What is it like to live in Pakistan - Like a frikking soap opera! Its like temple run. you get over one issue and another starts! Ive lived in Karachi all my life apart from 3 years in Islamabad, 2 in Shanghai and 45 days in Chicago. and whenever Im not here I feel like Im in that slow motion sequence of action movies where even a punch takes minutes to deliver while living in Karachi is like the car-chasing sequences where bridges are torn, trucks over turned, trains stopped and cars blasted in a matter of milliseconds. So, living in Pakistan for me, is like: Waking up at 7, rushing to school/college/job. Getting stuck at a roadblock due to construction thats been going on since dinosaurs roamed the planet. Taking a side road which turns out to be a one way, getting stopped by a traffic police guy whos just interested in some bribe, reaching school/college/office late and presenting that tried and tested excuse, you know its Pakistan and knowing that the other person understands perfectly what you meant. Living in Pakistan means eating at least one sweet in the day due to a colleagues marriage/engagement/ birth of child/ hajj/ parents hajj/ promotion/ passing exam/ sibling marriage/engagement/birth of child and so on. It means looking at your friend/colleagues lunch and seeing aaloo ka paratha (potato bread) and eating half of that with full confidence. It means getting off and leaving at rush hour and standing in traffic for an hour due to a VIP crossing/protest on no electricity/protest on huge bills of electricity/ protest of electricity staff due to no payment/ protest of electricity staff due to low pay/ protest of doctors due to low pay/ protest of labour due to low pay/ protest of a political party for separation of province/ protest of a political party for non-separation of province/ protest of Islamic party against drones/ protest of everyone against suicide bombing/ protest of one religious party against killing of their people/ protest of second religious party against killing of their people/ protest of students at low marks!(seriously).the list is endless. While you wait in a steadily increasing state of frustration cursing anyone and everyone in sight. Finally reaching your home and thanking your lucky stars it didnt take longer and just longing for a cuppa tea. Wait, your wife/mum/sis informs you that theres no Gas. And youll have to wait until it comes. More curses. You go for a shower only to find theres an air shower in the bathroom as water supply was on just for two hours that day. Yup. We have water load shedding as well. Further curses to the water department. You come out and just fall on the couch with the Air conditioner/ fan on full setting and...you guessed it, electricity load shedding. Curses attain a new level at this point. Finally after a few hours all three utilities become available and Lo and behold your mums sisters sister-in-law arrives uninformed with her entire family in tow. This is a perfectly routine occurrence. Where entire generations and extended families live in the same city such is to be expected. An hour of cursing the govt, water, gas and electric supply corporations and home maids follow. At the end of which you are informed that now everyone is leaving for a wedding ceremony. Yup; at ten in the night. That is perfectly normal. The son of your grandmothers cousins daughter is getting married. Of course such an occasion cannot be missed. Everyone gets ready amid further bouts of load shedding and ten humans scramble into a 5 seater car en route to the wedding. Of course on the way you stop at a traffic signal and due to suffocating conditions inside the car the windows are open and a helmet-ed guy on a motorcycle stops next to you and calmly demands his birthright I.e the cell phones of the entire caravan. Now you were all prepared for it, out come the second cell phones. the cheap handsets got for this very eventuality while the iPhones and galaxy s3,4 were kept hidden in socks. (Yup socks.) Living in Pakistan means getting to that wedding in time for the best part of the evening....The wedding banquet, which Im sure is nowhere in the world MORE ELABORATE or fantastic than ours. biryani, korma, a Chinese dish, fried chicken, kabab of some sort, samosas, paan, masala dosa,salad and sauces. Then at least two different kinds of succulent desserts. All amidst latest bollywood songs blaring from loud speakers. Living in Pakistan is like getting in a car race on the empty roads back with your cousins while your mum and aunties shriek at you and pray at the top of their voices. It means coming home and watching tv till two in the morning(house, greys anatomy, big bang theory, community and Boston legal arent gonna watch themselves right. Same with everything HBO has to offer and all the latest bollywood releases) and then sleeping and waking up like zombies the next day for the cycle to start again. Living in Pakistan is like going to the beach every few months, going to eat out at least once every week. Celebrating the whole MONTH of Ramadan with sehri(morning meal) parties and iftar(evening meal) parties and whole nights of conjugal prayers. And Eid celebrations lasting days and muharram with Its haleem-making in the streets and free stalls distributing sweet drinks with crushed nuts to everyone and the huge processions carrying taazias (decorated structure in reverence to a religious leader) and watching children buy colorful paper swords and fake bow and arrows at the fair later. Going to lifestyle expos and flower exhibitions and gallery openings and literature festivals and lawn(the fabric) exhibitions and melas(country fairs) amidst all that. Hundreds of shopping trips for the myriads of weddings. Having bar-b-q parties and friends birthday parties and school/college/universitys welcome/farewell parties and eid celebration parties and diwali/Christmas celebrations and cinema plans with friends. Oh and funerals and 3rd day and forty day and yearly remembrance of the dead. It also means hearing on tv one day that theres been a blast. And feeling sick to your stomach looking at the images of Pakistanis torn flesh and running blood and limb less bodies. Its like asking, how many and feeling actually relieved if the number is below ten. It means hearing theres been shooting of 10,15,20 people in the city by unknown groups for unknown groups for unknown reasons. It means hearing opinions of all sorts. Elders blaming America, India, Afghanistan for instigating violence/terrorism in the country and concluding with, no its just us.*more curses* It means hearing that theres been a clash between major political parties and tomorrows a strike. No matter what you had planned for the day will be lost sitting at home and cursing the political parties. Living in Pakistan is sometimes like living in a war zone where you expect a bomb, a bullet any time. It means sometimes feeling so crippled with fear you cannot put a step outside your home. It also means moving on and forgetting the fear entirely next time someone suggests eating out. Did I mention eating out is the most common outing for 99% of the population. (Standards of resturants vary). Any and all of the above incidents might happen in a day. So, like I said, its like a frikking soap opera. And it goes on and on and onnnnn. Yeah! Source ~ Quora answer by Sadia Hameed
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 04:47:08 +0000
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