Yes, Dear Readers, Lahore and Karachi are two cities in Pakistan and Constance and Hugo knew both of these cities extremely well and in the days when her parents knew them, they were cities in North West India.
Constance had helped set up and run a Transit Camp in Karachi that took some of the huge amount of Polish Jews coming out of Soviet Russia and Hugo had been in the 12th Frontier Force Regiment. They both spoke fluent Urdu.
Constance had been born in the south of India so she grew up with Southern Indian food and English food which she learnt to eat (reluctantly) upon being shipped back to England aged six. She spent a year at school in Paris eating French food after passing her Matriculation in England and then two years in Germany and three years in Malaya (as it was then called in the 50's).
So Constance cooked all manner of styles of very
delicious food when she was growing up! But it Hugo who was the Master of the Kitchen when it came to Northern Indian food! He served on the North West Frontier for the entire war and loved the area, the tribesmen (whom he described as very VERY fierce) and their food!
She dreams about his curries and his chapatis!
The day before yesterday found her doing some shopping in an area she used to know very well, as one of her favourite silk suppliers is based there, they found for her the very, the very best lining fabric for lampshades, for it stretched all-ways!
And they also found for her a wonderful young woman who became one of her best lampshade makers! She was the cousin of one of the silk assistants, very shy, twenty two years ago she had arrived from Peshawar two years previously and she spoke some but not a lot of English.
But she was a magician with a needle and thread!
She had two small children, a girl and a boy, the eldest had started school, so she was not able to work full time or be out of the house for long periods of time, so making lampshades at home was perfect work for her.
Her young husband was doing his medical training at St.George's Hospital, Tooting, South London.
She had not seen Bahijah for a long time but she knew that the family had all grown up and that her husband had passed his examinations with flying colours as she got the 'gossip' from the silk company and they thought, but were not sure, that the family had gone back to Pakistan.
So there she was on Tooting High Street, it was past lunch time and she was feeling hungry and there, right in front of her, was 'Lahore Karahi'.
Please note: This is the way the restaurant spells its' name, it is not a spelling fault.
It is a wonderful Pakistani Restaurant. Their food is delicious and because of having eaten it so often at home and as a treat if she was out with her father, she knows exactly what she wants.
The last time she ate there was probably about ten years ago, she stood and ordered her food, the man, new to her, behind the counter queried her choice saying "Miss, it is a very hot dish, are you sure you want this?"
Just as she was about to reply, she felt an arm going around her waist and a kiss on the back of her head and a woman's voice spoke in Urdu.
It was Bahijah! Who said something that made the whole team of counter staff laugh and smile at her!
"What.. where.. I was told you had gone home" she managed to say from the midst of the huge cuddle she had been enveloped in!
"Home? But this is home, this is where I have grown-up, where the children have grown-up, where I learn how to live, where we have thrived as a family, how could I possibly leave England when it has given and taught us so much? Both the children are doing medical training, Mantana wants to be a surgeon, Ahmed wants to specialise in kids, my husband specialises in Renal work and I work for a local Dental Surgery" said Bahijah.
"So what did you tell the staff to make them laugh so much" she said, "ah, I told them how you used to love to eat our food when you were teaching me how to make lampshades and how 'spicy' food is what you cut your teeth on!"
And then Bahijah said "are you eating in or taking away, if eating here, join us, come come", she collected old Wicker Wheelie and followed her old friend.. and there sitting at the table were two women.. two beautiful women.. one young, the other her age.
And Bahijah said in perfect English "Mummy, I want you to meet ....., she was the lady who taught me how to sew curtains and lampshades and Mantana, come and give Auntie ..... a hug".
(Oh, she had forgotten how delightful it was to be called 'Auntie' by these two children).
Oh Lordy.. it was the eldest 'baby' now grown up and so beautiful and now she knew why Bahijah and Mantana were SO beautiful, for 'mummy' was a tall, very pale skinned, immaculate stunner!
Such a happy time, such delicious food, masses to talk about, such laughter and then said "but I was sure I was told you had gone back to Peshawar, what happened to change your mind?" (they were old friends these two women, this would not have been classified as being nosy or impertinent).
"Very sadly in some parts of Pakistan life has vastly changed, my daughter grew up not wearing the veil, she did very well at school, she is educated and she wants to be a surgeon, the situation in Peshawar is so different now, it is not a place where women's freedom and rights are respected".
Then Bahijah smiled and quoted a saying she heard decades ago but cannot recall who said it.
"Dearest ....., you know that once you have ridden the subway, you can't go back to live in a cave".
So true.. Dear Readers.. so true.
GeeGee Parrot.
May 30th, 2014.
Constance had helped set up and run a Transit Camp in Karachi that took some of the huge amount of Polish Jews coming out of Soviet Russia and Hugo had been in the 12th Frontier Force Regiment. They both spoke fluent Urdu.
Constance had been born in the south of India so she grew up with Southern Indian food and English food which she learnt to eat (reluctantly) upon being shipped back to England aged six. She spent a year at school in Paris eating French food after passing her Matriculation in England and then two years in Germany and three years in Malaya (as it was then called in the 50's).
So Constance cooked all manner of styles of very
delicious food when she was growing up! But it Hugo who was the Master of the Kitchen when it came to Northern Indian food! He served on the North West Frontier for the entire war and loved the area, the tribesmen (whom he described as very VERY fierce) and their food!
She dreams about his curries and his chapatis!
The day before yesterday found her doing some shopping in an area she used to know very well, as one of her favourite silk suppliers is based there, they found for her the very, the very best lining fabric for lampshades, for it stretched all-ways!
And they also found for her a wonderful young woman who became one of her best lampshade makers! She was the cousin of one of the silk assistants, very shy, twenty two years ago she had arrived from Peshawar two years previously and she spoke some but not a lot of English.
But she was a magician with a needle and thread!
She had two small children, a girl and a boy, the eldest had started school, so she was not able to work full time or be out of the house for long periods of time, so making lampshades at home was perfect work for her.
Her young husband was doing his medical training at St.George's Hospital, Tooting, South London.
She had not seen Bahijah for a long time but she knew that the family had all grown up and that her husband had passed his examinations with flying colours as she got the 'gossip' from the silk company and they thought, but were not sure, that the family had gone back to Pakistan.
So there she was on Tooting High Street, it was past lunch time and she was feeling hungry and there, right in front of her, was 'Lahore Karahi'.
Please note: This is the way the restaurant spells its' name, it is not a spelling fault.
It is a wonderful Pakistani Restaurant. Their food is delicious and because of having eaten it so often at home and as a treat if she was out with her father, she knows exactly what she wants.
The last time she ate there was probably about ten years ago, she stood and ordered her food, the man, new to her, behind the counter queried her choice saying "Miss, it is a very hot dish, are you sure you want this?"
Just as she was about to reply, she felt an arm going around her waist and a kiss on the back of her head and a woman's voice spoke in Urdu.
It was Bahijah! Who said something that made the whole team of counter staff laugh and smile at her!
"What.. where.. I was told you had gone home" she managed to say from the midst of the huge cuddle she had been enveloped in!
"Home? But this is home, this is where I have grown-up, where the children have grown-up, where I learn how to live, where we have thrived as a family, how could I possibly leave England when it has given and taught us so much? Both the children are doing medical training, Mantana wants to be a surgeon, Ahmed wants to specialise in kids, my husband specialises in Renal work and I work for a local Dental Surgery" said Bahijah.
"So what did you tell the staff to make them laugh so much" she said, "ah, I told them how you used to love to eat our food when you were teaching me how to make lampshades and how 'spicy' food is what you cut your teeth on!"
And then Bahijah said "are you eating in or taking away, if eating here, join us, come come", she collected old Wicker Wheelie and followed her old friend.. and there sitting at the table were two women.. two beautiful women.. one young, the other her age.
And Bahijah said in perfect English "Mummy, I want you to meet ....., she was the lady who taught me how to sew curtains and lampshades and Mantana, come and give Auntie ..... a hug".
(Oh, she had forgotten how delightful it was to be called 'Auntie' by these two children).
Oh Lordy.. it was the eldest 'baby' now grown up and so beautiful and now she knew why Bahijah and Mantana were SO beautiful, for 'mummy' was a tall, very pale skinned, immaculate stunner!
Such a happy time, such delicious food, masses to talk about, such laughter and then said "but I was sure I was told you had gone back to Peshawar, what happened to change your mind?" (they were old friends these two women, this would not have been classified as being nosy or impertinent).
"Very sadly in some parts of Pakistan life has vastly changed, my daughter grew up not wearing the veil, she did very well at school, she is educated and she wants to be a surgeon, the situation in Peshawar is so different now, it is not a place where women's freedom and rights are respected".
Then Bahijah smiled and quoted a saying she heard decades ago but cannot recall who said it.
"Dearest ....., you know that once you have ridden the subway, you can't go back to live in a cave".
So true.. Dear Readers.. so true.
GeeGee Parrot.
May 30th, 2014.
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