Things I Love

• Vibrant, vivid culture; color & passion everywhere
• Mind-blowingly beautiful scenery & nature; so many stunningly gorgeous places north of Islamabad
• The pallor of gloom/despondence that seems to hang over modern first world societies is deliciously absent... there's something spiritually & emotionally freeing about the atmosphere, like a residual humanness that hasn't yet been destroyed by capitalism and consumerism
• Karachi never sleeps! You can get/do anything here, at literally any time, and there's always an air of liveliness, celebration, and joy
• Warm, friendly people
• Generally awesome family values
• Deep spirituality ingrained in culture
• A lively poetic & literary culture
• A rich history of Sufi influence; respected saints buried throughout the country in humble yet majestic shrines
• Impressive levels of intellectualism & deep thought in mundane conversations
• Children still play; instead of being glued to TV/computer/video games 24/7, they're constantly outdoors doing good old fashioned kid stuff, filling neighborhood streets with light & laughter (2020 note: this is no longer the case bc of ipads & smartphones :/)
• Joint family structure = culture revolves around togetherness & harmony; social isolation rare relative to Western societies, though this is swiftly changing
• Truck art! Gorgeously painted buses, trucks, & rickshaws; art as far as the eye can see
• Hearing my native language everywhere at all times; Pakistani Urdu is poetic, majestic, and full of wit
• Incredible textiles & imaginative fashion with unparalleled attention to detail
• Stunning architecture/building design
  • Shi'a mosques are absolutely gorgeous, festive, brightly-lit masterpieces
• Laborers have a mind-blowing work ethic; tailors & seamstresses are like sprightly magicians
• Amazingly delicious food; incredible range of cuisine on every street
• Beautiful, sprawling bungalow-style homes
• Even with the most limited of resources & a nightmarish lack of urban planning, Pakistan's innovators constantly push boundaries and achieve amazing things (eg. transformative highways/roadways/tunnels somehow being perfectly constructed in the middle of Karachi)
• Animals everywhere!
• Impossible to shop without communicating with shop owners/building consumer rapport; anyone you do business with will treat you like a human rather than a cog in the machine
• Abdul Sattar Edhi, one of the greatest human beings in living memory... His incredible legacy of charity work throughout the country can still be felt & seen

Things I Hate

• The disturbing prevalence of child labor; being waited on, cleaned up after, and served by school-aged children is heart-breakingly common
• Seemingly no labor ethics in general. Appalling working conditions for menial laborers; bonded labor & slavery are disturbingly common, as is the mistreatment & exploitation of domestic workers
• Extreme socioeconomic stratification & poverty in disturbingly high numbers; cycle of poverty seems very difficult to break... Poverty is highly visible and painful to witness
• Widespread political & legal corruption; corruption is the rule, not the exception
  • Semi-nonexistent law & order; police & authorities can easily be bought
• Education & healthcare relatively inaccessible to those most in need; NGOs often offer services to remedy the deficit left by a perpetually corrupt & ineffectual government
• Institutional & societal prejudice against minorities, outsiders, & anyone who isn't readily understood; mob mentality takes shape easily, especially in areas of low literacy
• The targeted killing of Shi'as and other minorities has become tantamount to genocide, yet sectarian killers & architects of genocidal rhetoric are never held accountable
• Enormous gap between what Pakistan is capable of and what it actually achieves; brain drain is inevitable as wealth inequality & instability rises and corruption remains unchecked
• Severe double standards against women, worrying levels of misogyny embedded into cultural standards & norms, disturbing levels of domestic abuse, sexual assault, & other forms of violence wherein victims seldom get justice & are often blamed
• The seemingly uncontested encroachment of the Taliban and other extremist Wahhabi groups, fueled by a steady stream of funding & indoctrination from the KSA & complicity with the Pakistani military
• The deceitful nature of govt intel & its covert affiliations with terrorist orgs, which often seem to operate with impunity
• Ever-heightening sectarian tensions easily exploited by those who stand to benefit from division and chaos
• Traffic is Grand Theft Auto-style DANGEROUS. Virtually no enforcement of traffic laws, if they exist (on one hand, this is surprisingly efficient, on the other hand, it's homicidal)
  • Lack of urban planning = spillover of street vendors into already-overcrowded streets, further choking traffic + encouraging insane driving habits
• Terrible/inconsistent trash disposal system; busy streets lined with garbage in unregulated areas
• Rumors of extreme amorality & egregious decadence among wealthy elites
• Increasing trend of westernization & secularization is eroding social & religious values at a startling pace
• Urdu is rapidly being abandoned in favor of English due to the cultural perception of Western superiority
• Extreme heat & humidity in the summer; nearly intolerable when electricity goes out due to load-shedding
• Internet connectivity can be iffy at times + arbitrary state censorship can be an issue

x r