| Summers have long seemed the most | | | | paper and wood in the trash, warming themselves |
| appropriate time for love's beginning to writers | | | | in the early morning chill, others would be seated |
| and poets. Even though Karachi's own summers | | | | inside a dhaba (small inn-like restaurant) serving |
| aren't exactly close to that poetic ideal | | | | oily parathas with tea for breakfast. 'Garam chai |
| (yesterday's maximum recorded temperature | | | | aur paratha lelo, aik dam garam lelo' (Get hot tea |
| was 36 C, humidity was not as high at 29% but | | | | with bread, get it real hot) use to be their waiter's |
| the load shedding schedule, at least in my locality, | | | | loud call in Urdu. The dhaba still serves aik dam |
| ran from 7 PM to 10 PM), but the character and | | | | garam chai aur paratha, but a new juice stand had |
| spirit of some of Karachi's worst effected citizens | | | | emerged now within their inn; 'Tazza keeno aur |
| to take into their stride, any and everything the | | | | ganney ka juice lelo, aik dam tazza lelo' ('Get fresh |
| summer season offers, is not to be | | | | orange and sugarcane juice, get it real fresh') is |
| underestimated. Yesterday was back-to-school | | | | now aptly the waiter's new call. |
| day for me and after nearly a month and half of | | | | In the afternoon, this time on the way back from |
| post exam holidays, when I went back to my | | | | college, lemon juice had been added to the dhaba |
| college yesterday, that determination to enjoy | | | | menu; the Walls ice-cream walla's (ice-cream |
| the summer, despite its many tests, was at full | | | | man's) businesses was going stronger then the |
| display. | | | | makkai walla's (roasted corn seller), and some of |
| The morning's van journey would see the van | | | | the little kids who were playing around in the |
| driver return to play, customarily in maximum | | | | morning, were still playing, seemingly unfazed by |
| pitch, the same old dance remixes of the even | | | | the heat, running around after a stray cat in the |
| older Indian music numbers from the | | | | area. Still bare foot, still only half dressed. |
| black-and-white era (oh how I miss now the | | | | In the relative comforts of our air conditioned |
| wonderful days of Muharram, the Islamic month | | | | residences and cars, our sun-glasses and |
| when Shia Muslims mourn the martyrdom of the | | | | sun-blocks covered bodies, as we continue to |
| Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hazrat Ali, and no | | | | whine about the heat, I thought, on the way |
| music is hence played in 'religious respect', and my | | | | back, eves dropping shamelessly on the |
| ears spared of this aberrant noise pollution). | | | | conversation of two of my batch matches going |
| Then there would be the familiar faces of old | | | | back home in their own private cars, may be we |
| friends and returning seniors, and amongst us all, | | | | miss out on the real joie de vivre of the summer |
| some fresh juniors as well. The fashion trends, | | | | that those kids are able to enjoy. |
| even a style-impassive person like my self could | | | | The hazards of playing on busy streets, and of |
| sense, had already changed to some extent; | | | | running around bare foot in environmentally |
| shirts were shorter (and tighter) still for the girls, | | | | adverse conditions not withstanding, there was an |
| and closing the top few buttons of your shirt was | | | | unquestionable bliss that you could see reflecting |
| seemingly a fashion crime for the boys (and there | | | | within their eyes. May be it was just the blithe of |
| I was thinking one of the easier ways to avoid | | | | their childhood which has made me nostalgic; may |
| complete dehydration in this weather was to | | | | be I'm just jealous, of those kids I saw in Azam |
| adjust your clothing for minimum sun exposure). | | | | Basti, and then a few more opposite sea view |
| But the surest indicator of summer's arrival came | | | | yesterday, taking a free of cost dip in a pound of |
| as we neared the college hospital in Azam Basti. | | | | accumulated rain water to cool off, jealous that |
| This disparity between rich and poor in this locality | | | | can't even find an inflatable swimming pool to |
| is quintessential sub-urban Karachi all year round, | | | | accommodate my size, that I wont be having |
| but especially in the summers. | | | | summer holidays this time either, that I can't |
| Huge, two story houses, with latest model cars | | | | seem to enjoy the summer like those kids were |
| standing outside them can be seen as you drive | | | | doing. |
| past the broken and sewerage inundated roads in | | | | Its worth asking if perhaps, its true, that we've |
| one lane, and almost as huge piles of accumulated | | | | grown so frustrated by the trails and tribulations |
| garbage meet your eye as you go into the next | | | | of the summer, the scorching heat, the worsening |
| lane, which incidentally also leads into our college's | | | | traffic, the power outages, the post rain floods, |
| clinical facility. Much smaller, unpainted cemented | | | | and much more, that we've forgotten how to |
| houses are seen in these parts, the roads here | | | | enjoy the harvests of the summer, the mango |
| are less bumpy and ironically aren't flooded by | | | | season, great new lawn sales, and the actual |
| over flowing gutters either, but there aren't many | | | | warmth and sunshine it self. We may find the |
| cars. Pathan men on foot inhabit these lanes, and | | | | constant heat a pain, but in other parts of the |
| the varied kaleidoscope of views on offer, each | | | | world, say London, for instance, people actually |
| tells its own unique story. | | | | celebrate when the sun peaks through the clouds. |
| Back in December when we came here in the | | | | May be we take things for granted. May be we |
| mornings, there would be little groups of men | | | | forget that hell will be hotter. Either way, the |
| standing around fires ignited out of the abundant | | | | summer is here. Seasons greetings everyone. |