“Namak Mandi Shinwari” (Part Four of the Review)

“Namak Mandi” means “Salt Market.” It was a salt market in Peshawar, Pakistan during colonial rule, and now, that market is packed with restaurants focusing on Pashtun lamb dishes. I was a kid when my family moved from New York City – my birthplace – to Northern Virginia. And at the time we moved to Northern Virginia, the line or border between what we would consider as “Northern Virginia” on one hand and Rural Virginia on the other hand was drawn right at Bailey’s Crossroads in Falls Church. Now, that line or border has been redrawn as far west as Purcellville or Berryville and as far south as Culpeper and Fredericksburg. Northern Virginia actually has a nickname – “Northern Virginiastan” – in reference to or as an allusion to all the various Middle Eastern and Asian ethnicities and groups which are an integral part of the economic and social fabric and patchwork or rather the basic character and identity of this region or sub-region of the United States. It is what it is. It’s where I happened to end up. And I was told to stay local and to stay put on top of it all. So let’s see what happens.