Different Folks, Different Strokes, Same Old Karachi

So, its been about 3.5 (give or take a couple tenths) months since I last wrote here. A lot has happened...well, not really, but then again after living in Karachi, you tend to become immune to many things that a typical American would consider to be eventful. Let's see, on the political front, Zardari was recently lauded for his achievement of having steered a democratically elected administration through the completion of a full term for the first time ever in the history of Pakistan. Sharif has been in power for a few months now and is making loads of promises; first with electricity, then with infrastructure, and now with education. PTI's tsunami has gone from without to within PTI itself, and I don't think anyone knows what's really happening with that party. 

I had the opportunity to go to Istanbul in August, to attend my cousin's wedding. It was such an amazing trip. I got to see the Aya Sofia and Top Kapi Museum. With all the wedding festivities, there wasn't time for much else, really. One complaint I have about Istanbul, the evening and afternoon traffic is the worst! How do people make it anywhere on time, I wonder. 

Anyway, back to Karachi... so Eid-ul-Adha is coming up in about a month, which means a lot of goats are going to be slaughtered and most likely I'll have to be there to watch a few as well. Its a big business out here, well, anything that can be sold is a big business out here period- there's literally no stone unturned when it comes to making a profit on something out here! For those of you who don't know, Eid-ul-Adha is a Muslim holiday commemorating the sacrifice the prophet Abraham was about to commit of his son, Ishmael, and then Allah ordered him not to, and to sacrifice a lamb instead-my Christian and Jewish friends, I know what you're thinking- "Ishmael?! It was Isaac!" Well, Islamic tradition says otherwise, but you get the point.

Other than that, there's really nothing else worthy of reporting, except that in the last 4 months I think I've received about 5 emails from the US Consulate giving instructions on not going to some places in Islamabad and Lahore, more Americans are being kidnapped. Also there was this big trial that was going on for a while here, the "Shahzeb" murder case, which seems to have closed today. This was about a young man who was killed by the guard of a wealthy feudal lord (or commonly known as "Wadera"). This murder case sparked outrage by scores of Pakistani youth all over Pakistan which resulted in protests, discussions on social media, news coverage, news stories, talk shows, and more. Today, it was announced that his parents have dropped their pursuit of bringing Shahrukh Jatoi and his guard to justice. A lot of people are really angry about this, but like most things here, it'll pass, and within 2 weeks, no one will be discussing it anymore.

Come to think of it, I did experience something particularly eventful about 3 weeks ago. I almost got robbed. I was driving on Baloch Colony and as I'm driving (traffic is moving, I'm not stopped), 2 guys on a motorcycle came to my window, and one of them motions for me to pull over. I had two passengers with me at the time, and I looked over at one of them and said "is this guy trying to rob us"? He gave me a very puzzled look, and then all of a sudden, on sheer impulse, I downshifted and pushed the pedal to the metal! I weaved in and out of traffic like a getaway car that just robbed a bank (imagine the irony). I passed a red e-class Mercedes while I was making my getaway, and about 60 seconds after I passed him (while the pedal was still stuck to the ground), he passed me at an even faster speed- I drive a 1.3L Honda City, there's really no chance for any reasonable competition. So the funny thing is, this guy, after I passed him, realized what I was running from, and made a break for it himself. Until now, only by God's will, I have not been robbed and I hope it stays that way!

Well, I've got about 100 people to research before tomorrow morning  (gotta love Advertising)  and its currently 11pm, so I'd better get cracking. Until next time...

:-)

It's Been a While

So, I logged in just now to see how long it had been since I wrote my last blog article, and wow, its been almost 8 months. To just come back like this, you'd expect that I'll just pick up from where I left off, right? I mean yeah, so what if the guy hasn't written but 9 blog articles (including this one) and the fact that he hasn't written in his blog for almost a year, he's still talking about interesting things! Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I wouldn't know where to begin, and so, I won't. I will, however, let you know what's going on now, as I've been sitting in my apartment  for the last hour, clothed in nothing more than my underwear, sitting on my bed with my Macbook in my lap.

I was joking, by the way, but not about me sitting in my underwear, it's pretty warm where in every room of my apartment right now, and this laptop doesn't help either. I was joking, however, about not filling you in on everything that's happened in between, just not right now.

So, I'm sure you must be dying to know why don't I just turn on my A/C and put some clothes on? Well, the reason is that a sizable area within the vicinity of my apartment building is without power, and so am I. For the last few days, there have been massive power outages all across Karachi. There are all sorts of rumors and conspiracy theories involving two neighboring countries, but it it really doesn't matter why at this point. The only thought in my mind is actually more of a question, when is the power coming back?

Now, its time to recap what's been going on since last time. As you may or may not be aware, elections took place in Pakistan on May 1st. Apparently, This was hyped up to be a "free and fair" election. Free, it definitely was, fair, what is fair? Oh! You mean when the votes are counted and tallied impartially? This election was anything but fair. Many estimate that if the votes were properly counted and tallied without showing favoritism to any party, PTI would have won the election, not by a landslide, but by a sizable margin, 15-25%. Number two, of course would be none other than PMLN. I personally talked to people who observed activity at the polls, one of them is an army ranger, who I saw outside a PTI protest on Shahra-e-Faisal in Karachi. This man wouldn't let me take any pictures of him or record him, but I can give you verbatim statements. He told me that he personally had observed officials tearing up PTI votes at a polling station in Gulshan, and then depositing votes for a different party in the ballot boxes.

I will say this for the Pakistani populace, they showed tremendous courage by going out and partaking in the political process. They went despite facing intimidation by politically affiliated criminals and the TTP. Incidents were reported in Karachi's defense housing authority in which politically affiliated criminals attempted to intimidate voters at a polling station, and the voters united and confronted the criminals and chased them away! Witnessing this alone has reinvigorated my hope for a better Pakistan. If there was no load shedding, as well as general law, order, and justice in this land, Pakistan would be one of the most ideal places on earth to visit and even live. In the last 3-4 months, more than 15 new restaurants have opened within the vicinities of just Clifton and Defence! in Karachi, 3 of them are burger places. Well, the power is back, and I'm off! I vow to write more entries for as long as I'm in Pakistan, even if they're only one liners.

Definitely, To be continued...