Khyber Dreams Chapter 8: It's Not Fair!

August in Karachi is HOT. And humid. Both at the same time. The weather there is decidedly uncomfortable, especially for those of us born and raised in the temperate southern California climate. Abid, who lived in Karachi until the age of 20, also found it pretty miserable. Unlike me, he had an "out."

In the house on Britto Road, one room (and one only) was air conditioned. After our afternoon meal (and much like Mexican custom, the main meal of the day is in the early afternoon), he and his brothers would retire to that refrigerated room, close the door and talk, snooze or whatever.

Farida and I, on the other hand, would swelter in the excessive heat of our bedroom while I'd coerce her to go to sleep. Farida has never been a sleeper. From the time she came home from the hospital, she's subscribed to the rule that daylight is for having the eyes open. Even now she's likely to be up and awake at 5:00 a.m. The big difference is that she's apt to fall asleep earlier in the evening than she did as a 1-1/2-year-old. Usually after an hour or so of both of us trying to find a way to get comfortable in the oppressive heat, she'd fall asleep for a half-hour or an hour.

I have to admit that Abid's family would have gladly taken Farida off my hands for an hour or two or twenty during our stay, but she would have none of it. She refused to go with anyone except Abid or me the entire time we were in Pakistan. And because she wouldn't go to sleep without an argument, we were pretty much banished from the climate-controlled room each afternoon.

Did Abid ever once offer to spell me on the nap time? Of course not, because:

1. He couldn't stand the heat
2. He's a guy
3. It's not a manly thing to do
   
4. He wanted to visit with his brothers
   

All of those things probably made perfect sense to him, but it was exceedingly difficult for me. Life in Pakistan required lots of adjustments for this western-born female. Most of them were doable, but this one was something I never could accept (although I couldn't see that I had a choice, at that time).

And it got worse after I got bit by the bug.