FUN!

Sanny and I had planned on visiting Maria so yesterday both of us went to Pindi. On our way, we stopped at Mohsin’s to order my sari’s stitching. I haven’t been there in over eight months and the lady still recognized me. Sanny liked the bridal dresses so much, she wants to get married just so she can order one for herself. Anyhoo, that done and over with, we started our quest for Maria’s place and a quest it was.

Gulrez can be termed a ‘land far far away’. It took us nearly an hour to locate her place and her dogs Yogi and Lucy were the welcoming committee when we finally did. Gulrez has good houses, if only it was not so remotely located. Maria’s lounge has a ‘jhola’ in it which is a traditional sindhi jhola. Needless to say Sanny and I acted like kids who had seen their favorite ride. Hats off to Maria’s in-laws who thought our enthusiasm was endearing and regaled us with stories of times when these jholas were part of every household. InshaAllah, I will have one in my room as well.

Maria and her hubby had gone to Thailand last month and brought me this photo album from there. I am going to keep it till I visit Thailand on my own and put Thai pictures in my Thailand photo album. They don’t call me the queen of corn for no reason!


We then went up to Maria’s roof top. You can see all of Islamabad and Rawalpindi from there. I wish the mobile camera took better pictures at night time.


We then went to see this lady Maria has been looking after in RGH. She was brought to the hospital from Muzafarabad. Her pelvic bone was severely fractured when her house fell down due to the earthquake. She is here alone with all of her surviving family back in what’s left of Muzafarabad. She can’t even sit up. RGH is in poor condition. Its washrooms don’t even have water and that’s the least of its shortcomings. The hospital dispensary sells medicine of only one pharmaceutical company. Maria introduced us to the lady and asked her if she had taken her medicine. The poor lady hadn’t because the nurse had ‘other things at hand’. The dispensary didn’t have the required medicine so Maria went to buy it from a nearby pharmacy while I took to feeding her soup. As I was doing so, I tried talking to her, asking her about her family, she told me her youngest son died in the disaster and that he was her favorite child. She totally caught me off guard when she asked me if she was ever going to be alright. It’s so heartbreaking to see people seeking comfort from complete strangers. I tried to give her my most reassuring smile and told her she will be up and walking in three months. I don’t know if she will but I think she needed to hear something positive. Maria returned with the medicine and we bid her farewell. As we were about to leave, she gestured me to come forward and then she gave me a hug. I felt so sorry for her. It was obvious she missed her family and has to rely on unfamiliar faces to feel some warmth.

We then went to sadar to this shopping center which had really amazing stuff.

and there was something for everyone!


Afterwards we went to Safilo for shakes where I found this notice “order only for waiters’. Sanny and Maria are English teachers and the three of us couldn't help discussing what the right sentence would be.



Maria dropped Sanny and I back so it was a long drive and we got to singing. Singing all kinds of urdu/English songs in qawali style is our specialty. We sang punjabi songs, old Pakistani & Indian songs, everything we could sing all the way to Islamabad.

i came back home today and was so tired, i fell asleep in the lounge at 6:30 p.m. now i am up, will probably stay up the whole night and be a wreck in the morning. oh well.....Boss always comes to the news desk with a cup of coffee, i am sure the wafts of coffee will keep me up.