I met my youth worker friend at the gym this morning. It had been quite a while since our last conversation. There were a couple of minutes, in the steam room, when we talked about his plans to politically educate the young people he is working with so that they can make informed decisions at election time. We agreed that they shouldn’t vote for someone just because he (when are the Pakistani women going to come forward!) was from their community or biraderi, extended family. I suggested he should invite all the political parties, one at a time, to send in local election candidates so there could be meaningful exchange. Also, this way he would not be accused of favouring any one political party.
We then got talking about Pakistan, how often we go back, the specific areas we each come from (except in his case it was where his family came from as he was born a Brummie). Later, I said: “isn’t Chakswari over the other side of the bridge?” He said: “No, it’s Dadyal that’s over the other side”.
I think the ‘the other side’ depends on which side of the bridge you are standing!