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 :)

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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.
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#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...