Things I miss about Pakistan in the US

[Shan-e-ibrahim]

To be fair, the roads have been improved quite a lot, and now there are some half-decent places to stay in Swat, so its tourism potential is improving with better facilities.

thank god but these are some missed parts which were neglected any ways good to hear about development.

 

[VCheng]

That special taste however is something I missed. Honestly Desi food tastes like paper here.

However, some of it tastes good but that involves handing it over to blue collar chicanos to make. They know tikkas like nobody's business.

There are good places that serve authentic food all over the place, one just has to know where to look and be prepared to pay the price. Nothing beats home cooking for that real taste, though. (I have posted photos of desi food prepared at home in the past.)

thank god but these are some missed parts which were neglected any ways good to hear about development.

Yes, the improvement is patchy and fragile, but it is there.

 

[Raja.Pakistani]

@Akheilos when you were landed on soil of USA?

 

[Donatello]

Touché, but those experiences of missing ones country I can stll comment on. And since they all involve food, that is never confined to the country. Hence, the author really does not miss the country and only the food. Which brings us to the question that is there really anything else worth remembering in Pakistan besides its cuisine which in itself is a mixture of Indian and Afghan/Persian cuisine?

Does it say I miss being among the non-existent lines at government offices?
Or they miss the mad traffic and utter lack of respect for signals?
Do they miss the polluted air of Karachi or being able to bathe downstream from urinating bovine creatures in the BRB canal?
Do they miss the beautiful valleys of Swat where if you wore anything less than a heavy covering or Burke you might be the target of an angry mob?
Or do they say they miss the greenery of Islamabad where you end up waiting 30 minutes in traffic because the Chief Minister is coming?

Nope, Just miss the food. Well, that you can get all over America now. From Gol Gappas, Murgh Chole, Parathe, Sheermal, Naan, Tikkas, Nehari, Qorma, Daal. you name it. Its all there.

Yaar, but don't you miss your local tulla (cop) who stops you for possession of narcotics and alcohol in the Islamic republic, keeps some of it and then lets you off?

There are good places that serve authentic food all over the place, one just has to know where to look and be prepared to pay the price. Nothing beats home cooking for that real taste, though. (I have posted photos of desi food prepared at home in the past.)



Yes, the improvement is patchy and fragile, but it is there.

Depends a lot where you live. No issues in major urban centers with desis. But if you are living in a small rural type town, forget any spices and masala, let alone desi food. USA is big you know. Not everyone can live in NY, LA, SF, Detroit, Houston etc.

 

[VCheng]

Depends a lot where you live. No issues in major urban centers with desis. But if you are living in a small rural type town, forget any spices and masala, let alone desi food. USA is big you know. Not everyone can live in NY, LA, SF, Detroit, Houston etc.

Spices and Masalas are widely available in stores, all over. Is USA a big place? What would I know?

 

[Dubious]

@Akheilos when you were landed on soil of USA?

Bro...I aint there...the article is by a female author who shares my missing

I was in USA twice last yr, why?

 

[xyxmt]

beta thats what u think. Considering yr a canadian resident pakistani and pakistanis in that country have generally some issues with their home country, i can understand yr lack of awareness and knowledge abt these thing since i can see where yr coming from. But calling a south indian made samosa or whatever being pakistani or the fact that u tasted all the desi foods in one Samosa is the greatest chawwal i have heard till now in this year.

you are absolutely right about the difference in Pakistani and Canadian Pakistanis, A Canadian Pakistani would know that Samosa made a south Indian lady is not a South Indian food, just like french pastry made by Italian chef would not be called Italian food.

 

[syedali73]

I miss the rain, singing in the rain, mitti ki khushboo in the rain. Apparently, American soil doesn’t get all fragrant for some very non-filmi reason

I’m under the impression that people in Pakistan are under the impression that United States of America comprises only of Chicago, New York and Houston or cities that are like Chicago, New York and Houston, and is confined only to the state of Virginia. And sometimes Texas because everybody knows Texas!

I say this because every time I muse about oh, how I miss this about Pakistan, some ultra-enlightened random commenter makes it his business to tell me how wrong I am and if I were to just go to Houston…

Uhm, honey, no. I can’t just go to Houston. Houston is some 568 miles away from where I live. That’s approximately 9 hours by car if driven non-stop, which means 12 hours for me since I love stop-overs. No matter how much I love to drive and have my own car, I can’t just go to Houston whenever I feel like it. That’ll be like telling a resident of Multan to go have dinner in Karachi and be back home for breakfast.

There are more small towns in America than there are big ones and although a large number of Pakistani expats live in or around your regular NYC, Chicago whatev and perhaps that’s all you get to see on HUM/ARY/GEO plays, a greater number lives in small towns where we don’t have a lot of desi-ness to go around. Hence, pangs of homesickness at odd times.

Besides, it is okay to miss Pakistan some, is it not? It is okay to be nostalgic.

Since, I couldn’t totally rely on my own memory to recall the things I missed about Pakistan while living in the US, I rallied my friends and we had a nice chat and I realized there were things about Karachi (and other cities) that I never even knew simply by virtue of that city being so expansive and culturally diverse. For instance, some areas had dhol people to wake them up for sehri…? I never knew that.

However, we came up with a list of things we thought we could never live without, still miss tons, and have survived the separation regardless:

Mangoes

It’s summertime here in the United States…without my sindhri/langra/desi. I should die, really. Instead of that divine fruit, they give us a Mexican mutation of the divine fruit. The locals call it exotic. My children will never know the real thing. It’s a nightmare! And it doesn’t end here. We also do not have falsa, jamun, amrood, kinu and leechee. Do you know what that means? No fruit chaat in Ramzan! Or ever! Not to mention, there is also no Ramzan anymore…only Ramadan since Arabs rule the mosque. And speaking of Ramadan, Chand Raat means a 6-12 evening event in a community hall; not an enthusiastic shopping spree. *insert murderous scream*

Street Foods & Fast Foods

Gol guppay, makai, halwa puri breakfasts, chicken tikka, dandi wali kulfi, masalay wali mooli or shakarqandi – I hated that shakarqandi and kulfi and I still wouldn’t touch it but doesn’t mean I don’t miss it. Confused much? Yeah, me too. What else? That chaat at the thela, the bun kebab at the thela, the gola gunda at the thela – the damn thela itself! Those roadside dhabas and their doodh-patti. We also have no paan ki dukaan or mithai ki dukaan or konay ki dukaan where that nice uncle sells everything from eggs, milk and bread to color pencils and photo copies. That Kroger there – doesn’t even compare. We miss the kebab rolls and ice cream shops that weren’t much to look at but dished out finger-lickin’ flavors. There are no milk shops either. My kids will never grow up knowing baalai the way I did (and I wasn’t a fan but still). They know of this cream that comes in a can or carton. And that sugarcane juice! How did I ever survive so long without gannay ka rass or ganderi?!!! Also, the KFC and ilk here isn’t halal. *pout*

Real Pakistani Cuisine

Ammi’s cooking and Nani’s homemade achhar – sans the filminess, it is something to crave if you have the proverbial saat samandar in between you and mom. Chances are you’ll be treated to her cooking once every 5 years to never at all. So, yes, cravings. Other than that, small towns like ours do not feature authentic Pakistani cuisine. We have a few Indian restaurants that try, emphasis on try, to cook our dishes but fail efficiently. The taste simply isn’t there. And the chicken is always orange to red. Then, there are those that offer fine Mediterranean cuisine. Yeah, so not Pakistani. Sorry. You got nothing on our nihari and paya.

Shopping

Come on now, an all-women focus group and no mention of shopping? Just couldn’t happen. Number 1 item on the list of things we longed to shop for were the fresh, crisp lawn prints. Oh, yes! There is nothing in the world that can trump that feeling. The malls here are nice. Too nice. With their organized shops and aisles and mannequins and sparkly dresses/bags/shoes/everything, these shopping areas are a treat to be in. But I long for Tariq Road, for Saddar, for Anarkali. The shops here don’t spill merchandise onto the very pavement the shoppers walk on, the shopkeepers don’t haggle, don’t call to me with loud chants of Bibiji, baat to sunnain, I’ll slash the price in half! No, it is allsophisticated here. And since, I live in a world of mostly readymade stuff, it’s been a while since I’ve made a trip to my darzee. Well, the tales of the unruly tailor alone deserve a whole new blog, wouldn’t you say?

What else?

We miss the rickshaws. Yes! There isn’t a ride more fun than that and do take our word for it. Explaining it to the locals here alone is fun enough. We miss the gajray – husbands have to buy bouquets instead but what good is a flower when you can’t wear it? We miss the chhatt (rooftops). Last when I went to Pakistan and saw quite a few houses with sloped roofs, I wanted to knock on their door and tell them they knew jack about what the heck they’d done. Don’t do that! Leave the chhatt alone. Where else would you enjoy monsoons then? I miss the rain, singing in the rain, mitti ki khushboo in the rain. Apparently, American soil doesn’t get all fragrant for some very non-filmi reason. Last but not the least – cricket. I’ve already written an entire blog on that alone. And was consequently told to go to Houston. *eye roll*

There’s something else I miss when I visit Pakistan. I miss the country that I remember from my childhood. A lot has changed since then. The streets are less safe and the people more estranged and I’m not the only one who feels that way. Most of my expat friends and, what’s worse, the ones still living in Pakistan feel and miss it, too. That last bit is strange. How come the ones still in Pakistan cannot save Pakistan? They have every right, duty and opportunity to.

I wonder, once all that good is lost for good, where would they go to find it?


Things I miss about Pakistan in the US


Haiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Sadda dil...Kulfi kiya yaad agiyea

Gol Gappay, Golay

ok I am miserable again

OK. Come back and spare others from your nostalgic issues.

Amrika jaana bhi zaroori hey, jaa kar is tarah ki bakwaas karna bhi zaroori hey. America is EVERY BIT better than Pakistan and I say it from my own experience. Such people who cant adopt countries such as USA have no right to stay there.

 

[Dubious]

OK. Come back and spare others from your nostalgic issues.

I dont know why people find nostalgia a bad thing? Does it not make one human to be able to feel?

Samosa made a south Indian lady is not a South Indian food

poor S.Indian lady....feeding our uncle here her S.Indian food and he thinks it is Pakistani

 

[xyxmt]

poor S.Indian lady....feeding our uncle here her S.Indian food and he thinks it is Pakistani

effect of Pakistani education system, rata maar by repeating same line over and over
jhoom jhoom ke likhty ho

 

[syedali73]

I dont know why people find nostalgia a bad thing? Does it not make one human to be able to feel?

Because it gives off fowl smell of thanklessness. Comparing USA with Pakistan, this is height of ignorance and thanklessness. That is what prevents Pakistanis (not all though) from getting assimilated into US (or European) culture and renders them aloof. Your home is where you live, it is as simple as that.

 

[Adecypher]

Are you in the US? Because if you are those are the last things you will miss in that country. These ridiculous food items are all available there. We even managed to hunt down some pakola in devon street. Not even available in those days in new york.

Pakola is available in almost all Pakistani Grocery stores nowadays plus this Ramadan one of the Grocery Store with Restaurant will remain open till sehri and its not in downtown or Devon...it is in northern suburb.

 

[Dubious]

Because it gives off fowl smell of thanklessness. Comparing USA with Pakistan, this is height of ignorance and thanklessness. That is what prevents Pakistanis (not all though) from getting assimilated into US (or European) culture and renders them aloof. Your home is where you live, it is as simple as that.

Missing something is not thanklessness...Thanklessness would be comparing the god given beauty, or complaining about good that she have...Say good education, security or even a proper job...If she was in any way trying to compare those or cry they werent good enough, THAT would fall in thanklessness....

When a mother misses her child who is overseas, is she being untahnkful that the son has a job overseas? I dont think so!

As for getting assimilated, we cant judge as she never mentioned if she is going around wearing a burqa or demanding Shariah in USA....She could be assimilated but just miss her land, how bad is that?

Do you know when the White people went around they even brought their own furniture with them? Yea that is how much they assimilated with the locals they "ruled" from Spaniards going to S.America to to the Dutch going to Indonesia and the British going to Malaysia...even their flowers/ plants and even the furniture was dragged along....NOW THAT was lack of assimilation and yet no one utters a single word!

effect of Pakistani education system, rata maar by repeating same line over and over
jhoom jhoom ke likhty ho

I havent mentioned about the S.Indian lady till this post...You alright there?

 

[Raja.Pakistani]

Bro...I aint there...the article is by a female author who shares my missing

I was in USA twice last yr, why?

Because i thought you were living somewhere in Europe

@syedali73 why you are getting so serious and angry? If you are living in UK or USA dont mean you cannot miss certain stuffs in Pakistan. Every country has its +ve and -ve

 

[Dubious]

Because i thought you were living somewhere in Europe

I am bro