Redder than red

You know how Civil Twilight talk about a day when the sky's going to break and everything will escape?  Today was that day.  The season I wait for all year has officially arrived, as heralded by the thousand mile stretch of clouds and crisp wind.  As I stepped into the car and rolled down my windows (which I haven't done almost all year), I let the atmosphere inspire me.  The air carried a faint scent of Islamabad - of calm, of cold, and of winter trees.  Leaves never turn vibrant colors in Karachi, which is a shame.  Imagine the depth the city can achieve with that kind of palette.  Nevertheless, leaves fluttered down from every other tree in swirls of light brown splendor.  The clouds interlocked their wispy extremities to form a white blanket in the sky, like troops threatening iminent rainfall.  It never rained, of course, but just the faint possibility of it made me want to get out of the car and walk the rest of the way.  Of course, you don't do things like that in Karachi, so I just tried to grab my bit of fun from my car window. 
All this nature and its glory...... and then I saw something that sucked the life out of my moment.   I saw two things, actually.  First, this guy on a motorbike ate something out of a gold plastic sheet and threw the wrapper up into the air like he owned the wind.  I wasn't sure, but had an inkling of what it was he had consumed.  Two minutes later, as we very unfortunately traveled together on the same route, he turned his head to the right and spat out a familiar, red projectile.  The wind carried red droplets everywhere, including onto the windshield of the car.  The spit had literally hit nature's fan, and I ducked, not wanting to become a part of the nasty, red mess, but not before seeing one large, red, drop stretching past the window in a background of white clouds.  Being a dentist, I've always advocated a ban on "paan", but besides the damage it does to your physical health and appearance, I absolutely HATE the fact that "paan" has tie-dyed the roads and buildings of our nation from head to toe. I mean seriously, people!  What did they invent spittoons for?! 

               

Another thing I just don't get is why it's so easy for people (and I speak for the majority here, trust me) to throw their trash in the street.  Garbage cans, another awesome invention, are obsolete in this city, it seems.  Even if there's one two feet ahead, people prefer to drop their wrappers, tissues, half-eaten bananas, red spit, and such right where they're standing.  I've cursed anonymous litterbugs countless times after stepping into a wad of greyed chewing gum.  Needless to say, I've never littered myself.  I carry my trash with me until I see the proper disposal space or I take it home and put it where it belongs, but save one time, I've never, EVER littered.  That one time I talk about was when I aimed for the trash from a moving vehicle and miscalculated the physics of it.  My gum landed on the ground somewhere instead, and I was blanketed in shame for the rest of the day.  Some people are pathological litterbugs.  They habitually litter, not just the streets, but homes of other people.  When I was little, I always found a ball of tissue paper stuffed between the sofa cushions, usually after a get together with our family friends.  I always thought it was another kid, but only a few years ago did I learn it was an adult.  Shameless, really.  I may be lazy about making my bed or putting the laundry back in the closet, but a polluter I've never been, and I won't let my legacy be one either.  Yums holds on to her wrappers too, until she can find a trash can that's within her height limit.  Thank goodness for that, right?  So, somewhere at the beginning of this post I mentioned being inspired.  That's right, even though I saw some nasty things at work today, I was still inspired.  It was my khala's anniversary today, and I'm sure she was missing her husband who's in the land of deserts doing what he does best, so I decided to try and cheer her up - with red velvet cake.  My first attempt, and not a bad one either I guess because she seemed to enjoy it.  I think I might've finally convinced my other Khala to place an order with me *wink wink*.  I apologize if my red spit imagery has been mortally embossed on your brain and will be associated with Red Velvet Cake for the rest of your life.  Maybe someone will finally start working on that "paan" ban seriously now!