By Khabeer Ul Tanwir Khan
We were waiting in the departure lounge of Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore. Our father, Capt. Khalid Tanwir had left the lounge after introducing us to the operating Capt. of the flight . Our mother was supposed to travel with us for this trip but her sickness forced her to stay back. There was no announcement of our flight departure to Copenhagen (Denmark) at scheduled time and the duty PIA staff was not worried about the delay. Flight was, already late by more than an hour and there seemed to be no chance of immediate departure. My younger brother, Khizer was busy with his mobile availing free internet services provided by Civil Aviation Authority and was least bothered what is happening around.We boarded the aircraft after the departure announcement and were off the ground for our eight hours flight to Copenhagen via Oslo.
The video display of air route in modern aircrafts keeps the passengers current about the aircraft ground position.We overflew Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Russian Federation,Belarus, Lithuania and Sweden on way to Denmark. The weather was fine with patches of clouds here and there. Most of the time, the ground features were visible and we continued our flight crossing mountains, rivers, oceans, forests, villages, towns and cities.All praise to ALLAH Almighty who gave wisdom to us to conquer the skies making travel enjoyable, fasterand comfortable.
We stopped for an hour at Oslo airport (Capital of Norway ) before landing at Copenhagen. We and all other passengers stood patiently in the que waiting for our turn at the immigration counters .There was no panic or disturbance and everything was smooth unlike the situation at airports in Pakistan.After clearing the immigration we collected our luggage andwent through the customs in almost no time and came out of the arrival lounge .My uncle HasibNiazi and cousin Ahmad bhai were waiting outside to receive us
MALMO
We left by car for Malmo, Sweden which is an hour away from Copenhagen by road. A strait separates Denmark and Sweden( Strait is a narrow strip of sea separating two pieces of lands) It is basically the western extension of Baltic sea upto Atlantic ocean .A bridge over the sea known as OresundBridgeconnects the two countries by road and rail.It was built in year 2000 andreduces the travel time between Copenhagen and Malmo. It is a 16 KM long bridge including a 4 KM tunnel and an artificial island for support.It is a two level bridge with rail on the lower level. An interesting information about the construction of the tunnel is that the concrete elements were prepared on the land and then towed to the tunnel and lowered into the seabed. Prior to the construction of this bridge, boats, ships and hovercrafts were used to cross the sea. Hovercrafts were expensive but they only took only 30 minutes and ships used to take two hours to cross the channel but these were very cheap. This bridge has not only reduced the travel time but it has also enhanced the economic activity between the twocountries. Luckily we were in Sweden in summer of 2000 when the bridge was inaugurated and our Uncle took us to the bridge during it early days.
We went for a long sleep after reaching home.There are many close relatives in Malmo with many cousins of the same age group which makes the Malmo trip desirable and preferable than other international destinations.This was our 4th trip to Malmo and second without parents.It is a great feeling to be an international traveler at a young age and we are lucky to have done it many times. Malmo is situated on the south western coast of Sweden and its weather is much better than the rest of Sweden. It has a nice and long summer and Swedish people love to pass their time in this beautiful summer resort. Its pedestrian friendly city center with old and new shopping areas, all types of restaurants and hotels, fashion boutiques , furniture shops and show rooms and world famous IKEA are major attractions for the tourists. Malmo has an international airport connected with most of the important European cities. The world famous Swedish Air Traffic Services Academy is at this airport and students from all over the world come here for training in different fields of air traffic control and management. We had visited this academy in the year 2000 along with our father who graduated from there in 1988.
Next morning, SaeedaAapa ,our first cousin was waiting for us to wake up and to take us to her home. Her husband , Ahmad Bhai is also our cousin and our three nieces Aimah, Saleha and Ayesha are all very loving and caring.She drove us to her home through a different and long route just to show us the city development since our last visit three years back. Traffic in Sweden, like many Europeancountries is on the right side of the road and very disciplined as in most civilized countries.Malmo is a fast developing Swedish city. Multi story buildings, new housing schemes and complexes are emerging in the city and around. Life in Sweden is cheap and comfortable as compared to Denmark so lot of Danish people have moved to Sweden while they continue their jobs in Denmark.There are no visa formalities for crossing the borders and all citizen regardless of their original nationality have equal rights .People living in Sweden go to Denmark early in the morning by road or rail and return the same way in the evening
Uncle YousafDurrani, SaeedaAappa s father in law is my father’s brother in law, was waiting for us at his residence. We were received warmly as usual. First of all we offered Fateha for our Phupoo, MrsRubina Khan who had passed away last year and only our parents were able to participate in her Janaza from Pakistan.We shared sweet memories of our previous visits when she was around. This is what the life is, no one knows about the next moment except ALLAH.Uncle Yousaf lives with his two sons Ahsan bhai and Ahsan bhai with their families in a big five bed room house. The house has a big green area with lot of fruit trees and playing area for the kids with slides and swings .Joint family living reminds you of a typical prosperous Pakistani house.
Ahmad bhai returned from his office in the evening and after dinner we left for the famous Malmo festivalwhich is held in Malmo in August every year. We prefer to go to Malmo in this month just to enjoy the fesitivities of this particular festival There are foostalls,( including Hilaldesi food ), joy rides and hundreds of people from across Europe visit Malmo during the festival. Festival continues for almost a week from morning to midnight
Malmo is a cool city with different cultures flourishing with each passing day. Swedish government and people provide equal opportunities to all citizen for progress in all fields of life. Even the governmentarranges teachers for the students to learn native languages, so Pakistani students get the Urdu classes once or twice a week. Most of the Pakistani children are fluent in Urdu as compared to British and American Pakistanis who are shy of speaking and writing in their mother tongue. Pakistani and Indian restaurants with hilal food are available in the town in different localities of the city ,so is the availability of Pakistani dress through dress boutiques.Pakistani leather jackets are very popular here and these are available here in most of the big stores.
Malmo is a fast developing city and during the last three years the city face has changed a lot, with new shopping malls ,international hotel chains , modern housing complexes and parks have been developed . The famous Folketspark is popular among the locals. There are many other parks in different parts of the city making this green city more greener.
—One of the tallest and spectacular building of Scandinavia is in Malmo known as Tunrning Torso,(see photo) designed by a Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava. It has been recognized as Europe s most interesting building project. Sports, musical concerts and art exhibitions are a part oflife in Malmo.It has art galleries like, Rooseum, Malmo Konsthall and Malmo Konstmuseum with the finest and rare collection of Scandinavian art. Football and Lawn Tennis are popular sports. On our last visit to Malmo ,we had the pleasure to see amatch between the local club Malmo FC and the famous Italian club AssociazioneCalcio Milan commonly known as AC Milan at theMalmo Football Stadium.
As stated earlier, major attraction for us in Malmo is the presence of our cousin force, both male and females of almost same age group .Uncle Hasib is my father s first cousin and chum. We always make his house as our base camp and keep on moving to other cousin houses for a day or so.All members of his family give us a good company. We were missing Hassan bhai (Uncle Hasib son) who was busy with his job in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. We used to get up late and after our brunch, go out with someone to a plannedplace. Moving to different parts of the city in local bus or train is easy for a tourist than in a private car as you face the parking restrictions .The only drawback for a tourist which I observed in Malmo was that you cannot pay the bus fare on the bus, either you should have a travel card or a valid Swedish sim. We passed our time in window shopping in walking street. Dinner was always at a new place,Sadia Aappa(1st cousin ) and her husband Javadbhai and their two kids, Ismail and Zahra were regular to provide us thecompany and we enjoyed a delicious BBQ at their home. Ahsan bhaiand FatimaAappa along with Owais, Taaha and M Ali were our co host in Yousaf Uncle s house. This was our daily routine for ten days, since our arrival from Lahore.
STOCKHOLM
Stockholm, Swedish capital, was our next destination, Hassan bhai had come to take us to Stockholm. We had seen Stockholm in year 2000 and, I was in primary school at that time and so no clear picture of this beautiful city was in my memory. We left by car on Sunday afternoon for a 600 KM journey . It was a two lane expressway , smooth and almost straight with no sharp turns.The road runs in the northerly direction towards the city of Gothenburg, the second largest city of Sweden.If you continue in the
samedirection, you can reach Oslo but you turn north easttowards city of Orebro and Stockholm. As you leave Gotenberg, the road runs along the Vanern lakefor about two hours. Area along the lake is is lush green on the right side,while the on the left side lake shines like a blue sky on the ground. The country side in Sweden is lush green with forests, green fields , meadows with sheep and cows grazing, fruit trees and a number of fresh water lakes Rest places for drivers are available along the road, which makes the travel enjoyable and comfortable.
Sweden has a population of about nine million people, almost equal to Lahore and it has made a tremendous progress during last 50 years.It is among the top countries of the world which are known to be corruption free. Swedish passport is among the popular passports like US, Canada, UK etc. etc.World famous Nobel Prize (this year peace prize has been won by Pakistani Malala Yousafzai) in different fields of life belongs to Sweden. Ericson in communications, Volvo in transport and Saab in aviation sector are the proud presentation of Sweden with reasonable business share in international market. Pak-China jointly built fighter jet is using Swedish electronics for its cockpit systems. Sweden is a major business partner of Pakistan in different fields including defence. The trainer aircraft used to train PAF pilots is a SAAB Plane known as Mushaaq in Pakistan...
—Stockholm is built on 14 islands and it is also knows as city of bridges as there are hundreds of bridges in the city connecting these islands.This city is blessed with wealth of attractive sights , second to none in the world . Skansen is the world largest outdoor museum. Stockholm greatest attraction is the magnificent marine landscape of over 24000 islands and islets, most of them uninhabited, Ferries and speed boats are available for connections.
An international airport with connections to major cities of the world is available except Pakistan. To reach Sweden from Pakistan , you have to go to Copenhagen (Denmark) or Oslo (Norway ) from where you can reach to any part of Sweden. Flights to these cities are available from Lahore and Islamabad.
—Hassan bhai briefed us about the city and gave us the weekly travel cards to explore the city. The travel cards were valid both for bus and train. As Hassan bhai was busy with his job, we used to take a bus from nearest station to the last station and then take some other bus to other part of city.We always made to the decided destination, once we got hold of the city map and transport system. Hassan bhai would join us at a pre planned meeting point in the evening after his working hours and he would then accompany us to enjoy us the night life of Stockholm. The city has two shopping districts. City shopping area for international and exclusive selection of branded shopping and Soder area for new and trendy shopping culture for the young people. Stockholm is an expensive city as compared to other major cities of the world but the city administration is trying its best to reduce the living price to acceptable levels.
Stockholm university is an excellent seat of learning for the locals as well as for the foreign students. Masters levels education in Sweden was free for all students regardless of the nationality until few years back . It is no more free but admission in Swedish universities is not that difficult provided you fulfill all the legal requirements in time and to the satisfaction of university admission policy..
On our 1st weekend, Hassan bhai had booked a ferry cruise trip from Stockholm to Finland border, (see photo) We sailed in the evening and spent the whole night on the deck enjoying the cool sea breeze of the Gulf of Bothnia which is the northern extension of Baltic sea. There is not much sea traffic and only few ships were seen on the route. The ship had a nice band on board, so lot of people enjoyed dancing on the floor and we were mere spectators. .There were plenty of fine restaurants and a nice shopping area on the ship so there were plenty of entertainment opportunities.We had no previous experience of a voyage trip so for a first timer it was a great experience.
We left for Malmo few days before our departure for Pakistan. The rains and cloudy cold weather restricted our outdoor activities, but dinner and BBQ parties continued wherever we stayed.
Every tour or visit has an end so we had to leave with heavy heart as I had to join my MS classes at NUST and Khizer had to continue his Honors studies at LSE.We are thankful to ALLAH Almighty for giving this opportunity to see the world which is beautiful and worth seeing and then one has to say, SUBHAN ALLAH and one question which always comes to my mind when I fly back to Pakistan, why we the citizens of Pakistan cannot live in a civilized, discipline manner, maintain peace and why these comforts and enjoyments are not available to us in Pakistan ?
A Note for the Readers
Visiting Sweden and getting its visa is not difficult. Swedish Embassy in Pakistan is very cooperative in this regard .If you have a genuine invitation letter, a proper bank statement with reasonable bank balance and other required documents, an applicant normally gets visa in four weeks. Complete details can be checked from the Swedish Embassy website
