12 dec 2007

It was 12 Dec 2007 , I was at attari station (Indian border) when it happened,chatting to a friend / cousin in India at 8 pm Pakistan’s standard time. “oh by the way,” she said casually ,”I’ve just gotten two internet news alerts that the former prime minister of Pakistan died !!, Whats Happening ?”.

Clueless me. I was about to say ,”I have no idea”, when a sardarji rushes in my train boogie and said .”come fast there is a footage coming on tv , former prime minister of Pakistan died .

I tired to log on to dawn website by my phone, but my connection was too slow for me and I decided that cnn tv might bring me the news faster. I was chatting to another friend in Pakistan at the same time , and I quickly typed to him ,” I’ve got to go apparently there’s something going on in rawal pindi , some says benazir died and blah blah ! “.

Knowing me to be practical joker at times ,  she typed back “liar!”.

“I’m not lying . it’s really happening .Bye!” I signed off from that chat and told my friend in india that I would talk to her late , “ be careful “ she said “ I’m worried about you”.

“don’t worry about me “. I typed back “As long as I can still get back online , everything is okay !” I wasn’t sure whether my trust in internet was well placed , but it was as good as an indicator of safety as anything else , I decided to quickly disconnect from internet and raced outside from train to watch television .

CNN and BBC and times of India quickly brought me up to date :

“Apparently Former Prime Minister Of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto Shot Dead”, surrounded the television and radio buildings , closed down the airports and cordoned off official residency of various state officials. In times of India it was widely publicized, Benazir Bhutto Shot Dead, Or Dead In Bomb Blast “

The Foreign cable news channels are great for breaking news, but after an hour of repetition of the same news items, with perhaps an attraction in grammatical syntax of one sentence to throw in a little variety. I went to buy a cup of coffee in a chilly night.

Our train was delayed for an hour or so and one officer announced ,” Namaste , Sab Yatri se request hai ke apni jaga pe beth jai kyu ke train 1:30 hours delay hai , hume jab Headquarter se approval ai ga to hum train ko jane ki permission de ge , Shukriya”

I thank to god that I reached India before all this because a day before this happened I was there in rawal pindi . we were worried will they allow us to come India or they will just send us back to pakistan.

Well between all this going on I was worried and I have nothing to do expect chatting and learning for my Apptitude Exam.. At 11:00 pm I was ready to get back online. Unfortunetly it seemed that the whole of India decided to do the same thing and I was unable to log in again. After 15 min I tried again this time, was able to connect easily. My Fears that internet had been disconnected along with mobile service, were unfounded. At once, several yahoo offline messages and emails popped up. All from friends in various parts of world , Dubai,America,India,Pakistan etc… asking me if I am okay and whats the latest news. This made me feel wonderful ! usually , when these events take place, relatives and friends from overseas are in the dark , wondering what has happened to their loved ones. But thanks to Vodafone internet service , I was able to reassure anyone who asked (and quite a few who did not , Including My Group ! ) that I was still alive and kicking .

Rather than going to the CNN website, which would be a mindless repetition of what was being broadcast, I went to dawn website, to see it perhaps someone there had the inside scoops on the event in the nation, Nothing Yet, but they promised the live broadcast of the general’s speech onto the website.   

So finally train started and everyone were happy to reach India and some were sad and worried about their relatives. One girl sitting beside me was crying and crying constantly I wanted to sleep but couldn’t, then I asked her “what happened ?” . “Nothing” she replied still she was crying ,”Are you worried about your relatives ?” i said ,”aren’t you worried about your relatives?” she asked in a very soft tone .

“yeah I was but then I called them ,just to ask them if they were safe “,I replied .

“you call them too, you will feel better “

“I cant I don’t have a cell phone “ that girl replied

“well not to worry take mine “. I gave her my mobile phone ,she called her parents and talked for soo long she was constantly crying on phone too ..

“she that wasn’t too hard “

“ooye ! Thanks a lot ,I’m happy now” she said

Then we both introduced ourselves ,she was Indian came to Pakistan to write book on culture ,food and living of Asian Countries ..

She told me about her story how she enjoyed in Pakistan, and how people helped her .

That story was too interesting specially when a beautiful girl is telling you .

She asked me “where you going in India “.

“Banglore “ , I replied .

“Wow what a coincidence , I am from Banglore .” she said

She gave me her mobile number and ordered me to call her,

We slept at 1:30 am . I woke up next morning and opened dawn website the news was still going on strong. The chief army made his speech at 3:00 am way too late for me .

The whole speech was there on website along with a picture of the general.

Indian articles on this event in times of India website highlighted the fact that Pakistan has been ruled by unelected government for 25 of its 52 years history.

A few westerners calling Pakistan a banana republic .

Finally we reached Dehli Station at 10:30 am. Who ever came to know I am from Pakistan asked me the same question “we heard Pakistan on fire ,is it right ?”

And my answer to that question was always  “ I don’t know .”

 

People of both countries want to meet each other , but history doesn’t allow them !