Vanilla Tan and Salmon

You might just call me a ranting-at-others-doing-it-herself hypocrite after reading this post. I know I'll get a few raised eyebrows, or probably some smirks, others might just accuse me of joining in with the neighbors in their house renovation mania but I object in my defense *pounds fist on her desk and then coughs on the dust storm it caused* the frenzy amongst my neighbors has long been over and my family's timing for this house maintenance/renovation/paint is a safe distance away from that frenzy era ( Read - Rooster in my lawn, for reference) And besides our house was in a desperate need for some touch up and care. The paint on the walls was chipping off, the shield part of the weather shield paint on the exteriors had apparently long dissolved away and what's left was the lurid effect of the weather on display, a window pane had gone loose and would leak every time it rained and should I mention how the main gate needed some extra effort on opening with that loose handle !? So you see my case is completely justified, hmmph ( Dont you dare raise your finger again ).

So anyways, I'm living like a nomad under my own roof. There's a parade of  painters,carpenters masons, electrician, plumber,etc in my home, And I just keep moving with my satchel of books from one free room to the other where ever there's peace. Now I know my readers in the west might just end up thinking I'm some richie rich for DIY is the norm in the West and getting someone to do the job would cost a looot. But in our part of the world, its completely the opposite. For you see we are a developing country and labour is very cheap here. So everyone just hires a painter, or carpenter etc to do the job which ends up being a more feasible and economic option than DIY.

My room got painted yesterday, and I'm back in it. The furniture is all out of place and covered with dust.I've only cleaned my desk so that I can atleast have some place to study, I'll do the rest of the cleaning later today. And btw dont you wanna know what colour my walls are now ? Well I had three of the walls painted Vanilla tan while the fourth one is Salmon ! I was a little apprehensive about the Salmon, but I'm glad I made the right decision, the direction of the sunlight that enters my room seems to be complementing it :).

All this chaos shall hopefully be over till Saturday and life shall return to its usual peacefulness. I'll be posting again soon, Chao

The end - To Daam

Remember my Mid summer loves ? And how I was all up and excited to watch the drama Daam ? Well I watched the whole 17 episodes of the drama and was eager to watch the last (18th episode) on Friday at 8 pm when there was an unexpected power outage that brought the biggest AAW that could have ever escaped my mouth. The pain of suffering the power outage was nothing as compared to the agony of missing the last episode. I knew it wouldn't come up on You tube till after two days and I had no idea of the repeat telecast either, but today as I was in the shower I heard my mom knock at the door and tell me in a voice that seemed like a fail attempt to contain her excitement that -  Daam was on !!!!


This is the title song


Daam sure had a phenomenal ending,( Its very unlike me to have my eyes welled up with tears, but in this case it did happen !)  it wasnt like those fairy tale like dramas where everything miraculously falls back into place and 'they live happily ever after' but it wasnt sad either. It was 'real' where sacrifices were made, tears were shed but everyone had to go on with life with their own share of bitter memories. Happiness did come but to those who sacrificed the most.

Here's a brief review.

Zaara and Maleeha are best friends and class fellows in a medical college . Zaara comes from a very poor family while Maleeha is totally the opposite. But nevertheless Zaara's and Maleeha's friendship is exemplary and they're more like sisters. Maleeha's rich bro Junaid also admires their friendship and falls in love with Zaara. They hide their likings for each other from Maleeha who finally discovers it ( thanks to her evil sis-in-law to be who wants to marry Junaid) Maleeha falls for her SILs slanderings and cleverly comes in between Zara and Junaid. The lives of both Zara and Junaid fall apart and Maleeha loses her friendship. But time makes her realise how her selfishness has actually disturbed and destroyed three families and how none of them is happy....All in all it was a brilliant drama, a little slow at times but perfectly directed and marvelously acted. I really appreciate 7th Sky production's effort to highlight social issues in this drama and others.

Moral - Life can often be a challenge but if you hang through it with righteousness you will emerge victorious ...

Downtown wanderings !

Many of my recent posts have been about what I feel and I'm sure I've gotten most of you bored with my emotions brimming over the edge and spilling all over this blog. So this time I'm gonna post about all the wonderful and not so wonderful things I've been upto..

This building was built in 1906.

Like this pic ? Well I love it ! It looks like a poster for some teenage adventure movie. The building in this pic is a library just behind my college. And since my college is located in the city downtown, a part of old Karachi, there is no dearth of such ,old, British era buildings. Many of them are not very well preserved and I really wish we had some heritage preservation commitee to mantain them. Well anyway this building seems to be well mantained. We just wandered here after our ward one day but unfortunately it was closed at that time so we couldnt see the interior. I hope we go there again some time.

We ventured deeper into the sprawling old Karachi last week when we suddenly planned to go to Subway (the sandwich shop :D we don't have subs in Karachi ). A few of us jumped into Aniqa's car while the rest of us took an Autorickshaw. The Auto rickshaw is my favourite mode of public transport !! Its safe and its fun :)

A traditional rickshaw

These are the modern, energy efficient rickshaws which are gradually replacing the noisy, and carbon emitting older ones

Many of my friends often travel in the downtown, but I rarely get the oppurtunity. I love getting to see new things,explore places and find something or other to get awed and amazed.Thats one reason I can never sleep in the car. I keep my eyes wide opened like an owl and keep staring around with my neck turning in all directions. On this particular autorickshaw trip I got to see the building of the State of Pakistan, the KPT building, the session court, a very old church, Habib Bank Plaza, and a building that brought me a very strong flashback. I remember going there with my parents as a child ( I have an elephant's memory)

The Habib Bank Plaza

The State Bank of Pakistan ( This is a building from the British era too)

The KPT building

Metamorphosis !

image courtesy - google search

 I felt congested to the core and decided running away from everything was the safest option. I deactivated my fb account, stopped blogging, and took a few days off from college. Yeah. I have these strange phases in life, once in a while, when nothing seems right and I feel like packing my bags and moving to a new/strange city where no one knows me.I grow skeptical about myself, self-doubt sinks in and insomnia strikes, every chemical within my body seems out of balance.Absent mindedness and a lack of concentration make me feel as if Im in a different dimension, viewing things from a distance. I feel detached, out of sync, displaced from my ecological niche. A bird trying to thrive under water, or a penguin in the tropics. But thankfully these phases pass and I emerge with something positive.

I believe these phases are like the stages of metamorphosis for me. Just like a larva, changes into a pupa and a pupa into a butterfly. These transitions are changes, and changes, are something I find hard to adapt. I try to make sure the changes around me are gradual or minimal but when they arise within me, there's nothing I can do about it. It takes me time, it takes me getting used to, and until then, I wrap myself in a shield of emotions and thoughts and hence the troublesome phase. But once the change sets in, the shield begins to dissolve and emerges from within, a newer, changed version of me. The changes are minor, a mere difference in thought pattern, a remodeled idea of self, re-adjusted principles, reconstructed dreams, transformed ideas, or a refined personality. Nothing major, nothing macroscopically visible...

Im glad that phase is over, I'm happy to be out of the cocoon,  free and fresh :)