Here’s what the tag is all about…

The McCains own 13 cars, eight homes and have access to a corporate jet. If you were as insanely rich as them, where would your eight homes be and why?

The only rule is: The homes must be within the borders of the country you live in, so as to utterly emulate the McCains.

When you’re done, tag 8 people, so that they may join in the self-indulgence, forgetting about the crappy property market and the equivalent of The End of Pompeii on Wall-Street. You could spend your time hammering your doors and windows shut in preparation for the Apocalypse, but this meme is so much more fun!

Just for the record, I don’t know a thing about McCain (except that he is an old guy and running for the president in today’s US Elections), and certainly nothing about the McCains. Okay, so they are rich — as in, really rich — and own all these things mentioned above (with a lot of other things too, I am sure). Cool. Good for them.

But now I have to think like a McCain and build eight houses all over Pakistan. Frankly, I would just prefer to build a large farmhouse somewhere in the suburbs of Islamabad and spend the rest of my money doing something interesting. Like creating a Batsuit for myself and then jumping off the cliff from Pir Sohawa to glide all over Islamabad. (No, I won’t become a vigilante because Pakistan has no place for vigilantism. A “Batman” in the streets of Pakistan will be stoned to death by child vagabonds.)

Anyway, on to the tag then…

Islamabad

Yep. This one is simple. I’d like to have a home in Islamabad. Why? Because I love this city. Period.

Karachi

And not just anywhere in Karachi, but near the coast of Arabian Sea. Preferably with huge glass windows. With curtains, of course.

Gwadar

Again, near the coast. Again, with huge glass windows. And now that I think of it, I’ll have the following couplet written in complete Nastaliq glory and have it displayed near the entrances of both the Karachi and Gwadar Glass Houses:

لے سانس بھی آہستہ کہ نازک ہے بہت کام
آفاق کی اس کارگہِ شیشہ گری کا

(I think I am getting carried away.)

Chitral

Pick an ice-covered mountain in the Hindu Kush range near Chitral and I’ll have a home there. Something like the cozy building where Bruce Wayne is trained by Henri Ducard in Batman Begins. (Yes, I know, this post contains too many Batman references. I am a fan.) And I’ll also have a helipad nearby, even if I have to cut down and flatten a mountain for constructing it. I am insanely rich in this post, remember?

Suburbs of Islamabad

A farmhouse. A huge farmhouse.

Bahawalpur

I like the feel of this city, even though I have only seen it in pictures and videos. Having a navvab‘s palace like home in Bahwalpur will be fun.

Quetta

Remember Dhuwan? That super-hit PTV serial about a bunch of guys kicking some serious criminal butt? It was shot in Quetta, and I have always wanted to visit this city. True, nowadays, it’s a “sensitive” area and all that jazz, but I would still like a home there. Specially if it’s like the one owned by Salman, Dhuwan‘s super villain.

Recreational vehicle

Yep. A recreational vehicle. Technically, it’s not a place in Pakistan, but that’s what makes it interesting: I can drive it to anywhere. Anywhere on land, that is. Of course, it would be custom-made to be able to tolerate harsh circumstances during desert safaris in Cholistan or Thar, or while exploring archaeological sites like Taxila or Mohenjo-daro.

Your turn now

And now the part of passing this tag to others. I tag Aamir, Absar, Farooq, Ghazal, Karachiwali, Mahwash, Sana, and UTP.