Pakistan Travelogue II

What??.No ``Krispy Kreme`` franchise??.Where will the wealthy and the well heeled of lahore spend their money?.I`m gonna move there and open one.The rest of this narrative can be summed up in one word ,BORING!!!!.YAWN.

Stuka, you were too formal in writing this piece. In effort to be diplomatic, I guessed you avoided writing so many of your experiences. What I was waiting from you is that what did you feel about Lahore otherwise places and their formal descriptions are already known to most of us.

About most of your part with YLH and co, I feel that they behaved like some marketing professionals trying to show the positive aspects of the country. I am sure your experiences at Minar e Pakistan, BaghbanPura, Mughalpura etc might have given you a different picture. Did you notice number of drug addicts lying around Minar e Pakistan? Any comments over poverty? Did you feel the difference of lifestyles for ``Dunkin Donuts`` and Pathoora eating Lahoris ? While you felt that liberty, Gulberg or Cantt looks like Singapore, how does Baghbanpura looks like? I expected you to discuss all this as well alongwith a few good things you observed while your stay in Lahore...

Charlie...

We knew this accusation would be hurled at us by ignorant fanatics like you... so from Day1 we made sure stuka got to see both sides... we put him up at a very lower/lower middle class area (mostly inhabited by household workers) and where he slept on the floor ...

Had you read the first travelogue you would know that within 2 hours of his arrival ... we took Stuka to the old city... out of the confines of old Lahore.This accusations that people like you keep levelling against me ... is just wrong.

It is indicative of a sad mentality. What you fail to realize is that YLH is a pathoora eating Lahori much more so than the infrequent trips he makes to Dunkin Donuts (My Last visit to Dunkin Donuts was in 2003)

I find it extremely difficult to believe that people like charlie are unable to read what is written...

Thanks Stukes for writing this...

This proves ... contrary to the comments by the linguistically challenged charlie.... that we didn`t put up any show or marketing job for you.... but simply showed you the real thing in all its glory as well as tragic darkness....

Now... ofcourse idiots and nay sayers will make a lot of rumpus and nonsense about the trip...

But facts are facts... and unlike an old NWFP politician`s ``facts``... they really are sacred.

parag:

a really honest piece of writing. seems like you`ve written simply what you`ve felt. I`m sure yasser and his wife, sobia, rozaiba, feroz and haroon gave you the best of company. i was told of the dinner but missed it...was a bit tied up. its great you had a good time!

Charlie: buzz off!

The way, this travelogue has been written, an ordinary reader can easily come to the conclusion that Stuka avoided describing negatives and even if he mentioned them, he mentioned that way: ``well! it was like sikh day rally`` etc...

Manto, I know it is very easy to criticize the efforts you made for ensuring that Stuka feels real touch of Lahore. People find hundreds of ways to criticize even the ``holiest`` acts. While your attitude was that of a blind patriot who was trying to prove another Indian`s biased travelogues as garbage. So, I think we can forgive you for your innocent ``crime``. ;)

#6 Chal Bay Charlie! Buzz off ka order aa gaya hay....

Charlie :) yaar the guy had a good time. lets just leave it at that and not dissect it to the teeniest atomic level that has become a norm here.

#8 OK! Point noted. :)

Off Topic:
#5 But facts are facts... and unlike an old NWFP politician`s ``facts``... they really are sacred.

Who was that politician? Someone related to Gandhi? ;)

Re: # 7

The criticism that you have levelled is wrong and false...

Because I did not in any way try to play up Lahore.... nor did Fraz etc...

I don`t care if you think I am a blind patriot... the image that has emerged from Stuka`s travels just proves that he saw all sides of the picture....

stuka:

This piece refreshed memories of my own trip last year. You visited some of the same places my wife and I did. It`s unfortunate that the Museum was closed, it`s a real treasure they have in there. If the Sindhi Hindu you met at Dera Saheb (also known as Ranjit Singh di Marhi/samadhi) was wearing a s(h)alwar kameez and looked like a pathan, then he is the one who showed us around the gurudwara as well.

I wonder if you paid the Pakistani or Foreigner`s price for the ticket for admission to Shalimar Gardens? In our case, the receptionist recognised from my wife`s style of salwar-kameez that she was not Pakistani.

I hope that the Indians will react more benignly to this part. I think that they will.

And what about Heera Mandi?

Re: # 11

DM you ask a rather pointed question. Think stuka left that for the dives in Schipols (as he confessed on day on Up in a convo long time back - esp when talking of elections and erections!)

Now you should really be asking him to compare the dives around amsterdam and hira mandi - that would be a good piece....

The moral of the story is - Stuka enjoyed his trip to Pakistan. His writing was dubbed boring, non patriotic, etc. by Injuns, and Pakis jumped on Injuns for that.

I think Veeresh`s were more interesting. What if he added a little ``masala``?

Stuka,
Nice article, I liked part-I better though.
What would Vegetarian people do for Food in Lahore? It is nice to know that Rozaiba is a man.
Dera Sahib Gurudwara reminds me of the murder of Sikh Woman, Men and Children right under the Takhat by Razakdars in 1947, as told by my relatives. I wonder if someone mentioned this to you??

Stuka in his article : `` Lahore is like Singapore``

Later in the interacts Stuka clarifies : ``Parts of Lahore are like Singapore`` (the Heera Mandi part and the Donkin`Donut part)

Impression one gets from reading Stuka`s travelogue : `` Pakistan is a land of milk and honey and zero poverty. ``

Later in the interacts Stuka clarifies ..``well I exaggerated because Pakistan wasn`t as much a cesspool of poverty as I thought it would be. So I made it into a Singapore``.

Manto in his gushing response `` Hahaha....did you just read what Stuka wrote !! Repeat after me. Veeresh is a liar.Liar. Veeresh is old. Very old. Veeresh is a crook. Crook.And Pakistan manufactures cars that are a 1000 times better than anything India has ever made...cars like the Sitara , Pride of Pakistan
And KSE index just crossed 1000001 !!! ``

Sobia , Fara , Ash , Mrs.Manto and other `gorgeous` Pakistani beauties (chorus) : `` PARAG WE LOVE YOU !! WILL YOU MARRY US !!!``

Also, In Stukas writing I noticed the typical SubContinental trait of
attacking something that is easy to attack while making amends with the opponent you are trying to patch and scoring a point.

In this case, lightly attacking the Jamat`s rally(nobody listening to the speaker etc)and praising Lahoris indirectly by (going about there lives), simultaneously comparing it with Baisakhi Day parade in NY and denigerating Sikh Day Parade (not paying attention to the speakers.)

I have been going to the Sikh Day parade in NY for the last 14 years. I can say with surity that for the most part of it. There is Kirtan singing by different contingents, Gadka playing and plays etc. Dash for the Food only happens after the main part is over. Maybe that is when Stuka came for when he attended it(since he obviously likes food).

He has been very careful in his writings with his calculated words of praise for ``LAHORIS`` not ``PAKISTANIS``.

Anyhow, I am glad he had fun on account of some Chowkies based in Pakistan.