The Perfect July Night in Karachi.

in one of my several daily conversations with Allah mian for the past couple of days, i had been requesting insistently on my mehndi being uneventful rain-wise. with karachi you never know. at sam's rukhsati in december 2002 we practically threw her in the car and ran for cover to escape the sudden downpour. at z's engagement, we hopped under the shamiana looking for dry spots where the rain didnt pelt through the canvas. at b's baraat, our ghararas sloshed the floor as we waded through a foot of water to get to the hall. rain has its charms, as a karachiite i must admit, but not on important wedding days. and so as Allah mian sent me the perfect july night for my mehndi (dholki), i smiled in thankfulness at the rightness of it all- the family, the friends, the dances, the songs, the yellow gharara, the lights, the colours, the happiness and very importantly the person, k, who i love so much and whose wife i will be tomorrow inshallah.