The Essay - Karachi Postcards - Departure, But First a Feast...

The London based novelist Kamila Shamsie returns to her city of birth every winter, and this time decides to explore it properly: 5. Departure, but first a feast... Producer Duncan Minshull "Each time I visit Karachi there is a particular strangeness that accompanies me... invisible to x-ray machines... undetected by sniffer dogs. It is the strangeness of returning." London based novelist Kamila Shamsie returns to Karachi every January to see her family and old friends. But it's not where she lives anymore, so it has a fresh and often surprising quality to it. Over five 'postcards' for The Essay, she explores the city of her birth in this uncertain and often intriguing light. It's nearly time to return to London. It's late February. And to mark the event a ritual takes place. Off Kamila goes with friends to the Bunns Road, which is renowned for its amazing eateries. A last supper awaits, in all its delicious glory...