A day at the park
A teenage me in the late 90's. Out on a field trip to a park in Lahore. I casually decide to walk to a nearby water fountain, not realizing I'm briefly separated from my group. It is a hot day indeed! I'm drinking water when I hear a strange sound...a scream, like a bunch of hounds. I raise my head in surprise. I see a bus full of teenage boys - some on the roof of it. Out on a field trip, just like me. I feel all eyes on me. They are a mob - screaming feverishly at the sight of a woman drinking water. How dare I drink water at a public space! They are out to have fun and they will claim their space. How dare I step into it! My brain goes into emergency mode. Good thing we are separated by a barbed wire. Their bus is parked outside the park boundary but they can see me from up there. I grab on tightly to my large dupatta wrapped around like a chadar (something I habitually did when venturing out in public spaces). I walk back as fast as I can to my group of familiar peopl...