Show in the air

Last Sunday we visited another interesting place. It was not related to history, but sports.

One of my Pakistani friends, Sana, is fond of aircrafts. Once she found an association that is dedicated to aero modeling and operating planes. She took a course and learned how to make small planes move in the air. Now she goes there every Sunday, and that day she invited all of us as well.

The members of aircraft association have up to 20 different airplanes each. Small, medium and big machines are flying in the air making intricate movements. 6 months course, and you are a pilot of your own plane.

Visiting Mazar-e-Quaid

Yesterday we went to see the place called Mazar-e-Quaid or Jinnah's Mausoleum.

I suppose this is the most important historical monument out of all that are located in Karachi. I’d seen it on so many pictures before I came to Pakistan and was eager to visit it myself.

...You might be wondering who Junnah is :)

Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a Muslim politician and leader of the All India Muslim League who founded Pakistan in 1947 and served as its first Governor-General. He is officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam, the farther of the nation.

Jinnah wanted Pakistan to be a secular state and he mentioned it many times in his speeches, but his ideology never fully materialised because he died just a year after independence of Pakistan in 1948.

Now about the building itself. The mausoleum was completed in 60’s and is made of white marble with curved Moorish arches and copper grills rest on an elevated 54 meters square platform. The cool inner sanctum reflects the green of a four-tiered crystal chandelier gifted by the people of China. Around the mausoleum there is a park fitted with strong beamed spot-lights which at night project light on the white mausoleum. The location is usually calm and tranquil which is significant considering that it is in the heart of one of the largest global megalopolises.

There is a gallery near the mausoleum; you can see clothes, cars, furniture that belonged to Jinnah. For instance, there is a sofa where the farther of the nation ‘had made important decisions’ that influenced life of so many Indians and - in the future - Pakistanis.

My work and home

I've drunk a strong chai (urdu word for 'tea', sounds familiar for Russians :-) and now don't feel like sleeping.

If so, let me tell you about my work and my home here in Pakistan.

For those who don't know, I am current Vice-President for Talent Management and Local Committees Development in AIESEC Pakistan. My term started on 1st of July this year and is supposed to last till 1st of July 2009. I am working in a team of four people: Jeremy from Australia is our President, Saaim and Mariam (both are Pakistani) are responsible for external relations and exchange program respectively.

Being in charge of talent management, I am handling all process related to this functional area such as: talent planning, talent recruitment, leadership development, and many others. Responsibility for LC development means reviewing organizational structure of local chapters and expansions to new universities (we are planning to open 3 more local entities till 2010).

The biggest challenge that AIESEC in Pakistan is facing at the moment is alignment between personal and organizational goals of its members that leads to the fact that potential of individuals is not fulfilled. Members are missing quality education, concept of training is unknown. Another challenge is a gap between the national body, which works quite professionally, and local chapters that do not even perceive themselves as an organization.

Being the one responsible for these issues, I have a chance to make a significant contribution to the organizational growth this year. I have a good plan, so lets hope it works, and wish me luck :-)

Besides, I am involved in local HR community in Karachi. HR market in Pakistan is very small, however the demand for this kind of services is huge, and every talent development professional coming to the country is very welcomed.

Apart from my work for internal AIESEC processes, I am an account manager for 2 our learning partners: Navitus (www.navitus.biz) and NarejoHR (www.narejohr.com). First of them is similar to intertraining (trainers' community in Russia) and second one is similar to Ward Howell (my previous employer company). Both are very professional, ambitious and worth learning from! Another company which core work is HR training and consulting is called Engage HR (www.engagehr.com), our intern Joan from Switzerland works there as a trainer. I need to mention that despite the market is small, HR internships organized by AIESEC Pakistan are known for their quality and challenging job descriptions.

My working conditions are very nice. We have a comfortable office with all needed infrastructure.

And this is my team: Jeremy, Mariam, me and Saaim.

Jeremy made a research about the working environment, that's why we recently changed an arrangement of the tables, so now we sit facing each other and not the white walls :)

Our working hours are from 9 am to 5 pm (thanks to Jeremy's social responsibility, we are working 35 hours per week like employees in Australia :)

When daily work is finished we go to our flat in Zamzama, or so-called Defense area. It is a commercial center of Karachi, all good shops, restaurants and some apartments including ours are located here.

This is our house:

This is our yard (children playing cricket):

This is how the flat looks inside:


This is a nice place to live, especially keeping in mind that not all Pakistanis can afford this kind of flat.

What I especially like about our apartment that we have a roof. It is one of highest roofs in Karachi, and it looks amazingly beautiful at nights. I will take pictures during the next roof gathering :)

Dear friends, have a good day.

Random occasion

Teemu (Finland) and me witnessed an interesting occasion on the street today...

In the afternoon we went to Khada market near our place to buy some books. When we were done with shopping and were ready to go home, we suddenly noticed a huge crowd running to the main road. People looked so worried that the first thought we had - 'any car accident?'

Surprisingly not! A shop assistant told us that a thief had stolen someone's mobile! And all these people went to see who was the thief in order to avoid meeting him next time!

Police arrived to check the passengers of the bus. Finally they found him on the bus's second floor.

Dinner at Saaim’s house

Saaim, my colleague from AIESEC, invited me and my friends to have a dinner at his place.

We were very happy to have a chance to visit Saaim’s house and try traditional Pakistani dishes.

I will give you a brief insight on living conditions in Pakistan.

Almost all young people I’ve met live with their families. Family is one of the core values of people in this society. People of one family group usually live together in a house (or several houses located next to each other, in case they have many relatives). When a son is getting married his wife moves to his house. When the son of this son is getting married, his wife is moving to this house too. That’s how family is growing :)

Another interesting fact, people tend to collect all the things that they got from previous generations. For instance, Saaim has a plate which was presented as a gift from his grand parents; this plate is almost 100 years old!

Now, if you have money, in Pakistan you can live purely light-hearted life! You can make everything done for you: hire cook and he will cook delicious food for you every day, hire driver and he will drive you wherever you want, hire a charlady and your house will be clean and shining all day long! I was surprised to find out that some of my friends have never traveled by bus, because they have two cars and a personal driver.

All in all, we had a very good dinner that day at Saaim’s house. We ate biryani, a typical Pakistani dish which is rice with meat and spices (masala); it can be also served with yogurt, to mild the taste. Food is a special theme for one of the next posts :-)

... Look how Menno (The Netherlands) and Jeremy (Australia) are relaxing in the living room!

Thank you, Saaim, for such a warm evening at your place!

Impressions - part 1

It’s been 2 weeks since I am in Karachi. Experience is very exciting, time goes fast, and it’s difficult to capture all the moments that I’ve had here so far. Yet I want to try to highlight the most interesting observations.

Safety. First thing that people asked me about Pakistan “Is it dangerous to live there?” Of course I couldn’t answer this question when I was at home, but now I can say that I feel completely safe here. Life is stable, no issues with any fights nor crimes. The area where I live is known as a posh area of Karachi: fancy shops, cafes and nice apartments are located here.

Hot weather. One of my biggest fears of coming to Pakistan was the fear of heat. I remember it was the first sunny day in Moscow, when I went to a park and had sunstroke followed by a strong headache. That day I asked myself if I really want to go to the country where they live in a heat throughout the whole year.

...It was 5 am of June 23rd when I landed in Karachi, 30 degrees in the air! Yet I felt quite fine. Now I even enjoy the time when we walk during the day; I don’t feel like putting any sunblock on my skin, because it doesn’t get burned; I don’t cover my head as I haven't experienced any headache caused by sun.

Road traffic. This is something I got surprised about at the first day when we had a ride around the city. I reckon that if a person can drive on Karachi roads, he/she will manage to drive in ANY country in the world! Common situation is when 3 to 5 cars that come from different directions are stuck in the middle of the road trying to find their way! No rules, no policeman, everything is about a personal choice drivers! And, surprisingly, I’ve not seen any accident on the road so far, though in Moscow I used to see them at least 2 times every week.

Buildings. Second most surprising thing for me was an outward appearance of buildings. If you have a look at my photos, you will see what I mean. 90% of buildings here look like they were destroyed by some accident… Even famous multinationals like ABN-AMRO are located into grey half-ruinous houses!

However, the most interesting observation comes when you come inside… Clean, shining spaces, rich décor, and nice smells. Unbelievable! Pakistanis have different opinions about the reasons for that. I will write more about buildings later as well.

Cloths. “I take a bigger bag when I go out for a weekend!” – said one of my colleagues when he saw the bag that I came with :) When I was packing, I thought I wouldn’t be able to wear most of the cloths I wear in Moscow. It turned to be right to some extent. I can’t wear skirts and T-shirts in the office, however I can wear them at home. Besides, I was happy to find out that I can wear my favorite dress (which is pretty short!) … with trousers! Such a combination looks even more beautiful than a single dress!

For those who asked me, it’s not necessary to wear hidzhab here (piece of cloth that Muslim women cover heads with), a girl can wear it only if she wants, no one is going to force her doing that. Most of women that I meet on the streets cover their heads, but none of my female colleagues or friends does.

Traditional cloth is called ‘shalvar kamyz’ which stands for shirt and trousers that are usually worn with a kerchief. How it works. You buy a piece of cloth you want and go to a tailor who makes a shalvar kamyz for you. You can choose ANY cloths you want for your shalvar kamyz, there are different types and colors available: the ones for official meetings, the ones for home and walk, all of them are very, very beautiful! Yesterday I bought 2 types of cloth for my shalvar kamyz, let’s see how my new dress will look like...

These are some of my first impressions about Karachi.
In the next days, I am going to continue writing about impressions, events that are taking place, as well as about my work.