Its been a very strange couple of months. As you may know I recently moved to Lahore and much to the surprise and even disappointment (in some of my Karachiite friends) I am loving it. The two summer months of June/July were hell admitedly. The heat was unbelievable and on occasion did reduce me to tears I am to be completely honest. And when one doubles up the heat with PMS… well that week was probably more than hell for my poor husband and children. But once Ramadan started, and we managed to get our volleyball off the ground… as a result meeting a fantastic group of people…Lahore became a wonderful place for us.

Volleyball by the way, has now become a regular feature in many people’s weekly “to do things” in Lahore. which is cool. I personally admire the dedication with which everyone seems to come together week after week. I am a Ramadan volley player. Somehow life takes over after a while and there go all my aspirations for starting a volley league.

These last two weeks have been difficult though. First I flew to Karachi to finish up recording the entire season of my show “No Reservations” (read shameless self promotion here…) with my blackberry on the blink. So had no access to facebook and (gasp) Twitter. I felt like a limb had been amputated. Its incredible how used to and dependant we become on little pieces of machinery. In the middle of my week there I caught wind of an old friend of mine who was sick. Huma Mufti … more commonly known as the wife of Waseem Akram. I didn’t really give it much thought as after talking to her older sister, I was confident she would bounce back and this was a minor setback.

Flew back in to Lahore..on PIA.. which was an adventure on its own. The plane was delayed by 3 hours…two of which we sat on the runway. Many passengers were contemplating wrestling the airhostesses and jumping to the ground just to get out of the plane….but the matronly look on one of their faces convinced them otherwise. I had Mother travelling with me. Let me explain. Mother is my adopted mother. Normally children are adopted I know…but I am known to have strange leanings and this lady is Mother. Not sure how she feels about it but that’s besides the point. Mother loves to chitter chatter with all and sundry , which is fine as I enjoy a good natter with strangers too. But when Mother decided to pull books off strangers hands it was time to intervene. Nonetheless a flight that was mad and fun to say the least.

Was wonderful to see the man I love waiting for me at the airport. Something about seeing a familiar face at the airport. And if its a loved one… well makes coming home all that more special. That was Friday. By Sunday we got news of Huma’s death. We were all stunned. Not because she DIED. but because SHE died. She was an incredible human being…so full of life, love, compassion, insanity. We grew up together more or less. I had my first cigarette with her.. and much to her disgust I didn’t fare too well and thus got put off cigarettes for life. She leaves a terrible hole in the lives of the people who relied on her… her husband and her children and ofcourse her immediate family.

I don’t know why it affected me badly. Maybe because for the first time death had hit so close to home. Where before we would go attend funerals of our parents and /or their friends this was the first time really that a friend of around our age had passed? felt almost like a rite of passage if that makes sense. Not a pleasant one for sure. Made me appreciate the people in my life all the more for sure. One never really knows. I spoke to Huma as Ramadan started calling her a woos and other unmentionable names for not joining us for volleyball. That was the last I spoke to her. So I guess the lesson to be learned is the next time you say goodbye to anyone…make sure its a pleasant parting… u really don’t know if its the last time you will see them.

I cooked today. I enjoy cooking. My cook disappeared on me so I decided to be creative and experiment with whatever was available in the kitchen. Clearly I have been watching far too much BBC Food but have to say it turned out kind of fantastic. I you desire the recipe I will be happy to post it here. 🙂 Life is good. Life is just how it should be. Despite the sporadic bombs going off in my country and the fact that there are a zillion issues facing us… but I don’t feel like I am irrelevant yet. I still feel like I can contribute and make a difference as can all the others around me and that is a good feeling. Its the feeling irrelevant and useless that scares me. May i rarely if ever experience that.

Wow … quite a rant today. Not sure why… felt like ranting. Happens .