To get to this, let’s go back 1 Year so that you can get a glimpse of the entire “God forbid” situation.
My friends have come back from their universities abroad for their extra long vacations. Now when they are here, they expect me to keep them entertained and that’s what a good friend should do, that’s what I did. Ramadan is up; therefore we have a lot of “scenes” where we stay at this friend’s place that happens to live in Clifton. Now the three of us gather, we play MONO-POLY and RISK very often and we go to boat basin and khadda market to have sehri (sometimes includes dinner) and of course CHAI scenes (which we never miss). To tell you how chai has become an integral part of our lives there revolves some story.
Couple of years back me and my other friend realized we needed to hang out since we weren’t able to make enough good friends (“our type people” were just not there) so we started walking to Mohammad Ali (its not a person who sells dope, it’s a place) and ended up having chai at SIMSUM (a pet name for one of the dhabas at MA). This became a daily routine and we grew up drinking that same old addictive chai. Time passed by we became chai addicts. My regular consumption of tea had come to an average of 8-10 cups which I suppose is not normal. So now there is more chai running in my veins than blood.
One day at this friends place in Clifton, I had been constipated for 5 days. I almost stopped having food but there was one thing I couldn’t control on. Yes you are right, its tea. Anyways that night God blessed me with one visit of bathroom right after sehri and lord did I think I was free. But I wasn’t. When I went to sleep, somehow I started shivering. I felt really sick. To make conditions worse my friend had his room under the usual 16 degree temperature which caused my body temperature to rise to enormous extremes. The funny part is, when I woke up in the afternoon, I was soaking wet. I had sweated like never before.
Later that day surprisingly it rained in Karachi like cats and dogs and so I decided to go back home. On reaching home I felt sick again. Temperature rose to 101. For the next two days the same story continued, temperature rose and fell. I had not eaten anything for almost 3 days because my stomach heated up. It felt as if there was a different hell inside. Therefore I couldn’t have anything which was warmer by nature. So, no spices and absolutely no chai. In fact, to tell you the truth, in those 3 days I wanted to starve because I started hating food. I began hating “Chai” because of its warm nature. Looking at the brown liquid was just off. I almost admitted to my dadi who believes that dirty pathans at dhabas add “nasha” in chai.
I had not fasted for 4 days ; I was feeling guilty so I started doing a little research on tea. This was the best excuse I found that matched my critical condition.
Disadvantages of Tea
Others say that Tea….
- If over consumption, may cause kidney damage
- Can irritate your stomach
- Drinking eight or nine daily duplicates the symptoms of ulcer
- Slows the digestion process
- Creates gas
- Causes diarrhea and constipation
- Affects respiratory and heart function
- Causes indigestion
- Overexcites the nervous system and causes palpitations
The story doesn’t end here. Have you heard of this proverb; it never rains, it pours. Well it actually poured in Karachi and as usual our building’s basement got filled with water. Now my friends this basement is not an ordinary basement. Under this basement we have,
1- Our building’s substation provided by the KESC (first one to get drowned)
2- Water pumps (comes second)
3- Generator (so on,)
4- Car parking area (so forth)
During this period of agony (keeping in mind my physical health) the KESC refused to supply us with electricity for over 36 hours until all the water had been pumped out. You can’t be more irritated than this. Just imagine, it has made me write this sad story. The best part of this entire situation is that the light was gone only for 36 hours while we were expecting somewhere around 72. Thanks to my building chowkidars (gatekeepers) who had piled up sand bags on the entrance of the basement so water flow could slow down and less water accumulates.
Anyhow All things have become really smooth apart from the long 3-4 hours of load shedding in our area specifically. A day before, I read in news that the KESC will shut the supply everyday for about 8-10 hours to meet up the total demand. It’s the usual here but it started ticking me off when I saw street lights and lights glowing bright as ever just across the street. So I did a little research and saw NEWS and surfed the web as to why the grass was green on the other side and found out that the KESC cuts the supply for longer duration mainly from commercial areas. It makes sense though. The street where I live and across the bridge where my uncle lives, has turned into a commercial block. Offices close down after 3 in Ramadan. So they cut off our supply.
During those times when we visited this “friend’s” house at Clifton, light just went for an hour and it went for a lot less than 8 times a day. Well that’s the situation here.
Long Live Pakistan. That’s all I can say.May Peace Be Upon You
I Like This Song Hope You All like It...:)
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