10 things never say to Pakistani

[saadee]

An Indian girl asked me
Are you an Arab?
My response
Then she said
You must be north Indian
My response
Then she said
You don't look like a desi
My answer was
She asked me for my number
My response was

 

[punit]

10 things you should never say to someone from Pakistan

by Omaira Gill - July 21, 2014

A Woman Perspective.

1. “Wow! Your English is really good!”

This is the most common comment anyone from Pakistan will hear the first time they have a conversation with a foreigner. People are astonished that anyone from Pakistan, let alone a woman, can speak, read, and write in fluent English. The world expects us to be either the frothy-mouthed zealots or mini-mart owners they see on TV.

In Pakistan, almost the entire school curriculum is taught in English, and this has created generations of Pakistanis who navigate English with complete ease. My first language is English, but I have Pakistani friends whose English is so well spoken that they make my musings sound like the workings of an epileptic monkey at a typewriter.

2. “Do you guys have TV / the internet / cell phones over there?”

Even I ended up guilty of this one when I went to Pakistan on a trip last year, after a six-year gap. I left my smartphone behind, thinking there was no point in taking it. Cue all of my cousins constantly uploading selfies on Facebook and updating their Twitter accounts like there’s no tomorrow. Meanwhile, I felt like a total idiot with my old cell phone that didn’t even have a camera.

This isn’t exclusive to the big cities either — this happened in the dusty village where I grew up.

3. “Pakistani girls are so innocent.”

We get Cosmo in Pakistan too, and just because there is officially “no dating” doesn’t mean there aren’t ways around that. Go to any Pakistani university and you’ll find a dating culture to rival anything in the West. We also have some pretty kick-*** sex education.

4. “Did you come over in a boat?”

When I’d tell people I had actually flown to the UK, their next question was what it must have felt like for me to fly for the first time — at which point I’d gently break it to them that I’ve been flying since I was little. That’s not because I’m ridiculously rich. It’s because Pakistan is quite a big country and flying, especially these days, is quite affordable and often the most trouble-free option for travel.

5. “You’re from Pakistan? I love palak paneer!”

A Pakistani friend who studied in America shared this one with me. When did palak paneer become Pakistan’s official culinary mascot? That’s like meeting someone from the UK and saying “I love jellied eels!” Firstly, you’d have to be out of your mind to love jellied eels, and secondly, it’s not a dish that actually features in regular daily British dining.

Pakistani cuisine is hugely diverse, because the country is so diverse. Go find your local Pakistani restaurant — it probably has a name like Lahore This or Karachi Something — and try a few things there. I recommend haleem and nihari as starting points.

6. “Did your parents disown you for marrying of your own choice?”

I married outside of my culture, and my parents didn’t simultaneously combust into balls of fiery wrath. You’d be surprised how many of my peers back in Pakistan are now marrying of their own choice with the support of their parents.

7. “Did you ever see Osama Bin Laden?”

When you come from a crackpot nuclear nation and hot-bed of terrorism, you get asked this more often than you’d realize. The answer is no. We have a huge homegrown terrorism problem in Pakistan, that’s true, but Taliban heads don’t go on whistle-stop tours of the country like some sort of jihad-loving Mick Jagger.

8. “Did you used to live in a mud hut / shantytown?”

No. I used to live in an actual house made of bricks and cement. A lot of people in Pakistan do, and if you happen to know the upper-middle classes, their houses are absolutely palatial. In fact, a lot of people moving from Pakistan to the UK take one look at that country’s row upon row of cramped, badly lit, cookie-cutter houses and wail, “How can these poor people live like this!”

9. “How come you don’t wear that dot on your forehead?”

That little dot is called a bindi and you’re thinking of India, pal. Indian Hindus have red dot on forehead, Pakistanis never have it. Pakistani girls do wear sometimes at weddings and parties, but for their decorative value rather than any association with chakras or the sacred third eye.

10. “I’d love to visit Pakistan, but I’m too scared, and not brave”

You should be scared. You have to be brave to be respected by Pakistanis. Because trying to get a visa from the Pakistani embassy is such a Kafkaesque nightmare that even I left the building screaming, “I’m not doing this again!” after trying to arrange paperwork for my foreign husband and child. The line of questioning involved such valuable information towards my application as to whether my husband had converted to Islam or not, and what sort of religious environment my child was exposed to at home, the answer to which is of course, “None of your Goddamned business.” They made it so hard and complicated that you’d think Pakistan was the world’s premier holiday destination, and therefore only the truly dedicated should be allowed to go.

Then once we got there, because we had a foreigner in our party, my family got daily phone calls from the local police to make sure said foreigners were still in our possession, and weren’t being given an impromptu tour of Waziristan courtesy of our good friends in the Taliban. But seriously, if you can get past the hellish ordeal of actually securing yourself a visa, tourists in Pakistan are such a rarity that they are treated like royalty. If you keep low-key and observe the customs, you’ll experience a beautiful country as yet untouched by mass tourism.

10 things you should never say to someone from Pakistan

haleem andnihari as starting points.!!
Haleem is from Hyderbad and Nihari is from Lucknow. Eat something from ur own !

 

[Sine Nomine]

Haleem is from Hyderbad and Nihari is from Lucknow. Eat something from ur own !

Both are meat dishes Bro and meat eating was not present before Muslims steps so as there steps arrived from either Sindh or Lahore then these dishes are also from there.

 

[PATHAN786KING]

2 things

Point 9
Indian women also don't wear bindi for any chakras
Now a days It's more for the traditional looks and make up

And seriously
Pakistanis.....have you guys met Osama

yes Osama he was my room mate in university hostel

 

[punit]

Both are meat dishes Bro and meat eating was not present before Muslims steps so as there steps arrived from either Sindh or Lahore then these dishes are also from there.

i was only joking ! But who told you meat eating was not present in India before arrival of Muslims !!

 

[salwararmy]

Over all: two more things you should never say to a Pakistani:

- Kashmir belongs to India

- HIndustan Zindabad.

 

[Sine Nomine]

i was only joking ! But who told you meat eating was not present in India before arrival of Muslims !!

Well i have listen from an old brahman that"mas ka bhojan karney say dhram nusht ho jata hai"

 

[punit]

Well i have listen from an old brahman that"mas ka bhojan karney say dhram nusht ho jata hai"

we have all types of Brahmans or for that matters Indians .. some are pure vegetarians . some are hard core meat eaters.

 

[Sine Nomine]

we have all types of Brahmans or for that matters Indians .. some are pure vegetarians . some are hard core meat eaters.

No sir Brahmans never use meat dish...

 

[punit]

No sir Brahmans never use meat dish...

they do eat sir. the information you got is wrong.

 

[Sugarcane]

firsth thing i do when i meet a pakistani brother : i i cuss india and say bad thing about india. they love it then we just become friend.this is the firsth thingnyou shuld say to a pakistani

You have all qualities to become my friend

haleem andnihari as starting points.!!
Haleem is from Hyderbad and Nihari is from Lucknow. Eat something from ur own !

Origin of Haleem is in Middle East and Nihari also originated in kitchens of foreign rulers of India.

 

[punit]

You have all qualities to become my friend



Origin of Haleem is in Middle East and Nihari also originated in kitchens of foreign rulers of India.

really ! show me one haleem which tastes like the Haleem of Hyderabad ! so what Pakistan got to do with foreign rules of India! and by the way Holi was offical festival of Awadh under that foreign ruler !!

 

[Sugarcane]

really ! show me one haleem which tastes like the Haleem of Hyderabad !

It's a useless argument, as sense of taste differs from region to region and person to person. But the point is that Indians didn't invent Haleem.

so what Pakistan got to do with foreign rules of India!

We have same thing to do what India have to do

and by the way Holi was offical festival of Awadh under that foreign ruler !!

Does this make dishes introduced by foreigners exclusively Indian ???

 

[punit]

It's a useless argument, as sense of taste differs from region to region and person to person. But the point is that Indians didn't invent Haleem.



We have same thing to do what India have to do



Does this make dishes introduced by foreigners exclusively Indian ???

many claim that the present day dishes/cuisine of India is brought by foreigner invaders , than show me one dish from the origin of invaders similar in nature, texture, ingredient, taste etc to the dishes from india or even pakistan/bangladesh?

 

[Sugarcane]

many claim that the present day dishes/cuisine of India is brought by foreigner invaders , than show me one dish from the origin of invaders similar in nature, texture, ingredient, taste etc to the dishes from india or even pakistan/bangladesh?

There is hell of difference between taste, texture and ingredients of same dishes between India and Pakistan as well, with same logic Indians should stop parroting Indian dish, Indian dish.