Category: Pakistan

The Pakistan International Airlines flight had just landed in Abu Dhabi. Weary, still weighed down by the intense sadness of that last day in Lahore, I walked down the gangway behind a group of Pakistani migrant workers. A warm wind swept across the runway, gently carressed our legs and shoveled us into a bus waiting to drop us off at the terminal. Through a glass door, I entered a world of symmetrical indoor trees and green faux leather chairs lining the corridors. Abu Dhabi Airport with its shiny facilities and marble floors that were constantly polished by an army of underpaid workers felt completely out of place.

Even though I hadn’t noticed it right away, something had changed along with the climate and surroundings. On the bus, itthis transformation was just an illusion. After all, social boundaries policed by the male gaze exist everywhere. Those unknown to me in one society were probably just being replaced with more familiar ones.

I plunge headlong into the cold, dark water. The taxi takes me from Mazang, a middle-class neighborhood built to serve the former civil lines of colonial Lahore, to the posh grounds of DHA, an upscale housing society originally constructed in the mid-1970s for army officers and their families. Night has fallen. From the backseat of the car, I quietly watch the cityscape unfolding. Fancy restaurants and shops are lining the streets. Brightly lit window panes scream their content into the world. The dresses and designs on display are rarely noticed by passersby strolling along the main