By Lesley Sims
Shah in Shah Alam and Atta Ullah Jan, natives of Peshawar, Pakistan, are two distinct and welcome additions to the TC student body this semester. They are new arrivals to the U.S., having been here for only three months. Shah is 21, and Jan, as he’s called by his American friends, is 19. These brothers explained that last names are not used in Pakistan. Names have definite meanings there. To insure their children of a prosperous future, the parents give them names with good meanings. Shah in Shah means the Emperor of the World, and Atta Ullah Jan means Gift of God.
Diverse as their culture is from ours, there are still some striking similarities. They also have a democratic president. Instead of two Houses of Congress, their governing body consists of a National Assembly and a Provincial Assembly. Along the similar lines of our two major political parties, they have the Government and the Moslem League.
They are Moslems, belonging to the Islam religion, and worshipping Allah, whom they also refer to as God. Five times a day they pray to Allah: be fore the sun rises, at noon, be tween noon and the setting of the sun, as the sun sets, and be fore retiring to bed. The Koran is their bible. They worship in mosques, Moslem churches. Both Moses and Christ are prophets to them. Following the rules of the Islam religion, they also abstain from eating pork and bacon and refrain from drink ing alcoholic beverages.
Our custom of dating is non existent in Pakistan. When a man can afford a wife and a house, his parents make the arrangements with the parents of the girl. In some places babies are married to each other, so the men have a wife reserved for him when he is able to support her. Contrary to popular belief, polygamy, though accepted there, is not too prevalent. Only the rich can afford more than one wife. The divorce rate is quite low. Instead of going through the legal procedures as we do, the Moslems have a simple and symbolic method for ending a marriage. The husband casts three stones at his wife, one by one, and says “I divorce you,” each time a stone is thrown.
The native dress is the “shalwar,” a pair of loose full slacks worn by both the men and women, although the feminine element wears a long skirt over the “shalwar”.
Shah and Jan are impressed and amused by the dance “crazes” of Americans. In Pakistan only the high government officials dance and each has just one dancing servant, his wife.
American motorist had better beware when he takes to the roads of Pakistan. He must drive on the left side of the road and would probably find the steering wheel on the right side of the car. The reason for Pakistan’s scarcity of accidents may be attributed to the fact there are fewer cars there than in the U.S., though a typical man’s view might be that as a rule there are no women drivers, therefore, the accident rate is low.
Pakistan, approximately the size of Texas and Oklahoma combined, is a fairly young country. It separated from India in 1947. The climate goes to extremes with cold winters and hot summers.
Activities of the Moslem women are limited compared to their American “sisters”. They do not hold jobs, smoke, or even do the shopping. The men of the family or the servants shop in markets, but the women are allowed to purchase cloth.
What does the future hold for our two Pakistan students? They plan to major in electronics in the U.S. since their native country is deficient in electronical engineers and the profession is lucrative money wise. After attending TC, the brothers intend to further their education in Detroit, Michigan.
Just speaking with these foreign boys gives many TC students the urge to travel to Pakistan and learn first way of life while the Moslem brothers are familiarizing themselves with the American way of life.