Leaving, finally

Tonight I fly back to New Zealand. Yesterday my sister’s new in-laws came over for a final goodbye, and then I went off with them to Zainab Market, once the go-to place – the only place, really – for clothing meant for export. Back in the day I stocked up on trousers and t-shirts and […]

Cold wind

Yesterday was a restful sort of day except in the afternoon my father and aunt insisted I join the latter to attend a tea party hosted by the groom’s aunt. I had originally said I wouldn’t, but the social pressure was strong, and I felt obliged for my sister’s sake, so I went along. We […]

Final event

The valima has occurred, and it’s all over now. It struck me for the first time that this is clearly intended as a sort of reward for the girl’s side; we do the arrangements and hosting for most of the other events, and then when the rest is over, we sit back and get hosted. […]

In Karachi

The morning was frantic. I woke up at 5 to finish up some work which had to be sent to a higher office for comment and having lost all of Monday to busy-ness I was far behind; moreover, materials I had requested had not come in before so there was a constant stream of emails […]

No rest for the weary

Today was a day to unwind, or so we thought. Well, I had plenty of work planned and my sister had to study for exams, but we all happily settled in comfortable clothes (in my father’s case those full of little holes from dropping cigarette ash) and set about non-wedding business. The only wedding obligation […]

Shehndi

A horrible word, if a worthy concept, a mehndi and a shaadi together instead of as two separate events. Once again it was aa chaotic business, among other things we forgot to take the following items to the venue: (a) rose petals to fling at the groom’s party; (b) bangles to distribute to the women; […]

Done deed

In the morning I got an uber to the Malang’s home for breakfast where her son, an expert cook, had made lemon pancakes. This, along with bakarkhanis from the inner city made for an excellent breakfast, and I also had the chance to borrow her sister’s shalwar, thus ensuring that I wouldn’t attend the nikah […]

Wedding party

A pleasant enough affair. It was hosted by friends, a French couple with a large garden, of whom the husband was particularly friendly, though both were nice. Met a few old acquaintances, and chatted to a few newer ones, and then wisely left around 11 pleading jetlag but actually just glad to leave when I […]

Festivities commence

In Islamabad. I was slightly miffed at immigration to be thought Chinese by an official speaking to me in Urdu. The new airport was quite impressive, despite being the yellowish beige that all Pakistani airports, at least the new ones, seem to be. It was quite enpty, sparkling clean and quite well organized with actual […]