It is raining right now in Ashburn, VA. But it is not the same kind of rain that visits Lahore. Rain here is a fact of life, life changes to a small extent in that the kids’ soccer matches are cancelled but overall, people go about there business. Rain is like sunshine: a weather fact that is to be looked at and treated like any other facts of daily life.
Now, that is not the case in Lahore. In Lahore, rain is anticipated, it is enjoyed. It is not a matter of fact to be ignored. No, rain is too precious a gift from the heavens to be left unnoticed, like the sunshine that bears down hard on people.
When it rains, people in the offices smile, kids in classrooms want to go and play outside, women want to put on songs and call their loved ones, men – and women – get an urge to eat Pakoras.
People in the offices update their statuses on FaceBook that they are having a great day; they pool in their money to ask the office boys (ah yes, you poor souls toiling in the cubicles in US, the joy of an office boy bring you tea every afternoon is something that you will never have) to run to Main Market in Gulberg (I am talking about our office), and buy an assortment of Pakoras, samosas, bhallay and jalaibis (perhaps not everything at the same time).
When I was in Lahore, we used to find an excuse to eat. My eating buddies were Khalid, Shafiq and Tassaduq Sb and Mansoor, with his taste for jalaybees:-) Our afternoon meetings were injected with this high cholesterol energy food, rain or no rain, and boy was it fun. The fun part for me was not the food itself but the fact that you could get it so readily and share it with friends.
One day, when I do start work again in the US, I guess I will have to learn to forgo that pleasure too.
take it from someone who has been there done that……nostalgia dosent help it just makes your transition harder.
It is a shame whats happening in Pakistan, but even if one is an optimist I don’t think things will improve in our lifetime, so just let it go…
You are probably right on both counts. However, in order for things to improve, each one of us will have to play our part and contribute in some manner. I don’t know how exactly, maybe just writing about it or helping out economically in some small way, but we have to do something.
I agree that nations take generations to mature and to come of age but they must be set on the right course. Also, it is not just Pakistan anymore, is it, it is about our religion. So, if things are not going to improve in Pakistan or beyond, fine! But things have to be put on the “right path” for them to improve at some later point then.