20 Sleeping Legs

Hello, after a very long pause visiting the internet. I am ALIVE!! And well in Karachi. Though you may have been worrying about me being here, due to the bomb blasts last week....there's nothing to fear, though you can not imagine the driving conditions here...me sidesaddle on brother Amrit's motorcycle racing through the night.
It has been fine here 2 weeks and 2 days now, but I'm going a bit stir-crazy. Every morning I step my way through 20 sleeping legs to get to the squat toilet. It's probably the longest I've been without running water...though there are mysterious times of the day when it does run and all of the water tanks and sinks overflow with water spilling through the house! Excitement all around.
Ikhlaq's father is patiently guiding me along with music and sarangi, and honors me with picking up the sitar...and I wish I didn't have to try to focus so hard and figure out how to replicate what he's teaching, but could just sit back and enjoy the beauty of it.
After the bomb, actually before the bomb, the door outside of the apartment was officially closed for me - as crowds and chaos ensued in the nebulous outside world. Then there was a strike that lasted another 3 days or 4, and even after no one wanted to let me go out and greet the sun. I'm very eager to take a vacation from my vacation, at this point. Finally last night after 2 weeks and only going out of the house once to try to get my ticket to oman, I was driven to see my friend Luqman (nephew of ustad mashkoor ali khan of calcutta, and friend of mine from korea! we both did time there). I had lost his #, so we had to drive around trying to find it, but we did, and he was very beautifully surprised to see me, and I met his daughter of 9 months, and his sweet wife and sisters and mom and gma.
Tonight I may do some shopping for material...I'm encouraging one sister to do some of her amazing stitching work for me to sell to friends back home - her work is beautiful, and if my idea works it will be the first time that she has ever had a means for making an income!! (More on the idea, email me if you have any interest in buying indian cloths!) Also heard something about going to Ala-Din, some game arcade that's all the rage.
Thursday is Ikhlaq's nephew, Sonu's concert at Alliance Francais; surely he'll play amazingly like the superstar he is.
Plan to go to oman for a week on the 1st, and then sometime the following week start to wend my way north and then back over the border that separates one land from itself....I have actually a lot more interesting plans than I'm letting on, but I'll have to save something for later... and still hope to update the last part of my china journey, when there's time.
For now, sending my love out to all my friends, hope all are safe, happy, healthy!