There are many things I have discovered over the past few
months that give me reason for loving life in Pakistan and I am sure there are
many more waiting to be discovered. Here is my top 20 so far (not in any
particular order) -
1. motor bike riders – not the young men in leather and
helmets but the older generation hunched over the handle bars of their motor
scooter, traditional Pashtun wool pulled down tight to the eyebrows so it
doesn’t fly away, woolen shawl flapping around and swimming or safety goggles
to protect the eyes. And the ladies riding side saddle pillion – carefully
balanced with the kameez tucked in to protect their modesty, dupata and hair
streaming out behind. I still have not worked out how they manage to keep their
blingy flipflops in place at such speed!
2. Frontier Post – the first English speaking news paper in
Pakistan. Always has lovely random photos totally unconnected to the articles
3. The article in yesterday’s Frontier Post announcing that
the traveling tradesmen left Peshawar with their merchandise laden camels,
heading for Afghanistan. The article was accompanied by an (appropriate)
photograph of the said tradesmen and camels walking down the main thoroughfare
of this busy city. If the date was not on the paper you would think you were
reading an historical account (the photograph was black and white). But no,
this centuries old activity continues to take place in the 21st
century. These men and camels will travel over the, still snow covered,
mountain passes that their fathers and grandfathers followed. Somehow it makes
me feel slightly insignificant.
4. The amazingly colourful fashions allow me to never have
to feel as if I have thrown together an outfit without any thought to colour or
pattern matching! I have realised that here the objective is to have as many
colours, patterns and textures as possible in one outfit. It is all about
compatibility rather than matching.
5. Driving out in the country side and seeing the arrival of
spring on one side of the road in the form of blossoming orchards and the snow
covered mountain tops on the other reminding us that winter has not quite
finished yet.
6. Being offered tea as you are shopping - so civilized, and
a great sales strategy! Not just in the carpet shops, where some of you may
have had this experience but all sorts of shops. Pakistanis love their tea and
they love a captive audience. I do remember my friend Olga, in her beautiful
shop in Darwin, having a pot of tea on the go for the customers pleasure. It
would be interesting to compare sales data between those shops offering tea and
those who do not.
7. I have been here long enough now to be recognised and
greeted at my regular haunts – the supermarket, vegetable shop and butcher, my
dry cleaner, the book shop, and various clothing and handicraft shops that I
frequent. Of course it does have something to do with being a foreigner, of
course, but it does give a nice sense of belonging.
8. At this time of year, when the spring/summer collections
have just been released and every woman in the city is shopping, wrapped in
several layers of shawls and scarves, for fine lawn clothing, in anticipation
of the coming 50°C summer days
9. Having pomegranates, blood oranges, dates, and other ‘exotics’
on our basic shopping list every week.
10. Not having to go out for a really good curry but knowing
there will be a variety on the table everyday at home.
11. Buying strawberries by the kilo from the old man who
sits outside the bakery. The strawberries are displayed in a beautiful handmade
basket lined with leaves. He picks each one and examines it before putting on
the scales. Those that are not good enough get put aside for the birds.
12. The moustache – the growing of is a true art perfected
by, not just the gentlemen of the police and military but any Pakistani male
worth his salt! My friend Jason would be so jealous.
13. Standing on the rooftop terrace in Peshawar and seeing
the mountains of the Khyber Pass. It is a constant reminder of the mysterious,
ancient part of the world that I am in. The Moguls, Genghis Khan, Hannibal and
Alexander have all passed this way entering through the Khyber Pass from
Afghanistan.
14. Traffic is not something I would normally put on a
favourite things list but here it is so colourful and noisy in a different way.
The usual cars and motorbikes compete for space with wildly decorated buses,
mini vans, Lorries and tuk tuks; horse and carts, donkeys, and buffalos. The lorries
and horses contribute aurally as well with, bells and fringes of chain chiming
as they move.
15. Looking up as you move along the street. Because if you
don’t you miss some of the most amazing architecture – beautifully carved
window frames and shutters, onion shaped domes, minarets; eagles, hawks and
other birds of prey riding on the breeze, surveying tha land and then swooping in on their prey and best of all at this
time of year, the kites (the paper ones, not the birds) that are traditionally
flown during the spring festival (read The Kite Runner).
16. Wearing cashmere and pashmina as if they were the basic clothing
fibre available. Which of course here they are very common and not the extreme
luxury items that they are in Europe, Australia and America. One of the benefits
of buying in the country of origin rather than as imports! Yesterday, following
the purchase of my second carpet, we were seriously distracted by the scarves
as we were leaving the shop. Of course we did not get out the door for another
hour! In the process of the friends I brought with me (for advising on the
carpet), making purchases the shop keeper presented me with probably the most
luxurious garment I have ever possessed – a cashmere scarf so fine you can see
through a double layer, so light that it moves in the breeze of a normal
breath. He put it around my neck and I could not feel a thing, it was so light,
it weighs nothing! After maybe 10 minutes my neck was self combusting – such is
the magic of the cashmere. It is no wonder the goats can survive the bitter
cold of the Himalayas, their coats are like being inside a central heating
unit.
17. Watching the askari in the house across the road jog up
and down every morning. At around 8am every morning he jogs up and down the 50
metres outside the house for 20 minutes or so. Very upright, he is at least 65
(judging by the moustache!). You can set your watch by him. In fact the other
day he was missing and everyone was talking about his absence.
18. Not having to miss my regular samoosa fix. Samoosas in Kenya
are very good and in Pakistan I may not be able to have my favourite Purdy Arms
prawn and feta ones but the amazing pastry makes up for the loss.
19. Even if it was not the World Cup everyone is a cricket
expert but of course more so now especially as the Pakistani team has taken a
couple of significant losses. They play cricket all year round, all weathers
where ever there is enough space to swing a bat and run.
20. Strange as it may seem, work is on the list. After having a two year break from professional life it is really good to be back at work, making decisions and having a reason for being exhausted at the end of the day. Oh and the disposable income feels nice as well.
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