To Brush or Not to Brush?

I've always said the most dangerous thing in Pakistan is the food. But perhaps it is time to also add "the water."

First of all, let's be fair: it's been a long time since I've gotten sick from any cause at all in this country. (Why do I tempt fate like that? why?why?) Ever since I've arrived, I've examined every stick of celery, every unwashed apple, and every dish containing mayonnaise with an eagle eye of doubt and mistrust. All the while, however, I have been blithely filling my mouth every morning and every night with something that I have recently been told is far more dangerous: untreated, unchlorinated tap water.

There is a cute little notice in one of the hotels I frequent that says "Tap water is unsuitable for drinking." This is putting it mildly. Like those college trips you took to Mexico, you're not supposed to drink the tap water here. Or eat lettuce that is wet from being washed in it. Or let a piece of ice float in your drink that has been made with it. I totally get it, and I have been diligent. Except for one exception: I brush my teeth with it every day.

No, I don't swallow it. But doesn't a teeny tiny little bit of it go down in the process? And is it possible that, perhaps especially during monsoon season when waterways flood and septic systems run haywire, a little bit of that teeny bit might have nasty things in it? This is the question I am thinking about today, when what I should be thinking about is the media outreach workshop I need to put together for next week, or how I can quickly get hold of an entire Pakistani winter wardrobe (all of a sudden it is cold here).

But today I am thinking about waterborne bacteria instead. And about clean water in general. And about how this is a problem in Pakistan and how to solve it. The other day I saw a cute ad for "Global Handwashing Day" on TV here. It had cartoons, and smiling children, and a happy little song. I'm thinking jettison all of that, and go with a picture of teeming, crawling bacteria under the microscope. Then show how soap and water kills it. Wouldn't that do it?

A friend of mine who lived in Pakistan for three years kept a pitcher of filtered water in her bathroom next to the sink to rinse her mouth out after brushing her teeth. I always thought this was overkill. Picturing my fictional crawling bacteria advertisement has got me wondering if I was wrong.

Friends who live in Pakistan: I need to take a poll. Do you brush your teeth with tap water? Please advise. I need guidance.

And yes, I'll admit I used that picture of the cat because it is just so darn cute.

Perplexing Question of the Day about Pakistan

Why is it, in a country often lauded as being as IT-savvy and advanced as India or the United States, THAT I CAN'T PAY MY BILLS ONLINE IN PAKISTAN?

This is a mystery to me. No online bill payment, period. Not your phone bill, not your electric bill, not your rental car, not your gallons of clean water to drink bill, not your super cool Wi-Tribe bill. What is Wi-Tribe, you ask? Just a great little service that lets you connect to the internet anytime, anywhere in Pakistan's major cities using just a little gadget on your laptop for only about $15 a month. Cool, right? Progressive, cutting-edge, technologically modern and up-to-date? Until you have to march down to the store to wait in line for 40 minutes to pay your bill, in person, in cash every month. What?

Does anyone have any answers to this one?

McPakistan

One thing that is the same all over the world? McDonald's.

Well, kind of. The ubiquitous McDonald's sundae is actually a hundred times better at its Islamabad outpost: the ice cream is creamier and the whole thing is drowned in hot fudge (U.S. franchises being stingy when it comes to toppings for some reason).

There's another difference: remember when Big Macs came in styrofoam, Madonna and Cyndi Lauper were battling it out for supremacy, and you had never heard of global warming? You don't have to imagine that here. Except for the Cyndi Lauper thing. Pakistan is very up-to-date when it comes to pop music.

And finally, there's one item on the menu that lets you know you're not in Kansas anymore: the "McArabia" sandwich. McDonald's answer to local ethnic food is a vaguely Middle Eastern chicken wrap. I haven't been brave enough to try this yet.

Of course, these days I don't know if I'm brave enough to go to McDonald's. It has, you guessed it, recently been added to the list of places likely to be blast targets. I'll be finding my cheeseburgers elsewhere for awhile...

Wednesday's Lunch

In some ways it is getting harder to write about pound cake and muddy feet and the search for a good cheeseburger these days in Pakistan. These are still the things of daily life that are on my mind, but in the background is news, lately every single week, of terrorist violence.

Close as it is in some ways, this violence still doesn't touch the routines of my daily life; I don't go to the kinds of places that are being attacked, and I am not one of the many Pakistanis who have lost family members in the last few weeks. When you see reports on the news of violence in Pakistan, please don't be alarmed for me; my insulated bubble is holding up just fine. But of course we think about it.

Yesterday an attack in a crowded market in Peshawar killed over 100 people, many of them women and children. Americans generally aren't allowed to go to Peshawar anymore, and I have never been there. I've heard it is a beautiful, historic city. Even though it is only a two-hour drive from here, it seems like a different world, and these days not the safest place to be. This week the Taliban is targeting Pakistani citizens, normal, everyday people, in an attempt to unsettle the government and the nation. Last week it was college students in a cafeteria at an Islamic university. Before that it was an army headquarters building, and before that a UN food program office. I think these things make all of us want to work harder and do more to support stability in this country in any way we can.

But I plan to continue writing about cheeseburgers. The things I notice most about Pakistan and that I write about--the fresh juices, the red carrots, the weather, weddings, potatoes cooked in tomato sauce for breakfast, the everyday features of being and working in Islamabad--are the real things that make up a life, and for that reason I am going to keep writing about them. They are also the things most under attack by the Taliban in this country at present. For most people who live here, Pakistan isn't a country of violence and terror, it is just a place they want to live: a normal, familiar hometown or neighborhood where they want to go about their day with their family or friends, picking up vegetables at the market and enjoying fresh air on a Wednesday afternoon.

Yesterday, on my own Wednesday afternoon, I had lunch at the employees only cafeteria of the hotel where I am staying this week, which is quickly becoming my favorite (secret) place to eat. On the menu was chanay, whole boiled eggs in a mildly spicy chickpea stew, on the side a nice crunchy cabbage and tomato salad with yogurt, and lots of hot roti coming out of the back kitchen every two minutes to help scoop everything up. There was also always a special semi-hidden pan of rice at the women's only table, from which I snuck a spoonful. Then halwa for dessert and green tea, and the whole thing finished up in ten satisfying minutes so you can get back to work. It absolutely beats the pants off any of the food you can order in room service upstairs, and it's a bargain at 100 rupees ($1.20).

A post like this should most probably include a picture of the devastation left by the bomb in Peshawar yesterday. But there are plenty of photos of this, all over the news. Instead I include a picture of lunch, that nice, normal thing that I do in Pakistan, along with the other 160 million people who live here. I think we'd all like the chance to continue just doing that.