non sequitur

A couple of days ago, the IT general manager of our client (Sui Southern Gas Company) invited us for dinner at his place. Great! At least I will be able to go out of our house for a few hours.

I had a great idea of wearing the Pakistani traditional suit called the shalwar suit. It kinda looks like an oversized formal pajama hehehe. I figured I was going to a Pakistani dinner in a Pakistani house, so naturally I would dress as a Pakistani. And my officemate (a woman mind you) would also be wearing a Pakistani 'dress'.

So off we went to the IT GM's place. Man, how the scenery changed.

The usual picture when thinking about Pakistan would be square-ish, 4-floor, earth colored buildings in a hot and dry enviromnent. Think Somalia in the movie Black Hawk Down. Think of the Afghanistan cities on CNN. You're not far off the truth. But the IT GM's house was located in a posh area of Karachi. Kinda reminds me of the private subdivisions in Alabang or Better Living. The architecture is different mind you… houses are still square-ish, couple of floors high, and still earth colored but they have the ‘rich’ look to them.

As we entered his house, you could definitely feel that a Pakistani outfit stood out like a cactus in the middle of the desert. Posh leather seats, air conditioning, carpets, fine wooden tables the works. The lady of the house even though I was a Pakistani… okay…

I still wasn’t sure if we were the only visitors as we sat in the receiving area of their house practically staring at our hands. There were some awkward moments as the IT GM wasn’t really making an effort to entertain his guests. Well at least his wife was a bit more accommodating.

4 more guests from the SSGC office arrived. All of them wearing smart casual clothes… and I mean European styled clothes. I felt like I was the driver or the house help with the way I was dressed. What a good way to make an impression.

A foreigner in Pakistani clothes, attending a Pakistani dinner with Pakistanis in ‘foreign’ clothes. Go figure.

Well at least the food was good.