A Nomad Among the Bedouins

#32, Atif2 {``whether there is an equivalent of car`s ``stick shift`` on camels as well...no, there is no such thing``}

Atif2,
I am sure that you looked all over for it and failed to notice that it was always inside you. :P)

#32 atif2 {``.... riding camel is not much different than driving a car.``}

Atif,
Do you always drive with your dick stuck in the exhaust?

Atif; It was a nice read and a refreshing break from stale atmosphere of chowk.

(should have written ``badbudaar atmosphere`` of Chowk)

Urstruly bhai - Thank you for your kind words

dr sahib - thank you

Salim - Your humor is much more effective when you conceal its cheapness with revving vocabulary :)

[And then Abu Muaz`s youngest toddler’s shriek brought me back to reality...a reality that was as stark as that desert’s landscape.]

Based on your past interacts on Chowk, I thought that you loved those shrieks.........I am kind of amused to find them in the desert serving a different purpose :)

[In that reality, I found myself to be a man who was softened by a life of cushiony couches, comfortable shoes, soft bed, purified water and air conditioned existence. A life where the perfection of meal was more important than the saving of the fuel. A life where planning for life often overwhelmed living the life. A life time of such existence had rendered me too soft and too unfit for that desert bred damsel. She was a girl to be admired and wished for, but from a distance...much like her people, who I could occasionally visit to break free from the monotony of my life, but could not be them.]

This sounds like a realistic and candid self assessment. Very nice. That`s the crux of the story.

[Unlike the hero in Paulo Coelho`s Alchemist who went into the desert and found his destiny, I perhaps had many more places to go ... ]

Well, I guess it is not necessary that everyone should come across the same destiny on visiting a desert. Probably, your last passage held more significance than you realize. Better awareness and realization :)

Good one.

ZahraJ # 37 - ``Based on your past interacts on Chowk, I thought that you loved those shrieks``

Are you equating my interacts with ``shrieks``, Ms. ZahraJ? :)

``Well, I guess it is not necessary that everyone should come across the same destiny on visiting a desert.``

Very true. It is not necessary. But as a saying goes ``dil dil hee tao hai`` :)

``I found bedu women to be much more open in their interactions than their gender-mates living in the cities. There was no inhibition and seclusion of women that you see in the cities.``

I think this particular trait of rural women transcends geographical boundaries. Personally I have always found women living even in Pakistani villages to be much more open and interactive as compared to the urbanised ones. One reason for this might be the limited spheres of their lives. Unlike families in the cities, where each individual has to have his own separate living space, families in villages, much like the Arabian desert mentioned here, have to make do with whatever bit of shared space they have got, and that renders them much more mutually interactive while open and hospitable to their guests at the same time.

And couldn`t agree more with your #27. That is what I have excessively noticed in my three or so years of stay here. There is a sheer contrast between us third world people and the Europeans when it comes to the `use` of money. While our primary emphasis is on `saving` it for only God knows what or when, these people are generally hell bent on spending every penny they have got, and their primary outlet is almost always travelling. That is why I come across a teenagers every now and then who has seen more countries then I think I would manage in my entire life, and these countries include places as remote as Chile, New Zealand and the sub-continent etc., and not merely the one`s that lie in the same geographical or `economic` sphere. This must have something to do with the insecurity, instability and uncertainty of life that has somehow gotten buried deep into our psyches, indeed along with many other reasons.

Thanks for a great read Atif payee. Loved the fictional and philosophical yet highly pragmatic touch to the ending.

Atif..i guess you took the desert safari in Dubai and all the rattling thus produced this imaginary tale? right??

twintopaz #40 - ``Atif..i guess you took the desert safari in Dubai and all the rattling thus produced this imaginary tale? right??``

Twinto, is it because you have been living in that region for years but never found the energy to visit Oman, while Atif travels all the way from Boston and goes to Dubai AND Oman AND other counrties in the region? Must I post pictures on UP to calm your jealous feelings? :) Fine, I will post in a day or so. Look out for it ;)

Shobig #39 ``That is why I come across a teenagers every now and then who has seen more countries then I think I would manage in my entire life, ... This must have something to do with the insecurity, instability and uncertainty of life that has somehow gotten buried deep into our psyches, indeed along with many other reasons.``

Exactly my feelings! I also think there is another subtle but important element that is an advanatge for westerners vs. desis - a western passport. I am sure more young people from pakistan would love to venture out and see the world, but getting visas of other countries is a herculian task. For a western young man, all he needs is an intention and time. They can scrap some money together, either through parents or their own part time work to finance their traveling. Other than the airfare, traveling is pretty cheap and affordable if you are going anywhere in central asia, east asia and africa. You have to be willing to stay in cheap hostels and eat from street vendors...

atif, an amazing read. i wish i could write a proper comment about your article but am too involved in my dissertation that words that may appear now would be; hegemonic brandscape, starbucks, globalization and so forth. others words will just falter right now. nevertheless, a beautiful peice of work.

Atif:
Excellent stuff. It is quite clear that your intentions for embarking on this journey was not just to witness the shifting sand dunes or the starry nights of the desert, but to also catch a glimpse of the bedouine life. You managed to convey it quite well from a vintage point of a urban pakistani american man. Good Job Man.
(On a side note, kudos to chinese shoe makers of kidRus, as their shoes survived the desert of arabia.)

Atif -

I guess you misunderstood the pun. That`s ok. By the way, Paulo Coelho has written quite a few things on different aspects of life, including wisdom, obsession, love, temptation, hope, courage, humility and so forth. If you are planning to use him as a guide to locate your destiny, then make sure you pick the right book :) ``The Alchemist`` is about wisdom. I suggest looking into ``The Devil and Miss Prym`` for temptation, ``Eleven Minutes`` for love and ``The Zahir`` for obsession. And also do not forget to digest the take away from each experience.

Keep on writing interesting travelogues.
(Note: I am positive that your narrative is far more positive than the place itself. Personally, I would never venture out to travel to any of those areas. I simply dislike the environment and culture. )

Z

#44, aasif - On a side note, kudos to chinese shoe makers of kidRus, as their shoes survived the desert of arabia.
hahahaha
atif, without those shoes you would not have been able to live to tell the tale. let us have of those miracle workers!

aimie # 43 - ``i wish i could write a proper comment about your article but am too involved in my dissertation that words that may appear now would be; hegemonic brandscape, starbucks, globalization and so forth. others words will just falter right now. ``

aimie, why dont you be honest for once in your life and tell me straight out that whenever you are interacting with me you become nervous and at loss for words? See, that would be much easier than coming up with all these excuses such as ``disseration`` :)

aasif # 44 - ``On a side note, kudos to chinese shoe makers of kidRus, as their shoes survived the desert of arabia``

hahahha...Actually I had written a para about my shoes in this article but then i took it out since it was making the article too long. What happened was that in all my wisdom I went into the desert with my usual hiking shoes. Little did I know that that was about the worst choice I could make. While walking in the sand, you have to pretty much take your shoes off every 20 steps to take out the sand that fills in them. I then looked around the tents to see if there were any extra pair of chappal type shoes that bedus wear. I did find a few, but then I ran into my usual problem: they were much smaller than my foot size. yeah, having a large foot size has its problems.

Re: # 42 True that! geopolitics and finance does play a major role, but even among the rich class of Pakistanis I am afraid this sort of fervor is extinct. Our ultimate goal in life is a life of complete luxury, and exploration is just too painstaking an activity.
And must I thank ZahraJ for highlighting another crucial factor in #45: ``Personally, I would never venture out to travel to any of those areas. I simply dislike the environment and culture.`` When the `elite` class which has got all the resources to partake in such activities and who, quite hypocritically, otherwise claims to be the torch-bearer of indiscrimination, has this sort of mentality, who can you put the blame on?