And now we are at the source of problem… What was just a common practice was transformed into a rigid rule. In the recent years it has become a symbolical issue. Right now hijab became one of the symbols of true Islam. We have been faced with conflicts that have been caused by wearing hijab (forbidden in schools in France; Egypt and Turkey are running an agressive campaign against Hijab – see cases brought up by Amnesty International that included violence on women) and cases where women were abused for not wearing it, or wearing it in a “unsifficient” way (common also in Pakistan)…

But my point was simple in the fact, that the women in Pakistan are a litle bit of mistery, showing only the face and You are not supposed to stare at them, but only catch a glimpse. Of course I am not talking about Burka (whole face cover), but about the scarfs around the heads and shoulders of girls. With combination of their love for traditional-alike patterns and bright colours it makes them look often very beautiful…

For those guys who are looking for girls who look innocent and precious, its very easy to fall in love here

Good thing that I rather prefer lil crazy, smart, rather strong, impulsive girls that are ready to fight with anybody…

Its often the desolation of man`s creation that lets the beauty of work of nature stand out, the simple presence of a man makes the nature look weak and enslaved.

Or is it just that the beauty is in the eyes of beholder and its me who likes these views? Is it an accident that among my favourite movies are those that show the end of our days (Children of Men, 28 days later)?

Well the goals are:
- finish MC in Pakistan on 1st of July
- travel Pakistan for 2-3 weeks
- go back to Slovakia in an interesting way (I still dont know what it means)
- travel Slovakia and Czech republic for some month
- while being in Slovakia, walk/hike it from East to West (like 2 weeks?)

I have been dealing with an HR+training company called Navitus for the conference (and beyond), one of the basic things I noticed at these guys is that everything is possible – whatever You suggest, their reply is: sure, sounds cool, just send us some more info and we see what we can do…

One of the things they gave AIESEC Pakistan (without us even considering such an option) was that a guy called Sarmad Tariq would come and deliver a speech at the closing plenary. Who is Sarmad? A guy who lost everything he had – purpose of life and ability to move anything apart from his head, but didnt give up. He has gained partly both of it, he still cant walk but he has a damn interesting life…

And he told us a few things about him and his view on life…

Quote 1:
I dont want to stay/go to place that reminds me about what I cant do, but a place that challenges me and gives me satisfaction about what I can do.

Quote 2:
Pain is temporary, pride is for ever.

Quote 3:
There is a physical law: “every action causes a reaction of same power but opposite direction”. The only difference between objects and human beings is that humans case the reaction doesnt have to be in the opposite direction – humans can use the action, make it stronger, make use of it.

Its because of moments like this I really like Pakistan. I will try to describe the situation. I am in a train, its already night, sitting at the window. Window is open, wind coming in, dark country dotted with lights and rumbligh of the train outside. And whats inside? In front of me, through the gap between seats I can see a small boy in brigh orange jumper trying to find something interesting to do. While his father is lying on the seat and just laughs at him. To my left is a man with white long beard – a man who would have problems to enter Your country because of how he looks like – teacher at a medical university, he is talking to my friend (pakistani) about school system in Pakistan and world – funny is that they speak English, so I can understand what they are saying (hellloo! two pakistanis are speaking English, they dont even know I am listening, its natural for them – native English). And behind me, through the seats gap I can hear two Pakistani women chatting in Urdu (about I have no idea what).

A small story from few minutes ago that might help You understand the openness of people here: if You are in the train, reading a book or newspaper and put it down, anybody around can just pick it up and start reading, he doesnt even feel like its needed to ask You for allowance – why would You now agree?

By the way, the man who picked up the book was the same one who is talking now about the school system. And to make the moment even more special – he was asked to make (run) the evening prayer. When You are traveling You are not obligated to pray – but if You want… So he is saying the prayer alound and few join in it in silence. He does it on the corridor of the train – only space possible – some people have to wait for them to finish before they can pass… nobody minds.

And to really get an insight into Pakistani people, right after the old man went to run the prayer, the friend of mine, who was talking to him, has turned to me with a big ironic/sarcastic smile and said “that was random!” – they are the most sarcastic people I have ever met. I actually do think they have been through so much shit that humour is a way out – and it really works, they go over problems and within days make fun of them.

Scene one: Sudan – teddy bear case
A primary school teacher was charged for “letting 7-years old children in her class name a teddybear Mohammed“. It was part of a lesson where the kids were supposed to pick a name for the teddybear, so they picked the most favorite name of theirs. If You are not able to find what is the problem, the religion-protectors found it as an offence to name a toy by the name of the prophet Mohammed… (read original text)

Silly isnt it? And pointless! Conservative Islam doesnt agree with depicting people and most of all holy people, because it doesnt want them to become subjects of worship, true – but putting this case in the same category is idiotic! And no talks about cultural sensitivity – that is not the case here! If this is blasphemy how DARE the protectors of faith name their sons with the name of the Prophet? Do they claim that their son is worth the Prophets name? Stupidity!
She was in jail for a week waiting for the court to decide, was supposed to be given 15 days of jail, but has been pardoned by the president… and than deported from the country…

And to finish the story – a worker at the school has been fired and accused that it was her who started the whole thing… She claims to be innocentand has her life screwed big time as nobody wants to employ her and her family is being harrassed… As I say, pure Stupidity in all directions. (read article)

Scene two: England – bishop supports implementation of Sharia law
A bishop has told in an interview that he thinks that some aspects of Muslim law – sharia should be implemented in UK law, mostly in field of economy and marriages. As result a virtual “stoning” by media and even politicians started, not a single word of support worth notice…
And I feel like puke – PUKE – P.U.K.E. – vomit! If you are looking for a couple of guys who would kill all the Muslims in Your town, try for example this page. The comments of people to the topic are so absurd, simple minded and “I am right and who doesnt agree is s sissy and leftish liberalist!”…. pure disgust…

Ironic: if You get married in Pakistan under Muslim law, Your marriage is valid in UK, but in UK its not possible to get married under Muslim law… isnt that weird?
MEGA ironic: during the carnage and shit throwing, the news from Nov 07 that UK government will issue Sharia-compliant bonds has made it to headlines again… (read original text)

…the whole thing is about exagerrating and missinterpreting. But it perfectly fits into the scheme of “war on terror“, because war needs propaganda (doesnt matter if the war is/not “just”) and fear and hate of the enemy is a basic propaganda element… I guess those who came up with the term “war on terror” got more than they asked for …

Scene three: Iran – government forces people to follow Sharia-called rules
Well, in last year or so the conservative elements of the government of Iran have started to push on following of some rules that they call Sharia. First of all, there is nothing like Muslim law, its just a collection of instructions taken from Koran and Muslim traditions that a power-party or religious group proclaims to be Sharia. Forget the concept of a book of Muslim law, Koran is not a book of law, but a collection of verses on God and Life… Thus logically Muslim law is actually the law of the power group… and often the power group chooses different rules than the people would.

Iran in last year has seen persecutions of women who had their head scarf not “non-transparent enough” or of not enough of length etc. Really ridiculous crap because of simple reason – people of the countrz (muslims) do not agree with those rules. Understand, Muslims are pushed to follow a “Muslim” law that they do not agree with, thus there are only two options:   a) they are not Muslim, b) the law is not Muslim…

You pick, but I have been told that women after comming from outside fling the piece of cloth on the ground – because they are made to wear it, not because they believe in it. What in Turkey becomes a symbol of “free presentation of being Muslim” is in Iran a way “of raping the beliefs of people”…

Today was holidays – the “day of solidarity with people of Kashmir (and Jammu)”. We went out to the city and (like its so often) I had some really weird sights…

Huge banners in Urdu and English have been placed around the city. Talking about heroes, enemies, not much abound friendship, peace or agreement… Its hard to understand such an approach, but let me say a few things for You about this valley…

The whole problem started with the Partition of British Raj India into India and Pakistan in 1947. The history behind this is really interesting, but at this moment all You need to know is that the muslims from India under the leadership of Jinnah have succeeded to persuade the British that its inevitable to create a separate Muslim state. Till today most Indians think it was not needed…

But anyways, the British said OK – each province of India (something like a mini-state) can choose if they want to be part of Pakistan or India. The problem was that in Kashmir the ruler was Hindu, but most of people were Muslim, so he decided to try to stay independent, i.e. not to choose… This made the muslims from new forming Pakistan pissed off (as they thought he could want to join India, who had more resources to offer) and sent army to kick the rulers out – and seeing that the rulers of course announced that Kashmir and Jammu want to join India…

Btw, the British would have never accepted K+J being independent, they didnt even agree with Bengal=Bangladesh be separeted and agreed only on its separation only if it is part of Pakistan!

Now the problem was that the leadership of India had an official document stating that K+J want to join India (that document got lost and nobody knows where is it) and thats why India has sent its troops to “protect” K+J. Only a UN-backed negotiation has stopped a full-scale war and has set a cease-fire line – which defacto became the border. India at that time promised that a census – referendum will be held in K+J where the people will decide whom they want to join… That census never happened… The leaders of India at that time felt that K+J are their “homeland” and thus never intended on giving the region to Pakistan.

Since that war, one more war between Pakistan and India about Kashmir took place, the result was actually a return to original cease-fire line. Part of it were troops trained and financed by Pakistan regimes that were supposed to stir revolution in Kashmir. They failed… This war made Zulfikar Bhutto become a hero, for his fight with words (as foreign minister) against India.

As a matter of fact, the area is partly disputed also by China, but Pakistan to strenghten its position against India made a border agreement with China and thus doesnt have conflicts with it. It should be also said that the disputed region is the size of Slovak and Czech republic combined.

To finish up the thing:
- both Indians and Pakistanis feel that Kashmir and Jammu are part of their country
- in light of the proclamation of Kosovo independence its possible to consider Kashmir pronouncing itself independent (as it did in the 60s), but nobody would support that.. as one of my friend ironically noted: “we want them to be free… under Pakistani rule”. And K+J has not enough infrastructure and will among people to become an independent state
- historically during Partition there was a district of India, that had mostly Hindu inhabitants, but leadership was Muslim, that proclaimed itself part of Pakistan (despite being fully surrounded by want-to-be-india districts), Indian troops kicked the leadership out… but it was MUCH smaller than K+J…but according to a (current) map of Pakistan I have, it is shown as part of Pakistan

picture for comparison… CR+SR=15 mio people
Pakistan = 180 mio people
disputed region (K+J) = 10 mio people

I have heard numerous times the sigh “we are living in such a bad/cruel world“… You know what? If You have a look at it – its CRAP! This is the best world there has EVER been (at least for homo sapiens sapiens)… We made the world this way and it might not be ideal for our minds and expectations but it would be a heaven for people from decades passed…

Yes, You open news and there is killings mixed with terrorists and topped with nature catastrophes. But consider a simple fact: its not very distand past when the state of WAR was a standard relationship between countries, peace was only the period of time after a successful war when there was no risk from other power to start a war (they were defeated).

Enjoy what You have, stop complaining, but do not stop trying to make world a better place…

some stories, or all stories, should be written in the moment when you experience them, in real life or in your head. and thats why I am sitting right here and writing this story.

I have known for longer how to distinguish a good movie from my point of view: its when You finish watching – go out of cinema, or put down headphones and come back to the “real world”… just to realize that the world doesnt feel that real. It feels like the movie is not over, actually it feels that it wasnt a movie…

Thats the feeling I have right now. And I can tell You I was not watching a fairy tale or a romantic comedy. I was watching one of the best horror movies I remember – 1408. And the chill that I feel right now is at the same time stressing but also delicious. The movie just made me feel like this. Asking why? Well maybe because it could have taken place right here, right now, in this room. In one moment the main character says: there is something chilling about hotel rooms in general, You dont know how many people have slept in that bed, how many of them were sick, how many of them lost their mind… The same You can say about my room, its not a place I know for long, I do call it a home, but it doesnt have my history, I didnt paint the walls, didnt put the furniture, didnt see those cracks on ceiling happen. I am a stranger for it that can turn back to how was it before I came in 10 minutes. And I look out of the door, and see door of the other room, just a shade, no surprise its 3am. And hear some sound. Yes, there are lots of sounds. But if You are in a mood like me right now, You try to catch them, try to make them make You feel like there was something more about them. You want to know how? I put down the headphones, the chill still on my shoulders (it actually just went down mine spine and gave me a shiver… doesnt it feel like someone is behind You watching Your back? Right there where head connects to the body… I do). And I look up and go to my room and hear a low roaring sound… sound that doesnt look like belonging in the room. What was it? I am still not sure at this moment, I think somebody was using a pneumatic drill…. At 3am? Well, best explanation I have. And than the dropping. The dropping of the loose water tap in the bathroom (how many people have You seen die in a bathroom in movies? Arent You just a little bit scared of them?). And my chair squeeks, the light is very dim… Feeling it? Want more of it? OK, if its very dim, just one step from being that way that makes everything around You to see only in shades of grey – try to look around You. Fast, throw a glance to right, NO, left, let Your eyes stride and on purpose dont let them stop at anything. Left, right, on screen, sharp left… Oh what a feeling. Now I understand those who really love horror movies, the pictures are so obscure that if they make You afraid, they make You afraid in a strange way – You have never experienced the situations on screen and thats why the feeling is special.

Adrenaline goes down, heartbeat slows down, I took a deep breath, look at my own hand and see it moving, turn on the light and get ready for a normal night. I guess none of You has been feeling the way I did. But just for the feeling… when You turn off the light tonight, to go to sleep, try to remember why have You been scared of dark when You were young. And one last thing, do NOT check if something is under Your bed…

But here in Pakistan and even more in India its obvious that clay doesnt cost anything! In India they serve You tea in pottery mini-cups, that You throw away after usage… But after a little bit of rain and stomping the cup becomes what it was before – dust…

…what happens to a plastic cup? Does it change back to petroleum? Dont think so… thank You Pakistan for giving a blow to my image of the world…

Lets look back… I have never been a real adventure seeker, from time to time I took a decision to do something crazy, but most of the time it was far away from being dangerous… You might say that I went to Pakistan – which surely was a “dangerous” choice. Honestly? It was not… At time of my application I both didnt know much about Pakistan situation and there was not much going on in the country… And than, later when unrest came, there was a second aspect of mine – once I accepted the fact that I am going to Pakistan, I have filtered all the negative info…

Lets look at present situation… I am in the middle of “turning points of history“, “horrible tragedies” and whatever… Foreign friends of mine here are writing articles to newspapers back at home about what is going on in Pakistan, but I, who always wanted to be important, am not able even to update my blog.

Why? The biggest problem is that I am in the centre of news, but am not in the centre of the events. I go to the same webpages that You do (plus a few I know and You dont know about, e.g. www.dawn.com – english news about Pakistan) and see the same news and do assumptions You can do… So what should I write about?

Everybody is asking me if I am safe and how it is. Well my version of the events of the last two weeks is: I am at the dorm, where most of students have not been able to arrive, so the uni had holidays, trains dont run and we dont have money for plane, so we can not at present go back to Karachi, thats why we are stuck here, parts of city are supposed to be unsafe, so we dont actually go out of the campus, during the day we just roam around bored and from time to time hear sounds from distance about which we can not agree if it is: fireworks, riots or a guy celebrating a wedding…. And thats IT!

I have no new way how to answer questions about how am I or how is it, only thing I can offer special are the contents of discusions with local people about the situation, and those I am trying to offer You through this page with its random articles…

…and thats it, I know it was a boring piece of text, but felt like sharing

for something better read e.g. articles of Andrew or Emad or Cileia or just go to Facebook and read some of the notes.

Abdul Sattar Edhi – a man who from nothing has created the “largest and most organized social welfare system in Pakistan. Foundation works round the clock, without any discrimination on the basis of color, race, language, religion or polictics. The Foundation modifies the phrase “Live and let live” to “Live and help live”.” Foundation that owns the worlds biggest privately owned ambulance car fleet. A organisation=man who does for Pakistan what in other countries government is trying to do – care about the common people – but much more effectivelly.

Simply said: if You are born, ill, orphaned, injured, mentally or physically handicapped, addicted, poor and unskilled girl, raped, on run from family, uneducated in jail, street dog or just dead… in all these cases Edhi foundation, run solely from private donations, will take care about You… for free.

You have to understand that this man has created an organisation that is saving thousands of lifes of people and thousands of animals every year… With no benefit for himself – he still owns only a small flat (with only a table and two chairs), that he inherited from his mother, two pairs of clothes and well, the whole Edhi foundation, because he audits every expense in it…

…Why am I saying all of this?

Because there was only one moment that made me cry out (in both meaning of word) during the last days of blasts, shootings and riots… While reading this simple line:

29/12/07: Buildings and ambulances run by the Edhi Foundation, a charity that runs welfare centres, were vandalised. “Seven of our centres have been burnt in Karachi. Nineteen of our ambulances have been burnt, and eight others have been damaged,” said Anwar Ali Kazmi, a spokesman for the non-governmental organisation.

To finish the info: rioters had burned or damaged 947 vehicles, 131 banks and 31 petrol stations up until midnight on Friday. Dozens of banks, vehicles and fast food outlets were set on fire in Hyderabad. Six people died in Karachi on Friday after a factory was set ablaze, while more than 2,000 people torched a police station and stole weapons, police said.

I have always known a man is suicidal and acts without sense when in frenzy, but this is just too much.

My understanding of all peoples movements has been changed. Forget about men trying to free themselves or act together in a protest… Most of them are hell-sheeps, sheeps because they follow the crowd and act like it… To the extent that when the crowd shows anger, these hellish sheeps find the beast in them – and let it out.

…both God and Devil participated at our creation, thats the only explanation I have. Only few people can be admitted to heaven without doubts… but the rest of mankind takes some sick pleasure in destroying their work.

Well, first of all, its not an adventure. I dont know if this is how life feels like in cities like Baghdad or Kabul, cities that are supposed to be very dangerous, I dont know (yet).
All I know when I look around at my Karachi, is that this is not a battle field, nor dangerous ground, nor police state. It is a normal city, city of a kind I have not seen before – which is logical, because when it comes to its size and cultural background of this country, I have never been in any other one. Its not that safe as my homecountry, but I am finding out that there are few places where it is as safe as back home-home (Slovakia).

My life here is normal by many standards. I dont walk out on my own too much, just to shop and back, very few times I have actually walked somewhere else. And I do feel a touch of nervousness and look around me more often than in Slovakia, but sadly thats how most of the world is. And it is the price I am prepared to pay. Pay for what? This is what I have written about my stay here for the package for MC applicants:

“If you come here to Pakistan for whatever purpose, be ready that your head will just sometimes feel like blowing up. If its work, culture or opinions of people, its all so different that sometimes you just feel really surreal, feel like “this is a dream”…and than you feel your assumptions and mindsets brake down and find out that you just got another lesson of real life.

Nothing is the way it seems. Mindsets and truths are changing every day. The more paradoxes the more interesting challenge of understanding there is. The more You have to try to look through the eyes of the other people – and that is what makes me feel special.

Not every day seems amazing, but than you just look out of  the window and find out how special the day was, because you are on a special place and do stuff you never thought you would. Pakistan really is the land of Pure, because it will help you discorer the pure YOU.“

During the holidays in Istanbul Lenka had a weak moment when she told me she is missing something like a vision, something nice to follow and from a random discussion came a suggestion: 13 in 12… visit thirteen countries during the next twelve months…

…she took the challenge and is planning the completition of this right now.

We have created a very interesting kind of mental relationship, a status where we are not just friends but actually mentors to each other. No suggestion, no idea is ignored, no random thought is taken as only a joke but is actually considered. Thank You Lenka…

I also have some goals, stating them here, I have made another step to realize them:

1. spend one month (July 2008) travelling around Pakistan

2. I will visit the K2 basecamp

3. on the way from one home (Pakistan) to another home (Slovakia), I will take a train

4. after coming back to Slovakia, I will walk it from East to West

5. during the next five years I will visit all continents (S. America, N. America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Antarktis)

…I am not joking, I am already checking the opportunities (trip to edge of Antarktis costs from 1.500 USD higher… not that much )

I am sitting on the terasse of our house, alone in the half darkness of the city lights around me, You have to understand this to understand the feeling…

Its the kind of darkness they do in movies so that You still can see what is going on. And when You look up You see the orange lights of city. You stood up and You can feel the wind on skin and see the white clouds on dark black-blue sky.

Eventhough there is 18 milion people in the same city, nobody is in sight on streets, only few people who sleep on roofs as its colder than inside, are visible. And the city looks like being in flames. The orange colour on the horizon, the clouds above and the feeling that You get after You watch a well done movie… Am I still watching or is this really reality?