Here I am, back in the land of mangos and cricket.

The weather is still cool enough to use blankets at night.  During the

These things drive me crazy in the morning!

day the birds sing to the hum of city traffic with incessant chirps that start soon after the morning call to prayer that reverberates from mosques on every street corner through each and every home.  I no longer need my alarm to wake me for Fajr.

We have been introduced by my now grown up cousins to the hip and cool scenes across the city of Islamabad.  The sense of hightened security is undeniable.  We regularly pass through concrete block protected check points.  Character profiling such as men with beards or cars full of men are stopped and questioned.  The Marriott, where many parties occur, has been bombed 4 times leading to several deaths and now requires you to pass through 4 checkpoints before entering.  Despite this people keep going back.

I can now say have watched and enjoyed an entire cricket match, and to a certain extent, understood it. 

Pakistan beating Australia in the quarter finals, putting them top of their group, was a huge boost for the Pakistani’s.  I was saddened to hear my cousin’s comment earlier today, on

The fashion currently is long baggy kaftan like tops with baggy trousers. Superb ventiation.

watching the foreign support for Australia over Pakistan visible on screen during play, that “everyone else in the world supports every team other than Pakistan”.  The youth here are clearly disheartened and ashamed of their global reputation not helped by their corrupt politicians and celebrities including musicians such as Rahat Fateh Ali Khan who has been jailed for Tax evasion and the infamous Pakistani cricketers banned for match fixing.  The elation of the supporters at the cafe where we watched the match on a large projector screen outdoors amongst shisha’s and coke’s was heartening.