My Pakistan Diary: A Bus Trip Like No Other

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#43 by bongdongs on April 23, 2004 2:34pm PT

emotional, but what is the great insight provided by this article? why is it nice?

Nice article by Patwant Singh

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=45581

Malik99:

``On my next visit to Pakistan, please come to zila Narowaal, tehseel Shakargarh.``

You are from the same Zila as Abrar Ul Haq?? Cool!!

dost-mittarji
Just remembered I too have been up at 4am in N.Delhi for purposes of travel, once several years ago. I too noticed the traffic lights in the empty streets and was happy to note at that time that they were all from Keltron(a Kerala company).

Look forward to reading more about your journey.

Mr Malik99: you are so full of it! Do you have the guts to give up your ``MC`` job for a
mutyaran? I don`t think so...not in 100 years.

BTW, how come you changed your name to Zain Malik?

Grow up!!!!

nazarhayatkhan (#32):

That is very kind of you...though the ``sensitive sensory perceptions`` are often my undoing!
Should you ever wish to get in touch with me, write to farzanavee@yahoo.com.

Dear dost-mittarji:

I did not ask for ``masala``, unless you were fed loads of it! Just thought there could be more, and know it will come in good time. Taking notes is not necessarily the best way to record observations; `emotions recollected in tranquility` often work far better.

Regards,
F

I am looking forward to reading next part of your trip :)

Shabbo rani (sobia) # 34 - I am anything but a soft footed, air conditioner loving, pierre drinking burger boy :) On my next visit to Pakistan, please come to zila Narowaal, tehseel Shakargarh. The name of the village is Bugga (and hence the `Bagvi` extension to the sons of that village). When you see me in that surrounding, with dundaasa in my one hand, gundaasa in other, surma in my eyes, oil in my hair, and a mutyaran peering from behind me, you will be pardoned for thinking that I grew up in that village :)

ahhhhh! sitting in my office in lower manhattan, in this fine afternoon, all i can think of is how it would be like to kiss the dundaasa red lips of that mutyaran in a hot afternoon, while standing under the shade of peepal`s tree at the edge of a farm.

Zain Malik Bagvi

NHK:
``The old black-and-white photos of my father and his friends in the old house are in three-piece suite with Kulla-Pugree-Turra. In those days wearing such Turra Pugree with suite was common in Punjab - some kind of a style.``
Not just Panjab, the practice in India from Rajasthan to Madras was the same during the Raj. Pugree was the sign of izzat/honour and suit and tie a sign of modernity/aristocracy. For the non-westernised sharif-log (middle-class) in the potohar region, however, pugree with shalwar kameez was the formal attire to go with a full moustache.

Dear Farzana: (& others):
Sorry for the delay. Yes, Vancouver and Whistler had something to do with it, but it was mainly because my computer was out-of-commission for more than three weeks. I`ll try to put some masaala in the articles that follow though I didn`t take many notes; I refuse to accept that my memory isn`t what it once used to be!
Re. Lahore, I was not the only one to ``chhod my dil``, `I` did too.

Ansari#31
I really missed seeing you. But now, it seems that you are not so keen if I came alone.:)

lol@ malik99. What would a burger boy like u know about mutyars and village life? ;)

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ferozk#13:
``I loved your comment on the sharpness of the commandos and having been protected myself by such commandos, I always feared an accidental death.``
Having commandos also throws some kind of challenge to those from whom protection is sought. Recently, a minister in J&K wanted his security upgraded or removed altogether on this very ground.

Kaurasach#15
``It is unfortunate that the persons travelling from Amritsar or anywhere in Punjab to Lahore have to go to Delhi to board the bus. Travel should be like between Canada and USA, or within Europe.``

Actuallly, the situation is worse! You have to go to Delhi not only to board the bus but also to get a visa. I wonder why they dont allow Indians and Pakistanis to cross the border on foot, as is the case for foreign nationals? If they do, there wont even be a need to have a direct bus from Amritsar to Lahore, although that too is a good idea. BTW does anyone know if people are allowed to board the Delhi-Lahore Samjhota train from Amritsar?

Farzana # 30

You are also a much awaited visiter to Pakistan. Your stay in Lahore & Karachi is already looked after. It will be great to read your post-tour report - with those acute little observations that only a very sensitive sensory perceptions can render.

Dost-mittar-jee: I`m sorry we couldn`t meet up. Dadi told me you`d called, though she didn`t quite understand why someone would want to call me from India! Lekin sach bolon tau, after hearing all those anecdotes about your trip, it`s I-aunty I want to meet more than you!

Looking forward to more,

Aamir

dost-mittarji:

Good to see this at last...you just took too much time...I suppose you were `eating the breeze` in Vancouver! I know I am supposed to treat this installment as an appetiser, that is why I wish you had dwelled a bit more about that quick meeting with your relatives and what is meant to you...just a thought.

[Lahore aaya main otthey dil chhod aaya!]

Hai rabba! I-ji ko pataa bhi hai ya nahin???

Now I really want to know about Lahore :)

- - -
nazarhayatkhan:

[When Benazir was getting elected the first time, a slogan from the Pathans was that how can a woman become a Prime Minister. She has to take off her shalwar even for a small pee!]

They would have to say that if she wore jeans too! And is it not true that devout Muslim men also squat?

[I think Vajpayee needs a dress adviser. He wears very sloppy mish-mash pugrees.]

I don`t know about Pakistan, but in India the leaders have to wear the turbans/headgears of the region they are touring to ingratiate themselves with the locals or to respect the welcoming committee, and because we have not merely different regions but different ways of wearing things according to tribes, castes, social/economic status it might appear like a mish-mash.
- - -
#21 by malik99:

[And besides, when a dashing man like myself tells a matyarun that she is beautiful, what would she smilingly wrap around her finger if it is not the dupatta ?

ahhhhh god - sometimes I wish i were back in my village in Sialkot, married to a chumak challo matyaran, drinking lassee, eating mangoes, and discipling my 10 kids with a yard long stick.]

If after 10 kids, lassee and mangoes, assuming she is partaking of the last two and you have not insisted she get on an Atkins diet while you loll around on the khaat swotting flies, you do indeed call her beautiful, then you must keep in mind that after the dupatta has been wrapped around her there could be very little of it left for her finger to play with...

The in thing now in India is these cool kurtas of varying lenghts, with or without sleeves paired with jeans. Pls let us know if shalwars/dupatas have also been deprecated in Pakistan also.

A very late welcome to (and goodbye from) Pakistan Dost-mittar

This report lacked masala but does

not hide your sincerity.


Ras

Have you seen this thing called ``low rider salwar`` with ``wide open top and almost backless crop bottom kurti`` . . . bra-strap flaunted hanging to the elbows almost, and butt-tattoo visible just above the uhhhhm . . . rear cleavage??

Currently on display, with mobile phone in hand, on the back seat of a motor-cycle at traffic lights in most cities/towns in India.

Dost

The old black-and-white photos of my father and his friends in the old house are in three-piece suite with Kulla-Pugree-Turra. In those days wearing such Turra Pugree with suite was common in Punjab - some kind of a style. It has completely vanished now.

Now only the Chowkidars of 3-Star hotels use such starched Pugrees. Indian Film Dulhas do wear it. And military police & students of Eitcheson college.

On Indian Punjabi TV channels, I find pugrees of different colours commonly worn. In Pakistani Punjab, the Pugree is invariably white.

I think Vajpayee needs a dress adviser. He wears very sloppy mish-mash pugrees.

malik #21 ``When it comes to politics and religion I may clobber tahmed32 to a pulp.``

You wish!! ;-)

Glad we agree on the really important thing though, namely what makes a woman attractive.

jang #22 Finally some good, practical advice on chowk. With wife out of town for a while, maybe I will check out this restaurant. Just to remind me of her while she is gone, of course.

When it comes to politics and religion I may clobber tahmed32 to a pulp. But when it comes to women`s dresses, him and I share the same taste. A `matyarun` walking down the street does not look the same if her dupatta is not fluttering in the air.

Indeed shalwar kameez without dupatta is like paratha without ghee, or like lassee made with fat free yogurt, or like kabaddee without dhole. It just doesn`t raise the heartbeat of a hapless gawking young man standing under the neem tree.

And besides, when a dashing man like myself tells a matyarun that she is beautiful, what would she smilingly wrap around her finger if it is not the dupatta ?

ahhhhh god - sometimes I wish i were back in my village in Sialkot, married to a chumak challo matyaran, drinking lassee, eating mangoes, and discipling my 10 kids with a yard long stick.

Zain ``Ranjha`` Malik

#18 tahmed32

``Havent seen any chinese women ``

In your neghborhood, go to Rockville (kind of down-townish) vietnami restaurant called Saigaon Cafe (or something like that) and you will see all the staff in something close to a salwar khameez..very cute and sheer. All these women are petite with #3 size figures. Ok these may not be hahn chinese but close enough. Order the rockfish and caramelized qail.

DM,
this article is a teaser-opener with a pomise of more to come..no wonder folks are stuck in the salwar-khameez..so look forward to the rest.

PS Is elastic on salwar kosher or must it have that long nada? How about zips? Pockets?

...good to read you, mittar-saab...looking forward to the rest...

Dost:

welcome back:)

learned of your pc mishap... my addy is simple..temporal@chowk.com

look forward to other articles

rgds (and lve to I)

t

[They despise the old `auntee` or `chaaee ji` look with loose salwar and kameez flowing in the wind like a tent.]
..LOL...

...wait till they get married, produce a couple of kids and they would be a ditto copy of aunty jee and chachee jee of yore...;)

dost mittar #10 ALL women look cute in shalwar kameez, if....(I`ll come back to the ``if`` in a minute: Western women look cute, Bengladeshi women (who call the dress ``Panjabi`` and it is worn as a fashion statement- I guess they have forgiven us panjabis for giving them tikkas and tigers!!) look cute. Havent seen any chinese women or black women wearing it, but I have no doubt they would start looking sexy if they did.

Women look cute in shalwar kameez IF they keep the dupatta on AND if they are not built like a Sherman tank. I have seen a few get rid of their dupattas, and the entire esthetic balance is lost. And no way you can make a Sherman tank look sexy, regardless of ethnicity.

The long-awaited Dost Mittar travelogue finally appears. Well written and interesting. I could sympathize with your having to wake up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 am to start off on your journey - having had to do that not once but twice this week to see off first by brother and his wife, and a couple of days later to see off my wife.

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ahmadzai # 6 - for a change i find myself laughing with you and not at you :) I like the ``dunmba chukki` phrase :) however, i think you have limited your comments to women only. I think the same goes for men as well. Can you imagine how Nawaz Sharif or Jamali would look in jeans?

However, I can easily spot a pakistani girl who has recently started putting on jeans, versus someone who has worn it all her life. There is a certain `ease` and `casualness` about wearing jeans for the later.

One other observation - Pakistani girls with taste for western clothes also manage to develop a westerner body shape. Just look at the second generation pakistani girls in US. They do not have ``chukkee`` and physically look the same as any caucasian :)

Zain Malik

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re: Dost-mittar

A fine article, which captures the silly dramatic nature of the Dosti Bus. I loved your comment on the sharpness of the commandos and having been protected myself by such commandos, I always feared an accidental death. As a friend quipped, the best time to rob is when the bus is passing by, because all the cops are paying attention else where. Another good time to rob something is to arrange the robbery on a time, when the cops are having their meals.

Looking forward to your next article on Lahore and best wishes to I.

Ciao

noorie:
We did not stay at the faletti`s. But I believe it is still open to public. It is owned by the Pakistan Tourism Department who have renovated it and put it up for sale to private parties.

mittarji:
apology di ki gall ai? i was just checking `cause i wasn`t sure whether faletti`s was still open to the public anymore or not. : ) . will you be writing about what it was like to be staying at one of the oldest, if not THE oldest standing hotels in lahore?!

Yes, this is going to be a series of 5-6 articles, the next one will be on Lahore and Basant.

On western women and shalwar-kameez, I agree that the traditional shawar-kameez is not very flattering to the western women. But some designers have come up with innovative products inspired by shalwar-kameez, and especially the chooridaar types.
But Saari is one Indian dress that seems to flatter all types of women, in and out of shape, as long as it is draped in an elegant manner.

ahmedzai # 6

Shalwaar-Kameez is just about the ideal dress for fuller or pear-shaped women. Middle Eastern or Asian women do have this genetic design to get pear-shaped. With over-developed upper-half and big thighs, the trousers just do not look good. Also Saris look horrible on them.

Trousers look good on petite, well-proportioned bodies. Anglo-saxons. Saris also suite them well.

A well fitting shalwar-kameez does carry that addtional feminine grace that does not come with Trousers.

NHK#1:
``Many decades back, Pajama & Kurta was the staple dress in Pakistan.``
I think that you meant pajama and kameez. Kurta was more common in Delhi and UP than in Panjab. Also, I believe that the dhotis were more common among the rural folks. But Shalwar (previously pronounced as salwar), along with the turre-daar turban, was the dress of the elite, at least in the Potohari region. This was true also of the pre-war generation of non-westernised Hindus of that region.

noorie#7
Sorry for misspelling faletti`s.

mittarji:

flatties hotel in lahore isn`t the same as faletti`s is it? i am really looking forward to hearing more about your journey.

as far as the generalization about shalwar kameez not looking good on western women and jeans not looking good on desi women goes in #6. . .i have seen western women dressed in shalwar kameez, and it seemed to add more color to them rather than make them or the outfit look bland. the late princess diana looked lovely in a shalwar kameez. and it suits certain african-american women very well also. :)

my homeroom teacher in secondary school in lahore looked rather sexy in jeans.

I always used to wonder why Kurta Shalwaar looks so good on Pakistani women, but it sucks on western women. It just comes out too bland on the latter.

The mystery was resolved when a western fashion designer suggested in an interview in DAWN that Pakistani and Indian women have pear-shaped bodies, which come out very nicely in kurta shalwaars. However, kurta shalwaar does not bring out the straight navel down figures of western women. Therefore, she said for example, jeans look great on western women, but lousy on Pakistani and Indian women. Kurta shalwaar looks great on Pakistani and Indian women, but not on western women.

I had a Lebanese class mate in the USA. She was beautiful, but looked very odd with her `Dunmba Chukki` when she wore jeans. If I had known about pear-shaped theory then, I would have suggested her to try wearing kurta shalwaar.

mairay dost, this seems to be a nice series of article in the making.

gud article but u dint mention the experience of ur stay at lahore? did u visit ny other city of pakistan?Did u enjoy the basant festival which is shaping as the mega event of lahore that attracts thousand of tourists from all over the world.
i think we should get rid of unnecessary hassles in getting visa nd subsequently crossing the border. The process should be made easier so that more people can interact on both side of the border. The more we`ll meet , more we know about each other that will help dispelling the allusions and mirages that we nurture about each other.

its really cool i mean i never got to visit pak as an indian...goodness gracious someone else did. i always wondered and i still do about everybody drawing parallels between pak & india, but being a guy in 20s i was always inquisitive about the paki guys and GIRLS(u know how a guys mind works!!!) their youth culture thir night lives i mean everything about the life of paki youths... i even tried to do my own futile research( i mean i really searched and re-searched) abouth the youth lifestyles of pakistan with pics...if somebody would just drop all this info onto me i would be GRATEFUL to ye all.

wonderful to see your writings, mittar sahab! I hope the next part of this series will be submitted soon! :)

i liked it

Dost-Mitter

Welcome. Many decades back, Pajama & Kurta was the staple dress in Pakistan.

Over the years, now Shalwar-Kameez is the widely used uni-sex dress in Pakistan. Their are many varieties of Shalwar & Kameez - some revealing, some just lot of cloth.

The benefit of this dress over trousers-shirt is that all bulges get hidden - and you can secretly quietly keep on putting weight.

When Benazir was getting elected the first time, a slogan from the Pathans was that how can a woman become a Prime Minister. She has to take off her shalwar even for a small pee!