I faced Abu front and center to show him my eyes as I hadn't met him since my PRK surgery. Abu was one to really dislike my contact lenses and amongst his many reasons was a classic one that my eyes looked even more large and strained when I had my contacts on.
So there I was at the airport, waiting for my luggage to arrive on the conveyor belt. I faced him to show him my eyes and jokingly told him that I discovered that my eyes are truly large even without the contact lenses.
To which Abu solemnly replied that it was merely because the lenses had already made my eyes large even before my surgery and nothing can be done to reverse the process.
Sigh.
The Damage Has Been Done
Phir Bannein Ge Aashna
As soon as I stepped out into the open air at the Karachi airport, I was momentarily stunned by my want to seek out each part of my city and ask the things it went through while I was gone. Almost as if to reach out and touch the parts that hurt the most. A physical pain I still cannot quite explain.
The Ways of My Mum
The first thing that I noticed on entering my room was the newly stitched, ironed and ready to wear shalwar kameez that Ami had strategically placed on my bed. She's treating my two months away from her like a grueling venture into the unknown with very little chances of my return, she's this happy to see me alhamdo lillah. Alhamdo lillah.
Softly As I Leave You
I've come across adults who joke that children can sense fear. I think children can also sense a departure. What else could explain Meher's prolonged hugs and countless kisses to me today?
"I Love Karachi" Banners
Thanks to Ejaz Asi, I can show my love for Karachi by putting up one of many beautiful banners created by him. All are free to view the rest of his work and put it up to show their love for their city, provided the credit remains his.
A Growing Dependancy
Just that sitting in Umreeka and watching a pastried version of today's carnage on television makes me miss home so much.
I woke up to check Karachi Metblogs for the news, and I realized that I turn to the Metblogs for news more than I would turn to even Dawn.com - Metblogs is so real compared to the news, both have human beings writing it, and yet one sounds like a newsfeed and the other is an actual human narrative.
Of Adornment
The Prophet SAWS said, "Modesty does not come into anything without adorning it."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1253
Ticklish
Probably the best thing I've heard since I heard the songs they came up with for Abu during the last general elections, a song I heard during the news coverage of the rally outside Lahore High Court, described as a milli naghma: "Chacha vardi laanda kyun nahin."
This is a kind of unity as well, to be able to forms words in a tune or a rhythm and describe an era for a nation altogether.
Bazeecha-e-Atfaal
Rabia Baji was shocked to see Meher take off her shirt while dancing to an Indian song playing on a DVD she had put on herself. Omar Bhai replied that Meher was merely imitating what she saw in the song, and chose to wear as much or as little as the heroine in the song.
Why is that still surprising, I wonder. It is nearly impossible to set limits on how much you want a child to imitate when you expose him / her to the Full Monty, so to speak.
Eating Calamari Right Before Going to Bed
I dreamt that Google hooked up with Apple and designed a profile interface for its users. Consequently users on Google Talk who had pictures in their profile had an electric blue colored apple next to their name, instead of the usual green dot.
The Etiquette of Eating
Lately I've alhamdo lillah had the opportunity to see my nieces and nephews eat and I can't help but notice just how similar their eating habits are to the masnoon etiquette, subhan Allah. When left to their own accord, a child will prefer to sit on the floor to eat, eat with his hands when he does, speak while eating and have no qualms about sharing the food on his plate with another, or picking food off another's plate as well.
We as civilized adults of the modern age tend to replace these inherent habits with what we regard as the etiquette of eating.
Arey nahin yaar!
Arey, you are 42% Pakistani!
Not bad, but not good enough to call yourself a real Pakistani either! You seem more London than Lahore, so why not try wearing a shalwar kameez for a week and maybe that'll bump up your rating...
How Pakistani are you? (first class number one!)
Create a Quiz
Whole World in My Hands
When Rafeh and I would play hide-and-seek, I would be left doing the counting regardless of whose turn it is to hide. He's just learning his numbers, so my he would repeat each number as I would say it. It made me think I could just about say anything in a sequence and he would take that to mean numbers. Such is the delight in playing with an innocent mind.
So the numbers one through ten could have names of vegetables like, aik, bhindi, chikkander, karaila and so on...
Reminds me of the time when I was teaching Sehyr "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with the actions, and when it came to making a diamond in the sky, I taught her that the diamond was actually called, "DeBeers." So for a while after that, whenever I would tell Sehyr to show me DeBeers, she's make a diamond shape with her hands.
Such habits make me a lousy candidate for a baby-sitter unless the parents were people who are unaware of my tendencies.
Browsing Through
I really dislike window-shopping. I do not have the patience to sift through things that I know I will not buy. I usually go shopping when I am certain of what I need, I buy exactly that and I step out. This quality makes me a terrible person to take along on shopping sprees.
Recently I've come up with a list of places I'd window-shop any given day.
1) Places with books - any bookstore, stall keeping books, garage sale with books. I have been told more than once that I'm a pain in book-stores since I take forever in looking through everything.
Yet, I had such a wonderful time with Afshan spending an afternoon at a book-store. Maybe because neither of us minded having done that, alhamdo lillah.
I can also go on endlessly about obscure book titles with Halima, and we can have a laugh just about anywhere with that. Hours of endless entertainment.
Also, heading out towards Saeed Book Bank in Islamabad, Liberty Books in Karachi or Barnes and Noble in Umreeka is taking the easy way out. It is rummaging through books on a sidewalk store and finding one you've been looking for that feels most rewarding. Alhamdo lillah.
2) the Disney Store - I pray I never outgrow the Disney Store. I always head straight towards the stuffed toys on sale section and coo at each character I see there. I hug each one to check its hug-o-meter and bundle up the ones I'd like to keep under one arm.
The snow-globes. Oh, the snow-globes. And the coffee-mugs. The slippers, the pajamas. The stuffed toys on sale. The Disney Store is to me what balloons are to Winnie the Pooh. He says, "Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon." I couldn't agree more.
3) the Fossil store - I don't watch television that much, but there was a time when I heard a phrase resound in almost every Indian channel / show my mother was tuned to. "Mind-blowing." No, not merely mind-blowing, it's pronounced, "mmmmindblowingg" in double-time. I have no clue as to what gets the Indians so enthusiastic as to use that term just about everywhere, but the Fossil store with its watches, bags, wallets, oh the leather and the colors, now that experience is truly, utterly mmmmindblowingg.
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Jelly Belly
Masha Allah, looking at my father's ample belly makes me honestly believe that there must still exist cultures in today's world that would consider rubbing it for good luck, or even a bountiful harvest.
Let Me Count the Ways
I have lost count of the times I've misplaced my phone around the house, even my own room. I hardly seem to care anymore as to where I put it last or when I'll be needing it again. When speaking of the heart as a symbol of endearment, some people are said to walk around with their hearts on their sleeves while others claim to have given their beloved their hearts on departure. I think as a means to ensure I would not flit away like a butterfly as soon as the long winter gave way to spring, Ryz took my brain with him when he left.
Excess Baggage
I recently took a train to Taxila as part of a trip and brought a book along with myself to read during the journey. It's only when the train started to move did I realize that I wouldn't be reading the book at all.
Books are for the times I take the NJ transit to meet Afshan at Penn. Station or when I'm tired after having spent the day in Manhatten.
It is because traveling from New Jersey into the heart of New York does not amount to even half the fascination and beauty in traveling from Golra to Taxila.
For one, one can feel the scenery change every few minutes. The way people walk, the colors their homes are, the kinds of clothes they wear, the cleanliness they maintain, the pets they keep, every single detail made me feel like a child again. I found myself building on tales of their daily lives and their typical routines. Romantic does not necessarily mean the stuff Mills & Boons and Barbara Cartland became famous for (although I wonder why they did). Romantic is being able to follow the smallest movement or expression into the depths of an entire tale. Alhamdo lillah.
The most enjoyable part were the children. Jumping children to match the bounce of Pooh's best friend Tigger. Jumping at the sight of the passing train, jumping in their spot with an almost contagious excitement masha Allah. The older ones shyly waved back to passengers while most just jumped.
Each time I saw them jumping I tried to describe their emotions in a single phrase if not a word. I still cannot come up with one that does their exuberance justice.
Reading makes sense when changing cities even entire states in my situation do not offer any kind of variety. Even the landscape in Umreeka looks like it was engineered on an assembly line as compared to ours, subhan Allah. I did not realize I even kept a book until I found it in my bag on reaching home.
To Have And Have Not
Although this is the second trip that I've made since Ryzvan left it still feels so strangely hollow to travel without the SMSes. The are we there yet?s and the ding dongs that may not sound like much but amount to a lot.
Even stranger is stepping out and consciously not look for little somethings to take back that served as a reminder during the trip.
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