A unique and enjoyable celebration

Islamabad: The member states of the European Union (EU) based in Islamabad celebrated Europe Day with a repeat but unique ‘Euro Village’ event which was a success last year and even more so this year. Held at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts, (PNCA) it was an interactive affair open to the public, whereby diplomats of member countries and Pakistanis communicated with each other in an informal manner. If there were security concerns it certainly did not show as everyone present mixed freely and photographs and ‘selfies’ were the order of the day, with Pakistanis making the most of this occasion to meet the European diplomatic community in such a free and pleasant atmosphere.

Stalls of member countries were arranged in an alphabetical order and featured activities like quizzes; information material and a few even had the cuisine specialty of their country for visitors to taste. For those who were interest in winning a EU Tee shirt or cap, there was a ‘passport’ which had to be stamped after visiting a stall and those who managed to go to all of them got these gifts at the end. Quite an innovative way to spread information! These stalls were ‘manned’ by both diplomats and Pakistani employees of the embassies and full credit goes to their good humour and friendly manner in dealing with the visitors.

Inaugurating the event, Ambassador of the EU - or officially, ‘Head of Delegation’- Jean Francois Cautain said the main reason to celebrate with a Euro Village is to bring all the European Union states based in Pakistan to the Pakistani public to meet at a people to people event. “We want to remind everyone of the EU’s cultural richness while underlining our unity,” he said. “The EU is and will continue to be a strong, cooperative and reliable partner to Pakistan.”

The event began at 4pm. and ended at 11pm. After a slow start, soon the spacious grounds of the venue were packed with men, women and children till the end, a lot of visitors coming in to catch the main attraction - concerts that had thoughtfully been arranged for entertainment and featured Austrian jazz duo Lohninger and Fischbacher, followed by the Hungarian-Pakistani rock band Wild ManGoes, the Danish band, Hun Solo and a final performance by Zeb Bangash. Since concerts are a rare occurrence these days, music enthusiasts gathered in front of the stage and enjoyed the performance with delight - even the intermittent showers later on could not dampen their enthusiasm. Keeping the crowds in mind, a large screen showcasing the concerts had been placed elsewhere for those who did not want to be jostled in the crowd.

A surprise performance by the celebrated Swedish illusionist, Charlie Caper was another highlight of the evening and those who were lucky enough to catch his act were full of wonder at his amazing grasp of the art of illusion using both high tech techniques and old fashioned jugglery, interspersed by facts and figures on Sweden and a lot of humour.

All in all it was a memorable occasion for the public and there was just one complaint that was echoed by quite a number of persons. Since Pakistanis love food and enjoy eating, the lack of food stalls was sorely felt as weekends are usually reserved for eating out. A food stall put up by a hotel was serving cuisine of the countries represented at the event but the general public – most of them had come with families - found it expensive. While it can be understood that the affair was to represent Europe and its culture, maybe European food brands could have put up stalls of items like ice cream; juices and snacks to take the edge off their appetites and satisfy cranky children!

Anyway, otherwise it was a well arranged affair and I’m sure residents of the twin cities will be looking forward to it next year.