A Salam a Laikhum! or "Hello" for those of you who haven't had a week of intensive Urdu lessons.I'm writing from a Guest house in Islamabad where I have been staying for a week now. Where to start? My first impression of Pakistan was only formed on the second day or so, due to the overwhelming tiredness I suffered after spending the entire flight watching movies and American sitcoms instead of sleeping like a sensible person. I would say that impression was something along the lines of "hmm Cannabisy" on account of all the weed growing on the roadside. My impression shortly turned to one of disgust when I realised that I had trodden in goat poo (wearing flip flops) while trying to get a closer look at the plant in question. Don't worry guys, it's all been caught on video and I will be selling it to Jeremy Beadle for £200.
My second impression and one that I feel will become very quickly tedious is the amount the Pakistani people stare at us whiteys.
Today we went to visit some of Islamabad's tourist attractions however, for our fellow Pakistani visitors, we were the main attraction! We were swamped by groups of Pakistani ladies who wanted to film us and have their photos taken with us. Up to this point I had only observed the men staring at us with their amazing pale blue/green eyes but they don't ever say anything. These women were acting as though our little group of volunteers were the cast from a Bollywood movie. Of particular interest were Sarah declared to be the cutest of our whole group and Corry, a very tall and blonde dutch lady who can be seen here swamped by admirers....I wrote the above on Saturday evening but was rudely interrupted from my intellectual musings by the President and Army Chief of Pakistan declaring "A State of Emergency" in Pakistanland. At the time I wasn't quite sure what that meant and now, two days on, I still have very little understanding of what that means in real terms especially where I am concerned. The only effects I have felt are that most of the news channels have mysteriously gone from my telly and also that VSO have put restrictions on what we can do. As for the rest of the countryfolk, I have even less of an idea; as I said, the independent news channels have been closed down and the international media haven't got much detail to give. However, I will try to keep myself informed from here and I suggest you do too if you're interested.
In terms of my placement in Peshawar, VSO think this shouldn't affect it. Sarah and I have been feeling anxious about the stability of that particular area all along as there have been quite a few bombs there this year, not that I want to frighten anyone. I felt no better about it after the weekend's development and spent most of Sunday's cooking lesson ignoring advice on making chappattis choosing instead to concentrate on working myself up into a state. Having voiced our concerns to VSO, it has been suggested that Sarah and I be accompanied to our placement by the lovely "Uncle" Arif, our Programme Manager who will hold our hands for th
e first week and then find us an alternative if we really aren't happy.Apart from all these surreal events other noteworthy happenings include a night tour of Faisal Mosque (see pic) with King, the owner of Guest house, shopping for our Salwaar Kameez (the local dress which involves a tunic over baggy trousers) which we will collect from the tailors tomorrow, meeting lots of friendly and obliging people, and being pursued as a potential life partner by King's brother. eek.
If you want to see more pictures, you can do that here. Thanks for reading and I will try to update you again soon. Kuda hafiz, phir melenge! xxxxx
2 comments:
Hey Jo - thanks for the blog, good to hear you are OK, please do keep us updated! If it cheers you up at all, we are having terribly ugly weather over here :) LOL, Agi
The ubiquitous concept of being photographed for being white whilst on unfamiliar territory is endlessly fascinating, mostly because it begs the question ‘what do they do with the prints?’. I met this guy in Yangshuo, China, who took me through his photograph album, a shot of him and Bill Clinton taking pride of place; this I understand – former leader of the “free world” and all that jazz. One suspects, however, that the Pakistani ladies in question will be brandishing these shots with more than a degree of mirth; a bit like tourists returning from Madame Tussaud’s hilariously declaring, “look, here’s me kissing Tina Turner”.
I think you should marry the pursuer in question. If only so that after the wedding, someone can greet you with the immortal line – and I’m relying heavily here on the unlikely assumption that you’re referring to people by their family names, or even more unlikely, that in Pakistan it is traditional for a woman to take as a second name the moniker of the groom’s brother when marrying – “You must be Jo King”.
Yes yes, I’m sorry. I’ll go away and think about what I’ve done.
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