Karachistan Diaries: Come, Get Stared At

As the airline touched down on an arid-looking airport runway, followed by a team-up of airport staff at the aircraft's gate; dying to get a glimpse of the "foreign beauties" (air hostesses), I knew I had landed in Karachi (again!). I was born and raised in this city, and was pretty accustomed to being ridiculously stared at, until the last three years when I moved to live in the USA. Some socio/psychological research facility should execute a study to find out why a Desi (Brown Asian) man stares so much at a woman?

My mother is on wheelchair assistance when we travel and the 'wheelchair waala' (domestic ground staff member) was more interested in gawking at us ladies then pushing the wheelchair. Additionally, he was so overloaded in the mouth with Paan (betel leaf) that the red stuff was oozing out, threatening to drip on my mother's hijab. So, I had a lot to worry about besides the fact that in 'checking me out' (despite my hijab enclad self) this fellow might crash my mother into a cigarette dispenser (loads of these at the Karachi airport). I recommend placing Paan spit dispensers as well, because they may come in handy before a disabled passenger gets a dropping on their head. The sign below (found from a blog called 'A Little Off Center" is actually screwed into the walls of the airport. The author continues to write about the nastiness 

The Jinnah International Airport has been a favorite building to look at since I gained my senses in childhood. Each year it meant summer holidays, aircraft fun, and aircraft food. Now, it means trouble! The type of 'unnecessary crowd' at the arrivals has become more shady-looking and numerous signs warn passengers about being careful about whom they trust their baggage with. The airport staff has gotten more nasty. 

It is not just the airport where a person is stared at like a red carpet celebrity. The following day, when I took a trip to main Tariq Road (the scaled-down version of Manhattan in Karachi), the effect was magnified because men were flowing on the streets like the Hudson River - each one staring at me from head to toe and back again. It reassures self-esteem (sarcasm!). 

The kind of stuff such men are thinking about a woman at the back of their minds, and the kind of words they could possibly say (if they dared) are painted into the very truck/bus art. Chashm-e-Baddoor means you are wading off evil eye from someone beautiful (obviously, because you have been staring too long), Dekh Magar Pyar Se means 'Look, but with love'