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A Trip to my Mother Land By: Abida Rahmani

As I entered into the PIA 777 super jumbo jet at Pearson International Airport Toronto, the smell and aroma of home coming welcomed me. Most of the passengers were of the same Pakistani origin speaking the same languages, wearing almost the same dresses, looking alike, heading towards their own motherland. The PIA staff seemed exclusively courteous and shortly after taking off got busy in servings.. Travelling through North American air lines for the last few years with caution and care because of our identity and buying my own meals or taking along with me, it was a wonderful experience of Pakistani hospitality. This feeling was amazing, among your own loved ones with out any worry and fear (being away exceeds love its an old proverb). On arrival at Islamabad airport, disembarking through stairs was pretty tough with holding my luggage in hands. Anyway it is the same old Pakistan and not North America. At first sight it seemed that most of the infrastructure was broken down or under construction. No comparisons, this is our own Pakistan. I was told that a new airport is being build up near Fatah Jang and that is going to be better than Karachis one. At least we have one at Karachi! These are the same old roads with lots of potholes, bumps and lot of noise. Finally, after few days got adjusted to irregular traffic, loud horns, diesel smokes and noisy roads. Even in Islamabad lot of smog is visible over the horizon and Margalla hills are always covered with a layer of smoke. Here most of the people are least concerned about environment. Garbage is generally burnt, even in parks where people are walking over the paths. A huge pile of leaves and other trash is burning on the side, spreading smoke all around. It is considered to be an easy way of eliminating or disposal. There are a lot of plastic stuff burning, releasing toxic fumes all around. The flower beds on the streets are coming up to the roads but no walking path for pedestrians. That is why pedestrians are every where. I do not understand why CDA does not impose strict rules and regulations for leaving the pedestrian path space or footpaths called there. Still I noticed a lot of positive changes and developments. While the North Americans are striving hard to find an alternative energy solution, in Pakistan CNG is used for the last almost 15 years. Which is helping a lot to the environment and to the pockets but still the diesel is cheaper and most of the commercial vehicles use diesel. So the cities are just smog filled with black thick cloud over.. In most of the cities the traffic police use masks to avoid pollution. Since I have an allergy to this smog and smoke, so with the windows open used to cover my nose with dupatta.

2 The trend of eating out has increased a lot. There was a lot of hue and cry about high prices. But most of the people whom I met were over weight with big waistlines and food was abundant every where. At all the US fast food franchises and other eateries a big rush could be seen. Many of those were like me who wanted to eat Halaal McDonalds, Pizza hut and Kentucky fried chicken. At McDonalds we have to wait at least an hour for our order to be placed. It is a big eating spot with the out side F-9 Park and thronging with people. I liked Mc Arabia and wondered about their marketing tactics. How glad their franchiser would be? So were the other restaurants. Papasalus is an Old Italian cuisine but Gelato Gibralto ice cream parlor is new and saw the signs of that one which was blown out in terrorism. The food is superb at Melody Food Park with lot of choices. The Paan shop with traditional theme is amazing. I loved the Mughlia darbar style of this shop and when he showered rose petals after serving those mouth-watering paans. It was hard to find skimmed milk but at least low fat milk was available. A lot of fat and oil is consumed in the food. When the atta (wheat flour) got scarce, the size of naans reduced at Tanoors and the price went up 8-10 Rs, we could not avoid a search for flour (atta) around and finally got some at a very high price at a flour mill. It was a marvelous experience traveling through the motorway. This is a great sign of prosperity and developmental change. It has reduced so many hours to reach our destinations. The motorway police really impressed me because they sounded professionals. It was so amusing to see the traffic police sitting with the speed target cameras on the side of the roads and highways. One could notice them well before. In North America we do not see the cameras just get the tickets for over speeding. A couple of nice and scenic roads could be seen in Islamabad. The ongoing load shedding of electricity was unbearable during hot summer days and nights for so many hours. But the innovative minds have found some alternate solutions for it. The UPS system is just excellent and one does not feel the switching over. While the most well offs have stand by generators, the low income group suffers the heat and darkness. But there are times when these systems get exhausted too. This is so pathetic and weird just to think about where the world is heading and where we are in Pakistan? Our systems are getting from bad to worse. In Karachi where streets crime and violence is so common, almost every one has four to five tales to tell, about their car, mobile or money snatching. They should be grateful to God that they were still alive to tell these stories. If one resists he gets fatally shot. However still in Karachi the night starts after 12:00 mid night and that is how the people just do not care about the day to day occurrences and live their lives. Every where a lot of flyovers could be seen there but when you get down from the bridge you can not avoid get ting stuck in a bottle neck. I just could not figure out how they planned these roads. I found some beautiful parks there in the midst of piles of filth and stink. With lush green lawns, fragrant plants, graveled paths, good lightings and benches these parks give you a soothing sight. The kids and families were having lots of fun in fresh clean air. There were some coined rides and jumping castles. But for the security reasons an armed guard and a

3 chowkidar were there too. So these security agencies are just flourishing and it is a huge business. While in NWFP and Baluchistan the situation is entirely different in tribal areas. No one knows who are the killers and why are they being killed. It is entirely another sad and bleak chapter of our history. I am glad that matters have settled down is Swat, the magnificent valley. In the wake of the high prices I visited a prestigious mall in Karachi to do some shopping. In a bridal dress store asked the price of a couple of dresses. I was told that one is a bit cheap only for one lac eighty five thousands while the other for two lacs forty five thousands and so on. They were so heavy that wearing those could cause some permanent back or neck injury to the bride. In general the society is more after purchasing clothing, fashion and showing off. In Karachi go to Tariq road, Clifton, Bahadurabad or Hyderi the malls and stores were just thriving with business. The same every where in all the cities, which showed that at least people has buying power instead of the price hike. The most fantastic and fabulous is the cell (mobile) phone services in Pakistan. They are so affordable and common that even every Ditta and Raani has a cell phone. All of sudden a high-pitched song or an emotional Naat would start with the driver, cook or maid servant , electrician , carpenter etc. and it used to be a ring tone. All the incomings calls are free of charge and you can have a phone with out any plan with paid off cards. Even the land line which is PTCL has so many free promotions, free caller id, free voice mail and call waiting. But most of the people do not know how to use those. In Canada and USA the cell phone plans would peel you off and one has to watch all the minutes and plans. For the internet now some of our houses are equipped with a WI FI which one has to watch and follow the timings of load shedding. It too is accessible with prepaid cards and DSL cables too. In Islamabad it was a load shedding of power after every two hours for one hour. With all the systematic governing flaws, red tapes, VIP culture, dirt , filth , poverty, class difference and day to day violence my soul lives in Pakistan. Glued with its latest news through different channels, I pray for its prosperity, well being. . Get upset and disturbed with its decay and problems. An Indian American friend of my brother was there on a visit those days. He loves Pakistan so much that he is quite a frequent visitor and I call him the one and only loyal Pakistani. He is trying his best to get the Pakistani multiple entry visa. But he is always declined because of being an Indian born. I greatly appreciated his love for Pakistan but wondered about his sentiments and asked him, Do you think there is any difference between Pakistan and India. His reply was, the love and warmth that I get in Pakistan, I get it nowhere in this world. He may be true, Im sure!!!