an itinerant observer

Dear Karachi, Ptooey ! Did you know that’s an onomatopoeia? A written sound, in other words. Or more precisely, per the Merriam-Webster dictionary :   Definition of  onomatopoeia T he naming of a thing or action by a vocal  imitation  of the sound associated with it (as  buzz, hiss ). Ptooey! That’s the commonest written version of the sound that is presumably made when you spit. Why presumably, you ask. Well because the esteemed composers of the dictionary obviously did not travel to our city prior to drafting that onomatopoeia.      Paan -splattered flowerbed outside the ER where author works Why do I say that? Simple. Have you ever spat on a wall here? You don’t have to. You don’t need to. Simply look around and you will observe several fellow Karachi- wallas spitting away as if participating in a well-orchestrated symphony. And not just on walls, but also on footpaths, roads, grounds, gardens, flowerbeds, schools, col...

Day 1 of expedition: On which all, except me, start the ascent to Rakaposhi base camp. Photo of Rakaposhi taken from the apple orchard of the Minapin guest house When I woke up the day our expedition was to start, I felt a bit odd. I couldn’t quite pin point the oddity. I ignored the intangible (not quite bordering on distress at that stage), changed into my tracks and went out for a run, as is my norm. I wanted to get my joints freed up enough so the ascent wouldn’t come as too much of a shock. Surprisingly, I couldn’t run much as I lacked energy, so I returned to the guest house where preparation was afoot, somewhat counter-intuitively, for a hearty breakfast for the eager mountaineers. A simple low fat, high starch/protein meal might be the better approach at the beginning of an ascent, but not being a professional trekker who was I to say that aloud. Seeing the parathas , omelets, scrambled eggs and toast did nothing for my appetite. Au contraire, it made...

Disclaimer : This is not a movie review (as I'm not a movie critic). It started with the need to have minions at my beck and call 24/7. Never ending work, without a break, and lack of readily available home help had led to a frustrating situation. Although I was desirous of minions, in reality it was highly unlikely to happen. So I relegated myself to the virtual world of minions. I'm not a huge fan of Disney-Pixar's animated movies. This time, however, my kids ensured that I would accompany them to watch the latest ‘cartoon’. Not having watched ‘Despicable Me’ prior to this I was a bit curious to see for myself what all the hangama was about. My kids had been incessant about the minions. So on Eid day 3, since I was neither on call at home nor in the ER, I took my kids to watch the much anticipated movie. It was not entirely disappointing. The minions’ main objective is simple: to seek out and offer their services to the most evil person alive. Thus, the evil doer...

“Enaya has told another child in class that the world will end on December 21, 2012. This is unacceptable behavior…”,  were the 1 st lines of the email from the class teacher. Enaya aka Noori, the 6-year-old 1 st grader had happened to mention the Mayan prophecy to her young class fellow. She had done so without realizing the repercussions of mentioning doomsday scenarios in a public school setting. Maybe saying such things in a private school might not have generated a hyper-anxious email from the class teacher. Ayesha and I promptly responded to the email. I think Ayesha did so a bit apologetically. I, on the other hand, gave a complete account of the Mayan prophecy that I had taken quite a fascination to. I explained to the teacher that per that prediction made many hundreds of years ago, the world was going to end in a few weeks. I went on to inform the teacher that what Noori had mentioned was well known to most, if not all in Houston. The publicity of the world en...

Robin Williams is no more. I came across his death in a footnote in a local newspaper, a few days back. Considering the manner he decided to end his life, I was shocked although not entirely surprised. Robin Williams was an ‘intense’ actor to say the least. If you scratch the surface, actors, who perform comedies on screen, betray more of real life dramas and tragedies. I think they utilize humor as a strong defense mechanism, and they throw themselves into work (either one project or several) perhaps to keep “demons at bay”, as suggested by a recent article from the NY Times with the very suggestive title “Busy working, Robin Williams fought demons”. That concept in itself is intriguing because I believe we all have demons that we tackle on a daily basis in our professional and personal lives. I wonder if celebrities or actors have a harder time dealing with those demons than us regular folks…   Other than the statistics from the U.S. about white men being much more l...