By : Asha' Rehman
The Indian audiences have been treated to many Pakistani images between Hina Rabbani Khar (already considered worthy of the ‘HRK’ acronym) and Raj Kapoor’s Khush Rang Heena (KRH). I wouldn’t say that they represent two opposite sides of Pakistan. Only to my mind they do signify two opposing Indian approaches to locating the lost Pakistani cousin.
Pakistani perceptions of India are hard to change. Two years after I made my last trip to India, many Pakistanis I meet still wonder if I am speaking the truth when I tell them about the ready friends I found myself surrounded by across the Wagha.
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| Between Raj Kapoor’s Khush Rang Hina and Hina Rabbani Khar, my Indian friends have essentially been busy in showing off parts of Pakistan that sell to the Indian market - AP Photo |
I can see that some of these Pakistanis find it hard to believe how a Pundit who wore a pleasant smile and sported Jeetendra-white patent shoes could take us on a trip through my grandfather’s village. The Pakistanis are perplexed – should I say a wee bit disappointed? – that I never ran into the standard notorious enemy in India. And yes they are amused and patriotically pleased when I relate to them how my little son’s inborn prejudice for the Pakistani flag gave his grownup minders a few anxious moments during that trip.
Since we live in Lahore and away from the flag-infested life in a Kati Pahari or Lyari or an Azizabad, the only flags my younger son, now 5, is familiar with happens to be the national flag of Pakistan. To his uncluttered mind that is the only flag that exists in the world, the result being that over time he has developed this little habit of greeting all flags with the chant of “Pakistan zindabad”.
Pakistan zindabad — This is precisely how he reacted at one instance in India, his inspiration a few flags fluttering atop a Hindu mandir. Back home, there have been occasions where I as a proud father have been made to feel as if, short of installing the Pakistani flag on Laal Qila in Dilli,
