KARACHI CHRONICLE: The visitors

The winter months bring hordes of visitors from abroad, some to attend weddings, some to get married themselves and some to meet the family since it has become impossible for the family to go abroad to meet expect relatives because of the high cost of travel and the unbearably demeaning visa regulations especially of the UK and USA.
Winter thus is a very lively, cheerful, sociable and festive time, no matter the chronic problems of power shortage, gas shortage, CNG shortage, inflation, terrorism and other problems besetting our beleaguered Country. We pretend those problems are trivial and put our complaints on hold till after the visitors leave.
Other boring topics of conversation, such as dengue fever, the possibility of cancer from this thing and that thing (in my case from smoking), pollution, bad roads, traffic jams and character assassination of members of federal and provincial parliament are refrained from so as not to upset the visitors. This is another blessing of the winter months.
Visiting has evolved a new trend thanks to visa problem, especially the case of visa for visit to Pakistan by the Indians and vice versa. For example, one cousin and his family and my sister and her family decided to meet in Malaysia. My brother and his family, on their way to Pakistan from America, decided to stop over in Dubai to meet Indian relatives. It seems many families are meeting each other in other countries. I myself have toyed with the idea of organising a family get-together in Istanbul for siblings and their children who are living in Pakistan and in various parts of the world. Previously we had family get-togethers either in Pakistan (usually during a family wedding) or in the UK or USA where a lot of relatives besides brothers and sisters now live.
That is not all. People are even toying with the idea of holding weddings in some country where no one will have a visa problem. It seems a great pity that so many family and friends cannot attend weddings in Pakistan, or we cannot attend weddings in India, UK or USA because of the hassle of getting visas on time. Pakistani and Indian embassies seem to take a pleasure in ensuring that visa is delayed so that we miss the reason why we want to travel. Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan are two places which look like potential wedding venues.
These are simply ideas at the moment, but they seem to be brewing, and who knows a trend for wedding abroad may soon take off. It will be a good way for the rich to spend their money on wedding abroad rather than in Pakistan in those horrendous velvet tents and lavish stage décor and fancy food that are soon forgotten. Guests will long remember a wedding abroad even if they have to rough it like ordinary tourists. Plus places such as Turkey, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan are Muslim and there would thus be no problem finding a nikahkhwan, or halal food. Somebody should suggest this idea to Turkey, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan to promote their tourism by having wedding resorts.
The desire of Pakistanis now settled abroad to come home to visit the country itself is of course very strong. But it is interesting to note that their children, born and bred in countries like American and UK have a strong desire to visit, what they describe, as their roots. These children who have only heard about Pakistan or may have been brought here as babies to be shown to grandparents, have a fascination for Pakistan. Most of them have linked up with their cousins in Pakistan through the facebook and other e-gadgetry plus they have learnt a lot about the country.
The best thing about all the information and family updates is that when they come to Pakistan they are not shocked by the state of the country, nor are they expecting to really have a good time beyond the family circle. For example I had plans to take my nephew to see the sites in lower Sindh: Bhambore, Makli, the Thatta Shahjahani mosque and Chawkundi and also a trip to Hinglaj in Balochistan. All of it was vetoed by a Sindhi colleague. He said the chances of the boy being kidnapped for ransom were great. But now would they know he was an American, I asked. He looks just like the rest of us, I said. But my friend said that there is something about the Pakistanis living aboard which makes them look different. It is probably their better health, their easygoing manners or something that makes them recognisable as Americans. That could be the case. For instance I have noted this whenever I went to India. Even in the city of my birth people could tell I was a Pakistani. So the tourism part of his visit was cancelled. He didn't mind at all. He said, "Aunty, I want to return in one piece to my country."