Maut Ka Kuwaan (Well of Death)

anNy and Shirin

Loved your interacts on food. All taht mouthwatering stuff had me drooling. Nothing beats good hearty desi food. Cant stand the fusion stuff thats coming up everywhere. Dosas with foie gras !!!! nothign is sacred

Would love to catch up on the latest fashion trends. Totally clueless right now about taht. I do try to keep up as much as possible with glossy mags. But even taht has stopped. In taht respect i think sarees are the best. They never go out of fashion and well there is only one way of wrapping it.

What I miss the most though are the endless shopping expeditions with family and trips to the tailor. My fav one was this huuuuge Pakistani man with a squeaky thin voice who was extremely shy talking to women. Quite an occupational hazard given his trade. But what a wizard with the needle. How he could make such wonderful fitting clthes w/o taking a single measurement - was amazing. He would just critically approximate a persons measurements from across the table and never get down to the nitty gritty with the measuring tape : ). The other was this sweet old man who would come to my grandfathers house to make everyones (cousins) clothes for eids and marraiges. Getting him to deliver teh goods involved dire threats(this never fazed him - would give his toothless grin) then frantic pleading with loads of anxiety - will he wont he?? Having gone thru all taht and finally getting the clothes one eid morning - I will never forget when I excitedly put on my new clothes and had this awful feeling all of a sudden of drowning. The hemlines were touching the floor. I didnt know what was worse not having new clothes or collective giggles from other family members.

All fond memories now. Cant tgell you how much fun this has been.

aicha

Dearest anNY,

It was lovely to read your writeup on turtles.I read it so many times.So sensitive.I have never seen a turtle crying with real `Ansoo `, must have been quite something !Probably the joys of giving birth. Physical pain + emotional feelings of ecstacy !reminds me of a poem we used to sing in our KG days ... went something like this ... ``All things bright and beautiful, creatures big and small ...``, can`t remember it exactly ... can u ? it was a beautiful piece ..... This circle of life is a very fascinating thing !do they still have the netting around the area where turtles used to be kept with their babies ? I wish better care would be implemented for the protection of these poor souls !

You know anNY, here we have something called a salmon run. I dont know whether you have heard of it or not, but will give a short description of it . Well there is a park called the ``Goldstream Park``. It has a small lake which eventually joins up with the sea .It is here that every fall ,[end october -december ] the salmon mate .After mating , the eggs of the salmon are ejected , and kept in a clump like form , many clamped together .this is known as `spawning `.After the eggs are hatched , the tiny babies stay with their moms,for a few weeks and then start their journey towards distant land .we were told as far as japan . The interesting bit is to mate however they come back to the place of their birth, after almost a year .Can u imagine the philosophy ? to trace back that route .After mating the male and female salmon just bite each other off and brutally die in the process .It was simply horrible to see so much salmon floating , as if attacked by a whale or something. the gulls feed on them. could not have salmon for a long long time after that .

So you love cricket too. humarey Haan tu is ka craze hai, infact all sports .my husband and boys are fanatics. cricket in the backyad is an all summer activity .my husband plays for a mid week league [ once or twice a week ]and my son for his school`s team.So the entire cricket season [ may-oct ] you will hear nothing but cricket talk , see nothing but cricket play .we have the best video collection of cricket[ some 55 plus videos ]like my husband says , his dream is to build a library with cricket videos , wall to wall ! alas that room was quick occupied by the kids nintendo and made into their play room, so there goes the dream for the moment. hope to get an extra room built for that purpose though. you know Omar quereshy made a video in pakistan for PTV called `` golden moments in pakistani cricket ``. even ptv did not have the collection as my husband has, so his tapes were borrowed to make this documentary. try and see this tape. you will enjoy it . all the golden moments are recorded there .I dont play cricket.boring me !!

Now to the topic of choice ... food !I think it is the condensed milk gola gundas you have pointed out which are yummy ! do try them .

anNY , have you ever tried the chewing gum , they serve on a stick, it comes out like in a swirl . it is very hard to find .I remember as kids , in deep afternoon we would hear the nara of `` Chilghum walla ``, just outside the servant quarters.It was full of germs, and probably the stick was a ``jharoo ka tinka ``. it was sold for 10 paisas . it was usually pink in colour, gosh! i haven`t had better chilghum in my life!You know the navy houses on that road, [the name i am forgetting now ] somewhere the road opened onto drigh road. there is a row of navy houses .the chilgum wala used to come on their back side . wait , hold on till i remember the name of the area .navy brick houses [ like a naval colony , all built in a single row ]

I am not a thai food person either, nor a great fan of japanese/ vietnamese cuisines either .The thai food in thailand smells awful ! their cooking media , i think peanut oil is it ? is really off putting !

The chinese place you people go to sounds very nice.Since it is a home business , people take special care , and onecan be assured of fresh food .

Try the chinese restaurant in Taj mahal hotel [ is it called holiday inn now ? ]anNY , their food is superb !bit pricish ,but worth every cent !

tell me is the paan walla at Mariott still there standing in the foyer, making his bulging paans? , and then Lol ! have you let him ?? er i guess you know what i am talking about !i suffered a shock as i was totally unprepared. i asked him to make a paan for me .Saadha khushbudaar , katee hwee suparee key sath.[ i prefer this to a meetha paan]My mother went into hysterics andsaid `` Ab dekho yehkiya karey ga ?`` i thought probably a pigeon would emerge from under his arm or a similar sort of ghisee pitee magician`s trick , for the tiny tots accompanying their moms , but hey he said `` moon kholein gurya , and wanted to feed me the paan !! I screamed NahiN !the ladies around me gave very disapproving looks .... i guess that`s the thrill which comes with the paan , which they so enjoy ! kiya ho gaya hai logon ko ? khule Aam beech bazaar mein ??? touba touba !

humarey liyae to P.I.D.C. hee sahih hai. bechara chotta bhaga bhagga jata tha aur fata fat paan ley ata that ! no guriya business !

You know what i really miss the heavenly drink `` Vimto ``. can u still get it ? i could not find it last year . it is made by the pakola company , i think which makes iceceam soda [ the neon green drink ] !

So funny anNY ,how we can go on and on ..... is it the food i wonder , the nostalgia .... or the gup shup we are having ? i think a mixture of all .So nice to be able to share it with someone who knows what i am talking about:) hai na ?

Take care , and I eagerly wait for your replies , needless to say .

Thank you Eklavya , and Taimurmalik and Urstruly , for listening to us so patiently :)Do join in , whenever you feel like it !

Aur aik cheez,anNY , nimko corner key samosae aur pakoorae to khai hoon gaiey [ saddar ]and while i am at saddar if you haven`t tried ``Farzand Ali`s Kulfi`s you better dash !

more for next time InshaAllah,

lots of love , write soon :)

sa:)

re: Urstruly # 68

Just can`t miss this rare opportunity to express complete agreement with urstruly :)

``I also think that this kate moss thing must go``

Not go...should be drummed out of every woman. Give us our real women back please!

anNy & Shirin:

well don`t know about others..but i am definately enjoying your interacts..me being a food maniac.

One of the many advantages of living in lahore is availability of great food and food lovers:)

It is heartening to see that atleast two ladies have monsterous love for their food. I was getting tired of reading stories, posts, and dronning vails of the anorexic. I also think that this kate moss thing must go. I am getting tired of seeing skinny models suffering from patello-femoral syndrome.

Shirinjee...aap ka (confirm;)) pata nahin but I`m known as the food monster in real life…I pack away more than my dad and brothers put together…no indigestion also! some say I might have worms in my tummy…reptiles in there or no, I enjoy my gorging sprees immensely…

You`ve seen turtles at the beach too!…we go to the beach in the winters raat ko late…these winters I went some 8, 9 times with the family…I saw the entire process…turtles (big huge ones) coming in from the sea, digging holes, giving babies, and even these adorable lil baby turtles hatching…popping out of the eggs…aik egg thora sa kharab hogya tha tau I picked it up and it was so spongy…like chiffon cake only with a lot of juice in it…then at another place we saw a dog (there are so many of them around…they eat the baby turtles and eggs)…it was sniffing…hero that he is, my brother got there in time and when I directed the flashlight in that area there were these hundreds of little baby turtles…I cant begin to tell you how cute they were…chottae sae mini kachhwae…we shooed the dog away and carried as many babies as we could to the sea in my shawl feeling absolutely euphoric…we saved our turtles! On another visit we saw this incredibly amazonish turtle give babies…it took her some 3 hours but we sat there all the time…she would occasionally flap her wings (or whatever they are…feet? paddles?) to make the hole she was in a lil deeper…and she was crying…there were these really big tears rolling out of her tears constantly…I`m not sure if it were labor pains or something else…it was beautiful… I wanted desperately to take pictures but my father wouldn`t let me…he said that if disturbed they go back into the water and then the eggs are not laid…the rate of survival for the babies is very low...also that many of them are hundred years old…can you believe that…those big things being there at the time of Quaid-e-azam and much before Pakistan and also having survived 2 world wars? I just could not stop staring...laikin no pictures…something very sad was when we went another time with quite a few family members…typical of our kawm, somebody later commented…all well educated, cultured achae ghar kae loge having a screaming match scaring the turtles away…complete havoc…so immersed were they in their tafreeh and high fiving that the others repeated request for them to be silent went unheeded…I finally threw a fit of sorts and swore at them (and got into a lot of trouble) but by then at least 3 turtles had gone back into the sea and 2 had been severely molested…one poor thing was turned over…literally ulta kardya tha…and anothers shell (while attached to the body ofcourse) was used as a horse carriage by a cousin educated at Eton for his little son…piggy bag…a truly disgusting experience…like an aunt said `kaheen bhi hokar ajain fitrat wahee rehtee hae`…and how amused they were at those of us trying to be un-intrusive…``kya hogya hae bhai…kachhwae hee tau hain``…

my father said that they go from our beach to the next granulous sand beach…somebody said thailand I think…fascinating no?

Cricket at the beach…`guys` you say? Lady there is no man on this earth who can marro a better chhakka than me I tell you…(but the stoopid men insist its `out`)…and burying people in the sand is so much fun…have you seen the movie about the man who goes to sleep buried and is washed away into the water? Its hilarious...mad funny

Nando`s opened about a few weeks ago tau you`ll not have been before…the chicken is mind-blowing…golla ganda with condensed milk..is that what youre talking off? I don`t know if I`ve had the little ice balls…maybe if the man is still outside St.Joesphs…isnt the church somewhere in that vicinity lovely? chinese food is a hot favorite with my uncle tau we do invariably end up going to these funny lil restaurants every few weeks…theres this one place in tariq road near café de khan that`s supposed to be very good..yuang taung…I didn`t quite like it…the place was oddly depressing and the food way to salty…but good chow meing…have you been to Suzie Wong at Marriott? The shrimps there are humongous and the sauces to go with that lovely…also Fujiyama…it`s a very upscale place…japanese food I think, it all looks the same to me…I didn`t like it one bit..the place is so yuppieish its not even funny…very pretentious…khana theek thaak hae...nothing to write home (or on chowk;)!) about…the best chinese place ever is this place jiss ka naam I don`t remember...we`ve been going there ever since I remember..it`s a home cum eating place somewhere in the alleys of clifton..near the mohatta palace...the propitier is this tiny lil cheeny aunty…her various grandchildren are forever parked there…theres no signboard tau i don`t know naam kya hoga…I will ask when we go next…you must go there…everything is superb since aunty cheeny supervises it all herself and takes the greatest pride in the food served…but because its not such a big outfit there are times when theres quite a bit on the already chota sa menu not available…

are you into thai food? Baan thai`s a good place for that, everybody says...i don`t...god knows what people see in it…its packed everytime we go (my amma is a thai food fan iss lyae we go) a friend says the food is sucky but still insists on dragging everybody there everytime…``sometimes you eat because you are hungry and sometimes for pleasure`` he says…I believe it is the being seen and seeing that`s the pleasure…I don`t derive pleasure from any place unless theres good food and lots of it to be served…the pina colada tastes like unrefined lassi with Rasna…I think ill shuttup now as there are bound to be Baan Thai freaks here too…theyre all over the place…

combos you say? Certainly not zarda and pulao!! I always looked down on friends insisting that soup and slims were heavenly…`how paindo`...in college I became the biggest paindoo of them all…was addicted to it like nobodys business…that was THE combo…I`ll tell you about the current absolutely crazy trends in shalwar kameeziz in my next post..dinners here:0)

dhaerh sara pyaar,

anNy

re: shirin ahmed

``Please speak up friends, and we will make an honest attempt to stop !``

Please don`t. It gets so tiring always living in our own little worlds. So it is fun knowing what goes on in other `better` worlds :)

Dear Shirin,

Hi there! Yes I heard of Reza Jaffery`s son`s death...infact his clinic was very close to my place and my mother often used to visit him because of her throat allergies and I accompanied her a couple of times on these trips. I tell you Shirin the man was an absolute gem of a person. The kindest, most humble and sweetest Pakistani man that I have ever come across (the general variety in this country is crude, arrogant and...well u get the idea. But dont take my word for it cuz I`m biased. Bitter experiences u see :p)His brutal murder came as an obvious shock to me and my mum was quite depressed for a couple of days. Funny how Fate plays these cruel lil tricks on us?? Such a great human soul gone to waste.....sad, so sad.. :-(

Samina

Shirin Ahmed #62

That is a very sad news.

There is news of daily sniper shots in Karachi these days.

Anybody can have advantage in continue to bleed Karachi for different aims.

Agencies. MQM, sectarian violence, RAW etc.

Lets hope this insanity ends.

wa)

Dear Ali,

Thank you for the generosity of your heart. I hope your future visits to Chowk will always be pleasant [well, as pleasant as they can be reading the nonstop `Gandhi was a fool, Jinnah was a fool` crap :) ]

Best wishes.

EK

Dear anNY?

Hello !Are we begining to sound like Martha Stewart having a conversation with Julia Child ?....talking non stop about food !.... Not that it bothers me, so long as it does`nt do it to our fellow members here !

Please speak up friends, and we will make an honest attempt to stop ! but Awww ))) hope not !anNY phir to waqai masala ho jaie ga !Gosh this Karachi nostalgia is wonderful !

Few of my favourites u mentioned in your check list, which i am agreeing to and putting a red bold tick besides !

- Fresco Dahee Pholkis [ try them next time sprinkling them with fresco`s namak para`s .You`ll love that crunchiness to them .

- Bahudarabad `s mixed plate !Best one in the city .

- watching sunset at sandspit, taking long walks with friends , chai by the gallons with us , if we can organise it , when some of us did once , a bar bq at night .then we walked along the banks of the calm sea.We even walked to the turtle hatchery there ! now wait a minute is that sandspit or Hawksbay ? we usually go to Sandspit, somehow the beach is prettier and relatively cleaner !by whatever standards !

My brother in law got really swindled by a `` saanp wala ``. The guy told my brother-in-law Rs. 500 ? and my brother-in-law quickly converting it into sterling pounds said yes ! and thought he got a great deal !Talking of being ripped off ?

we all still love burying someone or the other in sand , and of course the guys have a field time playing cricket there ! chaHkka in the water !!

- Gola Ganda`s uff ! the best ones were sold outside St. Joseph`s college !I remember going to pick up my cousin there , and we would invariably have them. but u know what ? they were of a different sort . it was not just crushed ice , with different syrups of different colors poured on it , but like small round balls , of a milky taste on a stick. it was not kulfi. they sold it as gola ganda .I have never been able to find anything like that again .

And I have not been to Nandoo`s .the last time i was in karachi it was last summer , so i guess it must not have opened till then .

anNY , any interest in Chinese food ? there are some lovely restaurants there ? esp. in clifton side .Believe me the best Chinese food i have had is in karach. Darn it , in Koh Kaaf they have no idea what chicken corn soup should taste like ? they even call it egg drop soup ! yukky !it tastes like dish water !

Remember it used to be Hong Kong for a long time, then A.B.C. was the hot place [ on elphi ] then many cropped up !

I still cant remember ``meerut ``, probably have not been there , or the karahi chicken place you mention !

Today i had gone for dinner to a friends place .she is also a karachi waalee . we talked about karachi non stop, but when she was laying out the food she asked me `` can i put zarda [ the meethae chawal `` on the dinner table with the rest of the food , instead of as a desert ? To be very honest i am not a zarda fan in the least bit , and so i would not be right in passing a comment as to whether it was a done thing or not .Then the punjabi friends of mine bailed her out , saying bilkul bilkul .... zarda and pullao is eaten mixed , and sometimes also with salan, and dahee on top ? I have never heard of this combo ? have you ? i just asked my friend `` 32 flavours are you ? hMMMMMMMM ?? WHAT SAYS U ?

So i hear minis are in again, with shalwars slit at the sides ? how do they look ? In Koh Kaaf , no one really bothers too much with Shalwar Kameez`s except at pakistani gatherings !and heck , not at all with hem lines ! Is there something wrong with us ?

And icould not agree more with you , about painting the town red , with cyra and Urstruly too ! that would be truly historic !

anNY ? It seems you have lived a long time in karachi? were you at kgs and if so which year did you do your o- levels ?

looking forwards to hearing back !

Rozaiba , shall i say thank you or stand on the podium feeling guilty ? i hope the former .....

love,

sa:)

p.s. anNY?/ anyone can you please give me a names of a few good recent plays of Hassena Moin? I simple adore her plays ! watched ``Aansoo `` recently.I shall be eternally grateful !thanks !

Krashid,

did you hear about the death of Reza Jaffri[ proff. Jaffri`s son?.He was shot point blank , while coming out of his clinic a few days ago.The details are posted on the forums.

May God Grant him Jannat-ul-Firdaus and may his family have the courage to bear this irrepairable loss[ Aameen ]

After hearing about this ,i wonder which religion we talk about in our hypertensive states , and rolled up sleeves ? Doesn`t seem to make sense anymore ?? never did , so omit the anymore on second thought !

take care ,

sa)

A_Nabeel #57,

Don`t just read, interact too :)

We need sane, level headed people like you here.

A. Nabeel #

You are just tip of iceburg.

I was sitting with my newly wed in a ground behind my house.

JUST Talking.

I saw a motorcycle coming.

I told my wife to run to the house quickly.

It was as suspected our defenders of faith police.

The same thing happened in Hill Park. And we have to leave in a hurry possibly to protect ourselves from police.

Daily Bhatta and bribe and taking to police station for extortion of money is a routine.

Long live IROnP (Islamic Republic of naPakistan as a Jamati would say before 1947)

Ali,

I felt the need to apologise too.. please forgive all of us for putting this piece on this thread .I do realise how you must feel.My prayers are with both of you .

Regards,

Shirin

Dear Eklavya, anNy and all other chowk walays,

Apology accepted. I really mean that u know. anNy apologized to me in person later on which i thought was extremely sweet. Anyways I did not mean to sound so unreasonably harsh in my last interact but I guess my emotions got the best of me at that point. I don`t think that I have the words to describe the experience itself and aftermath which by the way Im still experiencing to this day. I would also like to apologize for my interact which may have come across as slightly rude to most of u. No harm done I hope? Just one request from you all, please, please dont discuss this incident any further. I visit chowk quite frequently and read the interacts too and reading about it again is going to be painful. Otherwise, as a good friend of mine says, `its all good.`

Regards,

Ali Nabeel