Don't you dare steal my cabbage !!

It was supposed to be our human anatomy class.The teacher hadn't arrived yet so I borrowed Uzma's readers digest to read in the meantime.Just as I started reading, Uzma and Shirin, seated on either side of me turned to talk ,and here's there conversation

Shirin - Hey Uzma ! Your chicken is about to lay eggs isn't it ?

Uzma - Oh yes ! I'm just so excited !

Shirin - Good for you , my dog went lost, its just so sad !

I was wondering when Uzma got chickens and Shirin a dog but decided to go on reading trying to block their conversation out of my ears.

Uzma - Suits you well, you stole my cabbages last week , it was just about to harvest you know !

Shirin - Look who's talking ! You stole my carrots ! I spent hours trying to harvest them !

Uzma - Hahah well you didn't have a dog to guard your farm, did you ? What can you expect ?

Shirin - Oh, you just wait I'll steal your corn tonight and get a dog too.

Uzma - We'll see.But dont you dare steal my cabbage, they sell for higher !!!

No matter how hard I tried to block their sounds from my ear, it was difficult to do so with both of them talking on my either sides, and their weird conversation did n't help either. By now I had my mouth agape in bewilderment ! And was totally lost. Stealing veggies, harvesting farms, pets and what more they're selling it now !!!! I knew they dont own farms and no one in their family did either so what was the whole nonsense..

I just muttered - Lost

Shirin (turning to look at me ) - What ? You lost your dog too ?

Me - What ? No ! I dont have a dog you know that ! I've lost track of your conversation.Thats where I'm lost.What are you guys talking about.And by the way,Why are you guys stealing cabbages and carrots !

I said with a bamboozled look on my face. There was a pause and then they burst out laughing, it took a whole minute to get them stop laughing and start explaining.

Uzma and Shirin - We were talking about facebook's barnbuddy application you idiot ! Hhahahah.... and on they went

How was I supposed to know ???

Weird panic attacks in public !

My uncle was here to visit us for a week and ofcourse the week fleeted in no time and it was time for him to go yesterday ! We went to the airport to drop him off. Hugging and waving and the usual goodbyes took place and we left the airport to return to the car park.Just when I was about to take the escelator to the lower floor I noticed a girl about 6 or 7 years old a few paces ahead of me.She was with kids about her own age and they were playing by going down the escelator and coming back up again.But what drew my attention was the fact that she was n't being careful, she hoped on to the escelator to go down without even looking at it and had her foot at two steps at once ...I know that happens a lot of time and that escelators are not danger zones but to see a 6 year old in that precarious situation made the chicken in me panic..All of a sudden without even realising , as if like a reflex I had my arms raised to the 90 degree position pointing my fingers at her, my legs went rigid while my torso kept curving backwards as I started squeaking in Panic ( nervousness makes me squeak in situations when I intend to scream !) "She'll fall ,she'll fall !!" . Apparently all I could get out of my mouth was 'fall,fall ' for my mom and grandma who were at a distance thought I was the one falling, and had to come to my rescue !,my weird posture must have added to their misconception. Whats even more embarassing is the thought that my weird act must have won many stares from the people around me.

I regained my normality only when after a few seconds I saw the kid remain unharmed and simply step backwards to keep herself from falling just like anyone would have done. But I did realise that my response was a little too exaggerated and ofcourse, very embarassing !

Home sweet home

A pic of the neelam lake I found on the internet

Everytime my mom's angry with me over something I just tease her by saying she better treasure me or I'm moving to the dorm.It melts her down and freezes her temper.Its been going on for quite a while now and I'm making the best out of it.I know I know its evil of me :) but hey its fun.In our society we live with our parents until atleast we get married and parents support their children financially until they get a job which is usually after they get some good decent education.Part time jobs during student life are not a norm in our society.Coming back to the point, last week I decided to go visit the girls dorm and see for myself the kind of life I could expect there.So yesterday my best friend Uzma and I found some free time between classes and ventured into the dorms area with a sense of curiosity and admiration towards a life which we had only seen in movies or heard of from our friends who live in the dorms.Well I had to drag Uzma with me (she was tired after the previous day's late night shopping !) but nevertheless she did come with me no matter how much she hated to (I can always count on her :) )

The dorm, hostel as it is called here, lies in a closed, walled compound with guards outside to make sure its female inhabitants are safe and secure.We had to get permission from the matron to enter.She was kind enough to send us a lady (no idea who she was !) to show us around.

It was a decent place with a huge veranda in the middle.There are three hostel blocks.A was dangy, B was better , C was best.You can keep TVs, Fridges, microwaves etc ,air conditioners are not allowed though.But all the while I was there all I kept saying to myself subconciously was, 'I cant live here', 'I dont wanna live here', 'I'm so not living here' etc.It gave me a strange sense of loneliness, depression, and an unfillable vacuum.But most of all I realised that I would miss my parents and the luxuries I have at home.I'd miss my home itself, my room, my dear room with its attached bathroom..So that day when I came back home I entered the door with such a huge feeling of relief and ofcourse love for my family that I dont think I'm going to look back to the dorms anytime soon ! And so obviously I'm not threatning my mom anymore :)

Ramadan, Iftar parties and unexpected rains !

A glimpse of the rain from my window

Its after sunset here in Karachi and I just sat down to blog after breaking my fast.Its the month of Ramadan (Acc to Islamic calender) in which all the muslims fast from dawn to dusk and refrain from all kinds of food,drinks and sinful activities. With Ramadan comes not only a lot of worship but Iftar parties as well.People invite those who fast at their homes and they break the fast togethor.We just had an Iftar party at my friend Faryal's place who was more than excited to have us over since she's leaving to meet her parents in Saudi Arabia tommorrow and will be coming back after two long months !

Faryal and her delicious cutlets !

It was a good thing that we had the party in the weekend because just as the weekend ended all of a sudden the met department announced thunderous rains.It was most unexpected since its post-monsoon time in Karachi and it rarely rains in this season.Let alone rain so heavily that the entire sky went dark and it rained for like two days on an on and off basis.It was fun at the start (yes, fun,there is so much of sunshine in Karachi that people call cloudy weather pleasant and rainy days fun !!) but soon I grew tired because there was too much water on the roads, there were traffic jams and I had to miss two days of college. I was hoping the temperature would go down after the rain but it was so hot today that it seemed it had never rained, the only indication was the humidity !! I'm pretty sure the temperature was somewhere around 36 C.

The dark clouds (This pic was taken by my friend Maria)

Even this pic doesn't do justice to how dark it got at 12 noon ( Pic-Courtesy of Maria)

An update on life !

14th August - The national flag on my neighbours roof

Sadly my vacations have ended and I'm back to routine life.It was just so depressing to get back to the monotonous life after two months of vactions but gladly I'm getting used to it and the parties that my friends keep throwing every now and then are making life less boring. But a lot of interesting things happened last week. I ran into an old friend in college.She was my best friend in the 4th grade and infact was the first friend I had made in Pakistan after we moved.She had changed schools in the 5th grade and I had lost contact from her. But then just last week a girl walked upto me in the Girls Common Room and asked " Najwa, right ?", "Yeah" I said trying to shuffle through the many faces I know in my mind without any success, she went all smiley face and said "Its me Anum from school,remember" , imagine my surprise and ofcourse the embarrasment at not recognizing her ! We chit chatted for a short while and I came to know that she did her matriculation and thus was a year ahead of me in college ( I did my O levels which takes a year more than Matriculation).It was great meeting her but I realised that the 12 years that we were away from each other had changed a lot.We were both different individuals with different interests and different friends and perhaps the relationship between us could never be the same !.But I'm just glad we met after such a long time.We can atleast be friends if not best friends !.

Other than that ,there came 14th August which is the independence day of Pakitan and a national holiday.The preparation for the celebration begins from the 1st of August and patriotic TV shows are aired on Television.We had a week of celebration in college with a debate competition,poetry competition,painting competition etc..It was really fun.

Other than that this week was filled with birthday parties, 9 of my friends have their birthdays in August and so does my Dad ! I hope all those cakes dont give me digestive problems ! :)

There is so much I want to share but I guess I'll keep some stuff for next time..:)

One of the best cures for influenza !

It's been weeks since the sun has'nt shone properly, hence this is the peak time for the flu to spread. Sadly, I've fallen victim to the evil virus.And all I can do is blow my nose and cough as the proteinaceous alien grows and multiplies in my body ! I'm taking medicines but more than that I'm drinking as much hot drinks and soups as I can drink,or rather as much as my mom can make me drink !. One of the various things I'm treating myself with is a therapeutic herbal tea called 'Johar Joshanda' by Qarshi ( The company that makes it) Its the most effective and miraculous cure for flu,sore throats and other flu related symptoms that I've been able to find. I believe every household from every strata of the society in Pakistan would agree on its effectiveness and would testify to its being miraculous. And incredibly I'm not the only one who says that..

Here is a link to page from the Times magazine..Its an article by Aryn Baker

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1734666_1734664_1734656,00.html

Just to add, this tea can be found internationally at shops that sell Indian/Pakistani products.

Meeting locals at a foreign country

Two weeks back we were coming back to California after a trip from Ohio.My grandma was with us too and since she suffers from breathing problems we had asked for a wheel chair at the airport. As we landed after the long flight at LAX airport we sat at the entrance until the wheelchair arrived.When it finally did ,the person pushing the wheel chair looked like he was somewhere from the subcontinent.I was guessing South India.Anyways he had my grandma settled into the wheelchair and we walked to the elevator. I was waiting for the elevator with my back against the wall at the side of the elevator door looking here and there absentmindedly when the elevator door opened and a man pushing a wheel chair came out of it, I had n't really noticed him but as he passed in front of me, he looked at me with a big wide smile, bowed his head slightly and said 'assalam alaikum' ( thats a greeting muslims use when they meet each other, it means may God's peace be on you ) with such energy that it startled me ,he was a brown skinned guy, and seemed to be Pakistani by his accent. I smiled back and said 'walaikum salam' with much pleasure to have met a Pakistani guy. After that brief exchange of greetings he went his way and I entered the elevator.

I realised that he must have noticed that my grandma was wearing a shalwar kameez (the traditional Pakistani dress) and my looks must have confirmed my Pakistani roots to him. Even though I did'nt know him nor do I expect to meet him again but the pleasure I felt in meeting him was amazing.It made me realise how good it feels to meet someone with the same background at a foreign place..

Well that was n't it.A little while after we entered the elevator the man who was pushing my grandmas wheelchair asked me what language I spoke.

'Urdu', I replied (Pakistan's national language).

" You are from Pakistan ?" he asked back.

" Yeah " was my short reply..

" I'm from Sri Lanka" he said with a smile

"Oh " and then I smiled back not knowing what to say any further.

After a brief silence he continued " Do you know your cricket team is in our country these days,there's a cricket match between your team and our team today "

" Oh really ? I didn't know that"

" You don't like cricket ?" he asked with an astonished look on his face ,and I dont blame him, every person in the subcontinent usually likes cricket.

"No,actually I wasn't able to follow cricket while all this travelling" I replied a little embarassed

The elevator bell rang just then and we had to step out breaking the conversation.We walked to the waiting area and he had my grandma settled onto the waiting area chairs, more helpingly and courteously than I could have expected. As he began to walk away with his wheelchair. I said a little good bye and " Best of luck for the match" He walked away with a big smile.

I still don't know who won that match !!