I’m an Indian male (living in Australia).
I’m feeling the urge to visit Peshawer (the land of my parents).
Any advise to the " do’s & don’ts "while’st there.
Re: Do's & don'ts
ahem.................. what?
Re: Do's & don'ts
Your an indian but your parents are from peshawar. did they move after the partition?
Are you a hindu?
Please be more specific on what kind of info you want
Re: Do's & don'ts
Dress in shilwar kameez....be respectful and dn't make eye contact with women...
Re: Do's & don'ts
IF your a hindu, be careful as to not diss Islam at all, Peshawaris for the most part are religous people. Do be respectful as amelie has said. Do compliment people.
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Amelie, shows how much you know about peshawar then. The guy is trying to fit in ffs. Eye contact with women is a must :p
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Thanks guys (& gals)-yes I am Hindu and my mothers family was settled in Peshawer.
They came as refugees to Delhi by train, after Independence of Pakistan, due to the killings of Hindu's & Sikh's there. (thats another interesting story)
Mom was 16 then, and she had completed her FA from Jesus & Mary college.
My Grandparents & mother loved Peshawer, and always spoke about it.
Thats the reason I want to visit Peshawer/Pakistan.
Re: Do's & don'ts
^ Chances are its not how your mom left it.
They just passed the Hisbah bill in NWFP. This might not be the best time to go, since they're trying to Talibanize the province, and therefore are boldly challenging national authority.
Re: Do's & don'ts
**Do: **THINK
**Don't: **GO
:)
Just kidding, well it doesn't really matter if you are Hindu or a Sikh as long as you respect their values(even if you encounter few strange things) and be friendly with people. Just because they are religious does not mean that you will not be welcomed, you will surely enjoy their hospitality.
GOOD LUCK!!!!
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want me to tell you a 100 “interesting stories” about how hindus and sikhs killed muslims living on the indian side? i sure know more stories than you do cz my grand parents suffered and left everything migrate to pakistan to save their lives. all the property they owned, their homes, each and every belonging, memories, pictures, documents, cloths. my dad told me that they did not even pick things to use they might need travelling to pakistan cz the only thing they were worried about was THEIR LIVES. just reaching pakistan with all the family members alive was what was important and not anything else which they left behind.
and would you like to know how they saw the trains full of dead bodies of muslims with blood flowing out? would you like to know how they slaughtered muslim pregnant women and their unborn chilldren? would you like to know a little about the open massacre of muslims??? i dont know sh!t about my ancestors, who they were, what they did cz we have nothing on papers or anything to give me a hint cz they came to pakistan empty handed.
and do you know what my father says? he has no complaints about what happened and all the loss. he has so many sikh and hindu friends and he treats them like brothers. this is a “muslim’s heart”.
interesting stories indeed.
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PCG, what are you talking about? Ive not read the news for many days. What’s going on in Pakistan? This is scary what I’ve just read. Why are they doing it? Who’s asking for it?
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^ WTH is that gammay?
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TheNewWannaBe: This "Madness" was the same on both sides-and so was the forgiveness.
One of the interesting stories, I wanted to share: My Mamaji after completing his studies in UK, joined the British Civil services as Asst DC. During the 1st Independence day of Pakistan-he had saluted the new Pakistan flag.
If communal killings had'nt gone out of control-guess what, Mom would have proably been married in Peshawer and I would have been a Pakistani.!!
Re: Do's & don'ts
take a good mouth wash cause after eating onions u mite need it a lot and try not to see how they chapli kebaab or seekh kebab it mite look gross. watch for pot holes. etc etc yaar i have to write a book!
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PCG & others- thanks for your advise.
Anyone on GS from Peshawer?
Re: Do's & don'ts
Malhot,
It is not that bad at all. There are plenty of Sikhs in Peshawar. They have both big and small shops in the Karkhano (Industrial) area market.
Nobody will harass you, unless, you try to incite someone. Someone said you should wear Shalwar Kameez. That is up to you. It is not necessary at all. The atmosphere of Peshawar is very different from what it was a decade ago. The security situation is not bad at all. It is not dangerous to walk the streets at all, even at the night time.
Someone said potholes! Main roads of Peshawar are generally better than those in other cities of Pakistan. Thanks to one of our late Governors. They are starting to deteriorate a bit because of the negligence of the current MMA government in the province.
If you have friends there, you can take a trip to Landi Kotal and Torkham and see the tribal ways of living. Very interesting. Otherwise, there are many places to visit nearby Peshawar. The ancient ruins at Takht Bhai are about an hour drive from Peshawar. Inside the city you can visit the famous Peshawar Fort. If you have time, go and visit the Peshawar University as well. It has beautiful old architecture with lush green lawns. Two of the oldest colleges of Pakistan are in Peshawar (Islamia college and Edwardes college). The students of both these colleges took active participation for gathering the support of the people during the partition.
Peshawaris are meat lovers. I don't know how strong a Hindu are you. But the Karahis and ucha tikka (dry ribs) of Namak Mandi (Old Salt Market) are a delicacy no where else to be found. There are number of fast food shops there as well. Chief Burgers being the most famous. There is one KFC as well, if you are interested. Eating wise, there are a few good restaurants in the city. I recommend Shiraz which serves variety of Pakistan, PseudoChinese and PseudoContinental dishes. I used pseudo because all taste very different from their original taste and are catered to suit the Pakistani taste.
There is plenty of fresh vegetable and fruit shops around the city. However, there is little price control on it. You can easily get charged a lot more than their current price.
There are plenty of ways of transports in the city. First rikshaws (a three wheeled taxi) are available, though their numbers have decreased recently. Yellow cabs are available, though their condition is generally not good. Local buses and mini-vans are a plenty. You can rent a car as well, with or without a chauffer.
The old city, I think where you would be visiting, has not changed much. However, because the narrow lanes are still there, you will definitely get stuck in traffic jams. The traffic jam is the worst in the morning when children are going to school and people are going to their offices.
People of N-W.F.P were famous for their hospitality. I don't think they are anymore. You do get Kahwa (sweet coffee) and cold drinks when you for shopping but not much otherwise. Well! Again if you know someone there, they won't even let you spend a single penny while your stay.
Peshawar has an international airport. There are plenty of flights arriving into Peshawar from the Middle East. So if you flying into Pakistan from Dubai, you can actually fly directly into Peshawar. Other flights come from Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Saudi Arabia.
Temperature wise, it has the extremes. Summers are very hot and winters are pretty cool. We have very nice autumns and springs as well. Again I would reiterate here that the summers are very hot. Most of the Moon Soons winds dry up before they reach this region leaving it very hot and humid in the late summer. Early summer, June and July are really hot (up to 47 degC) and dry. August and half of September are hot and humid!! After that the start of autumn is very pleasant.
The people of the region are generally good looking. I would say without any hesitation, the most beautiful girls of the country are from this region. However, consider them totally out of bounds. You might not see too many in the streets anyways.
There is more to the city than just this. I shall add if I am able to find more time.
Happy touring.
Re: Do's & don'ts
WitchDr: Thanks for your detailed email.
My grandparents & mom have passed away, but they always spoke lovingly about Peshawer(they called it Peshoor), they spoke Punjabi in a different way(Hindiko?). My parents stayed in Peshawer Cantt.
Eating wise-I am a non-vegetarian (though I try not to eat Beef).
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Even If U Are Not Muslim Still Take An Sworn Oath That U Are Not Taleban, So When U Come Back From Peshawar No Agency Bother U!
Re: Do’s & don’ts
They are doing it because they promised it to the people of the NWFP during their election campaign. Promisingg to Talibanise the NWFP was part of the campaign that got the MMA elected there.
Frankly, I’m all in favour of it since that’s what the people there clearly want. It’s nice to see a political party actually keep its election promises, and denying them the right to enact these powers would be denying democracy to the NWFP.
It’s just not right to say “You can elect your own local government, but they aren’t allowed to run the province as the people of the province want”.