One-Day Monsoon

When it rains in Karachi it really pours. According to news reports Karachi received last Saturday the equivalent of 3 months rain in 4 hours. The weather continued so for a 24-hour period so you can imagine the chaos. I love rain showers especially if they provide some relief from the summer heat. But a downpour in Karachi means damage and destruction. A bridge collapsed, 70 percent of homes (including ours) did not have electricity and most roads were flooded so bad that a boat not the car would have been more suitable transport. Here are some photos I took before heading off to my grandmas for gossip and pakoras. More on that later meanwhile enjoy these photos:

At my grannies house while we were sitting in the veranda enjoying the aforementioned pakoras I heard a meowing. Looking under the table next to I saw this sweet black and white kitten. If you don’t know this by now cats are terrified of the rain. They hate the thought of water touching their fur. Anyhow I started feeding it pakoras and it continued meowing. My cousin got very annoyed and chased it into the garden as soon as she went inside the kitten came back. Needless to say I left for home so I have no idea what my feeding caused the rest of the family sitting in the veranda to endure. It really should rain more often. It definitely made me smile

I *heart* Blogger

It was bound to happen with the lack of attractive themes available in wordpress, I would be once again attracted to the freedom to design and express on blogger.
Hence the start of a semi anonymous blog here. Caffinolic is the term I am currently obsessed with. Its a word I created sometime ago thanks to Melbourne and the coffee culture. Hence when it appears free I grab it. I know I am opening the way for potential stalkers but the entry on my new blog should act as a deterrent. Go check it out and feel free to comment or blow my cover or whatever. Cheers!

Revisit

Just as I am considering sleeping early and waking up for morning prayers the need to write arises.
I arrived back in Pakistan 4 days ago on Business Class – the flight was full hence the generous gift by my uncle – with an incredible tan and some very good memories. Exactly a week from today I had lunch at my former teachers house. A lunch that was so good it still makes me smile thinking about it. I am glad my former mentor is slowly but surely recovering.
The whole trip brought me a sense of peace. I am also aware I was wrong to return so early after the war had ended. I should have waited at least for sometime…because Sri Lanka is not ready for me yet.
What I miss the most though is my friend’s crazy cat Bush, who used my room in the night as its personal highway.
Imagine this; I would be in deep sleep and this psycho cat would use the window (which had a broken pane) to jump into my room and then use the room door (which too had a broken pane) to get back into the main part of the house. Crazy!
This cat did this practically every night – sometimes a few times in a night – so much so that I got used to it and wondered when in didn’t show up.

Small incidents in Sri Lanka are forever etched in my memory. Stuff that only happens in places you are truly in sync with – if that makes sense. For instance I have had a deep meaningful conversation once with the guy who owned the communication shop when I went to recharge my phone and had to wait for a sudden down pour to stop.

Then there was the three-wheeler guy who drove me from the lunch at my former teachers house giving me some really good advice involving cashew nuts and finding work. Not necessarily together.

Once at a restaurant getting some take-away I discovered I had been given an extra vaadai (S.Indian food) because my order took so long – coincidentally I didn’t know this until I got home

Then I there was this feel-good moment in a bus ride last Saturday when I offered to hold this persons laptop bag – a common practice in buses where often strangers seated offer to hold your things if your standing – and got a mouthed thanks for it.

So many things…that make you feel good and want you to do well and be kind and reasonable and sweet. It has to be magic…a beautiful spell that enraptures you when on the Island.

Not Yet.

I am in Sri Lanka. Soon it shall be a month. I have had coffee with a good friend. Eaten all my favourite foods. Shopped in the those mall l used to haunt growing up. Even seen a play an a movie. But something is not quiet right. I feel no nostalgia. I love the way Sri Lanka looks. The rain, the fauna the absolute serene beauty of the city at night but it still does not make me sentimental. The longing to live here is gone. I miss not having the family here, a home of my own. But staying may not be possible. Perhaps l don’t want to. Maybe its not time yet. Despite all that l am going to enjoy what time this Island gives me. Here is hoping that it is memorable an if not life altering provides contentment.

Skipping Stones

Leaving a country where such an activity was not possible was in a way like losing touch with a childhood memory. Now that I am back in Sri Lanka things have changed so much that I wonder if the career advancement I am hoping for will be possible.
Personally it is absolutely beautiful (if not more) as when I left. Especially as it is the monsoon season and for a Karachi girl (for 2+ years and counting) experiencing this is absolutely heavenly.
I am jet lagged, excited and loving every moment. Hoping to get reacquainted with some friend’s tomorrow night if I can figure out how to get around in the evening. A rock show is always a welcoming social event.
I shall update my blog soon and hopefully with some photographs.