Someone asked me today, "do you miss home"? Yes, of course I do, I said. Interestingly enough, there's not much I miss about home, my family, my friends, Jackson's Java Coffee House- the people and the Earl Grey, my PS3 and a few other things I left behind, and of course the general security there. All the other things there are to life, I can pretty much do anywhere. Looking for new places to eat, going to watch a movie, going for a long drive... well, technically in Karachi its generally not considered safe to drive around aimlessly, still I do a bit of that too. I love driving. In the United States, I've driven from one coast to the other, from Charlotte, NC to Los Angeles, CA. I've driven to Chicago more times than I can remember, and most of the time, I went alone. I've covered maybe 60% of the United States driving.
Come to think of it, I miss the security in the United States the most. The US in general is a pretty safe place. You just have to use your street smarts a bit more if you're in an unfamiliar area, a poor side of town, or a rest area. Here, my family's very protective of me, and I've been told to avoid certain areas. The perception here is that every area is unsafe. If you go to Nazimabad and ask someone there about Gulshan, they'll say its unsafe. If you go to Gulistan e Jauhar and ask someone there about Mohammed Ali Society, they'll say its unsafe. However, if you ask someone about their own area, they'll say its safe. Fortunately for me, I stay in a part of Karachi that everyone says is safe.
Is anywhere in Karachi safe? My mother calls me almost on a daily basis, and sometimes she calls me when I'm driving. The first thing she'll say to me is "are you driving"? If I reply in the affirmative, she'll scold me for at least 2 minutes about how its unsafe to drive and talk on the phone, not for driving while talking for road safety (I use a handsfree set when I'm driving by the way), but because someone may steal my phone. She may also take the time to scold me about being out of the house when there are "booray haalat," or a bad situation in the city, the day after something happens. Still, you can't be mad at a mother for worrying about her only son in a place which is regarded as being in the top 5 of most dangerous countries in the world.
Karachi by many has been described as a ticking time bomb which can go off at any moment. Based on my experiences here so far, and from what I've observed on the news, this analogy seems to hold true. Still, it doesn't matter where you are, at any time, there may be random firing, target killings, a bomb blast, or other random acts of violence irrespective of locality. That which ultimately determines your safety or peril is being in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time. I can't stay at home all the time in fear of something bad randomly happening, if I did, I wouldn't go to work or do anything for that matter. I probably wouldn't even be able to continue this blog because I'd have nothing to talk about. Living here, you just have to keep your eyes open, hope for the best, expect the worst, and keep it moving.
Stay tuned...to be continued
Come to think of it, I miss the security in the United States the most. The US in general is a pretty safe place. You just have to use your street smarts a bit more if you're in an unfamiliar area, a poor side of town, or a rest area. Here, my family's very protective of me, and I've been told to avoid certain areas. The perception here is that every area is unsafe. If you go to Nazimabad and ask someone there about Gulshan, they'll say its unsafe. If you go to Gulistan e Jauhar and ask someone there about Mohammed Ali Society, they'll say its unsafe. However, if you ask someone about their own area, they'll say its safe. Fortunately for me, I stay in a part of Karachi that everyone says is safe.
Is anywhere in Karachi safe? My mother calls me almost on a daily basis, and sometimes she calls me when I'm driving. The first thing she'll say to me is "are you driving"? If I reply in the affirmative, she'll scold me for at least 2 minutes about how its unsafe to drive and talk on the phone, not for driving while talking for road safety (I use a handsfree set when I'm driving by the way), but because someone may steal my phone. She may also take the time to scold me about being out of the house when there are "booray haalat," or a bad situation in the city, the day after something happens. Still, you can't be mad at a mother for worrying about her only son in a place which is regarded as being in the top 5 of most dangerous countries in the world.
Karachi by many has been described as a ticking time bomb which can go off at any moment. Based on my experiences here so far, and from what I've observed on the news, this analogy seems to hold true. Still, it doesn't matter where you are, at any time, there may be random firing, target killings, a bomb blast, or other random acts of violence irrespective of locality. That which ultimately determines your safety or peril is being in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time. I can't stay at home all the time in fear of something bad randomly happening, if I did, I wouldn't go to work or do anything for that matter. I probably wouldn't even be able to continue this blog because I'd have nothing to talk about. Living here, you just have to keep your eyes open, hope for the best, expect the worst, and keep it moving.
Stay tuned...to be continued
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