I have been reflecting a lot on education of late, and how the receipt of it (or not as is often the case here) can have such a profound impact on person’s life. But that said I have realised intelligence is not just about ‘what we know’, i.e. naming the…
I was invited by a family to lunch today, and I had a wonderful time. They made ‘peeka’ food in my honour. ‘peeka’ means ‘tasteless’ and is used by Pakistanis to refer to food that doesn’t have any spices in it! I really enjoyed the food; I just hope they…
As two of Pakistan’s neighbouring countries, India and Afghanistan undergo general elections it is interesting to reflect on developments in one country affect the wider region. Both countries are geo-political heavyweights (due to a booming economy and the presence of NATO forces respectively) and as such the government ministers in…
Today I met a family originally from the Kailash Valley in Northern Pakistan. They were so kind, and one girl even donned some traditional tribal dress for a photograph. These people are descended from the soldiers of Alexander the Great, who, after waging war through much of Central Asia, reached…
I visited the house of a friend this evening, and whilst I was there one or two other visits came and went. In an off-the-cuff way I commented that the house seemed to have quite a few visitors that evening. They looked at me strangely at first, afterwards explaining that…
I have been thinking that you can tell a lot about a culture by looking at the way people queue (or don’t as the case may be!). I was in the bank today to take out some of my penultimate scholarship instalment, and everyone waiting to be served was standing…
As I sat down to write I began to think about how the meaning of the word ‘family’ here in Pakistan (and in South Asian culture in general) is rather different from how it is defined in the West. In Pakistan, if your third-cousin once removed is getting married to…
I had the opportunity to visit a Gypsy tribe only last week, and what a fantastic experience it was. The children I saw were dirty, poorly clothed and unable to read and write (probably) and yet they were so beautiful. One girl in particular carried a perfect white rabbit beneath…
Today I thought about the menagerie of sounds that one hears on an average day in Pakistan. There is the ice-cream cart that plays an electronic version of ‘fur-de-lise’ on repeat, I wonder how it doesn’t drive the poor man bonkers. There are the cats and dogs. Nobody owns them…
Today has been a fairly relaxing day. The weather is changing here, slowly but surely the temperature is rising. Although fortunately the mosquitoes have launched a full-scale invasion as yet, and the ceiling fan has not been needed as yet. Every day the citizens of this country go without electricity…
