How I Introduced My Fiance to Pakistan!

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How I introduced my fiance to Pakistan | World news | The Guardian

'I bet you didn’t think there were places like this in Pakistan?" my cousin asked, waving the first glowstick I had seen in a decade. I had come on a family holiday to introduce my fiance to Pakistan, and somehow we had ended up at an all-night rave in a farmhouse outside Lahore. Only gun-toting guards and sleepy drivers waiting for their teenage charges gave away the party.
I had been worried about how my English boyfriend would cope with his first visit to the subcontinent and the huge number of relatives he needed to meet before our wedding in August. He was more worried about being a tourist in what the Economist has decreed the “most dangerous country in the world”, and the fact that my mum had (half-jokingly) refused to pay any ransom if he was kidnapped.
It’s true Pakistan isn’t trouble-free. During celebrations for the Prophet’s birthday, fears of sectarian violence kept us indoors. Just a few days after we visited the beautiful Mughal city of Lahore, a suicide bomber killed at least 13 people. A week later a six-year-old British boy was kidnapped. And everyone in sprawling, turbulent Karachi, where we were based, seemed to have a story to tell about being mugged at gunpoint.
But despite my cousins warning that everyone would assume my fiance was “from the CIA or Blackwater”, his presence only sparked a flood of people wanting to practise their English. On a trip to the India/Pakistan border to watch a flag-lowering ceremony he ended up the main attraction with crowds of local men desperate to take photographs of this exotic visitor.
In between all the sight-seeing visits there was lots and lots of shopping. My fiance sent some desperate texts when he was led off to buy his wedding outfit, a sherwani (collarless coat) over baggy trousers. “Help!” came his message. “They’re trying to buy me a turban and a coat covered in diamanté.” Meanwhile, I fretted over sari designs.
Finally my cousins showed us the side of Pakistan that is missed by the headlines of terrorist training camps and religious extremists: the constant round of parties, dances – and, of course, glowsticks.

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Re: How I Introduced My Fiance to Pakistan!

Yes Ms. Khaleeli, Pakistan is all about glowsticks, saris, and dances :rolleyes:

When my friends visited the country with me, I showed them the serenity of Ziarat, the steaming hot chai and nans of Q-Khwani, sunrise at Fasial Masjid, and the tomb of Quaid-E-Azam. Surprisingly these ‘safed’ friends were more drawn to these little tidbits of my Pakistani heritage, and even more surprisingly, they did not have the urge to break out the glowsticks or hit the pub - instead they took it all in with a curious and open mind.

My bonds with these friends were really strengthen by this trip, because for once they saw this small side of me that had been obscured. Some have gone back several times, and they have come to love the place. True Pakistan lies on it’s uniquness and rich history, no need to pander to the West.

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What interests foreigners about Pakistan is not what is the same as in the west, but what is different. And the warmth of the hospitality -- I don't know of any place in America or Britain that can match it.

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Re: How I Introduced My Fiance to Pakistan!

^ spot on!

but i have to laugh about the OPs comment of how people met her fiance to practice their english … i had the same! so true!

pakistani shops and the salesmen are so so much more courteous than those in america or england. and if a gora happens to walk in a pakistani store … the respect meets no limit … in one of the shops, the guy actually kept saying “most respected sir” at the beginning of each sentence! :rotfl:

and also, when foreigners go to pakistan, they are more interested in what they havent seen before … and pakistani culture/heritage is definitely unique!

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Re: How I Introduced My Fiance to Pakistan!

stupid article . thats all there is to pakistan right.... yes.. show a foreign visitor the wannabe pak and not the true essence of it

losers

my husband came down to pak for our wedding with 4 *cant get any whiter and blonder and blue eyed' danes ever.

he didnt show them the club scene nor park towers nor any area of pak that was tainted by riddance of culture and acceptance of everything tat made it look odd.

nor did the danes want to see all that.. if they did, well they may as well have stayed in denmark.

when a foreigner comes to a foreign country, tehy want to see whats so good about THAT country, its own culture, traditions, essence.

they got down and dirty and travelled by the bus, taxi, rickshaw (which was not easy since scandanavians are known to be giants), they went to kimari, took a boat ride with teh fishers, did a dance with some hijray who are rapdily increasing in our desi land, and man the stories they had to tell of places that even i , as a paki, havent been to in pakistan!
my husband was soo worried that they would get robbed, kidnapped, attacked, or worse, have such a horrible exp that they would think everything they saw on tv, in teh news on cnn .. everything was true

thankfully.... they had such a wonderful time that they actually tell stories now whenever we get together... they are dyin to go back and begging all their friends to get married in pak cuz they foudn the weddings there so full of culture and heritage and traditions.

im sure if they had seen the nungay putangay wannabe goray of desiland... they would have turned right around and asked the mr ' so why the cry over all this when it happens in denmark?? '

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Re: How I Introduced My Fiance to Pakistan!

[mod] refrain from personal attacks, thanks [/mod]

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Re: How I Introduced My Fiance to Pakistan!

[mod] Please refrain from personal attacks [/mod]