Bye Blogger

So I’ve moved to wordpress.

I’ll miss a lot of things though. My header, the warmth of the color scheme, the pop up window that would show all the comments…

But I’m a big girl now. I’m sure i can do this without crying. :P

You can find me here though. If I’m on your blogroll- please edit the url.

Sigh…I wish I could take you with me, header.

Jiwani

The sun sets at Jiwani.

Basically, the sun sets pretty much at every spot on the planet, but it sets special in Jiwani. And we travelled an extra one and a half hour from Gwadar to see this miraculous sun set in all it's golden, and purple glory. And i chronicled it. Every ten minutes I'd take a picture of the sun's journey down the sky and after every click my brother would take the camera and check it's battery. Is trust dead in this world?




The police escort my dad's student provided us (he teaches CBR people how to bungle up the government's revenues) took us to the WWF (World Wide Fund- not the wrestling thing) branch at the top of a cliff and from there we walked to the edge overlooking the beach.










I have never felt closer to Allah.

Mushkilain itni pari mujh pe

Just when life seems to be taking a turn for the better, BAM! you hit a metaphorical random motorcycle wala and get stuck in a huge mess.

My exams will finish tomorrow and another ordeal shall begin.

My nani has taken rishta searching to new, unbelievable levels, and my mother does not make things any easier for me. Guys fall in love with her, and send a rishta for me on the principle of 'like mother, like daughter'; and my mother(in full deceptive "khayye na-yeh-meri-beti-ne-banaya-he" mode) does NOT tell them that I am a carbon copy of my dad.
Oh the deceit!!

WHEN will this shadi season end???

and I thought I would never write one of these posts. Goes to show you Allah is the ultimate comic genius.

Bijli, Mehndi, aur main

I am typing this in the drawing room, with no lights on and the door closed. My brother is in a catatonic state right now and I’m taking advantage of that by stealing his laptop, getting into wireless internet range and updating my blog without having to kick my sister off the pc downstairs. If everything goes according to plan Hani will never know of the evilness I have been up to.

How exactly is this evil, you might ask? Let me take you a few steps back in time to the day I put up this post about how I murder technological gadgets with a mere glance of the eye; and then remind you that my brother bought this laptop with his hard earned money working at Newburgh’s Dunkin Donuts as the-guy-at-the-cash-register (or whatever they’re called) and kisses it good night every night before going to sleep. I am putting 21 years of friendly relations between my brother and myself at risk.

By the way, while we’re on the subject, can someone please tell me how it’s possible that I can receive text messages but can’t send them? I go to cell phone-waale; they tell me it’s a problem with the service, and Telenor people say that their service is fine. Has anyone ever had this problem?

Oh crap. Something HAS happened. The laptop’s on charge yet the battery charging sign is stationery and the wireless has stopped working…oh shit.

And NO the battery is not full!

Ok no, it's all good. The broadband thing was just fluctuating and the battery level seems to be a bit higher than it was 20 minutes ago. *huge sigh of relief*. Everything in Karachi fluctuates except the crime rate and the number of people that stare at girls who enter the great outdoors (aka outside the chaar-diwari). Those are our happy constants and the way one can be sure they really are in this great cosmopolitan quagmire.

So anyway, reason for this post. Last night was my cousin's mehndi. Her family's settled in the US and they're getting the girl married to some guy here. Now silly us, we thought 'chalo, 20 saal se Amreeka main hain, in ke yaan waqt pe kaam ho ga' blah blah etc etc.

Obviously, we were wrong.

Actually, my mum and dad were wrong. I was right *obnoxiously smug smirk*

The minute we enter, electricity vanishes. These people were told to rent a generator for one night! What happened to the contingency planning Americans are supposed to be so good at? Are Germans the only efficient people on the planet?!

We were crazy early, got there around 8 30. Event starts around 11; from contemplating killing flies by aiming at them with rubber bands, I graduate to killing myself. Survive the night somehow and get home by 1. Joy.

Highlight of the night: aunt who's daughter is getting married says "tum log tau yahin pe rehte ho, tum kyun waqt pe aye?" then dashes off into the bathrooom to change.

Damn the predictable unpredictability of this city.

Dhewri

It’s raining during the middle of shadi season; let’s hope it saves me from having to attend any.

I helped my mother make dhewri today. They’re laddus made of aata with nuts mixed in and taste like…well…like sweet aata with nuts mixed in. Not my favorite form of mithai but dhewris, it seems, are a necessary part of Gorukhpuri weddings. I don’t really understand why, considering it’s extremely hard trying to eat one; it crumbles into dust at the slightest touch and you can’t get more than a few powdery bits in your mouth at a try, the rest just dissolves into smoke on your sleeve, but I guess that’s the charm of traditions. They’re there because they’re there. No logical reason behind them.

Nobody in my family (other than my mum and an aunt) knows how to make dhewris anymore, but all their elders (well, the women at least) could. It’s funny the stuff we leave behind as we move forward. We shed traditions like snakes shed old skin- they no longer fit so off they go! None of this generation knows how to speak the old gorukhpuri that my eldest taya could. The avats and jaavats and dekh-yuns, and we understand next to nothing of the customs that they insist are part of our heritage. We absorb their stories in wide-eyed disbelief- but I doubt any of us can picture their life in India. I can’t even begin to comprehend how an entire wedding could be pulled off in 5 rupees- regardless what century it was.

It’s sad realizing that at some point in time even these dhewris will be a forgotten bit of my culture, like giving a ‘dhuuni’ to a bride is. Like making lapsi and puuri when it rains is, like the gathering of all the family women for the dupatta- takai is. I remember these from my childhood, they don’t happen anymore. After all, who has the time?

So rationally speaking, as one progresses one must discard the things one no longer has any use for. This includes superstitions, traditions, and clingy people who keep calling you in the middle of a nap to ask you whether you have someone’s address. Technically it’s the right thing to do.

But emotionally speaking, rationality should go hang.

Dissertation and Blogger Party

Have you read those epic fantasy books that go on for 5-6 volumes and end in an epic (can’t find an alternate word) battle between right and wrong, good and evil, or light and dark? Liar, I know you have. Stop hiding your copy of the Belgariad under your bed.
Khaer, that’s how I feel right now with the end of semester drawing near. I feel life rushing towards this one point where the fate of my world will be decided, and all hope, or all fear shall be lost.
Final year is SO the drama.
I somehow managed to finish my dissertation last night, so what if it was 2699 words over the limit, 2 hours late and without references and literature review? I had one of those epic choices to make: finish my dissertation on time, or attend the blogger meet-up, and I obviously took the path of least resistance. I went to the party. And I don’t regret it. In your face, you evil forces of Evil.
Anyway, it was fun. Exponentially more fun than my dissertation.
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I hear a car pull up outside my house and Karachiwali asked the address from my kamwali’s husband who’s sitting on the lawn of that very house and the idiot had no clue what place she was talking about. Such morons have no right to marry and have children. People should take IQ tests before they’re allowed to reproduce.
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So we reached Nandos. Finally. What I found out during the ride to Nandos: SAWJ will not ask for directions, and Karachiwali is as lost as I am. And Nandos is not inside the Naheeds wali gali.

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Ek tau everyone there was so science-y. Khiwali wants to do a Ph.D in AI, SAWJ and Safi are electrical and electronic engineers (don’t remember which one is which) and Mahw is a psychologist.
I felt like the most jahil person there, but shukar he Farooq bhi tha :D

I don’t think he likes me very much.

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I hope Purple fit in. I hope she feels better. And once again luv, you’re NOT fat. Not even in a hijaab.
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I’m still trying to figure out HOW my cheesecake cost me Rs.500 :(

First things first.
I've been tagged by SAWJ and Anas and if i didnt waste so much time hanging around other people's blogs i might never have known. Damn my loserpana.
So, here it is:
(Copy-paste starts here!)
Rules:
* IT’S HARDER THAN IT LOOKS!* TAG 10 PEOPLE INCLUDING THE ONE THAT SENT THIS TO YOU.* USE THE 1ST LETTER OF YOUR NAME TO ANSWER EACH OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.* THEY HAVE TO BE REAL PLACES, NAMES,THINGS. NOTHING MADE UP!* TRY TO USE DIFFERENT ANSWERS IF THE PERSON WHO TAGGED YOU HAD THE SAME 1ST INITIAL.* YOU CAN’T USE YOUR NAME FOR THE BOY/GIRL NAME QUESTION.
(Copy-paste ends here!)

SCATTERGORIES:
1. What is your name: Hira
2. A 4 Letter word: Hair
3. A Boys Name: Haris
4. A Girls Name: Huda
5. An Occupation: Hairdresser
6. A Color: Hot Pink
7. Something you wear: hairbands? helmet while driving?
8. A Beverage: hot coffee?
9. A Food: Hungarian Goulash ( i googled that)
10. Something found in the bathroom: sigh...hairbrush.
11. A place: Hungary
12. A Reason for being late: HAD forgotten what time class was.
13. Something you shout: Haye! (no i dont. this was all i could think of)

And I won't tag anyone. Ha.