Everyone was looking at me as I walked down the aisle of the Emirates airplay that was going to take us all to Lahore. Well, I felt like everyone was staring at me, which made me feel very uncomfortable. I fixed my gave on the floor and found my seat, luckily next to a woman who was already asleep. This would help in avoiding strange questions and stares. As if I was some sort of a famous person - I wish! If you look different enough, you get attention like you never experienced before.
I flicked through the airline magazine. It talked about the latest fashion trends in Asia, new Bollywood films, cheap flights to Saudi Arabia... It was 2007 and this was the first time for me to travel to South Asia. I was excited and a little apprehensive, given the post 9/11 political situation. I was meant to be doing some volunteering work for a couple of NGOs, but my friends and former colleagues resident in the country were warning me that I may be disappointed with the work that I’d be able to do. The political situation was slowing life down and people were not doing as much as they would have wanted to.
As we descended into Lahore airport, through the fog and in the darkness of midnight, I wondered how this trip was going to turn out to be. Perhaps someone would mistake me for an American and that would be the end of me. At least, then, I will have died doing something I loved doing.
I strolled out of the plane, now growing immune to the looks that people were giving me and walked to passport control. A serious young lady with an aggressive manner sat behind the border control desk. She looked at me angrily.
‘Madam, why are you coming to Pakistan?’, she almost shouted at me.
‘I am coming to visit some friends and to do some work’, I replied, refusing to be shaken by her manner.
‘Where will you stay?’
‘I will stay at a friend’s place in Lahore.’ I handed her the address.
‘Where is this house?’
‘It is in Lahore. Not far from the airport’, I said. ‘I have not been to Pakistan before so I cannot give you exact directions.’
‘Why not? You are supposed to know if you are coming here!’ She was becoming more and more aggressive.
‘My friend is waiting outside in the terminal and she will take me to her house. Here is the address again. If you doubt my story, you can call the family and ask’, I said firmly.
She gave me a stern look.
‘What do you do in the UK?’
‘I work as a research assistant for the University of London and I am doing my doctorate.’
‘You have a brother? What does our brother do?’
I looked at her. What did this have to do with anything?
‘He works for an IT company in Finland.’
‘And how long will you stay here for?’
‘Three weeks.’
‘In Lahore?’
‘Yes.’
‘Just make sure you won’t leave any legacy.’ She waved her hand to indicate that I could go and pick up my suitcase.
Make sure you won’t leave a legacy? What a friendly welcome... I proceeded to pick up my suitcase and waved my way through the crowd of porters who were all equally eager to carry my suitcase and to ask a lot of money for their effort.
It is December 2009. I am sitting at the terminal at the Abu Dhabi airpot, waiting for the Etihad Airways-flight to take me to Lahore. My second visit to Pakistan. Of late, they have had a series of militant attacks in public places, killing people in all the major Pakistani cities. There is so much political tension in the air, my Pakistani friends and colleagues tell me. People’s lives have slowed down and it is difficult to lead normal daily lives at times.
Everyone in Europe thought that I had lost my mind when I announced that I would go to Pakistan for four weeks over christmas break. ‘Why don’t you just go on holiday in Iraq or Afganistan as well then?’ and ‘There are cheaper ways to kill yourself’ were just some of the comments that were said. Why would anyone want to go to Pakistan if they didn’t have to?
I looked around the terminal lounge. Most of the people seemed to be South Asian. There was a western looking business man sitting on the second row, busy typing on his laptop. We were the only ones with lighter skin colour, eyes and hair. This did not seem to attract attention from the others, however. As if people had gotten used to the presence on westerners in 2.5 years.
As we descended into Lahore airport, I recalled my trip to Pakistan in 2007 and how it had been life-changing for me in certain respects. I hoped that this trip would be too.
As I walked to passport control, I felt a little uneasy. Perhaps they would grill me for hours. I handed my passport and landing card to the young lady sitting behind the desk. She did not look at me even once. She took my passport, flicked through and waved her hand indicating that I could go. I looked at her. Wasn’t she going to ask any questions? She avoided eye-contact with me and looked rather uncomfortable, as if she knew what I was thinking.
Baffled, I walked on to pick up my suitcase. I could tell that a great deal of change had been taking place since my last visit. May the following four weeks indicate how the depth of it.
Both Etihad Airways and Emirates Airways fly to Pakistan, with reasonable prices and with excellent service:
http://www.etihadairways.com/sites/etihad/Pages/GatewayPage.aspx
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