4. The Bazaar

I have had some new tunics made for me according to the fashion of Pakistan so that I shall look like someone from the country, and I thought to make a pair of them for my driver Riaz so that the people will think that we are brothers because we have the same tailor.

He had chosen two blue cloths, which are considered most elegant by Pathan men (the men from the Pushtun tribe).

Today we went to take our dresses from the tailor and Riaz was very happy and proud of his blue elegant tunic.

“Elegant Pathan” I told him and he laughed, flattered.

Then we went around the bazaar and we met the people who exercise the typical crafts of the market. The most important of them is probably the bread maker who bakes fresh chapattis on request to be eaten hot on the spot. His oven is under him and the bread is put in and taken out through a round hole.

The chapattis are flatbreads, the baker throws them onto the wall of the oven where they stick and cook in a minute, then he takes them out with long iron rods so as not to burn himself.

Sometimes he puts some tomatoes, vegetables, and chilies on them to make something that looks really like a pizza.

Then we met the hot soup seller but I did not want to taste it because it was time to go back home and I knew that Bajee Nasseem had prepared her delicious lamb roast for me.

After eating I moved to my computer while Riaz filled the bottles with the famous oil made according to Bajee Nasseem recipe, which makes new hair grow. She has many patients with hair problems. She says it is because the farmers inject their buffalos with hormones in to get them to make more milk, and by drinking it women tend to grow beards on their faces and men to lose their hair.