A trip to Sheikhupura

On Saturday, the whole team from the IWMI office here went on a trip to Sheikhupura.

Actually, we did not go to the city (which is extremly busy with lots of people on the streets and roads blocked by traffic) but to the nearby park, Hiran Minar. There, Mughal emperor Jehangir built an estate with an artificial lake and some nice buildings including one grave for his favourite deer (!).


From left to right: Shumaila, Qaiser, Yusuf, Waqas, myself, Rashid and Sadia (Shaukat, who was also with us, is not on the picture)




We had a stroll around the lake












and I enjoyed the nearby forrest, the first I've seen in a long time.












After a picnic close to a busy children's playground












we rounded off the afternoon with a little tour in a rowing boat.










It was a really nice day.

Holiday in Pakistan

Please have a look at this really nice article. A refreshing break from the never ending old Pakistan-stories about terrorists-and-veiled-women-and-religious-fundamentalists-
taking-over-the-nuklear-bomb.
There's so much more to Pakistan!!!

Rural Punjab

Last Friday, Qaiser (my collegue and translator) and I went for a little motorbike ride after finishing early with the work in one of our research villages. We just followed the road and enjoyed the countryside as we headed west into Jhang District.

Thanks to it's irrigation system (combined, the irrigation systems of the Indian and Pakistani parts of Punjab are the biggest in the world), Punjab is a very green Province. Before this system was built, the area around Faisalabad was known for its dust storms.

As we travelled away from the city area, we entered a very different Punjabi world. Houses made of mud, people riding on horses, a checkpost at a village where cars were stopped to pay a fee (Qaiser said he hadn't seen this for a very long time) but also some new health centres and schools. As the sun sank lower, Qaiser recommended heading back as he doesn't consider the area safe after sunset (roadside robbers).

Headlocks and Cricket

Things in Pakistan are moving fast these days (at least when it comes to politics). One of the latest developments was that Imran Khan, a cricket-star-turned-politician was arrested. In talks to friends here at Pakistan, I had got the impression that he's one of the few politicians who aren't considered to be corrupt. Even though he most probably wouldn't play a big role in an election, his arrest was quite significant. He had been hiding from the police for eleven days (many opposition leaders were arrested after the declaration of the state of emergency). This did not prevent him from talking to foreign newspapers like the BBC though. The circumstances of his arrest are as strange as sad. Apparently, he wanted to address a demonstration at Punjab University in Lahore. There, he was more or less violently kidnapped by members of the Jamaat Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamist party. They then handed him over to policemen waiting outside the university gate.

The whole affair shows how much different parts of the opposition are at odds with each other. The Islamists are not very strong however and one ray of hope was news of an understanding between Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif of cooperating towards ending the present situation.

While our lives here continue to be more or less unaffected by the political situation, from the news I get the impression that there will be some change soon. If Musharraf doesn't lift the state of emergency and goes ahead with the January 9 elections, these will most probably boycotted by the biggest opposition parties. This will not help him in regaining the trust of the Pakistanis and his supporters abroad (especially the US). The latter play a very decisive role as the Pakistani army has been receiving billions of dollars per year in military aid. If the US government should come to the conclusion that Musharraf is more of an obstacle than a help in creating stability (and in the notorious war on terrorism) then they do have some leverage over him.

Anyway, many people here are so fed up with politics that they are much more interested in today's cricket match against India.

Sad and funny things

Yesterday, Mr. Musharraf had a new surpise for us: he announced there will be general elections before 9 January. Of course, the question is if and how there can be free and fair elections with many of the opposition leaders in jail or under house arrest and the media still restricted...

Ms Bhutto has been manoeuvring back and forth in the last weeks. Sometimes she seemed to favour a deal with Musharraf and sometimes to get tough and call her followers to the roads for a big ralley against him. Honestly, I find it a tragedy that somebody like her should be the alternative to a Musharraf-dictatorship!

For something funnier click here.

State of Emergency 2

No real news from here. The situation continues to be calm for us personally but terrible for Pakistan. I've talked to many people in the last couple of days and don't remember one person who was in favour of the steps taken by Musharraf. Today, I saw a lot of police in front of the main court in Faisalabad but otherwise, there's no real change to be seen. However, there's a strange atmosphere all around us.

I know that a whole avalanche of media information is rolling over people outside the country. In contrast, here the fact that many tv stations have gone off the air means that rumours are rife. For a brief time, we believed an SMS telling us that Musharraf had been arrested. Internet works, though, so within minutes we could check and find out that this wasn't the case.
While many lawyers are protesting, I didn't hear about any demonstrations by students and the atmosphere at the university wasn't different today than before the State of Emergency.

In case you're not fed up with news, here are two links that I find worthwhile:

an interview with the Guardian's Pakistan correspondent, Declan Walsh

and

a collection of voices from people in Pakistan

State of Emergency

Since yesterday, we're in a state of emergency declared by President Musharraf. He cites various reasons for taking this step. However, many observers believe that he's afraid of a High Court ruling against his new term as a president. Like many people here, I find the situation quite nebulous. We'll see how things develop. At the moment, the only effect on our life here at the Faisalabad office is that some tv channels have gone off the air.

Here's a link to a BBC article. Not only the article itself but also the comments of different people in Pakistan are interesting. Many say that the politicians are totally detached from the majority of the population and that the latter feel they have no say at all in political affairs. During many talks here, I got the impression that most people are rather disillusioned and many are not interested in politics.

Since the foundation of the country in 1947, there has been mostly "democracy" marred by corruption or (somewhat less corrupt) military dictatorships. The latest dictatorship, under Musharraf, hasn't been the worst time for the country. But these aren't great choices...

A good brief overview of the history of Pakistan's politics can be found here.

Lahore

Lahore is one of the legendary cities of the subcontinent. The old capital of the Punjab, it has always been a centre of culture and trade.


In the old city, one can still imagine how it must have been a hundred or two hundred years ago. Strolling throught the roads and alleys there, one always get lost (part of the fun) and then all of a sudden stands in front of a huge gate or a mosque like the beautiful





Mosque of Wazir Khan. A bit like mosques in Iran with its tiles. And quite different from















the biggest and most famous mosque of Lahore, the Badshahi Mosque. One of the most famous examples of the Mughal style of architecture. Awesome!

Land reforms

Land reforms are one of the most important issues for poor people in many countries. At the moment, a peaceful march is moving slowly but steadily towards New Delhi to remind the government of its promises.

Here are some links about Janadesh that I find worthwhile:

pictures,

an audioreport (including an interview with one of the main organisers of the march) and

an article in the Guardian,

another one to a BBC article,

and here one to the homepage of Jahadesh

Great to see these people getting active in a peaceful way!

Eid ul Fitr in Pakistan's Northwest

During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. Some people told me that the experience of neither eating nor drinking for such a long time is supposed to give everybody (especially the rich people) an idea of what it means to be poor. Various groups of people don't have to observe the fast, for example travellers, ill people, pregnant women and children. As a non-Muslim, I'm also not obliged to fast.

The holiday with which the month of Ramadan ends is called Eid (pronounced as 'eed') ul Fitr. Most people try to spend it with their families. I was invited to come with Waqas, my collegue and friend from the Faisalabad office, to his hometown Topi in the Northwest.

Most people living in this part of Pakistan are Pathans. One of the things Pathans are famous for is their legendary hospitality.


During the week there, I went from one invitation to the next and was served lots of (nice) food.











Together with my Pathan friends, I listened to good music,








roasted maize cobs
















and visited the town of Topi














and its surroundings.
















Something I enjoyed very much was the fact that people on the streets didn't recognise me as a foreigner. Even the children didn't pay much attention when I passed by. Apparently, I look like a person from the Northwest (especially when I wear my Pathan hat, called Pakol)...

Amritsar

The first Indian city I visited, Amritsar, is still my favorite one. Things I like include the great streetfood, the narrow roads of the old city and, of course, the Golden Temple.

This holy place of the Sikh religion is amazing! Surrounded by beautiful white buildings and situated in the holy lake, the Golden Temple is the place where Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs, is kept during daytime (for the night, it is brought to another site close by). It contains this religion’s holy songs which are played by musicians inside the Golden Temple. The music is transmitted through speakers to the outside and contributes to the very special and peaceful atmosphere of the place.

As Amritsar is very close to the Indian-Pakistani border, I come here often when travelling from one country to the other. I always reserve a few hours for sitting by the lake near the Golden Temple.

This time, I was there at the birthday of Guru Ram Das, the founder of the city of Amritsar. This is one of the biggest holidays there so the temple and it's surroundings were full of people.

Pakistan

This is also Pakistan.

Short round trip in the South

I'm just back from a few days travelling in the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Still tired but it was great!







The first stop was Tirupathi, a lovely town in its own right but much more well known for being the base for trips to Tirumala.


















From Tirupathi, there's a great footpath with 4000 steps (some pilgrims put red and orange paint on each step on their way up) climbing up the hill.

After three hours on the footpath (during which I met some very friendly guys who had been to Tirumala before and could explain me many things), I reached Tirumala where the temple devoted to Lord Venkateshwara is located. The atmospere there is very intense with pilgrims chanting, buying coconuts, flowers and other puja (offering) items. Many have their heads shaved bald which symbolises the renouncement of their ego. Even by Indian standards, the area around the temple gets extremely crowded. However, as everything is very well organised, things go relatively smoothly. Inside the temple, though, the going gets rougher as one approaches the inner sanctuary with the statue. I was glad I'm taller than the average person in the crowd so I could at least breathe more or less freely while I waited in the queue inside the temple for about two or three hours. I had not realised it would take this long but once I was inside, the only way out was through the temple and forward. The atmosphere inside was incredible, people screaming "Govinda, Govinda" and pressing even harder as we moved towards the statue (actually, I only got a glimpse on the statue before I was pushed out again). After getting out safely, I was given two big holy Laddus (a very rich sweet with nuts, butter and lots of sugar) before returning, tired and happy, to Tirupathi.

The next destination on my trip was Mysore. I had heard a lot about the city, many people claim it's the most beautiful city of the whole country. And it is nice (even Amritsar remains my favorite city in India)! I wasn't really in the mood for sightseeing so I spent the first day strolling through the roads of the old city.

There's beautiful old houses...













... a great fruit market..

















... and nice cars.















And then, there's the famous Maharaja Palace. Built in the early 20th century after the old palace burnt down. A bit kitschy for my taste but still really nice, especially from the outside.

Ganesha festival

Ganesha, the elephant god, is one of the most popular Hindu deities. The Ganesha festival, which usually takes place in September in Hyderabad, is one of the highlights of the year.



From what I was told, the ancient tradition was to form a Ganesha statue out of clay, worship it for 11 days and then immerse it in Hussainsagar Lake. The statue would then dissolve in the water.

In the meantime, things have changed a bit and instead of small clay figures, Ganesha statues made from plast of Paris dominate the szene. In fact, there seems to be a competition about who has the biggest and most beautiful Ganesha statue. We've see Ganesha statues of different colors, sizes and shapes. People take great pride in their neighborhood's or family's Ganesha and posters with the photos of the local Ganesha committee members decorate the villages of our research area.

The other side of the coin, however, is the pollution caused by the chemicals that are used to form and paint the statues.

The final day of the festival was 25 September, the office was closed on that day. Of course, the best place to go would have been Hussainsagar Lake but we decided not to go there. The traffic situation is bad even on normal days but on that day, going to the city centre would have meant hours in traffic jams. We had heard that in the previous year, a million people had been at the lake.

Instead, we went to a place where many statues pass on their way to Hussainsagar Lake. People were already sitting and standing along the road awaiting the procession of Ganeshas on trucks. In one place, a Ganesha committee had set up a platform and a big sound system. The atmosphere there was great! On top of the drumming from the guys accompanying the trucks with the Ganesha statues, there was earpiercing pop music.

Last week in Hyderabad

After a busy and interesting month in Hyderabad, I'm now counting the days here.

Next week, I want to travel to Kerala and then take a plane from Hyderabad to Amritsar. From there, it's just about an hour to the Pakistani border. My first stop in Pakistan will be Lahore where I want to say hello to the collegues at the IWMI (International Water Management Institute) office there and visit a friend.

After I left Pakistan just before Eid last year, I really wanted to spend this special day in Pakistan this year. Waqas, my collegue from Faisalabad, invited me to spend it with him and his family. I'm really looking forward to this!