Reflections on a subcontinental year
Cross-posted to our travelblog, elephantkitty.
It's been over a year now since we settled into our life in the subcontinent - hard to believe that the time has passed so quickly. It was around this time last year that I was stumbling through the streets of Banares on crutches, struggling with Hindi script, and developing a bad, hacking cough from the pollution. Now, one year later, we are only a (long) day's train ride (and one international border) from Banares. Although I am no longer on crutches, and the pollution here isn't as bad, I am still struggling to learn to read and write (in Urdu now), and finding myself pining for the days of Hindi study, where the alphabet made such good sense.
I thought that, by this time, I might be getting sick of eating desi food, but, to the contrary, I still find that my favorite meals involve some combination of daal (pulses), sabzi (vegetables), and roti (unleavened bread) or chaal (rice). Our cooking style combines these Pakistani staples with western influences, with, in my opinion, great results. One dish I never get tired of is sprouted daal, sauted with veggies and spices, served with chaal or roti. After a few days sitting in the open air, the daal develops a lovely, nutty flavor, and the texture borders just short of crunchy. Yum.
On the work front, I recently recovered from hosting a delegation from the National Lawyers Guild for work. They had a 10-day visit culminating in a press conference in Islamabad and the release of a joint report entitled Defending Dictatorship: U.S. Foreign Policy and Pakistan's Struggle for Democracy. After the delegation left, I slept for a week. Okay, not quite, but I was pretty sick and grumpy.
I also purchased a mobile phone recently. Yes, gentle readers, it's time for the obligatory low-res, mobile phone pics. It's difficult for me to do this because, being a photo geek, these look SO bad to me, but I just can't lug my camera all around town with me. And I know how much you all like to see pictures of the everyday here. So, with those apologies in advance, here goes:
This little one has taken a liking to us, ever since we started feeding it. I think it's our charming personalities. She may be pregnant. She used to walk on the wall along the side of our house, but now she's started perching there, waiting for us, and when we go outside and put down the bowl, she doesn't even run away.
This is one of the ubiquitous minibuses that drives, honking loudly, through the streets of Lahore. The fare ranges from Rs. 4 - 7 for the trips that I've taken (that's about $.10 USD). They're fast and cheap, but this one isn't even close to capacity. I counted one time in Islamabad TWENTY-ONE people in one minivan. That means this one still has room for 7 more people (counting 5 unseen in the picture). Not really sure how, but it seems like there is always room for one more.
We attended our friend Pascal's (mentioned and pictured in this post) son's wedding reception. The reception was definitely my favorite that I've attended so far in the subcontinent. It was raucous, crowded, and not a bit pretentious. But the poor bride and groom - they had to sit under these high-powered video camera lights for hours while a long string of people had their pictures taken with them. I think they got every single guest under those lights at some point. I'm amazed the bride's makeup didn't melt.
Two other notable things about the wedding:
In other news, Amber and I have decided to explore our options for extending our stay here. That means that I'm going to start to look for a longer-term job here (my present position runs until the end of May).
It's been over a year now since we settled into our life in the subcontinent - hard to believe that the time has passed so quickly. It was around this time last year that I was stumbling through the streets of Banares on crutches, struggling with Hindi script, and developing a bad, hacking cough from the pollution. Now, one year later, we are only a (long) day's train ride (and one international border) from Banares. Although I am no longer on crutches, and the pollution here isn't as bad, I am still struggling to learn to read and write (in Urdu now), and finding myself pining for the days of Hindi study, where the alphabet made such good sense.
I thought that, by this time, I might be getting sick of eating desi food, but, to the contrary, I still find that my favorite meals involve some combination of daal (pulses), sabzi (vegetables), and roti (unleavened bread) or chaal (rice). Our cooking style combines these Pakistani staples with western influences, with, in my opinion, great results. One dish I never get tired of is sprouted daal, sauted with veggies and spices, served with chaal or roti. After a few days sitting in the open air, the daal develops a lovely, nutty flavor, and the texture borders just short of crunchy. Yum.
On the work front, I recently recovered from hosting a delegation from the National Lawyers Guild for work. They had a 10-day visit culminating in a press conference in Islamabad and the release of a joint report entitled Defending Dictatorship: U.S. Foreign Policy and Pakistan's Struggle for Democracy. After the delegation left, I slept for a week. Okay, not quite, but I was pretty sick and grumpy.
I also purchased a mobile phone recently. Yes, gentle readers, it's time for the obligatory low-res, mobile phone pics. It's difficult for me to do this because, being a photo geek, these look SO bad to me, but I just can't lug my camera all around town with me. And I know how much you all like to see pictures of the everyday here. So, with those apologies in advance, here goes:
This little one has taken a liking to us, ever since we started feeding it. I think it's our charming personalities. She may be pregnant. She used to walk on the wall along the side of our house, but now she's started perching there, waiting for us, and when we go outside and put down the bowl, she doesn't even run away.
This is one of the ubiquitous minibuses that drives, honking loudly, through the streets of Lahore. The fare ranges from Rs. 4 - 7 for the trips that I've taken (that's about $.10 USD). They're fast and cheap, but this one isn't even close to capacity. I counted one time in Islamabad TWENTY-ONE people in one minivan. That means this one still has room for 7 more people (counting 5 unseen in the picture). Not really sure how, but it seems like there is always room for one more.
We attended our friend Pascal's (mentioned and pictured in this post) son's wedding reception. The reception was definitely my favorite that I've attended so far in the subcontinent. It was raucous, crowded, and not a bit pretentious. But the poor bride and groom - they had to sit under these high-powered video camera lights for hours while a long string of people had their pictures taken with them. I think they got every single guest under those lights at some point. I'm amazed the bride's makeup didn't melt.
Two other notable things about the wedding:
- When will I ever learn about timing in Pakistan? We were running late, which is to say, the wedding "started" at 6PM and we had planned to arrive at 8, but we weren't ready to go. I called Pascal and he said that the bride and groom hadn't even arrived yet, so we decided to shoot for 8:30. We arrived at 9:15, in a bit of a panic that we would be too late. The couple still hadn't arrived. The reception didn't get rolling until around 9:30, 3 1/2 hours late.
- Pascal is Christian. Christians make up less than 1% of the population here. We met a nice Hindu man at the wedding. It turns out, Christians typically invite Hindus to their weddings, and Hindus do the same for Christians.
In other news, Amber and I have decided to explore our options for extending our stay here. That means that I'm going to start to look for a longer-term job here (my present position runs until the end of May).