The Day it all Turned Dark

Stormy weather 

I guess it was like twelve in the middle of the day. Just for a change I had left my usual seat and gone to sit at the lowest floor in the office. I was working with my headphones on and I was probably entirely engrossed in my work when I woke up to see that the day outside had suddenly changed. Was it a total eclipse of the sun? Or had someone painted the windows black from the outside?

Normally Islamabad is sunny, with exception for some rain in the monsoon season, July to mid September. But this day I got a glimpse of weather conditions I had never seen before. Looking out was all dark. Wondering what was happening I walked to another floor, only to find that those working there had gone to the roof of the office building to take a closer look. It seemed like everybody in the building had gathered up there. Looking out from the top of the building we could see the storm move towards us. One Pakistani colleague who had been in Norway in mid December pointed out that this actually looked a bit like Norway, at least it was equally dark. The wind was whirling dust off the dry ground, overshadowing the normally supreme sun. Soon the rain came. Then the hail set in. It was a mighty sight and the entire scene was eventually accompanied by a howling choir of car alarms going off as the hail got more powerful.

Two hours later the sun had returned and everything was back to normal. Naturally enough Pakistanis praise the weather when it’s rainy and cold, and I realize I haven’t lived here long enough as I am still satisfied with every sunny day, that is of course most days, happily.

New beginning

On Monday I moved into a real house. One of Telenor Pakistan’s former employees had gone to work for a different Telenor Company, so now there was a free room in his house where I could stay if I wanted. After spending more than five months at a guesthouse, I must admit it really was a relief to move into a proper house, it’s almost like a new beginning off work. Staying at the guesthouse was comfortable in the beginning, especially getting your clothes washed and ordering room service whenever I wanted, but after a little while you really get tired of living in the same little room. Now I can get up in the morning and have my breakfast on the veranda. Although my new habitation only lies some hundred meters from where I used to live, it still is within another sector of Islamabad. And the good thing about this sector is that there is almost no load shedding.

Load shedding

Load shedding is two of the first words or rather combination of words I learned the meaning of after first coming here. Load shedding could very well be one of Urdu’s most recent contributions to the English language. Since the supply of electricity is rather insufficient at the literally given price, the resulting shortage of power results in parts of the city being “shut down” at scheduled hours. This not only affects Islamabad, almost all of Pakistan is suffering from load shedding. In fact, some parts of Pakistan are without electricity for almost half the day. Anyway I have left the guesthouse and the load shedding behind. It’s going to be easy enjoying my last three weeks in Pakistan.