Life in the land of the Pure, 2025-26 season, episode 14: “ Should we dine now or wait for the ceasefire?” - line stolen from Tom Friedman’s book From Beirut to Jerusalem.
I was hoping to keep catching up on my long delayed blog posts chronicling my time in Pakistan, but I feel like a “current events” installment is in order. You may be aware that the us and Israel began bombing Iran a week and a half ago though it feels like months have passed. Day 1 for us here was literally during a Saturday brunch my boss hosted for some senior visitors from Washington. But Iran isn’t Pakistan — isn’t even Afghanistan — so after brunch I played tour guide to our guests, bringing them to my favorite rug and jewelers and handicrafts vendors and to a restaurant that overlooks the city—not for a snack (it being Ramadan) but for the excellent views of the city and the rare overhead of Faisal mosque. Saturday was a pretty normal day. Actually better than normal. With things still quiet, I treated myself to a Ramadan night bazaar. Food and candy stalls, lots of bangle /bling vendors and clothing shops had ...