a Pakistani asking a new trainee what is different in PK from home…

her answer is exactly what was my though:

“its hard to say, there is nothing that would be similar ”

I made a webpage for it here: www.aiesec.pk/nsc08

And have put some nice pictures here …I didnt make too many of general “people pictures” and actually have to put them online…

What should I write about the conference to give it sense for people who have not been there, consider it to be just an another conference or dont even care too much about AIESEC conferences?

Well, lets try it like this:

• each Local Chapter came with between 2 and 6 different dances to mostly bollywood songs but also random 70s disco.
• The conferences in Pakistan are officially decided to be without alcohol, but it was fully fine, because we had galons of Pakola and sheesha to socialize with.
• The conference was on the hills in Murree and thus sometimes we had been quite freezing.
• The hotel (Shangrilla) is a few star hotel that I would never be able to efford.
• On the last night a bunch of guys have decided to follow the tradition that on last night there is no sleep, they have been hanging on the swings till morning.
• The official night had more than 20 externals participating and was covered by Dawn TV.
• The conference made a profit that will finance the LC for at least half a year.

________________________________________________________________

See the footage here on YouTube:

AIESEC Pakistan, NSC 08, Dawn TV footage

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.

The day after the reporting was quite absurd for the girl, because police made her go to show them the place and the police guys went for a raid… into the woods, 30 mins walking away from the exact spot… They came back after 15 minutes with a bunch of random guys and asked her if any of them were among those robbers… of course not   …but they busted them anyways…. because they have been having a drink and smoking pot… after that the made her do a identikit of the real robbers and give them the numbers of the lost phones and sent her home with comment that they will take care about it…

For three months the amount of results of the investigation was as expected – zero. But than the girl got a letter from police saying that “hectic investigations were underway”. Laughing stock it was.. Till a week after, when she was sent a message that she should come and identify the suspects…

I am not going to talk about how was it, I wasnt there, but if You want to know, read her own words on how did it go HERE.

The really absurd aspects of the whole case:
- one of the robbers during the robbery itself tried to persuade us that he is from police by showing a licence… a motorbike licence, sadly I didnt notice what was written on it
- police tried to find the guys by going to the forrest, day later and on wrong place
- random guys got busted during the forest raid for smoking pot
- the robbers have been idiots enough to keep the phones and even leave the SIMS on
- the police has been sending romantic SMSes to the numbers to attract the robbers attention
- the police arranged a date with one of the robbers and when he arrived he got busted
- the robbers will be charged around two years, what was commented by locals “dont worry, its food for free twice a day for two years”
- the police asked the embassy and the girls employer to make endorsements for them about how good their work is
- during the interrogation the occupation of the robbers changed from “painters“ to “thieves”
- the police got those two to get two random phones to serve as replacement for those phones we have lost (as the third one they kept and used… idiots)
- a newspaper has published full names of both us- the victims and the robbers

What I mean is that every foreigner goes to hospital here, 99 percent because “shit happens“, i.e. they get a slight food poisoning. I was heroically escaping this inglamorous state… In order to make an even bigger fool out of me by braking an ankle-bone by tripping on grass I am not going to explain how that happened, if You want to know, check the blog post about it…

But what it gave me chance for was to visit hospitals both in Lahore and Karachi. And the result is not too surprising as a fact, but I still could not stop myself from feeling a little surprised. The general standard of the hospitals was on a European average. The Lahori hospital looked better than any state run hospital in Slovakia (well, both hospitals I was to vere private). The Karachi one looked like a typical small Slovak hospital (I avoided going to the most expensive one, this one was like middle class).

Lets set the difference clear – the Lahori doc charged 800 rupee (13 USD) for a check, the Karachi one charged 300 (5 USD).

Both doctors treating me were competent, the expensive one had fluent English, the other spoke more or less (enough for emergency but for a check I needed a Pakistani). I have not experienced any problems and actully their treating of me was exceptional (I am white You know), thus I was prescribed loads of painkillers (that were useless as it didnt hurt), been transported in a wheel chair and the Lahori doc even suggested a surgery to fix it asap…

I have absolutely no worries about medical treatment anymore… and if You want to comment that it was private hospitals – true. But if You can read this (have PC), You will have enough money to get a private treatment…

PS: soon I am going to a dentist, so look forward for some more medic news!

…I look out of the window and see big red flames maybe a kilometer or two away… they have been higher than the trees… and the whole city around (except of houses lighted by generators) has been dark…

I took a pic, but it was really far away…

Update from 20.01.08: I have browsed all the news possible and didnt find a single mentioning of the event anywhere… People are so used to black-outs here that if they didnt wake up at the sound or sirens (which I doubt), they didnt even notice. Lets hope it also means that nobody was harmed…

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…

I got two parcels, one from home and one from Lenka, a small gift from Anita (a kiwi I have met years ago in Zilina, Slovakia) and a couple of letters. I got chocolate, sweets, biscuits, xmas fairy tales and cool Slovak and Czech movies on DVD, thists, necklace, Xmas decorations, Xmas music, map of Pakistan, a weird cap, a book, wooden dice, like 20 pages of letters to read… and… I guess thats it   …I am thinking of not being a selfish ass and organize for my Pakistani friends “Slovak styled Christmas”… I have enough of material for that

Here is a pic of it all was…

…remember when I was complaining how bored I was in Lahore? Well, I guess God has similar sense for humour like my mom, who told me when I was a kid and was making a halo without a reason: “stop crying or I will give You a reason to cry!”

Well, while normal walking, stepping down from pavement to (trimmed) grass, I landed wrongly, twisted my ankle and against all odds, broke a bone in my ankle… For first few hours I thought its just a muscle overstretched, but a friend of mine (Adeel) made me go to hospital (at 2 am)…

Click to see the bigfooT

…Xray showed that it is a minor fracture of the ankle, the bone that leads to the little finger, right behind the knuckle, if You have a look at the Xray, You can actually see it, left side, like 1cm above the bottom of the Xray… … 4-5 weeks in plaster

Well, I have spent the Xmas in Lahore, in the hostel mentioned below… In Pakistan, and most of all iLahore, has a suprising lot of Christians. But they celebrate Christmas on 25th, unlike in Slovakia where the celebration is on 24th night. I have spent the days sightseeing in Lahore…  But I have a few interesting stories to share

random guy: “hello, what Your name?”
me: “Tomas”
random guy: “me [insert name], nice to meet You …… where You from?
me: “Slovakia – Czechoslovakia – Europe ”
random guy: “Aaah, Europe … are You Christian?…… because I am!”
me: “Yes …………by birth.”
random guy: “Ok, nice to meet You, Happy Christmas”
me: “You too, Khuda-hafiz”

random guy: “hello, what Your name?”
me: “Tomas”
random guy: “me [insert name], nice to meet You …… where You from?
me: “Slovakia – Czechoslovakia – Europe ”
random guy: “Ok, suppose You pray to Your God what would You wish for? ”
me: “……. [mind stuck] well, ehm, aaaaah, huh …. [finaly idea] I guess Peace for this country.. ”
random guy: “Ok, nice to meet You, Happy Christmas”
me: “You too, Khuda-hafiz”

random guy: “hello, what Your name?”
me: “Tomas”
random guy: “me [insert name], nice to meet You …… where You from?
me: “Slovakia – Czechoslovakia”
random guy: “I am Pastor in church here in Lahore. I just see You here and think he is Christian, and thats why I come to You. Would You be so kind and let me invite You for dinner to my house, day after tomorrow?”
me: “Well, nice to meet You, I am not sure if I have time, I might leave Lahore soon ”
random guy: ” I will show You my church. Actually would You like to say something in my church – from the Bible. You do read the Bible(!?)”
me: “Thats really nice of You, actually I want to read it…. Just like the Quaran. But as I say, I dont know yet if I am here than. [which is truth].”
random guy: “Ok, here is my number, can You give me Your number and we call and say if You can?”
me: “Ok, here it is. [that cant hurt and actually it could be interesting]”
….. discusion during which he shows me his planned speach for the next mess and tells how he wants to be a good reader of English Bible and than we part [and I forget it all due to Benazir]
….. few days pass……
phone: “hello? here is [name], I want to ask how are You, I sent You SMS message on Christmas.”
me: “Oh, hello yes [totally forgot about the message], nice to hear You. ”
phone: “So can You come to my home? I am not sure if I tell You, I even have a small school at the Church, and I tell them I met You and they want to see You and I say You might see, if can. I understand You are busy.”
me: “well, I want to return back to Karachi as soon as possible, so do not know… again [partly true], will see”
phone: “Ok, was just nice to hear You, good bye, God bless You”
me: [confused] “Yes, good bye.”

guard at Sacred Heart Cathedral : “halawala kikle afiaz [something in urdu]?! ”
me: “Pardon me? I want to take pictures, can I?”
guard: “haliflatu platu watu [something in urdu] Christian?”
Jeremy : “Why? …. Yes, we ………… by birth”
guard: “Catholic? urdududududu [something in urdu]”
Jeremy : “No, we not Catholic, can we go to the cathedral? ”
me: “Yes, we are”
guard : “huhlugugulgu, nah, go. [gives up and lets us in].”
Jeremy: [pissed off] “Why did he ask us? If we are Catholics? Did anybody ask us at the Mosque or Sikh Temple if we are Muslims or Sikhs?! What the #$%? ”
me: “In case like this, I will be buddhist, muslim or even sikh, I want to see it…”
Jeremy: “phf” [pissed off, disinterested in the really nice cathedral]
…after a while…
me : “Jeremy! I know now why did he ask us… There is a service going on inside…”
Jeremy: [surprised looks at his bag] “Oh, afraid of terorist attacks? From us? ”
me : [thinking: Actually, its Christmas service, Muslims also dont like when non-muslims go for their Friday prayers and this service is only once in the year... ]”

(I am cheating – the last pic is from India, in Pakistan there were no Xmas markets…)

Sesion is over, me, Jeremy and the Islamabadis are sitting at the pool (the venue was perfect) with feet in water and just doing random chats when…

…understand, most Islamabadis are actually from Rawalpindi. And exactly in this moment of pure relaxation, one (and than another and another one) gets and SMS that in Rawalpindi was a bomb blast with I dont know how many people dead.

Worried expressions come, followed by calls home and checking on everybody possible if they are all right. Thanks God, nobody from their circles got hurt. (…would You care about other circles?) And as the home-checking calls slowly diminish, somebody gets another piece of news…

…a State of emergency was imposed on Pakistan!

Calls start all over again, everybody trying to reach some cousin, brother-in-law, uncle, family friend who ranks the highest in military to find out WTF is going on.

Pieces of news come: TV channels cut off, consitution dumped, flights cancelled, arrests, Islamabad and Rawalpindi closed down… And after a while some of them start to prove exaggerated.

Thats the real story. But the most fascinating was the behaviour of people. As soon as the safety of personal circles of the guys there was checked, the discussion went to for me into quite surreal ways. Seriousness got turned into sarcasm, biggest concern became if they will be on time for exams and all of them sure that the university (in Islamabad) will not do a shit about the chaos and keep up to the schedule. The speed with whitch people accepted the status, adapted and started to think and act as nothing has happened was astonishing.

Some people actually started to wish each other Happy Emergency Day

Observing this something became clear: stirring any kind of revolution in here will be difficult. People of pakistan have seen a lot and actually expect to see even more. They actually remind me of the character of Donkey Benjamin from “Animal Farm” by Orwell that I read recently. His approach is very clear – things wont change, I will get old and see new things come and become old and I will try to be still there and live my life.

And thats the story, not very entertaining, but giving an image, image that calms some of You down, that might frustrate some people and maybe might explain a few things. Heck, I guess it pretty explains why nothing has changed after all the rallies by lawyers and all those arrests, because the basic question is – why should anything change, why should I change?

Last thing… this article shows how much I suck in trying to be a journalist stirring peoples emotions. If You want some better stuff go to e.g. blog of this guy Emad…

There are two images that stuck in my head… The Black ribbon, symbol of protest against the State of emergency and the pic of the character “V” from the movie “V for Vendetta”… A friend came with a pretty chilling slogan for it “Remember, remember the 3rd of November!” (if You have seen the movie, You know what am I talking about…). What will be remembered? And who except of Wikipedia will? I dont know, ask Benjamin.

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 ). 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!

What is so special about it?

Its quiet over there, You dont get how much “white noise” is in Karachi if You dont get away from it. You lay on a carpet on top of the boat, feel the waves move the boat under You, feel the wind and smell the food… It just feels really relaxing… Just get a few friends for a talk and its complete.

Oh, and remember the note that its “military” port? Photos are strictly forbidden… So the only way pictures can be taken is without flash – if a flash is seen, the coast guard can come and “harass” both You and the boat-owners… so the photos are pretty shaky, but some of them look artistic…

art) KHI

Today was a rather boring day… Just some working, sleeping and fooling around…

Back in Slovakia I would be utterly bored, but here hmm…. well….

Karachi is strange, its like nobody ever planned for it to look nice or become a comfortable place to live, it looks like it is a product of unplanned increase of size of a village (which is true), its full of mess and chaos… And still, when You come, without noticing You start to feel like at home… start liking it…

This message was sprayed by somebody on all possible random walls around the place I live and when going home, I guess one place where it will be written will be my sad face …. I (heart) KHI

Cay to the Ai to the Ar to the Ai to the See to the Age to the Eye… KARACHI my city!

My visa are being arranged for the last two and half months. I got only single entry visas for 3 months and thus my trip to IC to Istanbul was in big jeopardy… So the last chance was to go personally to the visa office in Karachi and hunt it down on my own… Mostly when I wanted to fly the same day (15.9.)

That experience was really sick…

The visa office is actually a small village with maybe 20 houses in which are maybe 100 offices in which “work” maybe 150 people… To get one sticker=visa I had to:
1. ask a guy who tries to sell us visa (You give hime 5times more than normal fee and he does it not in three weeks but three hours, no bribing, just having good “friends” whom he gives gifts)
2. random guard, ask where is the office we look for
3. random guy, ask again where is the office
4. find first clerk who sends us to second clerk
5. second clerk, we ask if he got fax from Islamabad (my only chance to get visa now)
6. waiting outside
7. we ask second clerk again
8. waiting outside
9. second clerk gets fax
10. being send to third clerk who checks the docs and says it costs 600 Rupees (10 USD), I take wallet out to pay, he says that You have to pay in bank
11. running to bank (office closes in 10 minutes), go to window, bank guy says we need special paper from the visa office
12. approaching the same guard as at beginning, he sends us to fourth clerk
13. fourth clerk pissed of that people go into his office, after being able to be louder than him and making him realize that he is the only one who has the paper, he digs deep into some shelf, where is book, where is one crumpled paper that he gives us
14. bank again… pay 600 rupees
15. third clerk again, looks again an says that it takes three days to do the visa after some beging sais that one day…. I say I fly tonight… he says: “show me ticket”
16. calling Nida, to call the travel agent to book the ticket for tonight and fax it to first clerk
17. waiting outside office of second clerk for him to get a fax
18. asking second clerk if he got fax
19. waiting
20. second clerk gets fax…. wrong document… second clerk starting to be heavily pissed off
23. call travel agent to send right document
24. waiting, its after closing time, checking if third clerk is still here and if second clerk got the fax, second clerk heavily pissed off
25. second clerk gets right fax
26. we run to third clerk who looks at the docs, puts a sticker and sends us to
27. fifth clerk to give a stamp

(actual visa giving process took 15 minutes, including short interview about who am I, where do I work and where do I go)

And this was after we got confirmation from Islamabad, that I can actually have the visa…

…………………………. try to get people here to help build the country !!!!

PS: thank You Taha… Thank You for Your endless patience and high speed Urdu

PS 2: 12 hours after getting visa, I am flying to Istanbul

PS 3: I have NGO visa, making visa for “normal” workers is much easier

PS 4: I still love it here, just another chapter of the experience…

I guess only very few understand what I mean, but those who do know exactly what it means… It means that You think, what a nice dream, just to realize that You are living it