mad mad mad women

Punjab diaries part1

On a bright sunny afternoon in Karachi, three very different women embarked on a journey for three days. Little did they know that these three days would become the three best days of their lives. They met, befriended and laughed at every joke, every chance they got. All three were from different age groups and backgrounds and yet this never affected the friendship they entered.
This is what I did for the past few days when I mentioned my trip. I felt younger and older at the same time. They made me feel younger because I was and older because they trusted my opinion. We cracked up at my supposedly high chances of matrimonial success if I could find a landowner there and inherit his millions. This was our favourite topic along with discussing the many kinds of men we encountered. All day, we would slave ourselves, trying our best to impart education, making sense to the poor senseless and then spend hours visiting other government schools in the neighbouring villages. At night we would have laughing fits and it was impossible to control them. I would tell them how much I loved the cook of the rest house and would do anything to take him with me. They told me better and funnier alternatives to keep that cook. Truly, his cooking did bring a smile to our faces.
Then we decided to go shopping to unwind a little. As they say, it is a woman’s best friend; we thought we should give this a try. A market, highly recommended by the locals, as having the wonders of embroidery and variety, we set off thinking exactly the same. A market it was but something that was utterly chaotic, disorganized and stretched for miles. We walked and walked only to find ourselves more lost and at times separated from each other then calling frantically to locate the dislocated. Tabby wanted to shop and take lots of clothes for her friends while nanny was indifferent. I searched for a nice funky bag for my Mac, something that I knew would be impossible to find. Khussas and chapals were a big disappointment. Shadow work was pretty and jewellery beautiful. My partners literally shopped till they dropped and spent every penny that they had. The tough part was to carry all that shopping back to our car. We did it, half cursing in our minds, half happy to have bought so many things.
We told each other stories we hadn’t before. Nanny talked about her husband and his brilliance. Tabby talked about her children and surprisingly, I was a lot like them. I often joked about her and my mother being future best friends because the resemblance was just uncanny.
At the airport, we encountered a mysterious looking man who apparently hated babies. His seat was supposed to be next to tabby’s but instead of taking it, he told her he’ll join her later. This became a good point to tease tabby after every minute that the gentleman will soon join her.
Before the trip, I was nervous and extremely apprehensive. I didn’t know tabby and briefly remembered nanny as she had been my kindergarten teacher. But the friendship we formed seemed like we had known each other for years. Nanny asked me on the plane if I had ever laughed so much in my life before and tabby told me that I was a good roommate . As nanny pointed out on the plane, when like-minded people travel together, they have nothing but fun. And for three days, coming from three different households, we connected so well that I would tell them that we must come here again or at least meet in Karachi. It was a hilarious situation when the ghee that tabby had bought with a lot of excitement was unfortunately refused by the civil aviation authorities. Seeing her sad face made us laugh even more and she was convinced that it was someone’s evil eye that had prevented this.
Our lives are short, sweet and very busy. And in this short life, we should try to make each day as pleasing, fun and interesting as possible.