The following was all written during my month stay in Karachi. I've included time, and date for your convenience, and mine too. Hope you like.
***
*The music you hear in the tv show "24" when they show that orange digital clock*
The following are the blog posts I wrote while my stay in Karachi. They were jotted down quickly on my laptop because I couldn't find an internet connection on the fly. They are dated, with time.
*The music you hear in the tv show "24" when they show that orange digital clock*
--
October 13th - Monday - 2008
1:47 PM (GMT + 6) - Karachi Time
10:47 PM (GMT + 3) - Riyadh Time
7:47 PM (GMT) - Greenwich Mean Time
Because finding an internet connection is so hard, here in Karachi, I've decided I'm going to write blog posts, in a Text Document, whenever I can find the time (along with Date and Time) and then publish them on the internet after reaching my home in Riyadh.
So, basically, it's almost time to go back home, only a week or so left, and so far in Karachi I have seen a lot of things. Specially things written on walls.. lol, my favorite part of Karachi. You can find so many interesting things, written all over Karachi, it's amazing.
Like, a few days ago I saw a car, which had a weird sticker at the back windshield. It said "Why so?" in urdu. And it made me think ... why so what? What does that even mean?
Other than that, it's funny how roaming around karachi can be so tense when you know you have cash, and the cell phone you bought a week before flying to karachi.
But on the other hand, that made me carry only around a 100 rupees (which is roughly 10 riyals) and I left everything else at home. It was eerily satisfying ... travelling around with nothing but 100 rupees, I felt like I had nothing to worry about ... Just how I usually feel when I'm in Riyadh, but in Karachi it was different, it was something new.
I'm going to end this post right here, because as we speak, I'm sitting at an Aunt's house (where I'm spending the night) and people are talking all around me ... Talking about what? My aunt's son can't decide whether he wants to go into medicine or become a traditional doctor ... or something along those lines anyway, I lost them a lot of statements ago ... Anyhow, more news as it happens. =)
- Daanish.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 18th - Saturday - 2008
5:32 PM (GMT + 6) - Karachi Time
2:32 PM (GMT + 3) - Riyadh Time
11:32 PM (GMT) - Greenwich Mean Time
The fun thing about Karachi is, when you want to kill time, you can go out for a stroll, without a specific route. That's just what I did right now, I went out, went to this shop (where one Marlboro Lights costs just 5 rupees) and then took a long walk around the block. Rikshaw drivers and random people stared, but I guess that's what they do. I started thinking about how it's been a month in Karachi already, and it only feels like a week. Then I started thinking about how much more hectic life is going to be when I get back to Riyadh, where my I-20 waits for me, and I have to jump right in and apply for an American Visa. I had a 7up bottle in my hand, which I was "saving" from last night (it seems like such a tough job, trying to get out 25 rupees to pay for a bottle of 7up. And 25 rupees seems like a lot of notes, just for a 7up bottle). When I was done with my stroll, and got back home, I noticed Fido Dido laying in a hammock, besides the large white "7up" and a bubble under his head said "Fiker na kar, aish kar" ... to my surprise, I read the whole urdu sentence in one go, and understood it, but then I turned the bottle around to find the english version of Fido's bubble, which said "Don't Worry, be Happy" ... and I said to myself; "Ironic, that's what I've been doing all this while, and it's working!"
Still have a long day ahead of me, and to tell you the truth, I'm not looking forward to it, I want to go back home already! I miss all of YOU. I've lost touch with my alter-ego, the one that sits behind a computer all day long 'socializing' and I miss it.
Oh well, only a few more days left ... I'm not going to open up the calender and look up exactly how many days, but should be roughly 5 more days.
Wonder how everyone else's life is right now ... hmmm ...
- Daanish.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 20th - Monday - 2008
4:44 AM (GMT + 6) - Karachi Time
1:44 AM (GMT + 3) - Riyadh Time
I was laying on this thing called a 'takhat' ... practically a bed-type thing made out of wood ... and I was laying there with my uncle discussing music. My uncle, a professional drummer in Pakistan who has practically played with almost all the musicians in pakistan, no matter what genre' and has met almost everyone in the pakistan entertainment industry (vjs, directors, actors, singers, etc) was telling me about how Jazz music actually started. My month in Karachi was mostly spent with my uncle, and he told me all about his struggles in the music industry, how he started out playing in his backyard when the rest of his family kept trying to make him sell his drumkit, and how he went on to play with Sajjad Ali, Hadiqa Kiyani, Junaid Jamshed, and finally Mizraab. And how he has co-directed so many of the music videos seen on tv but never really got the critical acclaim he should've ... yes, I've showed off all I could, now let me get back on what I was saying. From there, the conversation went on to the stars and the universe, and the moon, and the skies, and everything-psychadelic. I noticed the Orion's belt (three closely positioned stars all aligned together) and I was looking around at the rest of the stars, when I noticed not just one but 4 shooting stars. Yes, 4 shooting stars. I wondered if I could make 4 wishes then, and I made them for everyone I could think of ... with Coldplay playing in the back of my head, and Steve Vai's For the Love of God somehow mixing in, I noticed how beautiful it was, to just lay under the sky, with the wind blowing, and clouds forming out of nowhere moving around the peaceful sky.
Even the stars, I noticed, are so different in their own ways. Some brighter than the others, some flickering because of clouds moving over them, and some positioned so beautifully, you can just stare at them forever...
Life is so beautiful, calm, pretty, mind-boggling, peaceful, satisfying here, that I feel like just staying here in this state-of-living forever ........ or actually, until I get bored of this too ......
I've met so many different people, my way of thinking has altered without me actually even knowing, or feeling it ... it's amazing. I've realized there's so many more things to learn, so many more things to see ... it's like a bag of toys, with so many different things in it, that you can put your hand in it and keep on grabbing things and bringing them out ... and in the same manner, so many things to appreciate in life ...
- Daanish.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 21st - Tuesday - 2008
4:44 AM (GMT + 6) - Karachi Time
1:44 AM (GMT + 3) - Riyadh Time
Was laying down looking at the stars again yesterday, when I saw two shooting stars! It was amazing .. I was thinking about the whole concept of life, and I said to myself, I wonder if I'll see a shooting star again ... Then I made a wish, I asked to see a shooting star. And in like, 2 minutes, a bright light ran across the sky. I couldn't believe it at first, and then I made the same wish again. And there it was. A second shooting star, within a minute. I was speechless.
I went to AAG Tv's office yesterday. Aag is a channel run by GEO in Karachi, and if you're in pakistan and don't know what AAG or GEO is, I'll be surprised. Met the Graphic Designers that work for the channel, Senior Producers, Cheif Editors, and many more big-wigs working for television. It was wonderful, the atmosphere at the work-place was almost hard to believe. And how down-to-earth everyone was, was surprising too, but I guess that's because they all knew my Uncle that took me there to begin with.
I found out around an hour or two ago that my stay in Pakistan has been extended. My flight back home was supposed to be in 2 or 3 days, but now I'm here for another week. October 28th, to be exact. Niice.
I think I'll go out for another stroll and maybe have a smoke. Hope everyone and everything connected to me in the circle of life is doing ok =)
- Daanish.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 24th - Friday - 2008
6:04 PM (GMT + 6) - Karachi Time
3:04 PM (GMT + 3) - Riyadh Time
I woke up at around 4, today. Last night is pretty much a daze, because I was out partying with my uncle who I've been staying with for quite some time now. What did I do when I was out? I can't really ellaborate on that due to security purposes, but I can tell you that it was tiring.
Stayed up all night talking about guitar riffs, and the past and the future. Saw six shooting stars yesterday!! And since we were in a daze, we saw a bright white pigeon fly across the sky and mistook it for a shooting star, twice. A pigeon flying alone across the sky at around 3 or 4 in the morning, do you believe that? But six shooting stars in one night. That was something, really. And one of them didn't even have the properties of a regular shooting stars. It didn't have a white bright tail or anything, it looked like the whole star was falling instead. A bright round circle shaped star just falling down from the sky and then disappearing.
Last night I also thought up a theory. I've sucessfuly compared Guitar Solos to Shooting Stars. Becuase sometimes when they're at the peak of their beauty, the just abrubtly cease to exist, and you're like "awwwww man". And they leave behind this silhoutte of a trail in your head, that leaves you in a daze. Touche'.
My day has just started and I have to decide on what I have to do next, so I'm going to stop this one right here. Updates as they happen =) hope you're taking care.
- Daanish.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 25th - Saturday - 2008
7:55 PM (GMT + 6) - Karachi Time
4:55 PM (GMT + 3) - Riyadh Time
I've just been informed that my flight is at 7:15 in the morning, on the 28th. Which means I'll have to sleep away the 27th, then leave for the airport late at night. It also means, that, I only have 2 more nights left in Karachi. One that is going to be over in a few hours, and one whole day and night tomorrow. And that's it. In this time that I have left in Karachi, I have some more shopping left that I need to take care of, I have to pack all my things again, and make sure I'm not forgetting anything at one of the many places I've spent nights at.
In addition to that, I've also been informed that the flight back to Riyadh is connected via a flight to Abu Dhabi first. And I will have to spend around 7 hours in Abu Dhabi Airport ... just like last year. And only because there were no other flights back to Riyadh, this was the only flight we could get since we extended our stay a week. Just bloody great. Do you have any idea, how jet-lagged, tired, and frustrated those 7 hours are going to be? I do. Really, really, really.
If I have any juice in my laptop when I'm at the airport, I'll write a post then too, and maybe you'll get a better idea of how it feels.
If I have any time before that, to write blog posts, I'll do that too.
Have Fun, world.
- Daanish.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 28th - Tuesday - 2008
7:30 PM (GMT + 6) - Karachi Time
4:30 PM (GMT + 3) - Riyadh Time
I'm sitting at the karachi airport right now, really, really tired/sleepy/about to fall unconciounce and I'm waiting for the damn plane to be fit for passengers. I mean, come on, I've been waiting for more than 2 hours now. And to top it all off, I have a 7 hour stay in friggin Abu Dhabi. Do you believe that? 7 friggin hours. ..
Daa.nish.Arif
.
***
My laptop's battery died at the Abu Dhabi airport, unfortunately. And I was too tired to plug the charger in the socket. So I just bought a pack of Dunhill Blues and spent my 7 hours in the Airport's smoking lounge. Aah, nirvana.
1 comment:
funnn fun :D
Post a Comment