LOOT! There it is...

I am having a bad hair day…

And other note worthy events:

Today’s the last day of Eid-ul-Adha. It begins with the culmination of the Hajj (3 million pilgrims this year!). I was busy celebrating the past couple of days. This holiday is marked with the giving and sharing of meat. The faithful are encouraged to give a third of their share to the poor. While the remaining portion can be reserved for personal use.

Naturally, barbeques are really big this time of year. We’re heading over to my uncle’s house during the weekend, meat will be served. In the meantime I am using the time off to catch up on my thesis. Because for me, happiness is not flunking out of school.

The coast is clear

I am happy to report that things have settled down in the city. The past week was very trying. You always had to ask “How is it outside?” before venturing out. You had to know which areas were clear and which were not. Sudden noises made you jumpy. Troops were deployed at strategic locations. What was worse was the talk of war. There was a very real possibility that India and Pakistan’s armed forces would have engaged each other. Strong words were being used by both sides. Eventually rationality prevailed. Now the talk is more subdued, taking on the feel of a cold war.

Which means everything is normal. People are going about their business as if nothing happened! Resiliency knows no bounds! The fact of the matter is that violence in this city is chronic. This is how it has always been. Not everyone has the option of leaving and will be damned if they give up their homes. So they make the best of a bad situation and keep moving on.

This drive to keep working, to keep living pays off. My company won an award for its flagship product. It was considered “the Best in Tools and Infrastructure Applications”. I get to work on its smaller cousin. Very challenging work, makes my brain hurt just thinking about it. But it is helping me to grow as a professional and as an individual. Plus we celebrated with biryani for everyone!

Being Thankful for what you have

I am feeling frustrated. For two days Karachi has been gripped by violence. Experts are saying that this is a backlash to the attack in Mumbai. I couldn’t go to work today and had to stay home. I remember having to check the weather report before heading out now I check the terror report. “There’s a 50% chance of sporadic gunfire followed by mass rioting later in the day. You might want to throw on some Kevlar.”

At times like these it easy to become cynical. I’d love to bitch and moan about how crappy everything has become. But I won’t. Partly because it does no good and partly because I have plenty to be thankful for. My family, my health, my friends are all reasons to be grateful.

I have another reason to be grateful. I mentioned wanting announce some big news in my previous post. Well here goes. My sister moved back to the US! The timing couldn’t be better. She’s been planning the move for the past year. The biggest hurdle was getting a visa for my brother-in-law. He had to get passed stringent security checks before being issued one. The munchkins are considered to be Americans born abroad and were allowed entry.

We’re all happy for them. My dad managed to get them an apartment in NY, close to our old neighborhood. My sister still remembers everything vividly. “It’s like I never left!” she tells me over the phone. She sends back pictures via email and long lost phrases like “Coney Island”, “corner deli”, “gyros” surface in my mind. I am taken back to summers spent eating Italian ices, skateboarding down steep hills, eating pez candy from a looney tunes dispenser, listening to rap songs on my neighbors boom box, playing Nintendo and watching fireworks on the Fourth of July.

As I hear gunshots from outside my window, my memories are whisked away. To survive the here and now one must focus on the present. The army has been deployed and will eventually bring order. The dead will be forgotten and we will go about our business. But until that time I can be thankful that my nephews have a chance to grow up the way I did. A chance to learn and explore everything that this world has to offer. A chance to dream big and do great things. And so begins a new chapter in The Immigration Experience.