Went for a haircut this morning, and it was a step right back into the Lahore I grew up in, complete with a photo of the hairdresser having tea with Princess Diana from the days of Imran Khan’s first wedding, by now probably a stamp of authentication for a certain Lahori pedigree. She’s an old […]
Horrific
A bit of very sad, even horrific, news this morning. The personal trainer came this morning and when I asked after his family, he told me that his daughter, born in February, and whose delivery I helped with, died in late August. She had a fever and they took her to a doctor who injected […]
Personal enmity
Murders are often attributed to ‘personal enmity’ in Pakistani newspapers, I suppose a relic of colonial reporting. Strange what lingers and what doesn’t. It was a working day in which I did most of my work in the second half. Began with a session with my trainer, then a short work call, then faffing around. […]
An upset, of sorts
I spoke to someone back in Pakistan today, and they told me that they voted PTI out of protest – not because they supported it, not because they admired Handsome, but simply out of a sense of fairness and because they wanted to say ‘no’ to those behind the scenes. A thought process that many, […]
The day before
The day before the election, telling that this is one of the featured stories on the Dawn website: This morning I spoke to someone in Pakistan who was in a chatty mood, clearly a little excited by the election. He asked me whom I would vote for, I told the truth that in Pakistani elections […]
Ministry of fun
Read a news item that made me grumpy: Nur Khan airbase wants action against ‘pigeon cages’ in vicinity. The basant that I grew up with is gone, the mehfils died long before I was born, and now they want to shut down another graceful urban past-time, and all for a bunch of military planes and […]
Animal shelter
Learned that someone in Pakistan has set up a shelter for retired police dogs who, the police in their enlighted way, would just shoot when their noses became less acute. Same for the horses. I was asked if I knew anyone who wanted to adopt a police dog, with the dogs available fetchingly named Cruiser, […]
Octopus people
My personal trainer, in Pakistan, told me, wide-eyed, that it’s such a strange coincidence, all of my clients seem to know each other! Such is class in Pakistan, especially Lahore. I didn’t say it, as a small tentacle of the octopus, but: Even today, amidst complaints about the nouveau riche, the Pakistani and especially Lahori, […]
Winter arrives in Istanbul
Winter begins properly today, the temperature has plummeted and the sky was heavy and grey, with the tiny pellet-like light rain that falls like snow. Unfortunately we have had to start reducing our heating temperature, as the underfloor heating must be taken down a degree a day, and we are going away soon. I bought […]
Quite a day
A very very long day indeed. My flight was at a truly terrible time, at 6 in the morning and, unusually, I had the good sense to sleep for a couple of hours before leaving for the airport at 3.30. A later departure than usual to Lahore airport’s hellzone as my brother whose love language, […]