Thursday, January 11, 2007

Letter From Lucknow...About Karachi

As some readers will know--my apologies for not formally informing readers on the blog--I have been travelling on a long-delayed "visit home". My connectivity--and time on the computer--have been sparse in the last two or so weeks. I hadn't been able to travel for almost six years now--and hadn't been to our ancestral stomping grounds in Lucknow for eight. So I thought I should provide some updates from "the road", so to speak.

There are a million thoughts that have gone through my head (smoking is now banned in Pakistan Government offices--by order of the Supreme Court; Karachi, at least, now has a LOT of book stores; newer elevators in India have elevator music--desi elevator music; ...) but the first couple of things that merit--I'd say mandate--mention:

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=37479

which my brother and I found very, very apropos. The only thing missing is a direct caution (though #6 seems to cover it somewhat) that cellphone-snatching is a very present and common danger. There are now two types of people in Karachi: those that carry cool cellphones; and those that have been mugged. Oh, and yes, especially in English-speaking circles, the word "mugged" is now not something you hear about happening in far-away New York City. There is, sadly, very regular occasion to use the word.

Secondly, I had the honour, yes, honour, not honor, to attend a gathering of some of Pakistan's bloggerati--including the photoblogger recently profiled by Time Magazine. See:

http://karachi.metblogs.com/archives/2007/01/karachi_blogger.phtml

Regards, Salaam, and Adaab from a new suburb in the "The Old Country",

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5 comments:

Manzoor Khan said...

One thing I can understand that you are not coming to Hyderabad. Still, as you are in India, do you mind giving me your Lko phone number.

Anonymous said...

funny... no women in the picture.

iFaqeer said...

Tut, tut! Paranoia is a bad thing!! You obviously didn't follow the link to the post on the Karachi MetroBlog. You can see more pictures on that page or here

Oh, and a post by a real female participant herself here.

iFaqeer said...

Did I say "female participant"? Sorry, I meant the organizer/host.

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