This one is one of the most interesting things that flashed back to my little brain today and hence I decided to share it. This happend at Taxila when a small group of anthropology students from the Quaid-e-Azam university Islamabad was taken to tour the historical site. 

On this occassion it wasnt like any other visits but a foreign professor was also on the trip to see this marvellous historical site and the preservation efforts the state has put in. But little did he know he was in for a surprise, no!!! it wasnt that the state isnt spending on preserving the historical site but there are other things the state cant control. C’mon trust me….. hey just listen to what I have to say and you sure will know. 

So there they were with the guest. On the site a proper explaination of the site, its historical importance and its potential for tourism was discussed. Then out of nowhere as everyone was ready to leave the professor took his hammer and took off a piece of stone from one monument and handed it over to the foreign professor saying “sir its a souvenir for you” and that guy was just shocked suprised ………. at that moment infact he was every word that fall in this category. 

As many would say he should be happy to have got a souvenir from a historcal site of such importance. He can take that to his country show it to his friends etc. But he was not and the only explaination for that would be that while the west spends billions of dollars every year on preserving national heritage and historical site the east (Pakistan in particular) doesnt even seem interested. 

A few days ago someone from you talked about marketing our society, culture and people (people not like selling them to sheiks for camel races but in literary sense) but how do we do that we are rather leaving an image that shows our lack of commitment and devotion to our basic duties. 

One of my French mates at my research office in Paris told me to go back to Pakistan and establish tourism so that they can visit Pakistan and hoped that this will also help industrialization in Pakistan. But how much can we do when our responsible class people like an anthropology professor can be sill as hell. They claim to know everything but do they bother about reading or understanding anything?