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 all
sophisticated 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
It just kinda spoke directly to me
.......
