A Karachi post buried deep in my diary

At first, Chemical Brother's Dig Your Own Hole might sound like a wierd choice to listen to when going out on an excursion into your local Karachi neighbourhood. However, the conflux of sounds is a perfect match for the hustle and bustle of this city. Even at 7 am, the streets have been awake for hours, children buy candy from street vendors before school, the milk shop is raking in thousands, the tea shop is doing brisk business - and the rest of the world is as it should be, unaware of its own movement, yet moving along without a care for the beat it follows or the track in my ears that has suddenly taken a sharp chemical turn.

As I weave through these streets, a thought starts to creep into my head, I have my headphones on, and my Ipod in my pocket. Bad move. Suddenly, Chemical Brother's electronic sounds are no longer a random matrix of musical notes, they've morphed into alrm bells that are sounding off in my head. This is dangerous. I'm too far out to go back now without taking my walk, I hate to be dictated to, come take it, I'd rather you have it, than have to live with myself for being afraid of you. I catch myself here, hating someone I don't even know exists, might not even be awake yet, someone who has no interest in an Ipod- not yet anyway.

The Brother's kickstart another track and I lose myself again, colourful buses whizz past me with men hanging off its edges, piled onto its roof. A girl comes up to me, begging for money. I have none, so I wave her off. She can't eat music, its the only thing I have right now. I stop at a smoke shop, pick up a few cigs and keep walking- sometimes quickening my pace with the music, sometimes relishing the scene as I exhale smoke, it feels abnormal in this city, to be running to your own tune; its a city that has its own musical soundtrack, one which you have to listen to carefully to be able to exist. Yet, here I am.. tourist in the city of my birth, barely five days in and breaking all the rules- carrying thousands worth of elctronics, wearing clothes declare my foreigness from the rooftops, walkign along leisurely where everyone else is scrambling and smoking in a city where the act of breathing fulfills all your smoking needs.

This is Karachi.. and yes, I am diggin' my own hole here.