Train to Pakistan 2004: Just Another Touristy Day.

veeru:

...another interesting instalment...

when you go to karachi next remind me...i might be able to arrange a visit to the old (talpur?) fort on Manora ...(something very few karachites have seen) ...an island you must have seen entering the port in your shippie incarnation...this offer expires in six weeks;)

rgds,

t

``Whatever be the faith ``HP`` subscribes to currently, the driving style is
pure death-wish Punjabi. ``

Now I am just a cab driver...and a punjabi too...Naiki kar darya main daal !!

The trend at chowk for iLoggish style writing continues.Look at this-
``The chief guard comes rushing out from inside his office, a very elderly
but thoroughly fit gentleman with a handlebar moustache and paratrooper
wings as well as three rows of medals, escorts me to the entrance of the
auditorium, plants himself in front of the Director, Shah Sharabeel, and
announces loud enough for everybody there, waiting for the Sri Lankan
Ambassador incidentally, that a very honoured guest from Delhi has
arrived. `` The article is peppered with such gems.The comma gasps, pants and finally shrieks but you don`t let it go.

Rahul,

Sri Veeresh, writes English like Hindi | What he writes now is far better than
his previous writing. Atleast, he has paragraphs now : )
lekin kya karein ek lekhak aur mechanic ke beech bahut farak hain

But, Veeresh`ji dont let our comments stop you. Your writing is enjoyable - keep it up.
I look forward to your travelogue.

Ahhhhh .... Man this just reminded me of home ... its amazing that how I took all the little things described here for granted and now when Ranjha is in Daase Parayaaa (Minus Heer), those same minor/measly things mean sooooo much :-)

BTW: Not all the shopping areas in Islamabad are called Blue Area. The only area that is considered Blue Area is in between Nazim-Ud-Din Road and Fazul-Ul-Haq Road (and in-between this road is Jinnah Avenue, which ends at the Parliament house on the East end).

Regards

Very interesting write up. Islamabad Club is close to my heart - it used to be a favorite place for my late father where he would take family and friends. Spent many long Sunday mornings in their sun-soaked lawns and also in the evenings in summer. They also have nice swimming pools, squash, golf and horse-riding (although I havent done the last two there). Hope you went to daman-e-koh to get a birds-eye view of Islamabad. I am really happy to see that people at the club and elsewhere were so friendly and hospitable.

V,

If you happen to go to Karachi, and are not particularly keen on meeting Omar Qureshi, I will be glad to set up your meetings with some top journalists and newspaper owners in karachi and that include one of Omar’s boss Hussain Haroon too(he likes his hearing aid and you can hear him from miles). Vodka would not be a problem and it would be on me and made available to you whenever you desire.(You may not meet me,I don’t live in Karachi now.)

I think this part of your travelogue is much better than the previous ones. With a little vodka, you will hopefully be more candid about Karachi.

PS-Vodka is never my first choice.It is too dry and prevents wet dreams!!!

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God i can`t believe u were told not to go to Murree!!!

do ISI not have anything better to do than to follow round Indian tourists?????

I hope next time round theres no shadows following u about!

Nice write-up.

You must have passed by my house in Islamabad, if you made it to Jinnah Market. I don`t know about now, but Jinnah Market, during the evenings, used to be the spot where every teenager used to hang out. There used to be (still is?) a Pan Corner at its Northern entrance, that did booming business. The guy must be a millionaire by now.

Did you go to Damen-e-Koh?

The guy who fixed up Lahore, is now running Islamabad. So he should spruce it up quite a bit. It has, however, gotten a lot more crowded now, than it used to be fifteen years ago. I think that was the peak of Islamabad.

I must say, I am impressed with the efficiency of the guys following you. Did you know they were following you? Or did they just show up, by coincidence? Were they tailing you throughou the trip? Were they from the Army, or the police? I think Pakistanis and Indians only get visas to specific cities, when the visit India or Pakistan. Maybe that is why they didn`t let you go to Murree. Its a nice drive, and the PC hotel there is nice.....

T-Bhai # 1 . . . yes Sir, I do recall Manora/Manohara Island on the charts, isn`t there something associated with the Ramayan as regards that island?

HP # 2 & 6. . . I just selected the initials basis the monitor or keyboard and this happened to be HP. Forgive me. Karachi visit depends on me getting clearance to visit Multan . . .

RahulCapri/Satyamvada . . . # 3&4 . . . the style, of writing, depends, usually, on the, uhhhm, mood, though, sometimes, it may, also, for reasons, like, internal, or sublimnal, be more, in this case, too, about, trying to get, for example, the inner ethos, of a location. Thank you for your, like, patience.

Kaurasach # 5 and ally $ 9 . . . the snooping is quite mutual, and is, I guess, part of the horizon. I shall make it back to Murree some day, Insha-Allah, though, I owe that to my son.

Tahmed32 # 7 . . . people in Pakistan at the people-to-people level were extremely friendly, that there is no two-views about. Acts of random kindness is a separate chapter, parts of which have been written about at interacts. It is the official wariness one encounters and the rather xenophobic role of our respective medias which colours the view, if you get what I mean.

ranjha # 8 . . . thank you for the clarifications. I thought they were al blue areas.

Romair # 10 . . . yes Romair, I did notice that the youngsters were, uhhm, out with their feathers and opposite gender moves. Kind of cute, no? No, I didn`t make it to Daman-eh-Koh, next time, . . .

Very nice.
The point about bones is a good one, but a) cremation b) rivers?

Veeresh Jee

This was a comfortable read & really enjoyable - you painting the picture so accurately. I think you wrote it with a low blood pressure.

I remember when we use to land at Bombay some years back, they did not let the crew to go into the lounge. But One Dollar got us all the latest Indian filmi magazines in the cockpit. Newspapers & magazines are really cheap in India.

I am apprehensive of visiting India not because of the general public or the politicians on top but of the lowly intelligence paople who would think ``What a ex-military Pakistani doing in India?``.

Somehow these paradoxes of India-Pakistan go hand in hand. On one hand, one is offered a free cup of tea and, on the other hand, one is not allowed to visit the harmless Murree. The Pakistani security apparatus thinks that every Indian is out to spy and perhaps similar feelings are on the other side. It is apparent that these taxiwallas, hotels & motels are under pressure too to keep a look out. We still have unsophisticated intelligence philosophy in both countries with no ``intelligent profiling``; and almost illetrate guys at the bottom rung.

I remember an over 80 years old rickety bridge near Shahpur (Sargodha), on Jhelum river, having a ``Warning`` of not to be photographed. Presently, the only useful purpose that this ``Warning`` is serving is that whenever the police wants to punish some one, he is posted at this location.

Your interest in Autos is also quite evident - the tyres, makes and the chassiss.

I am not worried about you. With what kind of impression did Raghu leave the country?

Malik

I am sorry to say this but this episode reads like a 8th grader`s essay on his summer vacation. ``We went there.....``, ``We came back from there.....`` kind of stuff. There is no insight, no expression. It is too plane and senitized. Most of other Indian people have written quite enlightening pieces about their visits to our country. Now Pakistanis know very well how prejudiced, ungrateful, and demeaning you people are. You people take other people`s hospitality as some kind of weakness. Shame on you. Next time you people come back to my country, some serious ass whupping is in order.

veeresh:
This is another entertaining account from you. BTW what do you mean by ``cease fire line``? The Islamabad Club is simply superb; is any of Delhi clubs as good; the only one I had seen was the National Sports Club and it was nothing like IC.

``Exchanging the weak and poor of one side for the other, while the rich grabbed whatever they wanted anyways. Knowing a bit about the subject from the India end of things, I tend to agree.``
You probably meant something different from what this sentence suggests; it apparently suggests that hindus/sikhs who left Pakistan were poorer than the Muslims who stayed back and the Muslims who went to Pakistan were poorer than those who stayed back.