Radio Pakistan apparently has podcasts. They are exactly as rubbish as one might expect them to be. There is a comedy podcast, an international news podcast and a sport podcast. Ridiculously, there is no music podcast, though it must have tremendously rich archives. But I subscribed to the comedy podcast and listened to an episode […]
Fresh water
Just finished Binyavanga Wainaina’s memoir, and it was like a draught of fresh water for the mind, so clever and thoughtful and funny. A particular relief after the last great Kenyan novel I read. I had worried rather than I was losing the ability to concentrate and enjoy anything other than the most straightforward prose, […]
Government by WhatsApp uncle
Maybe I’ve lived outside the country too long, but Pakistan seems to be increasingly governed by WhatsApp uncle, with a distinctive mixture of victimization, prejudice and victim-blaming, conspiracy theorising, self-congratulatory realpolitik based on ignorance, naivete and imagined sophistication, and a drawing room mob mentality. The current government exemplifies this. Imran Khan’s visit to Russia on […]
Hunt for a beach
After a bit of work, we took a rickshaw south to a fishing collective we’d been recommended, there to have lunch. I do like this way of travelling around: just amble out and in less than a minute a rickshaw will arrive and take you off. We undoubtedly get overcharged, but it’s worth it for […]
Sound investments
The property market in Pakistan is…. not on the level. This is the Gujranwala I know – unfortunately the image doesn’t have a creative commons license so I can’t reproduce it, but rest assured, this is Gujranwala.
Mardan
Yesterday, the driver arrived at around 10. We’d planned to go to Taxila, see some sights, return, but one of our hosts proposed a different plan which I immediately leapt at. This was to go to Mardan, about 2 hours from Islamabad, there to visit the remains of a Gandharan Buddhist monastery at Takht-e-Bahi, and […]
Luxury travel
We took the Q-Connect bus to Islamabad. This is a new development since my last visit, a fleet (numbering 2) of ultra-luxury buses going between Lahore and Islamabad twice a day and costing twice our old friend the Daewoo. Everyone assured us that it was the height of luxury, very comfortable, or so they had […]
Flat evening
A rather flat evening last night. It was a much anticipated celebration, which was supposed to be at Baking Virsa, a famous Gawalmandi food place which is almost impossible to get into but where we had scored a table. But then the cook came down with dengue, so that was that. Instead we went the […]
Night work
Last night I was supposed to go out for dinner with friends, which I scheduled a little late so I could get as close to the end of my working hours as possible. But, half an hour before the designated time, I got a message saying that they wanted to publish a particular document that […]
Worst city
On Monday, Lahore was the most polluted place in the world. Yesterday the newspaper called it the second most polluted, then today it was corrected to the most polluted, with an AQI approaching 400. Certainly, the city had an apocalyptic feel. The air was yellow-brown and hazy, and pricked the eyes and skin. Everything smelt […]