Lost interest

Spoilers follow. I came to Star Wars late, in my mid-teens instead of the more usual pre-pubescent sort of phase. What can I say? Movies were only to be rented from a video shops and only one, in Mini Market, had a decent selection that wasn’t 90% camera prints of the year’s Indian releases. You […]

Besieged

There are rats in the office. I was the first to spot one, a dark little creature which scampered across my line of sight while all the others had gone to the cafeteria for lunch. A few days later, two others spotted a rat climbing up the wall and into the false ceiling. Then it […]

Explosion

This working day I worked, except for three breaks of note. The first was when I accompanied one of my hosts to the markaz for a few errands and a quick lunch. We found a table in the open space served by the surrounding restaurants and cafes, ordered our paratha rolls and a cup of […]

What I make of Christmas

I will freely admit that I dislike and resent Christmas. I resent how it – and, specifically, one version of it – bulldozes over every other celebration, in almost every part of the world. I hate the consumption that surrounds it. If in the UK, where it is genuinely celebrated, the anxiety and expense around […]

Sepia to technicolor

Much of Saturday was spent firefighting at work, including chasing down people who had already left for their Christmas vacations but the machine never stops, so most of them had replied by Monday. Saturday morning I made it out to an early breakfast with a couple of friends, both with an interest in heritagey stuff, […]

Crabs in the sky

Miraculously, I was able to leave the office at around 2; another could leave at 2.30, and soon we were on our way to Lahore. Cars are so much nicer than buses, there’s no question of it. Certainly quicker. It was a fairly smooth trip despite fears of fog until we approached Lahore — at […]

A blow to the wallet

Last night I went looking for a gift for someone whose spouse had recommmended the purchase of a Tom Ford cologne. I have never purchased cologne in my life, so when I arrived at Shams (an old high-end import shop in F6, currently very Christmassy) I was thrown by the finding that there were at […]

Kitchen wars

There is an ongoing war with the kitchen. They have refused to serve breakfast at the desk in this office, saying they are not permitted, but there are witnesses to a whole ‘train of trays’ with eggs, French toast etc, being taken down to another department. The kitchen liaison, an elected staff member, is considered […]

Graceless

OK, never mind. The detailed judgement has come out and includes the immortal order: We direct the law enforcement agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk, Islamabad, Pakistan and be […]