Pakistan Zindabad!

This past weekend was the Pakistani Day Parade to celebrate our country's independance.  It is actually August 14th, but the celebration was strategically done one week after India's independance day.  It runs down madison avenue and ends at a little festival near Madison Square Park.  I haven't been in years, and happened to be eating in the vicinity, so I said why not stop by?  When I first got there, I was alone, and I was scared.  I thought I was suspicious looking, a bearded Paki on a cellie, alone, walking back and forth on the phone, but when I saw the crowd, I knew I was safe (from the FBI at least).  I could at least safely say that the National Security Alert went from Orange Alert, to No Alert that Sunday, as all the Pakis were convened in one location in Madison Square Park.  You also would be very unlikely to find a cab anywhere in the city!

The crowd was basically all the ghetto thugs and gangster wannabes from Queens and Brooklyn, shady Uncles (half of them probably cabbies), and families with lots of young kids, all wearing tacky shalwar kameez.  I think anyone that I know who was Paki wasn't there, or wouldn't go (which I guess is kinda sad, but I'm with them on this).  I managed to run into one girl I knew who I said hello to, and she was promptly like "Don't hug or kiss me!" I was like oh shit you are right, this is high profile area.  She was also telling me how many shady Uncles brushed up against her (maybe because she was in a sleeveless top, hai!). 

Finally my other friends showed up.  Certainly not a place to find one's future rishta I'll tell you that much.  They were even selling plates of rice and kebabs for freakin $15!! Are you kidding?  That was that.  We then went out to drink in celebration of our country's birth (yeah ok, we goin to hell).

On that note, Cafe Noir is a bumping place on Sunday.  It's a tapas joint with a little bar area in the front, with the doors and windows open, and a good crowd having drinks, with a DJ spinning.  Nice for a post-brunch Sunday late afternoon fiesta.  I recommend it!  After that we went around the corner to have a drink at Felix, also popping on a Sunday.  I lovin Sundays in Soho!  Our night ended at Chicken and Rice on 53rd and 6th, and even though it is Afghani, so many Pakis go there, we felt we were representing our people.

5 more days till the trip.  I better take my anti-malaria medicine tonight, and get my immodium and cipro ready to go...

Comments

[Raajii]

errghh.... i wanted to be ther e so bad but i just couldn't :(

Its soo good to see the Pakistani spirit in a place like America :)

I am glad you had a good time :)