Dear People,
The following note is from a close friend who runs a very successful IT firm in Lahore, Pakistan.
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Dear Family and Friends,
I spent very hectic and busy five weeks in traveling. In three weeks,
I visited five countries i.e. Kampala (Uganda one day), Juba (South
Sudan 8 days), Lusaka (Zambia 7 days), Johannesburg (South Africa one
day) and Doha (Qatar one day). When I reached Johannesburg from
Lusaka, I realized my Blackberry was missing and I phoned my friend
Mr. Naim Kakvi at Lusaka; he said, Hotel already informed him that
they found my Blackberry in the room. If you lose your cell phone, you
are the most helpless person as you have all your contacts and other
important information stored in your cell phone.
I returned Lahore after very hectic trip then went to Islamabad and
got visa for travel to India. I left for India via Amritsar on
February 12, and got flight to Bombay, spent very busy five days
there, came to Delhi on the 16th. I left for Amritsar at 6 a.m. on the
19th and after visiting Golden Temple and saying my Zohar prayer there
I left for Lahore and reached home at 5 pm.
In India, I cried and cried at our situation as they are far advanced
in every area and we do not exist. I went to a shrine of Hazrat Bu Ali
Shah; I had camera and my expensive church shoes which I was reluctant
to leave out, but my car driver said, "Sir don't worry leave them
here, nobody will take them". I returned after half hour, my things
were still there (I just remembered, Sultan Khan came to Lahore and we
went for Juma prayer; after prayer Sultan came without shoes as
somebody in Islamic Republic of Pakistan was more needy than Sultan
and took his shoes). I left my camera, IPAD, and Laptop in my hotel
room everyday, without any fear of being stolen. It reminded me of my
trip to the Most Holy Country, Saudi Arabia in Jeddah. I checked in a
Five Star Hotel and went to the bank; when I returned, my laptop was
gone. I think, we being Muslims are doing lot of favors to God
Almighty and think it is our birthright to do all these things
(chukkars and frauds) as we are His most favorite people. We have
right to kill fellow humans as they do not agree with us. What we say
is right, the rest of fellow country men who do not agree with us
deserve to be killed (Wajibul Qatal).
Let me tell you an interesting incident of following The Rule of Law.
I was going to my hotel, which was off highway in Bombay. My driver
stopped car just 2 meters past a turn and said, "Sorry sir, I had turn
to from back there, but I missed it; I will have to go 2 KM to take
the next turn". I said, "Just backup and turn; it is just 2-3 meters".
He replied, "No sir, it is one way; I will have to turn from the next
exist". He drove two more KM; as I had to pay him a fixed amount, it
did not matter to me.
On my way to Delhi Airport at 4 a.m., my taxi driver stopped at every
red traffic signal. Before boarding my flight from Delhi to Amritsar,
a Sardar passenger, sitting next to me in the lounge, became friend. I
told him I had three hours and wanted to visit Golden Temple, befor
crossing the border by 3:30 p.m. He called some numbers and said,
"Don't worry I have arranged for a taxi at airport that will take you
to Golden temple and then to border". I was very tired as I was up
since 4 am and very sleepy. At Amritsar, I was waiting in lounge for
taxi to come. When the car came, I was half sleep; I got into the taxi
and left for my destination. Sardarji called me on the driver's
mobile, and apologized for not giving me his cell number. Driver told
me Sardarjee is General Manager of Amritsar airport.
Very near Golden Temple, I realised I had left my IPAD somewhere and I
thought it has gone now. The driver connected me to Sardarjee and I
asked if I shall skip my visit to Golden Temple and come back to look
for my IPAD. He told me not to worry and to continue my Golden Temple
trip. After 5 minutes, Sardarjee called and said he traced my IPAD in
lost and found. Sardarji emphacised not to worry and assured me, he
will get it released on his guarantee. He promised to send it through
another driver. He explained to driver where to wait after prayer at
temple. The place where I had left IPAD was a lounge, which was full
of people. While going to Wagah from temple we waited for 5 minutes
for the motor cycle rider who brought my IPAD and refused to take a
penny.
In India, at all major airports, you will find airport authority
controlled prepaid taxi service where you go to counter and tell your
destination. They tell you prescribed charges, which you pay in
advance and get a slip. You give slip and get your allocated taxi,
which drops you at your destination. I calculated, you pay advance
taxi charges @ Rs12/= per kilometer. Just think of Pakistan airports,
where an army of taxi drivers is encircling you like sharks, as you
come out of the terminal, and ask you to pay whatever they want. You
are at the mercy of Pakistni taxi drivers. For distance, like my house
from airport, in India you pay like Rs110/= whereas here you cant
imagine paying less than Rs1,000/=.
When I went to Malaysia and Thailand in 1970, I thought we were far
ahead of them. Now, we are nowhere, and they are far ahead of us. Now,
after visiting Africa, I think Zambia, which was far behind in 1992,
will also be far ahead of us in a couple of years. I wish we and India
instead of spending on armies spend all the money on welfare and
education, health care and on eradicating poverty. We can both make
big shopping malls along border and open trade with each other. I
always find lot of love and respect in ordinary people in both
countries. There is a lot of potential in developing both countries
and for industrialization, developing avanues of trade.
I have written in a hurry It is 1 am and I am too tired to read and
make any corrections. Please ignore any errors.
Dr. S. Akhtar Ehtisham
Blog syedehtisham.blogspot.com
All religions try to take over the establishment and if they fail, they collaborate with it, be it feudal or capitalist. |
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