Archive for the 'Cultural' Category

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Day 164 – Beach again and dandia

Published on November 11, 2007 in At the sea and Cultural. 0 Comments

Ok, I guess first of all You are interested what is Dandia. Well, even most of the people who went for this event didnt know for sure :)

Simply said, Dandia is dancing with two sticks, one in each hand, where rythm is made (following the music) by banging of sticks of Yours or with a fellow dancer. Its originally a hindi tradition that had something to do with rain (I didnt understand that very clearly). In this case the DJ was kinda bad in playing any original pakistani or indian songs and thus the whole thing changed into a disco with sticks in Your hand :P

Now what took the most of the day was the beach… We (MC and interns) took part in annual IBA University trip along with few AIESECers from IBA who invited us. Beach house, loud music, amazing food, games and lots of people (5 buses).

My affection for the sea and the beach looks like not to be a temporary one. I enjoy immensely every single time we go. I have been swimming, playing in sand, walking the beach… really feeling relaxed and having some beautiful sights (eventhough didnt take too many pictures). Thank You guys very much for the invites, anytime again!

Apart from all of that one moment was interesting. A man came to me and asked “Do You know anybody here? And do You actually enjoy it here? Because I was watching You during the day and You have been always alone, if swimming or walking, not talking to people much.”
…Thinking back, its true, I have not been. For some reason I enjoy being alone in the middle of a lot of people – seing them have fun, looks like that it shows again that despite all that clownish masquarade, I am still a lonely shooter.

Day 149 – Jinnahs mausoleum (Quaid-e-Azam)

Published on October 27, 2007 in Cultural and Daily life. 0 Comments

Quaid-e-Azam is a name given to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan by Pakistanis, it means “Great leader”. On a random Sunday the interns have asked me if I want to join for a trip to his mausoleum.. I said “sure” :)

The building is very massive and is visible from far, it is actually very simple in architecture but the closer You get the more impressive it is. As the park around the mausoleum is huge (53 hectares), a lot of people are coming here just to hang out, but picnics are officially forbidden.

Few facts: The dome is 43 meters high and 75 meters wide/long, built on 4 meters high platform. 15 successive fountains head to it. Finished in 1970.

We have come here during sunset and have seen not just the tomb itself but also the procedure of putting down the flag and also how the lights went up. We have left to early to see how it looks like during night.

Definitelly a place to go to… not just to see the tomb, but also because of the people as for most of the visitors take this as an occassion and come in very nice colourful clothes, all parfume and make-up… As example, in one moment (dont ask me why) maybe 50 girls with all colours of clothes showed up.

Days 133-138 – Eid in Islamabad

Published on October 16, 2007 in Cultural, Islamabad and Weird and random. 0 Comments

Eid is the day when Ramzan finished. Big holidays when everything is closed, thats why nearly all the interns in Karachi and Lahore have decided to go to Islamabad.

So here is a brief outline of my experiences in Islamabad:

train traveling – arriving late at night after 20 hours in train in “Low Air Conditioned” class… horrible, the carriage was so cold that I have spent most of time at open door…

partying – the international community of Islamabad has a life quite different from that of the rest of Pakistan. Some of them actually say that “Islamabad is 20 minutes out of Pakistan“. I have been on a party organized by a few US guys who live here. The party was pretty big mix of different nationalities and was a real party (You know what I mean :P ). It was a pretty unreal feeling, being on a terrace of a house in the middle of a other houses with beer in my hand and LOUD music booming behing me… Definitely not the Pakistan I have imagined :)

sightseeing – I have visited again the Faisal Mosque. First time during the Friday prayers and later at night. We have also went in and actually also have been alowed to take pictures. The mosque itself is nice, but not too beautiful, but what makes it amazing is the size and location… Seing the hills right behind the mosque (a path starts a few meters behind it) is really experience.

Of similar interest was the National monument a work of (quite colosal) art which is still in development. A beautiful place that not just offers interesting sights of the monument itself and views on Islamabad, but also offers a lesson of history of Pakistan (via reliefs in the monument).

hiking - on one of the days when I was alone I went to the view point above Islamabad called Daman-e-Koh, it was a hike that lasted maybe 15 minutes up hill, but was refreshing as I had not been hiking for a long time… I have seen the “famous” Islamabad monkeys and also tested if You can call the forests of Margalla Hills can be called “forest“, they can be – as soon as You leave the path walking is very difficult due to thorn bushes and creepers. The hills offer a mix of leaf trees and random palm trees and are very easy for hiking.

On one of the hikes I had a chance to see the Faisal Mosque and Red Mosque from distance, their proximity was a little bit disturbing.

One important warning – dont hike there alone or without local people… its stupid idea, trust me.

eating – if I have not told to You till now, Eid is mostly about eating. Some of the locals said that You dont have real Eid if You dont eat at least 5 times per day… We had Eid :) We have been invited to dinner by three different families and everywhere we went have been offered food… I definitelly gained some weight!

Day 106 – Ramdan / Ramadan / Ramzan

Published on September 14, 2007 in Cultural and Normal Karachi. 0 Comments

Today for the first day of Ramzan (in Urdu), the holy month of Muslims.

The most known element of this month for non-muslims is fasting. Actually it is quite wider, between sunrise and sunset (which in Karachi is time between cca 5:00 and 18:15) You can not put anything in Your mouth… no food, no drinks, no cigarette, not even pills or tootbrush :)

But trust me, there is more than just that… If interested, read an article in Journal about Ramzan.

Click on pic to see whole album…

Day 106 – Ramadan, the holy month

Published on September 14, 2007 in Cultural. 0 Comments

Impact on world
To make You understand the bigger picture: this month is also a month when You should cut down on Your sins, e.g. no swearing. But what is actually for the world more important is that it should be also month of peace! Several hostages and prisoners have been released, in various places around the world that bleed daily negotiations have been started or at least ceasefire was agreed…

Customs
What it means for “normal” people is that the daily timeschedule quite drastically changes. The last food/drink can be only before sunrise and after sunset. In our house 6 people from 5 different countries (Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia, Singapure, cote d ivore) follow this tradition.

It means that two of them (according to schedule) wake up at 3:30 and prepare breakfast (ever noticed that its “break” and “fast”, as its a break in fasting?) called sehri for all of them. Than in the evening is aftar, which is hold as a dinner common for all people. The reason for this is that Ramzan is also the time when each Muslim should share with everybody…

Effect on daily life of non-muslim
- This also means that all shops and offices start earlier and finish earlier and some even cut down on number of working hours.
- Its also not possible to buy food other than in grocery stores (those few open). Eating, drinking, smoking or even singing on public can be taken as insult.
- If You live with a Muslim, know that s/he wakes up at max 4am and goes back to sleep at 5am.
- Get ready that the streets are often deserted and during evening prayer times You live in a city of ghosts with the voice of Mullah coming from all sides.

History
The history of Ramzan is as old as Islam itself. Ramadan is the name of 9th month of Muslim calendar, the word itself means “burn” and is older than the custom.

This is the month during which God made the first revelations of Koran to Prophet Muhammad, thus time when His words came on earth. Its the month when the fate of world for the next year is decided, the gates of Heaven are open and gates of Hell are closed and on the other side, His followers must pray, fast and do good in order to show their obedience…

Day 023 – Pakistani wedding (live)

Published on June 24, 2007 in Cultural. 0 Comments

Sitting and typing at my laptop in the kitchen I suddenly realize that I can hear loud music. As its nothing usual I look out of window, and find out that on the roof next to ours are finishing preparations for a wedding celebration.

Now I am sitting on our rooftop and watching the wedding from a distance of cca 8 metres and will live update You what is going on :)

First You should get the picture of the stageset of this litle “drama”. The floor of the roof is covered with red carpet, tent walls are around the whole roof to ensure privacy (luckily not on my side), small tent with food and tables with barbeque are in the corner and in a central position a small stage. Everything looks like You would imagine based on the Arabic nights fairytales (except of lightbulbs instead of candles and camera guys shooting it all on tape).

First the women, dressed in colourful clothes, welcome the family of groom and bride with throwing rose leafs on their heads. Then all the women take a seat and in the simple of tympan and clapping they half sing – half recite… blesings? (I still dont speak Urdu :D ) This takes time untill the whole family doesnt meet (which with Pakistani punctuality took an hour).

Then the bride, covered from head till toes, sheltered by four girls holding a colourful fabric above her head, each by one corner, accompany her to the stage. Her mother joins her and waiting continues. After a while mother leaves and the groom is brought to take place next to the brides side.

You should know that this moment, its only females present. The only males are the servants prepairing the festivity and children.

After an another half an hour (while the couple still sits on the stage) the men came and after a while the “man of the house” takes some food. After him all the men come and fill their plates (no surprise, its already 2 am). In the meanwhile girls do “guards” at the brides side, they change every few minutes. After all the men have, the women take food. After all the guests have taken part in the festivity, the couple is allowed to come down from the stage. At this moment also the servants are allowed to take food.

During these festivities I have lost the track of the couple, it might be that they have dissappeared for a time, but I noticed them only after a longer while. They were mingeling among the guests, bride was allowed to take her face cover off… The couple was not hanging much together, each socializing with different guests.

After the wedding night gets a little bit boring, a good old family quarrel comes handy… It looks/sounds like flock of chickens anoying a cock, a man among a group of angry talking women.

3 a.m., guests are leaving, the bags for gifts for the new couple are put (partly full) aside, party is over. The city spoils the people, I strongly believe that the wedding festivity the traditional style is more fun…

4 a.m., I go to sleep and post this, the servants and hired hands, are alrady for half an hour tidyng the roof, no visible result except of lot of talking and finishing leftovers… no need to hurry :D

Here are some pics I have taken, first: I know it looks like a stage in theatre, You will have to trust me that is really a roof and real people…

Thank You for reading, I will be glad if You let me know via email or Guestbook if You like my posts and if its worth to sleep only 4 – 5 hours because of this web…