A wonderful English salon titled “The Evolution of Different Cultures in Pakistan”, as a part of serial activities by the labour union group of the Center for Astro-geodynamics Research, was held at SHAO on September 28th. Shan Munawar, from Pakistan, joined and, from a native’s perspective, led us into a splendid and authentic journey of cultures in Pakistan, an Islamic state of South Asia subcontinent, through its geography, customs, people and religion. Researchers and students attended and appreciated much.

Shan Munawar worked for world wild life (WWF) and Ministry for Culture in Pakistan. Due to his pristine affiliation with culture and traditions, he has versatile understanding of different parts of Pakistan. Munawar first brought us a general picture of Pakistani culture via the definition of culture and aspects of Pakistani culture, location, national language, festival customs..., and then, with vivid and beautiful pictures, he described in details every field of the country’s abundant cultures of six provinces and regions (Punjab Province, Sindh Province, Baluchistan Province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir), from location and population to animals and crops, from resources and environment to religion and tradition, from landscapes to customs, and from folk music to sports events. And some points are really attractive, for example, various languages, marriage ceremony, unique flag-raising ceremony of a border city(in Punjab Province) between Pakistan and India, beautiful pictures taken by Munawar himself of wild animals like otters and peacocks, and pretty traditional dress and jewelry of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Munawar gives us not only a comprehensive picture of Pakistan culture, but also  his own understanding, as a researcher, of culture.What’s more, everyone enjoys the happy interaction of raising and answering interesting questions. The great journey of culture brings us precious knowledge as well as communication and happiness.