There goes the neighborhood
About a week ago Sharmin and I were watching The O'Reilly Factor, and one of the segments on the show dealt with the recent Muslim demonstrations. When they showed some demonstrators burning a Danish flag, Sharmin recognized the buildings in the background. The demonstrations were taking place in front of her house in Karachi. It was a surreal experience for her, to see these news of global importance feature the neighborhood on which you grew up. Unfortunately, it is something I am all too familiar with. During the Bosnian war in the '90s pictures and video footage from Sarajevo made it to the newsreel with unsettling consistency. At one point I watched images on CNN of the park in which I played as a kid. There were armored transport vehicles all over the place, and the machine-gun fire in the background. It was a far cry from the strollers and baby cries.