Guess who saw an anti-NATO, pro-Pakistani military rally in the Blue Area (high end shopping district) of Islamabad and only had their cell phone camera with them? I’m not leaving the house without at least my point-and-shoot Canon with me again.
The details of exactly what happened are still unclear, but everyone agrees that 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed at their own border outposts by NATO forces.
This has led of course to several demonstrations in Pakistan’s larger cities. Yes, the US flag was burned at several of these, and the government is making some moves to distance itself from the US, including kicking US forces out of a leased base, Shamsi Airfield in Balochistan.
I’ve gotten a few concerned emails from folks back about this perceived rise in anti-Americanism in Pakistan, and I would just like to ask you to quickly evaluate the opposite situation. If Pakistani forces had crossed into Afghanistan and killed 24 American soldiers, how angry would many of you feel towards the Pakistani government? At the same time, would any of your anger spill over onto an average Pakistani person you met in the US? I think the answers to those two questions should answer all of the questions or concerns any of you might have about my safety.
Many of the locals turn their noses up at Islamabad’s shopping, as they have experience with the much larger and better-stocked stores in the larger cities like Lahore and Islamabad. This gora (white person), however, has found shopping in the capital to be quite a fun experience.
Perhaps the most fun bit of shopping in Islamabad is that, in common with many other Asian locales, there is a thorough and blatant disregard for copyright. It’s going to be difficult for me to bring anything back through customs, but very well-stocked and well-organized stores carry all manner of treasures – some clearly pirated copies, others indistinguishable from their legitimate counterparts.
Even to someone jaded by the availability of nearly everything being for download on BitTorrent, the stores are amazing. To someone interested in South Asian culture, they’re a special treat, because there are still many classic Bollywood and Lollywood movies that are difficult to find online. I picked up copies of such Pakistani classics as Maula Jat and Hitlar, Son of Hitler on VCD for a few hundred rupees. (Still haven’t figured out what to do about having a DVD case with a scowling Pakistani man with a blade and “HITLER!” in 144 pt. font on it when I go through Israeli customs. Ditto for the Pakistani army officer’s cap I picked up at a thrift store in Rawalpindi.)
One interesting thing that I’ve noticed throughout my trip is that people react very differently to folks in these shops based on how in touch with Pakistan you seem. Even though I haven’t necessarily learned much Urdu during my time here, I have definitely become much more comfortable with using the few phrases I know. Isn’t it strange how half the battle with language learning is actually developing the confidence and accent to employ the phrases you know? I went through the same experience in 2007 when I traveled in Italy.
I also picked up a very sharp Pakistani cricket jacket that I tend to wear out and about quite a bit now that the weather’s gotten a bit cooler. (Quite the temperature range during the day. Tomorrow’s forecast is for a high of 75F and an overnight low of 50F.) It will be interesting to see the reactions my new jacket gets over the next three months in India, Israel and the US!
This isn’t very scientific, but I think my increased Pakistanification has led to a bit more generosity from sellers when it comes to goods that aren’t labeled with a fixed price. If you show a little respect for someone’s culture by learning a bit of the language, and even more importantly some basic knowledge of local customs, politics and history, people are definitely much more willing to extend their hospitality, and this includes shopkeepers and cab drivers.
The same goes for when I’m shopping with a local person, from a friend to my good friend Danyal’s father. When shopkeepers see that I am friends with Pakistani folks, I immediately receive the local price. I think this is a sad commentary on the fact that the majority of foreigners in Islamabad have their own places to hang out and don’t associate with Pakistanis all that much. I see plenty of other foreigners around Islamabad, but usually in the company of other foreigners, not local people. That’s a true shame, because I feel that I’ve learned more about Pakistan from talking to ordinary people I meet in my daily life – the guy I bought a pile of pirate DVDs included – than I have from most of the so-called Pakistan “experts.”
There is one product I have consistently struggled with though, and that’s canned fish. I’m a fiend for sardines and tuna, and both are readily available, although only at enormously inflated prices at the kinds of places expatriates and wealthy folks shop. I can honestly say that in over two months in Pakistan, this is the only local cultural difference I’ve been at all stymied by.
My single most expensive purchase, although well worth it, was a Butterball turkey for Thanksgiving. A 10 pound bird cost me 4,000 PKR, about $45. Not only was this my first Thanksgiving outside of Buffalo, NY, it was also the first where I was responsible for the bird, which I brined in a secret blend of spices before roasting. It was the most tender, delicious turkey I’ve ever had, although due to an unfortunately slow oven I didn’t serve it until 5AM. Everyone of course still got to enjoy the meat over the course of a few days.
Based on a few tentative questions from friends I’ve received through Facebook chats and other conversations, it sounds like many of you might be curious about my experiences as a non-Muslim living in a Muslim-majority nation.
For those of my readers who have some familiarity with Islam or Pakistani culture, this post will likely seem incredibly simplistic and elementary, but I think it’s important for me to share this information for those of you who haven’t had much exposure to Muslims and Pakistanis.
Islam influences wider Pakistani culture in several ways. I think that one of the most beautiful of these influences is how it shapes language.
The standard hello is “Asalaam-u-aleikum,” “Peace be upon you,” to which the response is “Waleikum-asalaam,” “And upon you, peace.” Goodbye is either “Allah hafiz” or “Khuda hafiz,” Arabic and Persian-influenced versions respectively of “God protect you.”
Meanwhile, even when speaking to someone in English, two phrases permeate almost every conversation – “Inshallah,” “If God wills it,” and “Mashallah,” “By the grace of God.”
Although not a deeply religious man, I do consider myself somewhat spiritual, and I enjoy the constant invocation of the idea that we are all part of something larger than ourselves.
Some of the superficial aspects of Pakistani society are certainly more conservative than the standard in the US. In general, people, both men and women, dress modestly. Long sleeves and long pants are the norm. The only place I have deviated from this myself is to go to the gym.
The prevalence of women wearing the veil is fairly low here, as is participation in the salah, the five daily prayers that are considered a pillar of the Islamic faith. It does appear to me that attendance at the jum’ah, the Friday prayers that are done together as a congregation, is considerably higher. Islamabad’s shops are largely closed on Friday afternoons for a few hours, although many reopen for a few hours in the evening.
Pakistani is one of relatively few Muslim-majority countries that continues to follow a Western-style Monday through Friday workweek, with Saturday and Sunday being the weekend. Muslim-majority countries follow a hodgepodge of different weekend arrangements, although the majority include Friday as a weekend day.
In practice, and especially for students, there is a two-and-a-half day weekend every week. (Although this probably doesn’t come as a surprise to many office workers from the US – just how much work do you get done on a Friday afternoon between 2 and 5?)
The important thing for my readers to understand is that, like anywhere, the people of Pakistan are a complex group with a variety of different levels of religiosity and personal understandings of Islam. Some people are deeply religious, wear a full beard, and use Islam as a guide to almost every aspect of their daily lives. Others have no interest in their religion at all, or even openly oppose or reject it.
The majority fall somewhere on the broad spectrum in between, as is true in any religious tradition and country. Trying to paint all Muslims or all Pakistanis with a broad brush is a mistake many informed people, including writers from respected media outlets, make far too often.
The planners who sited Pakistan’s new capital in the 1960s chose a gorgeous area. Islamabad is nestled against the Margalla Hills, the foothills of the Himalayas. I’ve previously driven up to a beautiful restaurant up in the hills, but today I did some serious hiking, or as the locals would say, trekking, for the first time.
Monday was declared a national day of mourning for former Pakistani First Lady Nusrat Bhutto, so one of my friends who had all of his university classes cancelled suggested a trek up to the hills.
It was nice to get out of the city and see people enjoying nature. There were entire families walking together, some young folks doing some rock climbing on a small rockface, and a number of international tourists to say hello to. I even had the chance to talk with a Pakistani-German woman who is visiting here to see her father’s family.
Hiking up in the hills was another reminder of the incredible potential for tourism Pakistan holds if the security situation improves. I even got a glimpse of a monkey climbing around in the foliage above me. I’ve posted some pictures on Facebook — please take a look as I think it will help you understand how much this country has to offer and how much more there is to it than tales of war and extremism.
I’ve had many interesting experiences around Islamabad that weren’t worthy of a post all their own, but that I thought together helped paint a more complete picture of my trip and experiences here.
My big goal for this week was to get my visa extended. I learned a great deal about the inner workings of Pakistani bureaucracy, which so far is the only element of this trip I haven’t enjoyed. I believed the New York consulate when they told me it would be a straightforward process. Instead, it involved trips to three different offices of the Ministry of the Interior, and one shockingly rude staff member who refused to accept my form submission because it was minutes outside of application submission hours — i.e., after 12 noon. Even more fun is the knowledge that, since the new policy is to only grant a 1 mo. extension each time, I will be going through the whole process again in 3 weeks.
The other day, driving home from seeing The Mechanic with Jason Statham, (a perfectly good Saturday popcorn movie, by the way) the friend I was with pointed out the jail where Z. A. Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973-1977, was executed on the orders of his successor, military dictator Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. It was a sudden reminder of Pakistan’s tumultuous history on a day when I was otherwise just goofing around and not really thinking much about where I was or what it meant to be there.
One pleasant side effect of the visa adventures this week is that I’ve gotten much better at negotiating with cab drivers. No meters here — only the fierce wills of two men fighting for supremacy. (Yes, I do hear “The Burning Heart” from Rocky IV in my head every time I hail a cab.) The standard cab here is a small Suzuki, usually an ancient Khyber, although I did ride in an immaculate new cab the other day with dashboard mounted GPS and a stereo playing music off of a USB thumbdrive. Traffic is not bad at all compared to what stories had led me to believe, although I’m sure Karachi and Lahore will prove to be a little more wild and wooly!
This is repeated information from a previous email installment, so you might want to skip this over if you’re also on my mailing list.
In the past week I had the opportunity to visit two university
campuses, Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader, i.e. Jinnah) and Bahria (Naval) Universities… I even got to sit in on a few classes at
Bahria. One of the courses was an introduction to
Political Science, which I hope to make arrangements to return
to again. The dialogue was fantastic, although I was shocked with the
level of discontent among the students with their elected government.
As a reminder, Pakistan just left military rule a bit over 3 years
ago. However, when asked who wanted a return to dictatorship, perhaps two-thirds or three-quarters of the classroom raised their hands. The young, educated elite here are extremely frustrated with their government. I’m not sure what this implies for the future success of the electoral system here.I’ve found a bit of a second unpaid job here as well — every
undergraduate I meet here, upon finding out that I’m a Master’s
student from the US, wants to pick my brain about the GRE, the
application process, which grad schools are the best, how to improve
his English vocabulary and writing, etc. Perhaps I should get a few
of my grad student colleagues together and start a consulting firm?
This is a bit of a personal note, but I’ve had the chance to cook two Italian meals for my host family here. The first, as pictured a few posts back, was a huge pot of pasta fagioli, which came out exactly like my grandmother used to make it — thanks to my Mom’s flawless transcription of her old recipe and clear instructions! The second time, I tried to make a nice batch of rotini with red sauce and meatballs. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the oven to work, so I tried just pan-frying the meatballs a bit before adding them to the sauce. Big mistake — they completely disintegrated. Oh well, it turned out very tasty, although not as I intended.
Neither meal’s leftovers lasted more than 24 hours in the fridge.
An Islamabad businesswoman is using her “God-given gifts” to create new opportunities for at-risk women.
Nusrat Mehmana Quareshi says that she only sleeps two or three hours each night. As she is the owner of a beauty salon, an active member of the PML-Q party’s women’s wing and an active volunteer with the al-Masum organization, her claim is not surprising.
Though al-Masum, Quareshi uses her 14 years of experience as a beautician – she paused during our talk to point out the quality of the color job on a TV news anchor — and business owner to train abused women with a new skill set, allowing them to support themselves and escape dangerous situations.
These at-risk women might work with Quareshi anywhere from six months to a year, learning all the skills necessary to work in or even eventually own their own beauty parlor.
Quareshi is one of about 25 professionals from all different fields, including doctors and engineers, who are providing professional training through the al-Masum network.
The seven-year-old organization is purposely keeping its structure informal, seeking funding mainly through word-of-mouth and announcements at various events. Its primary asset is the combined abilities of the professionals who volunteer their expertise and training.
Although Quareshi is training young women who will one day become competitors for her own business, she is unworried.
“I don’t care. It’s better that they have a stable life,” she said.
“The business is just to fulfill my basic needs. It enables me to pay the rent and feed my family and do NGO work,” she said.
Quareshi said that she is also often involved with beautician’s competitions, where she has had the pride of seeing several of her former students receive top honors.
She was motivated to use her business acumen to help others in two ways. First, she said that she recognized that working in business had made many positive changes in her. She became more confident and independent, and learned how to face and defeat discrimination.
Second, Quareshi was sorely disappointed with the government’s efforts to do something for women at risk.
“The government is not sincere. It attends seminars but not much more,” she said.
“Here, people have to do it themselves. It’s direct, person-to-person,” she said.
(Special thanks to my friend and translator Zamin Haider for making this interview possible.)
It takes a tough Shahji to make some al dente pasta fagioli! (And an Italian grandson who has been provided with some great recipes as transcribed by his awesome Mom.)
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.
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