--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This was the Karachi now – barbed wires…" description: "\"“This was the Karachi now – barbed wires protecting consulates, the pretentious covering themselves with faces of those who were hiding behind those ba..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f21/umair-naeem-37572_barbed-wire_this-was-the-karachi-now-barbed-wires-pr_2237311.jpg" --- # This was the Karachi now – barbed wires protecting… ![“This was the Karachi now – barbed wires protecting consulates, the pretentious covering themselves with faces of those who were hiding behind those barbed wires. This was Karachi – gaudy and luxurious, with a façade of glamor, ignoring the truth underneath. But Sophie was no cynic, and still loved…” quote by Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f21/umair-naeem-37572_barbed-wire_this-was-the-karachi-now-barbed-wires-pr_2237311.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f21/umair-naeem-37572_barbed-wire_this-was-the-karachi-now-barbed-wires-pr_2237311.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f21/umair-naeem-37572_barbed-wire_this-was-the-karachi-now-barbed-wires-pr_2237311.jpg) > ““This was the Karachi now – barbed wires protecting consulates, the pretentious covering themselves with faces of those who were hiding behind those barbed wires. This was Karachi – gaudy and luxurious, with a façade of glamor, ignoring the truth underneath. But Sophie was no cynic, and still loved the city she had returned to. ‘You can’t hate what’s yours,’ she smiled to herself.”” [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A character reflects on loving a city despite its contradictions, rejecting hatred of one's own home. **In simple terms:** Love despite flaws. Key Takeaway Find affection for your roots despite imperfections. Themes love city contradiction Mood nostalgic conflicted Type narrative reflective When to use this quote - returning home - navigating conflict - urban exploration Key Concepts urban identity personal resilience Questions to Reflect On - What makes you stay attached to a flawed place? - How can love coexist with critique? A Different Perspective May romanticize the city, ignoring serious issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Barbed wire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/barbed-wire/) [Barbed Wires](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/barbed-wires-4507964/) [Cities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cities/) [Hiding Barbed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hiding-barbed-5057928/) [Karachi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/karachi/) [Karachi Barbed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/karachi-barbed-5057925/) [Karachi Gaudy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/karachi-gaudy-5057926/) [Wires Karachi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wires-karachi-5057927/) ## Related quotes > [Stop creating walls around yourself. Put barbed wires instead. Allow them to see you. Talk to you. Just don't let them get any closer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/stop-creating-walls-around-yourself-put-barbed-wires-instead-allow/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [“I really love this city. It’s so very beautiful. It’s so multidimensional.People say it has a darkness and a decadence, which it tries to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/i-really-love-this-city-it-s-so-very-beautiful-it-s-so/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) > [“It all fell away then – the control, the independence . . . everything. She had known it would never be easy to find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/it-all-fell-away-then-the-control-the-independence-everything-she-had/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) > [You're not a star until they can spell your name in Karachi.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/humphrey-bogart/you-re-not-a-star-until-they-can-spell-your-name-in-karachi/) [Humphrey Bogart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/humphrey-bogart/) > [“The morning drive in Karachi was nothing like coasting on Storrow, but it hadn't taken Asad long to get used to it and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saad-shafqat/the-morning-drive-in-karachi-was-nothing-like-coasting-on-storrow-but/) [Saad Shafqat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saad-shafqat/) > [“All around us, Karachi kept moving”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamila-shamsie/all-around-us-karachi-kept-moving/) [Kamila Shamsie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamila-shamsie/) > [Karachi has had an overdose of history, too much has happened.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-inskeep/karachi-has-had-an-overdose-of-history-too-much-has-happened/) [Steve Inskeep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-inskeep/) > [“And yet. When I read the Dawn on line and then looked around me to the pristine surroundings of campus life, I knew that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamila-shamsie/and-yet-when-i-read-the-dawn-on-line-and-then-looked-around-me-to-the/) [Kamila Shamsie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamila-shamsie/) > [“Summer in Karachi is brutal. The heat alone is ugly and unforgiving. Add unrelenting humidity, and the elements become merciless. The city sits on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saad-shafqat/summer-in-karachi-is-brutal-the-heat-alone-is-ugly-and-unforgiving/) [Saad Shafqat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saad-shafqat/) > [I would say that the one incredible thing that Karachi has going for it is the unabated supply of new migrants that pour into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-inskeep/i-would-say-that-the-one-incredible-thing-that-karachi-has-going-for/) [Steve Inskeep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-inskeep/) > [All roads lead to Rome. All roads lead out of Karachi.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/all-roads-lead-to-rome-all-roads-lead-out-of-karachi/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [So many awful things have happened in Karachi, it's true. It has its own crazy rhythm. Even as crazy as other news is in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-inskeep/so-many-awful-things-have-happened-in-karachi-it-s-true-it-has-its/) [Steve Inskeep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-inskeep/) > [Karachi captures all of those rifts between ancient and modern, communal and individual. You see them playing out in people's lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-inskeep/karachi-captures-all-of-those-rifts-between-ancient-and-modern/) [Steve Inskeep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-inskeep/) > [“If we had more reliable systems of law and governance perhaps our friendship would be shallower.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamila-shamsie/if-we-had-more-reliable-systems-of-law-and-governance-perhaps-our/) [Kamila Shamsie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamila-shamsie/) > [“Living in this city, you developed a certain relationship with violence and news of violence: you expected it, dreaded it, and then when it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bilal-tanweer/living-in-this-city-you-developed-a-certain-relationship-with/) [Bilal Tanweer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bilal-tanweer/) ## More by Umair Naeem > [Some want to be owned, and some want to be saved. Only some want to exist in the glow of contentment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/some-want-to-be-owned-and-some-want-to-be-saved-only-some-want-to/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) > [“Needs can never be replaced; wants get replaced.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/needs-can-never-be-replaced-wants-get-replaced/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) > [“Even in the darkness of the closed box she felt trapped inside, she could see light shining in through tiny holes on the lid.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/even-in-the-darkness-of-the-closed-box-she-felt-trapped-inside-she/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) > [“I really love this city. It’s so very beautiful. It’s so multidimensional.People say it has a darkness and a decadence, which it tries to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/i-really-love-this-city-it-s-so-very-beautiful-it-s-so/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) > [“People live to love; but then they realize that love is nothing. Love is just desire and longing; the culmination of a moment where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/people-live-to-love-but-then-they-realize-that-love-is-nothing-love/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) > [“Time is immaterial. It is immortal. Time never chose people to define their lives with it. That was humanity’s choice. That was when man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/time-is-immaterial-it-is-immortal-time-never-chose-people-to-define/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) > [What you see when you find yourself is what will help you¦or destroy you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/what-you-see-when-you-find-yourself-is-what-will-help-you-or-destroy/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) > [“It all fell away then – the control, the independence . . . everything. She had known it would never be easy to find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/it-all-fell-away-then-the-control-the-independence-everything-she-had/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) > [“Worry looks back, Hope looks forward, but Faith always looks up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/worry-looks-back-hope-looks-forward-but-faith-always-looks-up/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) > [“But it was fantasy, and she knew it. It was her fantasy, and the fantasy of everyone else who would look at her and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/but-it-was-fantasy-and-she-knew-it-it-was-her-fantasy-and-the-fantasy/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) > [“Love, after all, was nothing but a glimmer of hope for the miserable – those with a lot of time and little ambition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umair-naeem/love-after-all-was-nothing-but-a-glimmer-of-hope-for-the-miserable/) [Umair Naeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) [Explore all 12 Umair Naeem quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umair-naeem/) ## More Barbed wire quotes > [“Now, okay, important knitting life lesson right here: don’t go acrylic. Just don’t. 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The guards weren’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/no-guns-though-even-they-could-not-be-trusted-with-guns-guns-were-for/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“I ran straight into the wooden fence at the foot of the field. I was lucky that it had been a rail fence, rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-keeble/i-ran-straight-into-the-wooden-fence-at-the-foot-of-the-field-i-was/) [Helen Keeble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-keeble/) > [“We now dwelt in a very large prison, without walls, bounded by Canada, Mexico and two oceans. There were the jailers, the turnkeys, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/we-now-dwelt-in-a-very-large-prison-without-walls-bounded-by-canada/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) > [The heart of it all is mystery, and science is at best only the peripheral trappings to that mystery--a ragged barbed-wire fence through which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-bass/the-heart-of-it-all-is-mystery-and-science-is-at-best-only-the/) [Rick Bass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-bass/) > [I devoted my career to building an affinity with my fans who have supported me unflinchingly and no barbed wire fence or prison wall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/foxy-brown/i-devoted-my-career-to-building-an-affinity-with-my-fans-who-have/) [Foxy Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/foxy-brown/) > [“But, of course, what mattered most of all was my deep-seated hatred of authority, my monstrous individualism, my lawlessness. No word in my vocabulary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/but-of-course-what-mattered-most-of-all-was-my-deep-seated-hatred-of/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [I don't believe that in the name of the holiness of the city you have to put barbed wires, machine gun nests, mine pins…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yitzhak-rabin/i-don-t-believe-that-in-the-name-of-the-holiness-of-the-city-you-have/) [Yitzhak Rabin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yitzhak-rabin/) > [“So far, being dead is about as much fun as a barbed-wire G-string. Yes,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-kadrey/so-far-being-dead-is-about-as-much-fun-as-a-barbed-wire-g-string-yes/) [Richard Kadrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-kadrey/) > [“ A Blessing Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota, Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass. And the eyes of those two Indian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-wright/a-blessing-just-off-the-highway-to-rochester-minnesota-twilight/) [James Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-wright/) > [We were made to believe / our faces betrayed us. / Our bodies were loud / with yellow / screaming flesh / needing to be silenced / behind barbed wire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janice-mirikitani/we-were-made-to-believe-our-faces-betrayed-us-our-bodies-were-loud/) [Janice Mirikitani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janice-mirikitani/) > [All this Americanising and mechanising has been for the purpose of overthrowing the past. And now look at America, tangled in her own barbed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence/all-this-americanising-and-mechanising-has-been-for-the-purpose-of/) [D. H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence/) > [There was a danger whenever I was on home ground. 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