Juice or book?

This is the juice shop near my office. They are making awesome banana shake.
To make those shakes, they take some power from city cable. Most probably they are doing it illegally.

Lets take a closer look what happens.


100 of juice shops like this in Karachi, and in the evening we will not have the power in the apartments for at least 1,5 hours.

Are you having a fresh shake in the morning or reading a book in the evening?

Unfortunately, it is still not up to us.

Being a foreigner in Pakistan

Ksusha, Bogdan and I went out for a picnic in the park.

Having finished the dinner (and half of the chapter of my book) we saw a group of people, looking like a big middle-class Pakistani family, going straight to our place.

They shake hands with us one by one and then asked to make a video. After the video was made, one of the women put her palm up showing that she wants us to leave signature there. We had no chance to say no, and soon her entire palm was covered with ink.

One of the guys (he seems the eldest and the only one knowing English) started to talk to Bordan: where are you from, where you studied, and how he would go visit his country. Others listened adorably.

Ksusha giving autograth to a local woman

We smiled. Yet I didn't feel comfortable about the whole thing. I am the same human being as you are, and my white skin and English skills are not the reason for giving autograph to you.

We packed our things and went away, before a new group of people could have come to take pictures with us.


Since the times when India was ruled by British, citizens of Subcontinent have had a tendency to rate themselves lower than a "white" person.

It is more obvious in Pakistan where even foreigners, when meeting each other, look surprised - it is not often when I see them around.

Pakistanis do their best to impress foreigners: for instance, in cafes and other public places they are usually over polite, even some hostels in Pakistan are built for foreigners only and local people are not allowed to stay there.

When I go to the shop, market or talk to the ordinary people on the street, they usually think that I come from London. Or United States. All "white" are associated with these two countries. Russia would not even come in their first 5.

Поза дерева

На прошлых выходных разговаривала с мамой по телефону.
Мы созваниваемся каждую неделю: как дела, как настроение, здоровье, какие новости, не тоскую ли вдали от дома.

Я заметила, что в последнее время, разговаривая с мамой, я прилагаю огромные усилия, чтобы вспомнить, что у меня идет не так.

Не может же быть так, чтобы все хорошо. Я к этому не привыкла...

Но, оглядываясь на прошедшую неделю: как я отмечала Пасху с ребятами из десяти разных уголков земли, с пакистанским "куличем", больше похожем на Christmas cake; смотрели с Шерми Ramchand Pakistani на языке Урду и понимали все без слов; ездили смотреть на крокодилов в суфийском храме, а потом, голодные, уминали вкуснейшее пакистанское chickem makni в Tandoori Hut; обсуждали с Марьям случай со студентом в Лахоре - когда же люди в этой стране одумаются и вспомнят ценности, заложенные в ее фундаменте; поздравляла Арсалаана с предстоящей стажировкой в Украине в местной школе; с открытым ртом слушали экскурс в историю Пакистана от Junaid'а - совсем молодого, а такого интеллигентного, и спорили, и делали открытия, каждый для себя и общие; укутывалась в Пакистанский платок поверх shalwar kameez'а, сидя на валике и слушая пакистанскую народную музыку в Университете Искусства; ездила на работу на местном автобусе, теснясь между школьницами в черных одеждах с тетрадями на коленках, - я молча улыбаюсь.

Я люблю свою работу, за которой рабочий день по ощущениям длится не 8 часов, а всего час. Моя работа учит меня жизненной мудрости и понимания людей, а также (в качестве бонуса), дает возможность приобрести полезные привычки - они всегда помогут мне в жизни.

И еще много всего, сказанного и не-сказанного, о чем хочется говорить ночи напролет.
Радостное и грустное - все здесь, и все это так завораживает!

В йоге есть так называемая поза дерева - поза баланса. Требует концетрации и силы воли. Долгое время я не могла ее выполнить. Плакала даже. А теперь - стою хоть бы хны.

Чувствую вину за то, что живу такой сбалансированной жизнью. И смущение - оттого, что я обустроила это все сама. И страх - когда следующий поворот и какое испытание ждет за углом?

Attention please

Some notes on the walls in our office really make me smile :-)

Trip to Thatta

Thatta is a city outside Karachi.
I have visited it recently with my friends.

Learned a lot about history of the land and Sufi way of practicing Islam.

Jumah prayer

On Friday afternoon Jeremy and I went out for lunch.
After we'd had our food (awesome Irani/Afgani rice with meat), we went back to the office hoping to get there through the usual road that we take.

However, soon after going outside the cafe, we realized that it was Friday afternoon (1pm) which is the time for jumah prayer.

There were people everywhere on the streets which lead to masjid (mosque / praying area), including the street that we usually take. They were sitting on praying mattresses which are put on earth, close to each other due to limited space, and going up and down while praying. Imam from the mosque was reading Qaran verses, and his voice was heard in the entire Saddar area.

Islam as a religion has a strong focus on practices for the whole community. All main rituals in Islam are created in such a way that Muslims around the world are doing them at the same time of the day (which do not reflect time differences though). This is done to give a feeling of unity to community of Muslims: "while I am saying my prayer I know that all Muslims in my country and around the world are doing the same".


Surprisingly, public buses were passing by the people praying, so close to them, almost stepping on their foot!

So we had to go all the way around to make a circle and reach the office :)

Interesting experience.

This picture is from a different place (I didn't take any pictures that day as it's not really respectful to do so), I just wanted to show how community prayers look like.

Not as obvious as it might seem

A week ago I had a dinner with Jeremy and Ahsan Kirmani, AIESEC alumnus who recently came back from United States from his Masters program and is now working in Pakistan.

As many foreigners (or Pakistanis who came back from abroad) and meeting in a restaurant, we talked a lot about Pakistan. What is different in this country, where it is going, and what can make a difference here.

It was a long talk, but one of the things that struck me most was about child labor in Pakistan.

Ahsan was telling us how, during his university years in Lahore, he was involved in one interesting research program. At that time some Pakistani companies were refused to export their production to Europe due to the fact that they “used child labor” which is against EU standards. So students were supposed to interview the management of the companies and find out why it happened.

My first thought was “Fair enough. Using child labor is not acceptable thing to do. It seems like the right solution”.

But then he told us what was the response of company management. They said: look, we have a choice. These 12-year old kids might not work, and they go begging on the street. Or we can involve them in production, pay them money, and they will have food to eat and go to school.

This is the paradigm that is very difficult to understand for a European people who have normal living standards and who can not imagine how employment can help someone survive from begging, selling flowers on the street, let alone sleeping outside and not eating for days.

On a related note, Mariam was even telling me that some kids are being paid by NGOs for going to school! If they weren’t, they would go begging which is the easy way to get money for food.

The same question is raised when people talk about servants in Pakistan. I mentioned some time before how every upper-class family in Karachi would have their own servants: cleaning ladies, drivers, cooks. “It’s not fair!” – you could say – “how could people be servants for others!” Yet if you look at things from the other side, you will see that these servants get the opportunity to earn money and send their children to good schools, so that they achieve more in life than their parents.

Things might not be as obvious as they look from the 1st glance.

Being in Pakistan, I learned to look from different sides.

1st April report

It all started in the morning when I woke up and realized that it’s the 1^st of April, the only day in the whole year which is completely about jokes, and I want to live it to the fullest :)

First person that I met in the morning was Mariam Zameer, my AIESEC colleague. When Mariam came to the office, SIEMENS people had already played a joke on her, so I thought that mine would not work. But I tried.

Mariam: Katya, tell me about the meeting that AIESEC Karachi had yesterday, how was it?

I: Well, it was a disaster! We were taken out of auditorium and had to sit on the grass.. And, the saddest thing is… Kiran [Mariam’s direct report] was presenting her year targets, members started to criticize them, and Kiran said she’s resigning from her position. Mehdi [another Mariam’s subordinate] is taking her portfolio now.

Mariam: What??? Tell me all in details… Kiran didn’t tell me anything… I will text her right now and ask about it…

(after some time)

I: So did Kiran reply to you?

Mariam: Yes, she said she didn’t want to tell me before, but she is really leaving… Oh no… (5 mins passed). Katya, it was not 1^st April joke, was it?

:)

After that Mariam was eager to take part in further jokes with me.

So we texted Jeremy and Saaim [my other team mates] telling them that SIEMENS people are kicking us out of the office space and we are moving to SITE office [far far away from everything]. The thing is that SIEMENS people were really thinking about moving office to SITE area at some point, but topic was closed a few weeks ago.

In addition to sms, we brought SIEMENS guards on our side by asking them to make fools of Jeremy and Saaim when they arrive to the office.

In the meantime, AIESECers from Oman received a letter with my resignation from position of President of AIESEC Oman that I recently became.

They were smart enough to reply: “Thanks for your letter, Katya, we decided to reopen application for a president, would you be so kind to take part in selection process as you already know the procedure?” I even checked MyAIESEC.net for notification about reopened applications…

(in 1 hour)

Saaim comes to the office with furious expression on his face, talking over the phone. Very soon we realize that he is talking to Sohail Wojahat, the CEO of SIEMENS.

Saaim (after the call): guys, pack your things, we are going to meet Sohail Wojahat at SITE office.

All: Why???

Saaim: He wants to see us. He is very disappointed of our behavior and jokes about moving the office. When you joke, please DO NOT joke about partners, OK??

Me and Mariam: We are really sorry, Saaim, we didn’t have any bad intentions! We thought you would not call the administration…

Oh if you could imagine what a reflection time I had during the next 2 hours!

My jokes are not funny at all. They disturb and harm other people. What kind of person I am… I should not live with people.

(in 2 hours)

Saaim: Well, I hope you got the joke, guys. I was not speaking to Sohail Wojahat, I was speaking to Jeremy. The whole SIEMENS office knows what April Fools you are :)

:)

OK, I am not that bad in the end. Some people are even worse! Let’s continue with jokes … :)

My flat mates [foreign friends] were my next target.

30 min work with gmail, and they received a letter from Faisal Shaikh (our land lord) asking them to leave apartments that we are renting in Karach due to noise and not making payment on time.

In a min after having sent the email, I received a response from Bogdan, my Romanian flat mate:

“I'm very sorry to hear these things... I, myself, promise to be quiet on the stairs, clean after myself on the roof and pay my dues in time. Thank you for the notification!
Bogdan”

Hahaha!

(Bogdan wants to become famous, so he asked me to put his picture here)

:)

Soon after internet in the office stopped working, and we moved to a café in Zamzama.

But my jokes didn’t stop :)

My friend Sasha from Moscow is looking for a traineeship in Islamabad [Pakistan’s capital]. And – “I just realized!” – that Pakistan International Airlines are giving free tickets to all trainees who are coming to Pakistan! But – what a sadness! – today is the deadline, and you should send me your motivational letter in 2 hours, otherwise you will be late for the competition.

I: To take part, you need to answer 2 questions: 1) why do you want to fly with PIA? 2) how will you entertain passengers during your free PIA flight?

Now look what Sasha, as a really determined person, sent me in 2 hours :)

Dear PIA Team

Next was Yahya, my successor, who got a message from me with request to send his introduction to Sophie, from AIESEC head office. "This is Yahya, and I am good boy :-) I am very excited for what I am getting into and I know that it will be one of the most challenging, learning experiences in my life, so lets get rolling!"

:)

It was the late evening when my friend called my cousin (Masha) and my brother (Andrei) to invite them to my wedding in June. I will be the 2nd wife of Mr Faisal Shaikh (yes yes, the same one who is our land lord - I just liked how the name sounds :) and didn't tell my parents yet, because obviously they will be shocked, but I want to see my beloved cousin and brother at the wedding.

Masha (smart girl) was reluctant to believe it at first, but eventually agreed to come to Karachi in June.

But poor Andrei, he got it so seriously that even when I’d told him to check-out wedding website (www.apriljoke.com.pk), he started booking his ticket to Pakistan.

At midnight 1^st April was over and I went to sleep, happy for the fruitful day :)

Thanks everyone, you are the best!

:):):)