Lahore-ing the streets
on Pak'd Off (Pakistan), 29/Nov/2007 16:02, 34 days ago
Hello and greetings from smoggy Lahore!If you read my previous blog entry, you’ll be happy to hear that I have finally arrived in a place that I’m actually quite content to call “home” for the next year.Since the last entry I have been killing time in Islamabad waiting for VSO to arrange a new placement for me, an experience that yoyo-ed between the utterly tedious and the downright surreal. Sitting, staring, sleeping, scab-picking and going to Macdonald’s feature among the low-lights from last week whilst the stranger events range from intervening in the treatment of a mentally ill VSO volunteer, to playing pool with unnerving ex-pat characters at the UN cluband shortly afterwards, having to fend off a very touching but nonetheless unrequited marriage proposal from a determined Pakistani suitor (yes, really). Pictures of that week arehere.I’m writing this from my lovely new habitat in the Lahore Airforce colony which I share with Mary one of the volunteers I arrived with and a very good housemate indeed. I arrived here on Friday evening at around 6pm and by 7 I was out the door with Maryand her colleague Rashid being shown the sights of Lahore including Liberty market which is like heaven for magpies like me. By that I mean that the shops are stocked high with sparkly shoes and accessories, spangly jewellery, colourful material and trimmings to take to a tailor in thebasement and have your outfit made to your very own dimensions.Having already decided that Lahore is indeed a city after my own heart, Rashid, a self-confessed Shrek look-a-like with a very dry, sarcastic sense of humour, took Mary and me to a pre-wedding party (called a Mehndi). We arrived as part of a procession of women with floral bracelets, the men dancing upfront to the beat of some high-octane drumming.The procession ended in an enormous marquee filled with pink sofas and decorated with flowers and fairy lights (see picture). All of the guests were dressed in their finery whilst Mary and I looked sheepish and dowdy in our smart/casual Salwar Kameez. However, people were still keen to welcome us to the party and there followed lots of eating and dancing to Punjabi techno.Therest of the weekend brought more fun and frolics with Rashid, his friend Faisal and the other VSO volunteers; Sarah and her new flatmate Canadian Cat and Carmel who had come to visit us from Multan. On Sunday we went to Rothas Fort. I can’t say I learnt anything about the place or the purpose it served but it looked pretty cool and here's a picture. In the evening we went to a famous restaurant called Cocoos on the outskirts of the city which is in the home of an artist whose name escapes me. But if anyone saw the programme about Pakistan that was on during the BBC’s India/Pakistan season, you will have seen him interviewed - he’s the dude who paints the prostitutes.We sat on the roof terrace which overlooks Bad Shahi Mosque and ate some very fine tikka. If any of you turkeys can spare the time to visit me, I will take you there and show you how amazing it is and not only for the charming company (yes, me). And for those of you who don’t come to visit, here is a picture of the view – it’s nowhere near as good as the real thing, but that serves you right for not wanting to visit me, you bastards.Needless to say I was pretty bowled over by my introduction to Lahore and I apologise for gushing slightly but I do feel that it balances out the negativity of my previous blog entry quite nicely. You can se pictures of my first weekend in LahorehereOn Monday I started my placement at the AIDS Awareness Society or AAS. Unfortunately it is generally accepted, by the director, volunteers and partners that the pronunciation of the organisation’s name should sound something like “arse”. So I spent most of my first day struggling to maintain a perfectly blank expression in the face of such gems as “so, arse gave birth to two other HIV/AIDS organisations in Lahore…” and, whilst cutting a cake bought in my honour, “Welcome to arse!”. Hector who is the director of AAS and pretty much the only person who works there, wants me to help establish some regular funding. In addition to stressing as to how on earth I’m going to do that with all none of my years of experience in fundraising, I’m also wondering how/when/if I should tell Hector that he really needs to start referring to the NGO as A.A.S. if we’re going to be taken seriously by potential donors, especially the UK-based ones. Eek!After two days of awkward sitting-doing-nothing, face-composure and thumb-twiddling around the general vicinity of AAS, I decided to go and watch the theatre group volunteers rehearsing their play which is aimed at educating youth on HIV/AIDS issues. Before long I was invited to one volunteer’s sister’s wedding in January and serenaded by another volunteer who, having decided I look a bit like Kate Winslet (hmm), dedicated a rendition of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” from the Titanic movie with an accompaniment on the tablah. If you didn’t know, the tablah is like a double ended drum and it makes a noise like something small and heavy being dropped into deep water. Naturally, it goes without saying that I joined-in on all of the choruses.So that brings us up-to-date with life in Jo-land and that’s quite enough about me, how are you?