This was my very first trip to Pakistan. Kyna, my gorgeous darling sister, was already there, telling me it was all going to be great. She had already mastered driving around the city, meeting people, finding great places to eat, and enjoying the dramatic landscape. Me, I was wondering how to wear the scarves.
I got some more advice from her about the shalwar kameez:
She also invented an excuse for a party, to introduce me to her friends.
Kyna being herself means that everyone is invited, everyone is adored. Here she is with some of the crew that worked at her place. Gul Nawaz, the guard, is at the right. He is lively, funny, and almost completely oblivious to anything Kyna says to him in English. But it matters not. He takes great care of her and would do anything for her.
Two weddings and a runaway
She was trying to set me up with Shafique, who is a pharmacist at the Embassy with her. But then the party happened and Kyna decided I should marry the gardener, Arshad, instead.
Kyna didn’t tell me that henna-ing your hands was such an important cultural thing. I was hanging out with the party guests, including Arshad and his family, and we all danced to a pre-Spotify Kyna soundtrack.
I also danced with Arshad, but nothing too close. I was an idiot, but not quite that big an idiot. But suddenly his mom jumped up and kissed me, speaking rapidly in Urdu with the biggest smile you can imagine.
At that, Arshad’s brother-in-law ran into the kitchen and grabbed the sugar bowl, then came back to the party and gave everyone spoonfuls right into their mouths. Hardly hygenic, but something else weird was going on here… Arshad’s sister grabbed my wrists and asked me, Are you excited to be married? At which I must have looked quite stricken, because she then asked, quite concerned, “Don’t you want to be married?” I stammered something about, sure, someday, when I met the one I loved… to which she answered tenderly, “You will find a lot of love in our family!” Cut to the garden outside, where I hid for the next hour or so…
It was a fantastic party.
