Post Sat- Research & Other Reflections

3 days ago the internet connection wasn’t functioning & I haven't posted since, so here’s a makeup account before I get to today’s post. Essentially, I went to WWF in the morning to further develop my research plan & to get more contacts, came home for lunch, went to change money, and Ammar & I went to meet Scott (the photographer/lawyer I met at the airport in Delhi) at the Holiday Inn where he was staying. The government car & driver picked us up & we went to the Pakistan/India border to Wagha (also spelled Wagah) to witness the closing of the border ceremony, which I got footage of: (I'll post it when I can). It was very much a show of might & masculinity, sort of a “who can make the most noise to prove their worthiness” type of pre-mating performance. The Pakistan military men stomped around & puffed up their chests, so did the Indian military men on the other side of the gate at Amritsar (sp?). There were stadium seats on both sides, but the seats were only gender segregated on the Pakistan side of the border. Men wearing green shirts which read “Pakistan zhindabad (sp?)” (long live Pakistan) ran around in circles in front of the gate & patriotically waived their green flags with white crescent & star to the chanting of slogans by the crowd. Before the ceremony began people were dancing, clapping, & cheering to Europop songs, among others. The same thing was happening on the Indian side of the border, but to their own chants, songs, and cheers. Once the ceremony official began, the military men came out wearing black uniforms on the Pakistan side & beige ones on the Indian side. Who knows why the Pakistanis chose to wear black (could have something to do with Islam) in that terrible heat! Both parties were wearing funny hats, the same hats that the doormen at the hotels in both India & Pakistan wear. They are pretty much the same as the one Napoleon seemed to favor, and just as goofy looking. So, the ceremony began & these men stomped their way down toward the gate, each side hurled their gate open & stomped right on up to the line dividing the 2 countries. They faced each other, puffed their chests, looked up toward the crowd on their side & seemed take a deep inhale as they looked around the stadium. Then one from the Indian side & one from the Pakistan side shook hands, stomped away, & both gates were slammed shut. The sort of dance was repeated once more & then the 2 flags fluttering above the border were both lowered in a long, drawn-out, rather ceremonious fashion. Finally, it was over & I was dripping with sweat.
Scott invited Ammar & I to join him for dinner, & asked for advice on a place to go. Since we mentioned sheesha earlier, which Scott had never tried, we decided to go to a nice Arabic restaurant where they had sheesha, delicious food, and a really nice Sufi band. Ammar’s sister, Niaz (nicknamed Pinky), came to join us a bit later. The discussion was good fun because, while Scott is a semi/pseudo-liberal from California, he also practices corporate law & is a bit of a right-winger on many issues. Ammar, on the other hand, is much more of an idealist & holds much higher standards for politicians & don’t want them to represent him on some issues (which Scott said he’d be fine with), but on all issues. Personally, I could see both sides & piped in here and again, but things got ridiculous after a while. The discussion became a bit heated when Ammar said that Hillary Clinton was a war criminal & Scott started demanding to know what right Ammar had to OUR education system. Pinky showed up right in the middle of the tension & didn’t say much. Finally, things lightened up when we started asking Scott about his photography book that he did on Vietnam.
When we came in last night Ammar’s pops wanted to talk. He’s an extremely intelligent guy: a doctor, a poet, a documentarian, and an activist. He jokes around a lot about “you people” (referring to Americans or whites in general) being imperialists hindering the development of a previously rather progressive country. He gave me a history lesson (not to make me feel guilty, but just so I’d be aware of how Pakistan came to be the way it is). He talked about how in the 70s there were tons of foreigners who visited the country, fewer fundamental extremists, more liberated women, more secularism. But the Christians & Muslims joined forces against the atheists (both being people of the book)
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Wednesday was relatively uneventful. I worked at WWF from 9am until 3pm. Then I came back to the house & have been reading materials about the Indus for most of the day, preparing a more detailed lit review, and drafting interview questions more specific to each of the stakeholders I’ll be approaching. I took a break to join Pinky who really enjoys TV (this Pakistani girl knows what’s happening in all of the American sitcoms & pop-culture in general, very few of which I’m familiar with at all). I just watched a documentary on the Indus made by a Swedish WWF guy which pretty much covered the issued I plan on addressing for my documentary. Oh, well. Mine will be better put together, I hope.
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Yesterday
I've had a horrible cold/ flu, so I just stayed in & slept most of the day. Ammar's mum said she'd get me some antibiotics. I'll write on today later.