triangles and pieces designed for those shapes. Most of my cousins would say "Aah he's just an idiot asking stupid questions" But one cousin much to my surprise actually gave me an answer with tremendous effort. "More pieces would make the game more complex" That was one answer, I thanked him I doubt anyone has made an Urdu version of scrabble, Urdu has more alphabets. Those were things what did as kids.As for grown ups, everyone played bridge. It was part of social life. Scrabble and Mah-Jong were not that popular Every night was Bridge night.One my elders was extremely addicted to Bridge, After his 9-5 job, he would be playing Bridge all at someone's house the rest of the evening and night. Go to office from wherever he was playing Bridge.
As soon as we cousins were allowed to leave home, took a rickshaw a taxi in those days were too expensive. Bought tickets for Rs 3.50 the other 50 paisas were for cold drinks. Then we would back home. If you had the right contacts one could see porn films (then known as Blue Films). In most cases movies released in the US, would be available three or four years later. Rarely did some movies had their worldwide premier, being shown all over world at the same time, it was expensive.
Later much of the value of cinema films had declined when VCRs came around. This would seem odd to todays' kids that we actually rented porn.
Automatic cars were unheard of. By the time they came around we would ne busy working. We remembered the time that Karachi hardly any cars and massive traffic jams a fantasy. A film maker created the illusion that Karachi has huge traffic jams. He asked friends to lend their cars to create the illusion. What was fiction then was become a nightmare.
My generation in its youth never had cell phones, many of them did not have telephones. So the only way to chat with ones friends was to go over to their house. To see young people use cells is baffling. For instance some young person asks me to note down a number, I look for a pen and paper to note it down, if my son is around I hand over the phone to him, he does something, without using a pen and paper and tells me that the number has been saved. I never ask because I know I will never understand it.
In my childhood there were a few cultural norms in place and I never thought them see go. One of them we as children, would make it a point to visit our elders i.e. uncles and aunts. For no reason that they were our elders. But by time we reached such an age, that era had long since gone. My siblings, my cousins had not only sent their children abroad for studies and to permanently settle there, suddenly loneliness set upon us. We have been denied the privilege of seeing children and grand-children.
So the country I grew up in has vanished. A new one is emerging, by the time we will become accustomed to we would be long since
Three elders
I had three maamoos. all very different from each other. The eldest strongly believed in arranged marriage, though he himself married a woman of his choice. He had arranged the marriage of all three of them. His daughter's had no say in the matter. The eldest did marry a man of her choice but her husband had huge dick which he could not hide even in his baggy trousers. The second maamoo had four daughters, he did the exact opposite of what his elder brother had done. He left his daughters do as they please, marry, divorce, remarry. The third Maamoo had the misfortune of being the father of children with birth defects. The question of what he wanted for his daughter(s) did not arise.
My khaalas had arranged marriages, two of them failed because they were suffering from some mental illness.One merely trudged along a marriage which was merely surviving.
There was one common factor amongst those who lived in Karachi - never expressing ones emotions. Clapping, singing,whistling and laughing was discouraged.
In the late 1970s weddings took a turn.It was something to celebrated by singing and dancing. It was a trend which caught on. Though Indian films were banned, people watched via the VCR and things which the Censor Board would have banned. All the Indian film songs were played used in Mehdis. Everyone danced to them.
Times had changed arranged marriages are slowly getting out of fashion. It is happening right before eyes, Gay marriages have taken place, there are single mothers. It is as if the world has turned upside down.
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