Open Email from Abbottabad

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(I found myself thinking I'd be writing this email in various forms to a number of people, so it's best to just type it once and have people read it as they're bored):

Hello!

Did you know there's martial law in Pakistan? i'm in this town called "abbottabad" to the north of islamabad. a guy yesterday said it was a "political" emergency situation... no tanks in the streets, no soldiers performing ID checks (my passport is at the embassy in Islamabad anyhow), nothing out of the ordinary.

the guy at the tourist office convinced me to stick around for a couple of days and then pick up my passport before heading north for the Real Stuff... said i should budget at least 3 weeks for that "and take plenty of money". sucks having no plan or ambition sometimes 😊

earlier today coming out of the internet cafe i ran into a crowd of people running away from something and covering their mouths, and then when i smelt tear gas (first time) i started running too.. like a burning sensation in the back of your nose. you should have seen how quickly they took down the shutters in front of the shops... they must have had a lot of practice with riots.

then i spent over an hour walking up and down the main street asking everyone who looked likely to speak english whether they knew how to get to this town called Thangiani... and, as expected, everyone pointed in an opposite direction, most of them pointing back towards where i've already been (and rejected).. then somebody told me to not try it today because i'd have a hard time coming back, so i was only too happy to give up and waste another hour at the internet 😊 it's *work*, you know... not pleasure 😊

i would never have thought i look pakistani, but apparently i do... you'd think this is the last place on earth where i'd be confused with "locals", but apparently my shalwar-kameez and hat, when combined with my new pakistani haircut and mustache (no photos, please) makes me unmistakably "pathan" (or pashtun, or pakhtun.. depending on who's talking). in reality that means people look at me like i must be retarded when i don't understand what they're saying in urdu or pushto or whatever language they're speaking.. like i ask someone how much bananas cost and he replies with some mumbled phrase which clearly isn't "bist" (20), yet he then charges me 20... someone help me out! sadly i know *zero* urdu.. but i still carry the "learn urdu" book around with me. maybe i'll stop at a park somewhere and do some urdu-studying today... it seems like a really difficult language, because most consonants can be "aspirated" and most vowels can be "nasal" and then there's the bizarreness of the script that doesn't seem to differentiate between a u/w and a d.. which is confusing.

india... i don't think i'll be going there for a while... i mean, there's probably at least another month's worth of stuff to see and do in Pakistan (3 weeks in the northern areas alone)... and i've been thinking it's funny how indians are supposed to be "cool" while everyone admits pakistanis are a little crazy, and liable to be suicide bombing terrorists... but in reality, it's all the same country, and they're the same kind of people (well.. inasmuch as indians are all "the same"), but they're regarded as two different classes of places. india: get lost and spend as much time as you can absorbing the unique culture... pakistan: get out as soon as possible, maybe do some trekking in the north, but that's it...
it's double standards! and i'll defend my pakistani brothers! 😊 pakistan zindabad!

i know... short and stupid, but then no-one's forcing you to read!

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Comments

[Takashi]

great admiration
dear Ozgur Can, you're such a great traveller, i like your stories.... and point of view Do you remember me ? I m the lost japanese you met in Tchad.... I still remember the painfull but great time we together had there. I looking forward to hearing or reading from you

[lisa]

Pashtun
Wow, just as I sent you a comment on your last entry, a new entry appeared. What good fortune. I smiled to myself when you said you are mistaken for a Pashtun. I remember looking at photos online of the Pashtun people and they are very striking. It does not surprise me at all that you are being confused for a "local" Good luck with your northern journeys.

[anonymous]

Hi, Glad to see you in the subcontinent. Yes, Pakistanis are very hospitable and friendly people. It is a good country to travel to in peaceful times. Be careful and take care. It would be hard to beat India in craziness though (of a different kind). An Indian.

[melissa]

Thinking of You
Dear can, Think of you so often! Be careful and travel back this way sometime. Melissa, Van and Josh