I wonder why I miss it so much. It's not only because of my family, the majority of which still live there, but it's the place itself

• The smell of burning corn over coals near the beach in Karachi
• The clean smell of saltwater
• The unbearable heat
• The cow patties
• The water pump
• The rice fields and the 'haunted' tree
• The old house with a secret room
• The busy city
• The rickshaw-wallahs
• The glass coke bottles, that you return to the street-vendor when you're finished with the drink, so that they can resuse the bottle
• The food
• The crammed car rides, being pressed against the window or burrowed back into the seat, someone sitting on top of you or you sitting on top of someone; and when a policeman sees your car, he waves you by, not surprised by the number of people grinning at him

But I haven't been in almost 8 years and so much has changed so. And it feels strange, sometimes, missing a place that I've only been to for a total of a year and a half, if even that long.