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I am never Pakistani in Cuba

I am never Pakistani in Cuba

In Cuba, the most mysterious of states, South Asia does not exist in the imagination
07 Apr, 2016

When I was walking the streets of Havana, or flagging down a peso cab (shared taxi), or buying street food, I was never read as being from Pakistan.

I was asked often about my origins, yes, but I was asked mostly about Colombia, at times Spain, on occasion, Mexico, and once, on account of my curly hair that I had left open, I was asked at an art gallery if I was from Brazil. At times, rarely, and always before I opened my mouth to speak, I passed as Cubana. However, not once, bypassing Pakistan’s sixty-eight years of existence, was I ever assumed to be Indian. I was never asked: Eres de la India?

This was more surprising. I have been assumed to be Indian far more than I am assumed to be Pakistani, at times even inside of Pakistan.

Usually after a few wrong guesses, I would be considered carefully, eyes narrowed to try and calculate what the shape of my nose signified, or the specific brown of my skin, or what kind of ethnic or racial order my hair could be located in, there would be a slight pause as the person would wait before hazarding another (incorrect) guess. I would then inform them that I came from Pakistan. Without fail, that response triggered surprise, shock even, a widening of the eyes, a laugh of wonder, and at times, “Oooh, tan lejos!” meaning you come from so far.

Havana's colonial architecture is stunning, to say the least. — Photo by author
Havana's colonial architecture is stunning, to say the least. — Photo by author

I would nod and wink, not having forgotten the thirty hours of delirious travel it took for me to get from Lahore to Havana.

I realized that South Asia does not exist in the imaginary of Cuba.

It exists of course as a physical space, and seven years ago, upon visiting the island for the first time in 2009, I encountered hippies living in Alamar, burning incense, playing bhajans, with tie-dyed tapestries of elephants hung up in their living room. Upon discovering that I was from South Asia, I was immediately enlisted to help translate the music they had so carefully obtained.

It is not, however, a world that is known, and a world that is familiar. There is scant knowledge of it, and no real intimacy with it.


I almost didn't make it to Cuba. In Havana, my passport was passed around, and there was some confusion about how to enter ‘Pakistan’ into the system and some uncertainty around its geographical location.


I almost didn’t make it to Cuba this time though. Again. The first time, in 2009, while traveling from New York, to Havana via Cancun, I was almost prevented from boarding my flight, as I didn’t have a visa for Mexico. I was finally let on, and then detained for eight hours in a locked room without my passport with alternating guards. The third guard and I were locked in the room for a while, so we chatted. About the kinds of people that come to Cancun, how the beach seems to exist outside of Mexico, the strange, unforgiving, unequal visa policies between the US and Mexico.

My hours in that room belonged to some strange portal in time and space. I was not supposed to be in Mexico because I didn’t have a visa to legally enter. I argued that I was not planning to leave the airport, and was only transiting.

That room was a kind of non-space, for people like myself, who had arrived to Cancun, and were in transit, bound for another destination.

This time, I was stopped at Allama Iqbal Airport in Lahore, almost prevented from boarding my flight to Abu Dhabi, where I would catch a connecting flight to Amsterdam, from where I would board a plane for Havana. The reason for this: I didn’t have a Schengen visa. At first, the Cuban visa, which was a slip-in piece of paper bearing my name and date of birth aroused suspicion – why was it not like a regular visa? Why was it not stuck into my passport?

You're sure to spot tons of vintage cars in the capital —Photo courtesy: AFP
You're sure to spot tons of vintage cars in the capital —Photo courtesy: AFP

I should’ve lied, I thought. I should’ve faked a trip to the US or Canada. I was asked about both places as the officer on duty flipped idly through my passport, locating current and expired visas. After a very tense forty-minute wait, I was finally cleared to go through immigration.

Once in Havana, I was asked to step aside and made to wait, as my passport was examined, and re-examined, and I was questioned about my first visit. And finally, when I was leaving, upon presenting my passport and ticket at the check-in counter, I was again asked to wait. Behind the counter, my passport was passed around, and there was some confusion about how to enter ‘Pakistan’ into the system and some uncertainty around its geographical location.

I confirmed that it was next to India, and tried to pretend that I wasn’t amused by the conversation taking place in front of me, which at times included, but mostly excluded me.

I narrate these incidents because to me these are representative of what is known and what is familiar – at airports, or in visa issuing policies, or in passport politics.

My passport was unknown, hence I am unknown, unfamiliar, an alien. Maybe it’s time to switch colours, I thought to myself as I pocketed my green passport, after it was finally handed back to me, surviving endless scrutiny.


Something about Cuba made me feel at home. Was it the smell of the sea that made me think of Karachi, and Bombay? Was it the way in which I would drop in unannounced and be greeted with a snack and a drink? Was it a weariness of the US, and a simultaneous desire to be in the US? I’m not sure, maybe I just felt comfortable walking the streets.


It is strange that while I felt so much at home in Cuba, that sense of home is physically and emotionally disconnected from my other home in Pakistan.

I know why I felt so much at home: in the first instance, in 2009, it was a moment of discovery of the Global South – I learnt that even though we had different colonial experiences, and divergent histories of decolonization, and our languages were different, there was something immediate and palpable that I recognized – was it the smell of the sea that made me think of Karachi, and Bombay? Was it the way in which I would drop in unannounced and be greeted with a snack and a drink? Was it in the way that things broke down, and people resourcefully fixed them, fixed ways around them, made things work, made life happen? Was it a weariness of the US, and a simultaneous desire to be in the US? I’m not sure, maybe I just felt comfortable walking the streets.

Wall painting of Che Guevara in Havana. — Photo by author
Wall painting of Che Guevara in Havana. — Photo by author

I yearned for someone to speak in Urdu, or Hindi with. I tried to explain my country, and culture as best as I could.

I tried to cook desi food for a friend, wanting to introduce him to what I had grown up eating. In my attempts to create an authentic meal, I scoured the local markets, and a spice shop named ‘Marco Polo’ in Habana Vieja, designated especially for imported spices, looking for cloves, whole red chillies, turmeric, and fennel. I was only able to procure curry powder. My search for yogurt yielded no fruition either.

I promised him a meal in New York, where hopefully we will see each other in a few months.

Perhaps it is not so surprising that I was not able to find the spices I needed to create a meal that could bring to my friend’s palette, the taste of my home.

South Asian migratory patterns don’t move in the direction of the Americas. The movements have largely been directed towards the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia, as well as the Gulf States, and in some degree towards Malaysia and Singapore.

Indian migration to the African continent was fraught with tension: in the last years of the 19th century, indentured labour from colonial India helped build the Kenya-Uganda railway line. There had been earlier waves of South Asian migration to East Africa because of the trade routes linking Gujrat with the commercial ports in East Africa. Indentured Indian labour was also taken to Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago.


What does one look for when migrating to a new country? What kind of securities and aspirations do we seek when searching out a new national identity? Economic security, better opportunities for future generations, a higher standard of living are some of the most common responses.


There are small Pakistani diasporas that exist in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, among others. However the waves of migration from Asia to the Americas have not been from South Asia, they have been from Japan, Korea, and China. There is a Chinatown/Barrio China in the old quarter of Havana. I visited once, and ate a meal of fried chicken, rice and beans – it was possibly one of those ‘only in Havana’ moments.

What does one look for when migrating to a new country? What kind of securities and aspirations do we seek when searching out a new national identity?

Economic security, better opportunities for future generations, a higher standard of living are some of the most common responses. This time around, I met someone from Iran, who kindly shared his Internet scratch card with me as I tried to check my email at a hotel in Havana. He told me that his wife and him had been living in Havana for the past fourteen months, and that they were UN refugees, waiting for residence visas for either the US or Canada. I asked him if they would like to stay on in Cuba. He laughed at my suggestion, and cast it aside. Later, I wondered why. Cuba is safe, safer than most places. It is beautiful. It does not however, offer an easy life.

But then, where does one find an easy life? Cubans are some of the most resilient, hardworking, resourceful people I have encountered. The revolution taught them that. It taught them to wait, and it taught them to hope. The verb 'esperar' in Spanish means both. Although, now, the lessons of the revolution are increasingly becoming irrelevant.

Between when I first visited, and now, seven long years have passed. Havana has changed in so many ways, and remains static in other myriad instances.

The one thing though that has stayed constant is that South Asia remains absent from a Cuban perspective. The world is shrinking, and yet the distance between South Asia and the Americas remains long, impassable, and distant. I wait for that day when these emotional distances are breached.


Hira Nabi is a visual artist, researching cinematic culture and spectatorship practices in urban Pakistan

Comments

A. A. Apr 07, 2016 03:56pm
This was very informative and interesting. Thank you for sharing your experience
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Osmani Apr 07, 2016 04:07pm
Cuba sounds like a wonderful place.
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Syed Waqar Ali Apr 07, 2016 04:31pm
Travelling is also an experience. Three decades ago, I was going to Sacramento CA from Nashville, TN in Greyhound bus. A very old lady entered the bus from one bus stop and sat besides me. She asked me as to where did I come from. I replied from Pakistan. She said oh, from Palestine, I said no, from Pakistan. She did not know of any country by this name and I had to take her memory back to India and explained how Pakistan got independence and came into being. Then, I told her about the geography, culture and living practices of the people. It is true, every Pakistani is an ambassador of his/her country and we should play a positive role in promoting soft image of our country and work for strengthening the relationship with other countries on individual level.
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GA Apr 07, 2016 04:43pm
You made me want to go back to Cuba even though I found the people in the service industry quiet pathetic and uncaring. I think it will turn into another Mexico soon after Obama visit. May the US - Cuba ties never materialize. Small prayer for Cuba.
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AHM Apr 07, 2016 05:15pm
Informative, enjoyed reading about southern part of America, weird that no indian community live there, as they are every where in the world i guess, from fiji to new zealand to carib to africa..
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ab Apr 07, 2016 05:16pm
I was in cuba last year. The people were extremely happy to know I was from Pakistan.
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Dawn Apr 07, 2016 05:52pm
Very nice ready.Thanks.
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Canada Apr 07, 2016 05:58pm
Despite the abject poverty and limited resources Cubans are some of the happiest and nicest people in the Americas. Their major revenue is tourism and when you visit Cuba it is really a major history, economic and social lesson. Cuba has retained its originality and this is what makes it unique. The rest of the world is Ameicanized .
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Miqdad Apr 07, 2016 06:35pm
Nice article, made me feel nostalgic. I spent 7 years there, life there is so amazing without worries.
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Moona Apr 07, 2016 07:20pm
Refreshing.
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Vaibhav Apr 07, 2016 08:17pm
What a wonderful write-up. Good work Hira Nabi. Moreover a biiig thumps up to Dawn. Dawn you are doing an outstanding job. These kind of stories, though are not news material, surely enrich our mentality towards looking at the outer world. Though I am an Indian, I am an avid Dawn reader. Thank you Dawn.
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Joe FL Apr 07, 2016 08:52pm
Please come visit here (Florida, USA) sometime.
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Syed Moinuddin, Canada Apr 07, 2016 09:23pm
We have visited Cuba several times, to escape winter in Canada. There are two Cubas. One catering to the tourists, majority of them from Canada. Then there is the real Cuba, reflecting the reality of poverty, struggle to survive on meager resources and a system which failed to provide the kind of life it promised to provide. The broken infrastructure, decaying buildings and general apathy among ordinary Cubans, noticed once one goes out of the fancy resorts. There may be optimism, due to recent changes in relations between Cuba and the States, but the benefits if any, may not reach ordinary Cubans, who are wonderful people.
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parveez Apr 07, 2016 09:26pm
I would like to visit Cuba before the Americans ruin it.
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Jim Beam Apr 07, 2016 09:41pm
There is so much to learn from other countries and cultures yet we remain tied to what we are born into. It is through travel we embrace the vast humanity. Great travelogue.
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Raki Apr 07, 2016 10:11pm
Surprised to see that you were not asked whether you are an entrepreneur or intellectual from Silicon Valley!
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Thoroughthinker Apr 07, 2016 10:12pm
Very informative first person account. But, Cuban are very nice people by nature. Whenever there is a natural calamity anywhere in the world, Cuban doctors are the earliest in reaching to help lessen the pains and sufferings of people, without any demands.
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yasir Apr 07, 2016 10:30pm
Well, surprised to know that they didn't know how to enter "Pakistan" in their system as almost 1000 Pakistani medical students (including myself) had travelled to Cuba in 2007 and 2008 and remained there until 2015, april. I think the writer only stayed in Havana, because a large number of Pakistanis were present in other cities ( Villa Clara, Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus) from 2007 to 2015, and "were always Pakistanis in Cuba". And yes Cuba is a wonderful place to visit, very beautiful and natural.
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asli bk Apr 07, 2016 10:59pm
please dont all rush to cuba and mess it up.
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Zak Apr 07, 2016 11:17pm
The author seems to have an identity crisis. If you are Pakistani, stand proudly so. Do not drag 'Bombay or Hindi' into anything that is related to Pakistan. Pakistan is Pakistan, and that is it. Btw where is Foreign office and why this unawareness of our strong country.
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A Shah Apr 07, 2016 11:24pm
Why is it that as soon as people think I am from India I am greeted with a smile and when I clarify I say Pakistan the smile turns to a frown?
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saj Apr 08, 2016 12:14am
Been to cuba many times. Some of the best people ever met!. travelled internally across the country - the author appears only to be restricted to Havana; lot of beautiful places and superb beaches.
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Awais Apr 08, 2016 12:30am
I have been to Cuba but on a Canadian passport so didn't have immigration issues. However once i would tell people that i am from Pakistan they would love it because of the common enemy we have 'America' LOL all in good fun of course. So for me it was pretty cool being a Pakistani there, they thought they shared some values with us and that both countries have been oppressed by US. Great people, great place, everyone seemed happy and content with life and you could see it on their faces.
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atif khan Apr 08, 2016 01:03am
:) next time take a print out of picture of ayub khan next Che Guevara,show them this is our ex president and upon seeing Che Guevara they will volunteer with respect as a free guide :)
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Bilal Apr 08, 2016 02:01am
I have travelled to Cuba veradero on a Pakistani passport and there was no problems at all. Opposite to the writers experience, people did know where Pakistan was and if anyone didn't know then they surely knew China.
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ANNA Apr 08, 2016 02:19am
quite informative...
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Aadil Apr 08, 2016 02:27am
Cuba is the backyard of Canadian Pakistanis .. Though they rarely venture away from the resorts. As for Pakistanis in South America... Don't forget Peru and Chile ... Lots of car dealerships owned by our very own 'garien'
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Arif Khan Apr 08, 2016 02:27am
I was and am a big fan of Che and Fidel and the history behind their struggle to liberate cuba. Havana was a dream when I visited. Absolutely the best place for a visit! I wish I could speak spanish...that would have made a world of difference. Great article!
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roshi Apr 08, 2016 03:41am
Nice article ... btw, surprised to know that they were never able to figure out writer's identity when she looked very much like Indians.
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Laeeq, NY Apr 08, 2016 04:15am
It is not because what country we belong, but for Hispanics we are"Indio" means indian from our color. Our color resembles the original Indians lived on "Islas Hispanolas". These red Indians do not exist any more as they mixed up with slaves from Africa and traders from Europe. It takes time to explain these Latinos where the Pakistan is and to make it easy better off to tell that you are from India.
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Interested Apr 08, 2016 04:26am
Sometimes we forget that the Indus Valley was named India by the Greeks and is Pakistan today. At partition it was suggested that the two countries should be called Hindustan and Pakistan so that both countries could keep their Indian heritage, since historically and geographically the term referred to the subcontinent.
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Hari Apr 08, 2016 04:41am
Well, Pakistan is an artificial state. What else do you expect!
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Shaukat (from NewYork City)y Apr 08, 2016 04:45am
From beginning to the end I was hoping the writer will introduce herself why she was visiting Cuba whether she was there in some official capacity or just a tourist but she failed to mentioned even once and if there is any ban from Pakistan to visit Cuba like US if not then why she has to go to Mexico to enter Cuba and why not some direct flight from Europe? She mentioned she got Cuban visa on a slip her name and only her DOB,did she get this visa from Cuban consulate in Islamabad and if they have any consulate in Islamabad? I was hoping she will mention some comparison of prices in between Pakistan or even US for the tourist specifically for the Pakistani tourists again no mention about this either,these are the normal things a tourist compares. As she is a visual artist searching for cinematic culture,she thought this was the sought after country?
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Zain Apr 08, 2016 06:29am
Very nice article. Me gusta leer historias tan fascinantes. I have lived in US for 25 years, and I occasionally visit back home to Pakistan. While on one of the trip back home, I came across Cuban tourists in Islamabad's Karachi Company. Mind you this area of Islamabad is not frequented by the foreign embassy people, but I was pleasantly surprised. I spoke to the two gentlemen in Spanish, and they were happy to hear their native language in an old market in Islamabad. :)
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Humzah Apr 08, 2016 08:16am
What an excellent read. Thank you!!
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issak Apr 08, 2016 09:44am
I can relate to this experiences having visited Cuba many times using my Canadian passport ..they have survived the harsh USA economic embargo with support from so many friendly countries ..Cubans get Free university education, free healthcare, subsidied food and transportation ..however being a Communist system of government average salary is 25 dollars per month ..it's only recently that Cubans can deal in properties, cars or open businesses..if and when USA lifts the sanctions then their economy will see a huge boost since now it only depends on cash inflows of tourism that is the big earner...
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Milan Bhise Apr 08, 2016 09:56am
Thank you Dawn for this nice article
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Ahsan Husain Apr 08, 2016 10:51am
A good read. Very informative and Interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Kudos!
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Samad Chaudhry London Apr 08, 2016 12:10pm
Being a merchant ship officer I sailed for 30 years but missed Cuba as one trip we had to load cargo was cancelled. But in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia wherever I went Pakistanis were well known. Fidel Castro kept Cuba in the dark and education system was inappropriate being so close to US and yet so far away for over four decades.
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Shabni Apr 08, 2016 08:09pm
Cuba holds a special place in my heart though I have never been there. Now I know why. Thanks.
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Ali Jawad Apr 08, 2016 11:08pm
As an aspiring Pakistani traveller living primarily through travelogues movies, reading this article has been one of the most fascinating experiences ever. Thanks
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John Apr 09, 2016 12:01am
@parveez Currently Cubans are ruining America turning Florida into Cuba. Miami is nothing but a modern Havana.
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