I Wake Up in Gothenburg

26 August 2017

Photo by the author

This was my first morning in Sweden, in Gothenburg. I woke up on the third-floor apartment of this very old brick building, originally built in 1881.

I was still in bed, not quite awake, in a state of half-consciousness that precedes full awareness of one’s surroundings in a new place.

I looked around my bedroom and noticed the quaint architecture — uneven walls and exposed wooden beams in the ceiling. It was all so quiet outside. No street sounds.

Then, drifting in from the kitchen comes the sound of a familiar song. It was Meesha Shafi singing:

وے میں چوری چوری تیرے نال لا لیاں اکھاں

Slowly, stealthily, I fell in love with you

Welcome to a Pakistani home in Sweden!