Up in the sky
01/01/2024
For the wedding of Maisam, a good friend of mine I have known since my master’s exchange, Nasti and I were invited to attend the wedding festivities in Karachi, Pakistan. So after a wonderful New Year’s Eve, we made our way to Munich’s Franz-Josef-Strauss Airport.
From there, our 10.45am flight took a little over 6 hours to reach Abu Dhabi, from which flew another short two hours to reach Karachi Jinnah International Airport. By that time it was already about 4.00am local time.
Upon arrival, the entry formalities were surprisingly quick, and after collecting our luggage, the airport doors slid open — and there we were in Karachi. Not quite Middle Eastern, although it felt that way, definitely not South Asian, but something entirely its own. The air was warm and dusty for an early January, the scene alive with all kinds of people – mostly men – moving in every direction, loud voices cutting through the thick air, the streets humming with energy despite the late hours*.
We were immediately greeted by Maisam and his parents, who were already awaiting us. Since our good friend Anna was arriving from Barcelona just a tad bit later, we waited at the nearest restaurant, which – courtesy of capitalism – happened to be a McDonald’s.
In any case, our excitement triumphed over a severe lack of sleep and we were stoked when Anna finally arrived. We then stuffed – and I mean stuffed – ourselves and all of our luggage into the car and proceeded to Maisam’s home, where we had some tea and fruit before going to bed at around 7am to get at least some hours of rest.
This was the start of what would become a breathtaking journey.
خدا حافظ
* Note: I did have chatGPT help me brainstorm that sentence as I was having a hard time describing the flair, since technically Pakistan is not the middle east. Always full disclosure at henri’s blog 🙂