On Thursday, I attended “The Way of Dumplings: A Spiritual Commentary on Kung Fu Panda,” a lecture at the Kuch Khaas cultural center by Dr. Qaiser Shahzad of the International Islamic University.

Shahzad said that he originally saw Kung Fu Panda because he is a Sinophile, a lover of all things Chinese.  Upon viewing the film, Shahzad said that he found several important spiritual messages embedded in how Po, the Kung Fu Panda of the film’s title, progresses from working in his father’s noodle shop to becoming the mighty “Dragon Warrior” of legend.

The central points of Shahzad’s lecture were that, paradoxically, it is dissatisfaction with the self and a rejection of incentives that leads to obedience, vigilance and virtue.

Shahzad’s first bit of advice was simple yet elegant – in order to improve ourselves, we need to be able to form an objective and honest self image, find elements of it that we are dissatisfied with, and find a way to improve it.

Po the Panda receives the “Dragon Scroll” at one point, which is said to contain the secret to becoming the ultimate warrior.  When Po opens the scroll, however, it appears to be blank.  After talking to his father about how his “secret ingredient soup” doesn’t actually have a secret ingredient, Po takes a closer look and realizes that the glossy paper of the scroll shows a faint reflection of himself when he studies it carefully — the secret of the “Dragon Warrior” is something inside that can’t be taught, only realized.

Shahzad compared this with a tale from Persian folklore.  All of the birds are sent on a long journey to find something called the “Simurgh,” a powerful creature that is destined to be king of birds.  Along the way, most of the birds turn back due to exhaustion or fear of the dangers along the way.  Only 30 birds make it to the end of the quest, where they discover that the “Simurgh” isn’t a creature, but a term for the 30 birds worthy to be leaders.

More complex was the discussion regarding the rejection of incentives like glory or paradise as means to self-improvement.  Shahzad showed a clip of Po battling his master for a dumpling, and then after winning, casting it aside and saying “I’m not hungry,” then connected it to beliefs regarding paradise from Sufism.  Shahzad said that Sufism, a mystical tradition within Islam, has often had a dissatisfaction with the traditional narrative of paradise, which they dismiss as reducing the relationship with God to a business transaction – “do good and you will get paradise, don’t do good and you won’t.”  A higher motivation is needed: doing good for the sake of good itself.

Shahzad also had interesting commentary on the value of humility, illustrated through what he called Po’s “final battle.”  In his view, this final battle was not the climactic fight scene with the evil snow leopard Tai Lung, but Po’s scoffing rejection of the title Master, which only reminded him to check on his own Kung Fu Master Shifu, who had earlier been disabled fighting with Tai Lung.  Shahzad said that humility is the king of all virtues, “what string is to rosary.”

I hope to continue to attend this series of religion and spirituality lectures at Kuch Khaas, as much for my own enjoyment and enlightenment as to write about them on my blog.  In the meantime, I will continue on my own path towards becoming a “Dragon Warrior” in my life!

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a rock concert with Natalya, my friend Danyal’s youngest sister, a few nights ago. The concert featured two bands and was held at Kuch Khaas (“Nothing Special”), a cultural events center in Islamabad. It was absolutely fantastic to see young Islooites enjoying themselves on a Friday night much as their American counterparts would.

I would love to see more Americans, especially ones in their 20’s, have an opportunity to visit Pakistan. I’m convinced that if more young people from the US saw as I now have how their opposite numbers in Pakistan live, the benefits that would be reaped in a generation as those returned visitors came into positions of influence in government, business and academia would be enormous.

I’m not convinced that either government is seriously motivated to seek reconciliation. For the US, now that Iraq and Afghanistan are no longer looming threats, Pakistan serves a valuable function as a bogeyman to use to justify continued military adventurism in the region. On the Pakistani side, the US and the turmoil it has caused in the region serves as a scapegoat for everything that is wrong, allowing Pakistanis to avoid confronting the very weak tradition of democracy, the epidemic levels of corruption, and the feudal land ownership schemes that contribute even more to extremism in the country.

I would push Americans and Pakistanis to stop waiting on their governments to do what is sane, rational and right for regular people and start taking the initiative to build networks at the human level. Start networking and getting people from the two countries to meet each other and start working together on creative and economic projects. Working side by side will make Americans realize that normal Pakistanis aren’t terrorists and Pakistanis realize that normal Americans don’t seek to take over their country. If those interpersonal bonds are built up, then, perhaps, people in both countries will have a reason to start seriously pressuring their governments to start acting in the people’s interest.

Exhibit A:

“Pakistan-China Friendship is higher than mountains, deeper than oceans, stronger than steel and sweeter than honey,” a statement issued by the prime minister’s office quoted him as saying.

- Dawn newspaper, September 28, 2011

Exhibit B:

Cause it goes on and on, like a river flows
And it gets bigger, baby, and heaven knows
And it gets sweeter, baby, as it grows
Do I love you, my oh my
River deep, mountain high, yeah yeah yeah

- Tina Turner, River Deep Mountain High, 1966

More pictures of the epic views are in an upcoming Facebook album, but I loved this shot of these students taking a bus ride.

I am very happy to report that, although the layovers were long and extremely boring, my travels to Pakistan were extremely simple and straightforward.  Kuwait Airways still knows how to run an international flight — I can’t believe how much better the food and service was than on my last transatlantic crossing, an Alitalia flight to Italy in 2007.

I got off the plane at Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Rawalpindi, the older sister city of the capital of Islamabad, at 4:45AM local time.  I breezed through customs and didn’t have to answer a single question or open my bags for inspection at any point.  My friend Danyal was waiting with his Dad’s Corolla and his grandfather’s driver to take me to his family home.  I was so haggard from lack of sleep for the past 3 days that I wasn’t perfectly coherent at the time — I hope that I made more sense than I felt like I was at the time!

My first few days in Pakistan have mostly been dominated by trying to overcome my jet lag.  I haven’t been as strongly affected on previous trips, but of course a 9-hour time difference is a bit more than what I experienced on previous trips to Western Europe.  Other than sleeping, I’ve taken a few short driving tours of the city with Dan, met several members of his family, and even played a quick Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter/Mario Kart tournament with one of his friends.

Dan’s family lives on the north side of the capital city of Pakistan, Islamabad.  It’s a heavily planned city that was purpose built as a new capital for Pakistan in the 1960s.  The city is divided into a grid pattern with sectors named by number and letter.  One of the highlights so far on the trip was taking a quick drive into a neighboring sector and getting a snack from the market with Dan.  We had rolled paratha and banana shakes which were both excellent.  A paratha is a very common flatbread on the subcontinent, in this case stuffed with melted cheese and grilled chicken along with some spices.  I was especially intrigued by how it was served — Dan parked the car near a stall, went over and placed our order, and gave the man directions to where we were parked around the corner.  After a short wait, a waiter dropped off our food and took our drink order, and only presenting us with a bill at the end of the meal.

Another small thing that has made quite the impression on me is the intriguing mix of local and international culture I observe.  I know that in this highly globalized and interconnected world I shouldn’t be, but I was greatly amused to be driving through a crowded shopping district with Dan and hear and hear a restaurant blasting Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”

A brief misconception I’d like to clear up is about the climate — of course, by coming in late September I missed the peak heat, but I am much more comfortable at night here than I was during the past summer spent in Athens, Ohio.  I haven’t touched the A/C once, as the super-powered ceiling fan has been more than enough to keep me cool while I sleep.  (One of Danyal’s friends was surprised to learn that I had ceiling fans in my house in Buffalo.  I guess it’s not just the Pakistani climate that is internationally misunderstood!)  The fans here have a much higher top speed than any I’ve seen in the US, though — at full blast in a small room, it’s almost like standing in a wind tunnel.  I’ve always liked some white noise when I sleep, so the fan has actually been very comforting.  In fact, if I’m sleeping while the power goes out, the resulting silence usually wakes me up almost instantly.

Perhaps I should briefly detour to explain the power situation.  Islamabad’s demand for electricity exceeds the supply, and in response, rolling blackouts eliminate the power for an hour at a time for a few hours each day.  I have not been inconvenienced at all by any of these brownouts, although I am extremely happy that I packed a small windup LED flashlight.

Dan and I have already fallen back into our musical ways, performing a selection of Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix tunes for his sister’s friends with Dan on lead guitar and myself on vocals.

I’ve taken care of a few minor bits of business, as well.  Perhaps the most challenging was getting T-Mobile to issue an unlock code for my phone so that I could use it off-network.  (Something I should have taken care of before I left the US, but I thought that when I bought the phone on eBay it was advertised as carrier unlocked…)  It took about a day to get them to send the code, but I now have local phone service, which is incredibly cheaply priced compared to service in the US.  When I told Dan’s sister what I spent per month on cell service in the US, she told me that for the same amount I could probably get by for a year in Pakistan.

I’ll have much more to share over the coming days, but for now let me sign off my letting you know that I am extremely well fed, well rested and enjoying getting to know this city with my good friend and incomparable tour guide Danyal.  I’ve noticed that right as I reached the country, several nasty comments about Pakistan hit the US papers.  As you read about various US officials blasting Pakistan and its government, please keep in the back of your mind the incredible hospitality and generosity I have been shown so far, and know that any country is a far more complex and multifaceted beast than any mere government statement or news report could ever describe.

(Note: A previous version of this post erroneously referred to rolled paratha as “road paratha.”)

Here I am with Danyal Kamal, my good friend and a fellow Spartan alumnus.  We’ve re-bonded over our love of sriracha sauce, messed up sleep schedules, and Super Nintendo emulators.