Gold Screen Cinema

Another day spent working on my blog’s appearance and pages… but as I had started to actually “talk” to the servant boy, he had lost his fear and was all curious and eager to have a chat between friends – and friends we were now, after this once again difficult and lengthy but adorable conversation. I found out that “friend” is probably the only English word this boy knows, which speeded the process up a lot – how could I have refused, when he gave me his hand and asked “friends?” with a wide smile?!
When Vivian came home, we even started a complete photo session together:

First, we had to find the perfect location with the perfect lighting.

This boy really liked having pictures of him taken, I can tell you!

But even more did he enjoy taking pictures of us, once he had understood how our phone camers worked.

We took quite a few pictures that afternoon – not only in this particular corner, though, and we also tried different poses, don’t worry, it didn’t get boring (at least not for the kid).

In the evening we were supposed to meet up with Jacko, but due to AIESEC things he had to do, which we don’t really know about, it got late and we decided to go to the cinema at Ocean Tower Mall. Turns out the only movie we were interested in watching (only few English movies, we decided for Nonstop) started at 23:30 – one hour from then. Jacko seemed very worried and kept asking us if it really wasn’t too late for us, as the movie would end around 1:00am. Of course we told him that it wasn’t a problem at all and we wanted to watch it. So, because we had another hour to fill, we went for shopping and I ended up buying my second kurta (bit fancier this time) which I planned to wear at the AGM on Sunday.
The cinema itself was small, but quiiite fancy: They have three different kinds of seats in the different screens: silver, gold and platinum, the most expensive one being platinum . We got gold though, which was already quite a luxury compared to an average German cinema: the seats were comfortable armchairs and you could not only lean the backrest back, but also lift the foot thing up and get into a complete lying position, if you wanted, with a pillow under your head. The platinum seats have another feature, we have been told: they also come in pairs, which means they are very popular for couples, specially because they can get a kind of blanket to cover themselves, which will also keep unwanted looks away…
After the movie, when we came out of the cinema, we finally realised why Jacko had been so worried about the time: We are used to being the object of even random people’s interest and everyone staring at us, as we usually are the only foreigners around, but this was insane – we were the ONLY females left, at this time in the mall. Even if we would have been proper, all-covered Pakistani women, everyone would have stared at us just for being the only females.
We quickly went to the car and drove straight home to Faria’s place – where the other reason for Jacko’s concern was awaiting us very lively: We had a curfew. Yes, a curfew, as in we had to be at home at a certain time. And we didn’t even know. Otherwise we wouldn’t have convinced poor Jacko, that it was alright to keep us out so long, and let him confront Faria (who had been texting and calling during the movie) and her worried family (that had stayed up to wait for us).
Note to self: Girls in Karachi have a curfew, us included. And sometimes even the guys… no matter the age. Apparently it is just not as safe anymore, as it used to be…

The real deal – Zainab market!

Today at work we continued our case studies reading and became more familiar with our co-workers at WAR: Kiran, our boss and program coordinator; Asia, the in-house lawyer who comes to office around noon, because she usually is at the courts in the morning; Farzana, van driver and handyman who doesn’t speak a lot of English but we talk to quite a lot anyway (also, when we go and get food from outside, like chicken rolls from Milano’s, then she is the one who accompanies us and helps us order); Rukhsana and Sheraz, our survivor support officers; and Ayesha the accounts and admin manager. WAR also has a clinical psychologist employed, but she doesn’t work from office, so we don’t really know her.

After work we got picked up by our friend Narissa and her sister and went to drop her sister at their house. Narissa’s family lives in a Parsi colony (yes, gated communities are quite common here) which might just be the most liberal (as in Western-like) place in Karachi.
The best thing about that afternoon, though, wasn’t seeing the colony, but it was that Narissa’s driver tried to teach us to ride his bike and even let us try it ourselves!

It was a lot of fun, obviously! Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to keep practicing, as we still had to meet Moomal at the university.

So my first attempt was also my last attempt…

I nearly drove the bike against a wall. Nearly.

We then drove to uni campus to pick up Moomal and from there to Zainab market. By the time we got there it was dark and dodgy, so I didn’t really feel like taking out my camera.

Zainab market is in the center of Karachi and therefore was our first experience outside of Clifton/Defense which according to Wikipedia is “an affluent neighbourhood located in the Saddar Town of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan“ and has a reputation as a “residential place of the rich and famous people of Karachi since the independence of Pakistan“.

The reason why we just had to go to Zainab market with Moomal out of all people, is that Moomal is very good at bargaining and Zainab market is all about bargaining!
It really came in handy having her there: while I was trying on jeans (in a tiny changing room, euphemistically speaking), she talked to the sales people in Urdu and by the time I had tried them all on and decided for one, the price was already remarkably down. When Vivian and I both decided for the same pair of jeans, she got the price down to 1100 rupees for both, meaning 550 rupees for each – that is less than 4€. Yeah, right?! I know you are reading this, Moomal, so thanks again!

The first stalls we entered were all located outside, along the street where people were selling street food from their carts, but we later also went inside. Inside it was the same scenery of small stalls, overloaded either with clothes, bags or shawls, seperated by narrow aisles. After our glorious jeans shopping we went shawl hunting and let me tell you, that is really not an easy task. With jeans it is way easier to decide because they either fit you or they don’t, you either look good in them or you don’t,  but with shawls… they come in so many different beautiful colours andlovely patterns that all look great and you can wear them here as a shawl (or rebozo as it is known in Mexico) or internationally as a scarf, any way you want – so there is not really a reason NOT to get a shawl if you like it…

So here is a piece of advice to those out there with the same “I like them all” issues as me: Instead of stopping at the ATM on your way to the market, just don’t take so much money with you. At the market it’s all cash; if you really liked something and run out of money, then you can always come back, but be smart and prepare your purse in emptying it to a certain extend in advance – it helped me decide for 2 shawls instead of buying 5.