Today

I realized I fucking love postmodernism.

Published in the streets of Dhaka

I’m not too big on poetry. I certainly don’t have the knowledge to appreciate Ghalib and Rumi. But sometimes I come across a poem that really makes me want to major in Literature instead of Sociology and Politics next year.


Here’s one I read yesterday


Here I will stay, plumb in the centre
Of monsoon-mad Bengal, watching
Jackfruit leaves drift earthward
In the early morning breeze
Like a famous predecessor used to
And take note too
Of flashing knives, whirling sticks, burning bombs,
And accompanying gutturals and fricatives of hate,
And evil that requires no axis
To turn on, being everywhere
And should all these find their way
Into my scribbles and into print
I’ll cut a joyous caper right here
On the tropic of Cancer, proud to be
Published in the streets of Dhaka

Kaiser Haq

I love this poem. I’m not sure why. Maybe because you can read it all in one breath, maybe because the phrase ‘monsoon-mad’ makes so much sense to someone living in South Asia (and the irony that comes with that, the fact that we have taken the English language and made it our own) maybe the dramatic ending or the rich picture it paints. Or perhaps because the poet takes the good and the bad, the beautiful and the disturbing and casts them all in the same light of love. Whatever it is, I am writing this one on my bedroom wall.

Visiting

They looked up as we drove by. Looked up from smoking whatever it is they were smoking, looked up from kick starting their motorcycles, looked up from chewing paan and stared as the sleek black car drove past them, hunting for a tiny house. We hunt for it every year without fail, meandering our way through narrow roads, almost colliding with anorexic donkeys and cursing ourselves because we come here, to this neighbourhood, every single year and have still never managed to find the place without calling them at least five times.

It's a small house as befits the neighbourhood. Small and untidy and unworthy of a second glance. Unless you bother to look closer and notice the graffiti, the peeling plaster, the cracks in the roof which fell in last year when the rains came and refused to go away. It's not worth smiling at the people until you notice that they've opened a new bottle of coke for you and the cake they put in front of you is untouched. They're not worth wasting your time on until you realize that you are the only family and friends that have visited this year. In fact, you are the only family-and-friends to have visited any year.

And then you smile as you politely sip your coke and show off your mehndi. You ask how the second daughter's MBA is going. You look at photos from some distant cousins's wedding. And you forget the peeling paint, the looks their neighbours gave you and the fact that their clothes are so different from your own.

After all, this is family,

Eid Mubarak everyone ^^

Today

I said 'Eid Mubarak' to the guy I buy pirated dvds off of. He was so taken aback that I wondered if he thought I was impolite.

On university

Dad: I don't care what you say, the minute you'll leave you'll stop studying and go crazy. In fact, you're applying far away ON PURPOSE so that you can stop studying and go crazy. I know you.

Mum: I trust you. Besides, it's not like anyone at university has time to do anything but study.

Brother: You want to double major? You're never getting laid.


Yeah.

Envy

Looking back on it
Perhaps I should have left
Or simply retreated
Behind the rim of my coffee cup

Today my reflection stares back at me
My unkempt hair, my bitten nails
Their nails shone with perfection
As they clicked on skinny glasses
The television blares in the distance
My reflection raises a mocking eyebrow
At my old sweatshirt, my unadorned lips
The television flashes advertisements in my face
I close my eyes and remember
How their perfume preceded them
As they wafted through the front door
Caressing but never noticing its worn carvings
How their heels commanded attention
As they ordered frappe-somethings
Sniggering at the waiter’s hideous uniform
Blind to the jeans fraying under that starched apron
The television boasts of some fairytale in a bottle
I’m not even listening
I brush my hair
Ignore my reflection’s unblinking gaze
And leave
The rusty doorknob silently applauds me

We met that girl at the coffee shop again
She knew we were laughing at her
But she turned around
And smiled at us anyway

I wish I had her smile

As cliche as this is going to sound

I'm standing in front of one of Karachi's most popular restaurants. For the past three hours, four of us have approached every single person about to enter said restaurant, smiled and said 'Hi. We're from Karachi Relief Trust. Help us collect money to buy provisions for the flood victims.'

Some of them have scowled and stepped away. Some have ignored us entirely. Some have stopped, smiled and reached into their pockets. We have learnt to target certain people. Men and women in their late 20's and early 30's give generously as do families. Teenagers and old men are stingy. Ironically, most mullahs cut us off mid-sentence and walk away.

People exit the restaurant, chattering and laughing. Worlds away from the flood yet somehow bouncing back.

A five year old walks up to me, empties her pockets of all the change she has and proceeds to put it all in the box. She asks me where all the money is going to go, a look of genuine concern on her face.

Karachi never ceases to amaze me.

Another Gem

'Man plans and God laughs'

Truer words were never spoken.