From Ramadan to conference in India

Planting trees with the Finns in India, article at Tulip Magazine

It has been almost 3 months since I wrote last time, so the time goes fast…well, one thing is for sure, life aint boring in Karachi…in first days of August, MQM leader got shot in Karachi, and due to riots and unrest in the city we were off work for couple of days, chilling out with interns and watching Twilight saga…unfortunately it was my friend’s birthday that day, so her birthday party got cancelled, but luckily we managed to have triple birthday on 6th August for her, me and my work colleague.



Our pretty birthday cake!

During those weeks Pakistan got a lot of negative attention due to the plane crash which killed about 150 people near Islamabad, MQM leader being killed and the devastating floods, when the President Zardari was away in London, and shoe was thrown at him as protest…I also got my share of Zardari protests, when I happened to walk in I-I Chundigarh Road, as there were no rikshas around, and wanted to go to my theatre rehearsals at Arts Council, and caught a riksha for few metres until we were made to stop at police barricades…there I was the only foreigner and woman around heavily-armed police, security guards, military with and a bunch of PPP supporters with bats, and never been stared at so much, but luckily one nice man, who turned to be a naval officer, noticed me alone in the street and escorted me to my theatre rehearsals, where I found out that these were protests against GEO for showing the Zardari shoe episode in London…long live media freedom!

The week after Islam’s Holy Month, Ramadan, started on 12th August, and after many talks and hesitation, I decided to try out fasting for the flood victims. The idea behind Ramadan is truly beautiful in that you are supposed to feel more connected to the nature, to your spirituality, and understand the suffering of others, and this time around Ramadan had more meaning behind it due to the immense floods in Pakistan. The first couple of days of no water and no food until the sunset were very easy to me, and felt very energetic, and ate only small dinner in the evenings (trying to avoid the overeating that generally happens during Ramadan), and didn’t even get up for saheri at dawn. Some of our interns from Turkey, Finland and Canada also tried out fasting, and then every day we broke the fast together and had iftar together at home or at restaurants. 14th August was Pakistan’s Independe Day, and generally people spend the day with their families, and you see a lot of flags everywhere, and have dinner at nice restaurant, and watch the fireworks, but this time around due to the floods, there were hardly no celebrations, and we only saw some people racing around in their motorbikes waving flags and small fireworks.

On 17th August I flied to Lahore to spend a day with another Finnish friend of mine, and we were still fasting together, and had a lovely dinner with friends for iftar…during Ramadan people generally spend more time with their families, and have more time for themselves, too, as people get off work earlier. The next day I flew to New Delhi, and my fasting that day turned out to be over 17hours, as my flight was delayed, and got stuck into passport control for 2hours due to my Pakistani visa, although visa on arrival should have been easiest thing in the world (only valid for Finland, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and Luxembourg, which are all small, neutral and rich countries)…and when I finally got out, my luggage had been cleared out, and tried everything to get hold of flight crew but in vain, and was speaking German with a lovely German couple who were stuck at airport, but finally got to my host family, and enjoyed lovely Indian dinner, and spent the next day looking for my luggage before heading to AIESEC conference in Hyderabad. I broke my fasting after 7 days, as India happens to be the promised country for vegetarians and couldn’t resist the yummy veggie food after the meat-dominated food in Pakistan.



Representing Pakistan in India

For 2 weeks I was interacting with people from over 100 countries and talking about world issues among the 600 delegates of the AIESEC International Congress in Hyderabad. Being a Finn, representing Pakistan, was very interesting for me, as many people (especially girls) came up to me to ask about life in Pakistan, and people were surprised of the incredible job opportunities in big MNCs, varied nature that Pakistan offers, the awesomely friendly, hospitable people…and was proudly wearing my Experience Pakistan Tshirt, spreading awareness about Pakistan and floods, discussing the solutions for the India-Pakistani conflict, dancing bangra with the locals, wearing shawar kamiz for the official dinner…India was almost like Pakistan…the landscape, architecture (except for Hindu temples), people, music, colours, clothes were similar than in Pakistan, but India was bigger, more crowded, more touristy, more Western than Pakistan…and felt right at home, although some of my European colleagues felt out of place with the chaotic infrastructure, honking rikshas, beggars, street vendors, spices etc…and after 10 days of staying in a beautiful 5 star hotel was really glad to be going to 32hour train journey from Hyderabad to New Delhi, and enjoyed the pretty landscapes and good company of my friends, and got to think about my life and happiness…after spending a day in New Delhi we travelled to Taj Mahal which was just as beautiful as in movies, and it was truly magical to see this romantic place, and my mind started to imagine the old times of Mughal emperors and his princesses in their fabulous clothes, walking around the pretty temple and the beautiful gardens…such a dreamy place built as a symbol for eternal love. The next day visited gorgeous Swaminarayan Akshardham temple, admired the amazing Hindu architecture, and watched the world go by whilst enjoying tasty samosas…and taking a riksha to Gandhi memorial, and watching little kids play, and looking at the cloud formations at the time of sun set and talking with my friends about the future we envision…