Balloons and a conversation with the taxi wallah

I went to visit my best friend Aysha in Pindi.

Kavita and I stopped in F-10 Markaz to change some money (dollars into rupees), get a cake from Rahat Bakery, and get some balloons.

At Rahat Bakery in F-10 Markaz.
Kavita is trying to choose which cake to get.

The taxi driver and I got into general talk about "the halat in Pakistan" and his views on how the world thinks Pakistani society is getting extremely extremist. He actually agreed with my rhetorical question. I led him to questions about how persecuted minorities were and even how Shiias were being targeted. He agreed but also slipped from him that Shiia were not really Muslim even though they called themselves Muslims. And, he seemed to think that the killings of public figures was an act of passion. 

He did agree that the banning of speakers in mosques for sermons and preaching was good. 

I also asked him what he thought about the new Metro Bus service. I said, some economists (I didn't know how to translate economists into Urdu, honestly, and forget what word I used) think this is a bloated project and badly needed resources could have been used somewhere else or by just by being more efficient. And, that there was probably a lot of corruption in this project. 

He explained that people were using the service. I said I noticed that the buses were not really full, at least what I saw at night. He said, they are full in the day. Then, he explained that it would take more than an hour for folks to travel from Pindi to Islamabad and would cost about 100 rupees. Also, the wagons would stop at a distance from the stop and only, the fast ones could run up to the wagon. He said now, folks could travel back and forth in 40 rupees and with dignity. And bluntly, he said, all governments are corrupt anyway and, so if a service has been created for people, why should he criticise it even though he lost one customer who used to charter his taxi every day.

See some photos below of my ride en route to my friend's house.

Making one's bed is Zen

Making one's bed is a great way to start the day. Moreover, it also helps if the bed sheets and duvet are really beautiful. 

The bed sheets are from Khaadi, recently bought by my mother. 

The Duvet cover is a patchwork of the wax lappa I've brought from West Africa.

The bed cover is an American quilt.

I really love my room. 

Greetings from House 290, Street 56, F-11/4, Islamabad

Good evening folks from our house in Islamabad! It is good to be home! 

Kashmiri Chai

Enjoyed an ironic cup of hot Kashmiri chai at Munchies in F-6 Markaz a day after Kashmir Day, 5 February, and after I picked up my forgotten suitcase from the Airport and returned some poor devil's bag I had mistakenly picked up the day before.

Kavita and I arrived in Islamabad early Friday morning and, after 2 days of traveling, we crashed for a  nap in the afternoon. I did not start unpacking late at night and, lo and behold, after I cut through the shrink wrap, I realised it was someone else's bag.

In  my defence, Kavita was extremely cranky and insisted I carry her through out after we landed at the bus stop that is Islamabad Airport. I had had all my bags shrink wrapped back at RIA and I guess one bag looked very similar to mine. The porter picked up all my suitcases and stroller after I pointed them out and, of course he had my baggage tags too but he did not check them nor did the security at the Exit. In the porter's defence, he asked me to make sure all the bags were there after he put them in the car.

The porter service cost 400 rupees and I gave the porter another 200 rupees tip.

I didn't start unpacking until Friday evening when I saw I had the wrong suitcase. The next morning, I received an e-mail from Baggage Services to say I had picked up the wrong bag. I phoned the number on the e-mail and, profusely apologised for the goof up. I told the lady I would be at the Airport in an hour. The lady said she would tell the poor sucker their bag was found.

Ami drove me to the Airport. It took us forever to enter the Airport and we had to drive all the way to a bridge in Pindi before turning around, past all the barriers and past the small protest just outside the Airport. A few PIA staff were killed by the Police in anti-privatisation protests in Karachi in early February. 

I went to the DNATA Services office. At first, the lady wanted me to wait for the other party whose bag I had mistakenly taken. Since I had brought the bag back, I did not know why I should have to wait especially because the folks were coming from Attock and were going to be a couple of hours. I offered to speak to the lady on the phone who turned out to be very friendly and actually thanked me for bringing the bag back. 

After all was settled and agreed, I was taken afterwards to the Arrivals Hall and a small room next to the conveyor belt. A gentleman proceeded to retrieve my bag from a locked cage. He first had to move through a literal sea of bags, suitcases and boxes which were carelessly dumped on the floor. He explained these were mostly bags of Hajj travelers and usually could not all fit into one flight. 

As always, Islamabad Airport, its shabby halls, its pathetic smallness for an International Airport depresses the hell out of me. I got my bag and could finally get out of the Airport. 

Driving back from the Airport, I took these photographs of the Kashmir Day propaganda on the highways. Needless to say, Pakistan does not have the cleanest of human rights records and to put this blatant and hypocritical posters every where is a bit of a joke.

One English poster said "Kashmir is unfinished business of Partition" and another quoted Jinnah as saying "Kashmir is the jugular vein of Pakistan." It all sounds very good to remind everyone of how Pakistan was dealt an unfair hand at the moment it was born but unfair to nit and pick Jinnah's words, especially forgetting his ideas about a secular Pakistan. We did not create a democratic, secular Pakistan and instead we have a hyper Islamic state with one of the world's poorest human rights records, whether for Ahamdis, women, Christians, Hindus or poor folks.

Pakistan ranked 3rd in 2016 for number of executions. Shameful.

For Pakistan to cry "Kashmir" is to literally cry "wolf."

Good evening

Liberia Market Place

I've started going to the Liberia Market Place to get souvenirs and gifts. So, naturally, I had to make a shopping stop just before my sojourn to Pakistan.