“It was all about economics,” former Sydneysider and now Karachiite Gabrielle Brinsmead, tells SBS Urdu.
"My husband was subsidising our studies with pizza delivery, which was not enough for us to live on once our daughter came along.
"We were both writers, and you know how hard it is to publish your first novel."
Gabrielle met her husband, originally from Pakistan, during studies and soon they decided spent their lives together.
"From the moment we met, we had so much in common, in spite of our different upbringings and cultures, that I knew he was the one. But when our novels were rejected, our daughter was born and living expenses increased, things became challenging."
Gabrielle said that by the time her daughter, Mysha, was two, the family decided to move temporarily to Karachi.
Gabrielle Brinsmead with her husband and two children. Source: Gabrielle Brinsmead
"Nobody could have been more surprised than us, by how happy we were in Karachi. My husband soon joined the family business, which has been providing cooking oil to Pakistani homes since partition [of the Indian subcontinent in 1947]. I enjoyed the climate and the lifestyle, and after having my son, Rumi, I turned my attention to art.
Pakistan is a country of 220 million with the cultures and traditions strictly followed according to religion Islam whereas Australia is a considered a secular country.
Source: Gabrielle Brinsmead
As a developed nation, Australia is ranked 8th on the (2020) while Pakistan is ranked 154th. The ranking takes into account the life expectancy, schooling, income per capita (person) of a nation and in all indices Gabrielle’s home town is ahead.
But did these things matter to her? “Yes and no,” she says.
There were trade-offs but according to the former Sydneysider they were "not altogether negative". She only managed to see her parents and siblings once a year. But on the other hand, Gabrielle said that the privileged status of her husband’s family meant she had time and energy, which in Australia might have been directed towards "cooking, cleaning and shopping, to pour into artistic and social projects".
Now that we are here, it is not just an economic choice; it is the place where we belong and with the family I love.
Gabrielle says that studying art is very cheap in Pakistan and everything motivates an artist to paint. Source: Gabrielle Brinsmead
Karachi is Pakistan’s largest city with population size as large as Australia. The city has witnessed its fair share of violence and terrorism with street crime, a continued problem.
But according to Gabrielle, in the last eight years of her life in the port city, no one has told her to do anything or stopped from doing.
"I have not experienced any hate or racist comment. No one has come up to me and said wear a scarf, or cover your head. The views and comments you see on the media are the opposite of what life is like hearing. Don’t assume too many things about a culture you haven’t experienced.
"The portrayal of Pakistan and Pakistanis is sometimes dangerous and violent; I’m not saying it might not have been the experience of some people. But it has not been mine. I find this culture very beautiful, especially the way families look after each other.
I have only experienced love from everyone, every stranger that I have met has only been respectful and helpful.
Source: Gabrielle Brinsmead
‘Art is in the air’
Gabrielle pursued her passion for art by studying at the Indus Valley School of arts in Karachi and recently worked on .
“It was something that highlighted the connections between Australia and Pakistan.
“The flowers that I drew are both common in New South Wales and Karachi, such as bougainvillaea, hibiscus and frangipani.
"The beauty of flowers: they bloom here and in Australia, for rich and poor people, and people of different politics, religion and income."
Talking about the city she now calls home, she says that art is in the air that makes her paint more.
“There is something exciting about Karachi that makes people want to paint. The colours are so bright, the weather is windy and the best thing is that everyone likes to paint here.”
This year Gabrielle worked with Pakistan’s music star and social activist Shehzad Roy on a .
Living with grandparents
Gabrielle (left) made a guest appearance on Pakistan music star Shehzad Roy's video. Source: YouTube/Shehzad Roy
Unlike Australia where an independent family unit is a norm and grandparents or parents normally don't live with their children who move out after reaching adulthood; in Pakistan, parents mostly live with their children and grandchildren as a family unit.
“One of the things that strike me most is that old people are being taken care of by their children and are valued as grandparents, great aunts and the other way round too,” she says.
“I’m always struck by the way older people are valued here; they are looked after by their children and the other way round. You can only understand a culture after you have lived in it; if you make too many assumptions you might miss something of real value."
SBS Urdu program broadcasts every Wednesday and Sunday at 6 PM (AEST)
