Down in southern Punjab you do not have (yet?) the luxury of supermarkets that are selling all types of fruit and vegetables all year round. Nobody must have come up with the idea yet to offer his clients strawberries in the middle of winter and mangos in the dry season brought in from other countries just to satisfy the wishes of the consumer.
What you can find these days in the streets of Rahim Yar Khan (RYK) – sold from a donky carriage – are purely products that are harvested there now in that particular region. Or it is maybe coming up the main highway from Sindh, the next province further to the south. For a vegetarian like me the diet is composed of pumpkin, cucumber, tomatoes and melons. The proteins are coming from a grant variety of lentils and pulses.
Talking about diet I have to adapt my eating habits here in Pakistan. The step from Germany to Pakistan was rather small. The step from Islamabad to RYK was considerably bigger. I realized that now that I am back in the capital for some time. I see again any and almost every product that I can imagine. It is not that I need so many things it is rather the comforting feeling to have the possibility to get this or that product and to use this or that service. That sounds like a real consumer talking but to me it is the contrast between scarcity and abundance. I am aware and I live both of these extremes.
It is for an intermezzo that I am back in Islamabad where I make use of the things that are missing in southern Punjab. These are not only culinary but also social. I almost forgot how good it can feel to meet friends and to go out on the weekend or play football together. Though football was painful the first time I played again after I don’t know how much time. I had sour muscles for days – but I was happy. It is not necessary to play sports and sweat. In these tropical conditions sweat is omnipresent in whatever you do. It is not about the sweating – well, the exercise is good – but about the team game. This is well worth the effort.
The social live taking place on every weekend really reminds me of my time as an Erasmus exchange student. Every weekend there was a party or something happening. And wherever I went I always met the same people. I am quite sure that many of these expatriates have been doing an Erasmus when they where still at university. But this hypothesis is yet to be proven.
The thought of going back to the field location, to RYK, draws my attention away from Islamabad and the advantages of this place. The dry season is in full swing and the temperatures are rising. With mixed emotions the people are waiting for the Monsoon, hoping it will not bring as much rain as last year. The destructions caused by the floods in 2010 are not entirely repaired. Therefore concerns arise towards the upcoming rain season. The forty degree Celsius mark gets surpassed every day now. And in the field where the activities of my NGO are people report of 50+ degrees Celsius. At night sleeping is difficult due to room temperatures. The walls absorb the heat of the day and radiate it during the night, keeping a constant high in the room. Lying in bed I am floating in my own juice.
