Dear Auntie,
I am a 17-year-old boy who went to a cadet college from grades eight to 10. I left it in September this year. I had a knee injury which was left untreated for over a year — by the cadet college’s doctor and my parents. I did my matriculation in an injured state, but still performed well, getting 93.25 percent.

My parents enrolled me in a local college in rural Punjab, with ill-mannered students and a toxic environment. My dream is to join the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the world’s best engineering university. Until grade 10, I was certain of getting admission there due to my academic performance. Even at the cadet college, I stood out because of my conceptual grasp of subjects.

But after joining this college — the worst place I have ever studied in — I fear I will fail to achieve my dream. The teaching is poor and the students are non-serious, including a lot of drug addicts. I fear that adapting to such an environment will adversely impact my plans.

My parents are stubborn and don’t listen to me. They expect me to obey them like sheep. I have tried a number of times to find a solution but it always ends in conflict, with my parents and elder siblings shouting at me. I cannot see my goals getting sacrificed for reasons beyond my control. My parent’s restriction on my choice of school, skipping a year, tuition, etc, has left me feeling despondent and like the drug addicts at my college.
I don’t want my life to end this way.
Drowning Boy

‘My Dreams Are Being Derailed By A Bad College and Stubborn Parents’

Dear Drowning Boy,
You may not like this, but your environment isn’t what threatens your dreams — your despair does. A neglected injury, a difficult transition and unsupportive adults have left you frustrated, but believing that your current college will ruin your entire future is simply not true.

You believe this college will stop you from achieving your goals, but many students from far tougher backgrounds reach top universities, because they don’t let circumstances define them. The belief that this is ‘the end of the line’ is hurting you more than poor teaching or classmates.

Let’s be realistic: MIT or any elite university doesn’t expect a perfect background. Admissions officers look for passion, excellence, problem-solving and resilience. You’ve already shown this by performing well despite an untreated injury. Research MIT’s requirements and see how you can match them through your own initiative.

Your fear of becoming like your classmates is understandable, but sitting next to a drug user won’t turn you into one, and a weak teacher won’t erase your intelligence. You’re still in control of who you become.

Your parents’ rigidity is frustrating, but it isn’t the end of the world. Focus on what you can control: how you study, how you use your time, the resources you find and the initiatives you take in your community — things elite colleges value. Your parents likely aren’t against your dreams; they may just be limited by their own constraints. Cut them some slack and concentrate on what you can do.

Hating everything around you will drain the energy you need for your goals. You don’t have to love your environment — just stop fighting it.

This is a difficult time and it will pass, but not before turning you into a very strong person — that is kind of why it is happening. Work on becoming better than you are and then work on ridding yourself of the hopelessness. All the best to you.

Disclaimer: If you or someone you know is in crisis and/or feeling suicidal, please go to your nearest emergency room and seek medical help immediately.

Auntie will not reply privately to any query. Please send concise queries to:
auntieagni@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, December 7th, 2025

Go to any locality in Karachi and you will find a multitude of food options, even for breakfast: from bakeries to sweetmeat shops. They range from aloo chholay [potato and chickpea curry] and puri [fried flatbread] or halwa puri [semolina dessert with fried flatbread] or paaye [trotter curry] and nihari [meat stew] with paratha, kulcha or naan [different kinds of flatbreads]. This is also the case in the densely populated neighbourhood of Lyari, if you care to explore that oldest part of Karachi. 

A man with a big pateela [cooking pot] set on a wooden stool stands on the side of a road selling biryani. Asked if it is chicken biryani or beef, he laughs. “You are in Lyari, you won’t find fancy biryani or pulao here,” the man tells Eos. “Here, we make chana [chickpea] biryani.”

This is in line with the socio-economic make-up of this locality, with most residents in the lower income strata. As a result, the gastronomists in the area concentrate on meals that cost less but are highly nutritious. Every morning, you find many women sitting on low stools at their doorsteps to sell a freshly cooked, wholesome breakfast of fava beans. Also known as broad beans or saim ki phalli, these beans are commonly known in Lyari as “baklik”. 

The women have small cellophane pouches and string to quickly pack the beans for takeaway. One small pouch costs Rs30 rupees and the bigger ones are priced at Rs50. 

Fava beans are not just a breakfast staple in Karachi’s Lyari, but also a source of income for the neighbourhood’s residents

“You can have them with paratha or naan acquired from a nearby tea stall or tandoor,” says Zohrah Bibi near Cheel Chowk. Bibi adds that fava beans can also be consumed with plain rice. “I’m about to fry potato and green chilli pakorray [fritters], in case you would like to have baklik with those,” she offers.

ahead, outside another little house, there is Bahar Bibi. She is selling baklik with black masoor [lentils] and chholay. And the same story continues with another small variation three doors away. There is one recurring refrain, though: the women do not want to be photographed. Even when I tell them that I am from a newspaper, they stick to their guns. “No pictures!”

There are always exceptions to the rule and I also found one. Ghulam Ali, selling fava beans in the Kalakot part of Lyari. He had no issues with being photographed while selling his beans. 

“What about sharing the recipe?” I ask. Everyone breaks into a laugh and say there is nothing to it. But I don’t believe them until they tell me. As it turns out, everyone has the same recipe to share.

METHOD

Fava beans are available in both dried and fresh form in the market. They are soaked in water overnight (not necessary when the fava beans are fresh). The water is not drained in the morning and they are cooked on low heat in the same water, with more water added to immerse the beans. 

Here, you have a choice of either cooking the beans with their thin brown skin or after peeling them. The peel comes off easily but, in Lyari, they are cooked with the skin to make them chewier.

The only ingredient added to the beans and water is salt to taste. Let the beans simmer on low heat for 45 minutes to one hour. When tender, turn the heat off. The beans are ready.

You can have them with soups and salads. If just boiling them in salt water seems too plain, you can also strain the water afterwards, add lemon zest, some lime juice, some olive oil and sprinkle with black pepper, according to your taste. 

Fava beans are highly nutritious as they are a good source of protein, fibre, vitamins (especially rich in Vitamin B6) and minerals such as folate, iron, magnesium and potassium.

The writer is a member of staff.
X: @HasanShazia

Published in Dawn, EOS, December 7th, 2025

Growing up in Karachi in the 1990s, it was unthinkable for most of us to have access to fresh strawberries. All one came across were artificial strawberry flavours and essence, which were generously used in chocolates, biscuits, ice creams, desserts, jams, jellies and custard, to name a few convenience products.

Pushcart fruit vendors selling strawberries were unheard of and only a lucky few would find fresh strawberries at any of the handful of supermarkets that existed in the city in those days.

To our family’s delight, my father would sometimes purchase a can of strawberries from the then-renowned chor bazaar, a flea market where smuggled items were also available. The only fresh strawberries that we were exposed to in those times were the ones we saw being consumed on television. It is no surprise, then, that these factors added to our eagerness to not only consume fresh strawberries, but also to grow them.

Fast forward to the 2020s and, during its fruiting seasons, different sizes and varieties of strawberries are available at bargain prices throughout Karachi and across the country. A host of different berries, including strawberries, are being grown across Pakistan, especially in colder regions such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. These fruits have proved to be economically beneficial for local growers as well.

In 1990s Karachi, fresh strawberries were nearly impossible to find. Today, they are everywhere and you can even grow them at home

The bright red, aromatic, bite-size, juicy fruit, which is globally adored, is scientifically known as Fragaria x ananassa and hails from the popular Rosaceae family. Technically, strawberry is not a berry, but an aggregate accessory fruit. Botanically, the red and juicy fleshy part that we love to eat is a swollen stem and not a fruit. Scientifically, the seeds that we see on the strawberry are the fruits. The red part, or the stem, is an enlarged receptacle, while the seemingly minute seeds, or the fruits, are known as achenes.

It warrants mentioning that a gardener can use either the seeds or the strawberry runners — the long stem that grows from a mother plant — to grow strawberry plants. To add to the confusion, the achenes, or strawberry fruits that are generally mistaken as seeds, contain a single strawberry seed within. Every strawberry that we gulp down contains roughly 200 achenes and, therefore, an equal number of edible seeds that are nutritious.

In ideal conditions, seeds usually germinate when the temperature is around 10 to 18 degrees Celsius. Even then, its germination rate is comparatively lower than growing runners. Usually, the seeds are sown during the months of November to January. However, as the winters ahead are almost non-existent, this can affect the germination rate of the seeds and, eventually, plant growth. This is one of the reasons why one seldom finds stores selling strawberry seeds here.

Despite these hindrances, gardeners who want to grow the strawberry plant using seeds should prepare a well-drained potting mix, which has been boosted with a fine layer of compost. The seeds should be sprinkled gently on the soil surface and covered with a thin layer of compost. Water should be very carefully sprayed, so it does not disturb the original sowing positions of the seeds. The container should be placed in a cool, dry area and covered with plastic to ensure moisture retention. Even with a diminished germination rate, strawberry seeds can take between two to four weeks to germinate, depending upon the weather and the quality of the seeds.

Strawberry growers and small-scale farmers mostly opt for strawberry runners to grow a crop instead of seeds. One of the best aspects of growing a strawberry plant via runners is that it requires a temperature between 20 to 25 degrees Celsius for optimum growth. This range is ideal for growers in Pakistan.

This is one reason why consumers often come across online vendors selling strawberries grown from runners in dozens and even batches of hundreds. These runners are small strawberry plants, about three to six inches long, and sellers wrap them in newspaper before shipping, to keep them dry and prevent damage.

Green runners are more viable and have better survival chances to grow into a strawberry plant. Gardeners can also opt for runners that have completely dried, which are usually brown to black in colour. These are likely to be dead. If the roots are still intact, rehydrating these runners with water may help in bringing them back to life.

Please send your queries and emails to doctree101@hotmail.com. The writer is a physician and a host for the YouTube channel ‘DocTree Gardening’ promoting organic kitchen gardening

Published in Dawn, EOS, December 7th, 2025