A prelude to Lahore, Minchni Post and Islamabad's view of Karachi

Gerhard Visser and Saul Pelle,

wearing the daily garb for

men, the

"shalwar kameez".

 by Saul Pelle

Meintjeskop Ditaba No II/1998

Whosoever believes in the maxim: "Men, young and old, and dressed in ankle-length tunics aren't hip and in fact belong to the monasteries", should visit a shrink and change their narrow understanding of the world we populate, for ours is as diverse as the temperaments of the likes of Madonna, Maradona and Madiba. 

While it is true that some people are aware that the Shalwar Kameez is a national dress worn by the majority of Pakistani nationals, few understand the value of owning and wearing one, especially when the weather decides to take unkindly to ' the pleas and cries of both foreigner and national.

Such was the case when two South Africans attended a ten-week advanced diplomatic training course in Islamabad from 15 April to 26 June this year, during the hottest season in the area where temperatures usually soar up to 45 degrees with the sun not once batting an eyelid for the duration of the grueling summer season.

It took about a week for our two officers, Gerhard Visser and Saul Pelle, to search for ways and means by which to survive the searing heat or at least to make it bearable True, the institute where they attended lectures (the Foreign Service Academy of Pakistan) was air conditioned, so was the hotel where they were accommodated for the duration of the course. But outside of the confines of buildings, they "enjoyed" a perpetual sweat without so much as lifting a finger.

Consultations on this issue began in earnest. One of the 24 African participants at the course, an officer from Mauritania with a perpetual ear-to-ear smile planted on his archaic face, intimated that flowing robes were the best form of dress in such weather. Mind you, our two officers knew from the outset that they would be in Pakistan during the hottest of seasons, so to level complaints at Allah would have been unfair and sheer arrogance, as if our continent did not enjoy the same hospitality from the weather in some of its areas.

The South African officers toyed with the idea of following suit, but were nagged by a strange feeling that whatever the merits of the Pakistani national dress, they would surely look ridiculous in the voluminous pants and corresponding maternity-like dresses.

One other reason occupied the minds of our officers. It was the wise advice from the Mauritanian colleague that underwear was not really a part of the dress code. (They were further agitated by the fact that on more than two occasions, they had seen one pathetic looking mature man obliviously scratching away in a squatting position. It would, they reckoned, embarrass one to acquire such an untoward habit. But they also agreed that this was not really a national thing and in any case not necessarily as a result of what a person wore.)

So, it was left to Gerhard and Saul to make up their minds on the crucial issue which could make or stale their stay – to continue day in and day out, under the scorching sun wearing clothes like jeans and jons which could trap the heat and induce palpitations, or succumb to the dictates of nature and wear the right apparel for the duration of the course.

They opted for the rational, and in no time were seen strolling leisurely in their light blue and silver grey dresses to the Sunday market - a pastime not to be missed. One of them went further and bought an equally beautiful round black and white embroidered hat for good measure.

The exploits of our two officers are a whole topic in itself - the adventures of Rawalpindi, the Peshawar and Minchni Post gunslingers, the precarious journey up the mountains near Muree, the Muzaffarabad affair, the Karachi shopping spree.

On arrival home after the course, their wives were anxiously waiting, hoping and praying that their husbands were in tip top condition and without nuclear dust particles, seeing that during their stay in Pakistan, in all eight nuclear tests were undertaken, first by India and then Pakistan.

The two officers are adamant that their dresses did not need any petticoats, (and to use an old Afrikaans expression, "hulle het dit nie sonder die saal gery nie".)