Any guesses why a pink-shirted boy with an electric rotary saw was doing at our house? It certainly wasn't a fashion shoot, although you might wonder with the choice of clothing and shades.
Well, first he plugged the saw into the socket in the typical Pakistani fashion as shown above. You must picture that this extension cord is sitting on wet ground that he maid has just hosed down. Then he proceeded to cut the giant metal tool box off of Sergio, the stranded Italian's, camper van so that the van could be loaded into a Bedford carrier truck. Sergio's van broken down three weeks ago on the way over the border from Attari to Lahore, and he's been stuck since trying to figure out how to get back. The truck was fixed, but when he started to really think about driving from Quetta to Iran and talking to the local authorities about it he realized it would be akin to a suicide wish. Balochi separatists and Tabelban back from Afghanistan are ruling the roads these days, and just two days ago an American UN worker was kidnapped in Quetta. A very white Italian man in a camper van coming down the road is like saying, "Here I am! Kidnap me for some ransom!" It's much safer to go by public transport in Balochistan these days than by private transport where you're alone and more vulnerable. Anyway, there goes the tool box. Now, they're trying to load his van on a Bedford carrier that will drive it to the port in Karachi. Bedfords are slow moving, so it will take about three days to reach there.
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