East to West
At McDonalds in Lahore
Lately, the world has drifted so far apart. East from West. People look at each other as if they were from another world. This is mainly because of the media hype created on both sides about the other. While the West looks at the East as backward and extremists, the West is perceived to be materialistic and socially corrupt. This perception on both the sides exists even though we believe the world is getting smaller.
It is just understanding the other by people to people interaction that we can overcome this problem. All the people living in the East and West are not as they are thought to be. To understand them, we must interact.
I had the opportunity to interact with the people from the West who seems to have taken a bold step to come and visit the East and see for themselves the people. One example I can give is of Alex Kaeslin and Nataly Goldin. Both husband and wife, Alex is from Switzerland and Nataly from Australia. They helped me understanding their culture and people more than any book, documentary or any form of media that could inform me.
My perception of Australia was that they are racists people and still had that “white” domination factor in them. But when you meet an Australian, it may turn out to be the opposite. That’s what it was for me. Australia is a vast land with only few cities. It’s economy may be growing but Australia is facing drought and even water is rationed. Switzerland, well thats were all our looted money is. And the swiss are known for their mouth watering chocolates. It is a law to build nuclear bunkers for every house even though the possibilities of war with Switzerland are 10000 to 1.
Meeting Alex and Nataly was a pleasure. This down to earth couple were so informative and friendly, I hardly knew they were not from Pakistan. The only time I realized this was when they ate their food. Obviously they were not used to eating “wheat chapati” the way we do. We made good friends of the time he spent at my place and it seemed we knew each other since ages. His humor and interests were so much comparable to mine. We did have “one” interest in common although I realized he was much more interested in it than I could ever be.
Alex is a photographer who studied photography in Australia and then pursued his dream to travel the world and capture it through his camera. You can visit his official website at www.alexkaselin.com
Some interesting facts about Australia:
The name Australia is derived from the Latin Australis, meaning Southern.
There are two flags for Australia, one is The Australian Flag and the other is The Aboriginal Flag.
The Australian Flag Is based on the blue ensign. It is a plain blue flag with the British Union Jack in the upper corner of the hoist. Underneath is the seven-pointed Commonwealth star. Each point represents either a state or territory. On the right hand side there are five white stars in the shape of the souther cross, the constellation most characteristic of the Australian sky at night.
The Aboriginal Flag has 3 colors, Black, red and yellow.
Black is for the color of the people, Red is for the land and for the blood that has been shed since the European invasion and Yellow is for the sun the life-giving source uniting both the land and the people.
Jedi is a registered religion
You can have your own law and country if you have an estate
Water is rationed
The Australians eat their own national animals, EMU and KANGAROO
Its a law that if a man and woman are walking on the sideway, the woman should not be on the road side.
About Switzerland
4th highest nominal GDP per capita in the world and the country also has the highest car theft in the world.
Every man has to go to the army and MUST have his machine gun at home, you never know who may “attack” them.
The Pope’s personal army are the Swiss guards and it is the army that exists the longest!
This Swiss are famous for their watches and chocolate.
The wristwatch was invented by a Swiss, Patek Philippe in 1868 and chocolate was invented by the Maya and the Aztec some 2,000 years and the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs made it possible to import chocolate back to Europe.
