I had recently gone to Pakistan. It was a journey of discovery, a discovery how we allow prejudice and disinformation to ruin our perspective and completely cloud our judgment.

The hostess on the PIA flight was quite cherubic, smart and talkative. Not that pasted unexpressive nonchalant smile of an Air India Fatso. In between serving drinks and lunch and removing the trays she kept on a spirited conversation on how well we would be received in Karachi and that we could not but come back changed and chastised for all our misgivings and preconditioned responses.

It took about half an hour to reach the attractive girl manning (?) the immigration counter. With a smile and in chaste Urdu (I now understood what Gulzar meant when SRK sings…. Uski zuban Urdu ki tarah) she told us that we had to go to the special counter for Indians, collect a C form (sic), fill it up and then come back to her. As we reached the C form counter, the man there had run out of them, so he went to get more Xeroxed, and finally after another 45 minutes we cleared immigration, collected our bag and made a beeline for our waiting host who had so graciously come to receive us.

The first stop was at a Police Station, as we had to register our arrival. The friendly policeman had many a story to narrate, and finally gave us another address where foreigners had to register. After all, we were important people from India and deserved special treatmentJ. Next day being Sunday, we were informed to present ourselves on Monday morning.  Come Monday, the friendly staff suggested that we wait in the lobby, as our hosts completed the formalities of our registration. This was done 4 photographs, 2 signatures, 45 minutes and 1500 rupees later. This, we were told, was reciprocal.

The brush with authority apart, the visit was marked by cordiality, genuine hospitality and respect, and true sentiments about how the Indians ands Pakistanis were such close friends, the closest any two countries could be in terms of a common history, language and shared dreams and problems, But the politicians on both sides had a vested interest in keeping the people apart and creating irritants so that they can continue to misguide the two populations about the viles of each other.

I completely agree with them 100 %, after what I saw and experienced. There can be no more genuine sentiments than those expressed by all Pakistanis we met- across all social and economic classes, men on the street, everybody.

Pakistanis are a proud race, sensitive to the intentions of people from across, and their feelings are genuine. They are against this special brand of politics that is a characteristic of the subcontinent. And they have of late opened out to a very large extent.. All our TV channels are aired there, movies now get released with great fanfare.

Karachi is a wonderful city. With population rivaling Mumbai, yet clean (mostly) and with wide roads, little traffic congestion, not many  high rise, a level city where levelheaded people stay and live in houses, not in flats.

(WILL CONTINUE)