"Calicut,Kasargode" from a Pakistani guy

Is it amazing, shocking or surprising when a grey haired, sweet faced Pakistani asks you "calicut, kasargode?" How often does that happen in your life? Such an incident happened to me yesterday fortunately! 

I was climbing down the stairs swiftly where i suddenly slipped, all thanks to my shoes. Guess its loosing the grip from all the walking i have been doing for two years. How long does your shoe last? Well thankfully i was spared from the embarrassing moment of landing on my bump but yet again i did trip in front of all the ladies. So I quickly glanced through the side of my eyes to check if any one of them witnessed my clumsiness but i didn’t dare to check their expression and went on as if nothing happened( everyone does that right?).

I was at an institute to attend driving lecture sessions and this so called building is situated in the middle of the desert where taxi comes by once in a blue moon. I got out of the institute as soon as possible to beat the mob of impatient people, who will be waiting for their taxis soon. As the 45C blazing sun touched my skin, I realized that I forgot my sun protection at home…..and NO it’s not my sunscreen, it’s my umbrella. Without the mercy of my dear companion, the long wait for the taxi is going to be tiresome ….and just when I thought about it… a taxi came by luckily, I hailed it and got in swiftly to cool myself in the AC.

As usual told the driver the destination (my home) and he asked me the raastha (way). I was like “duh….I don’t know” . It’s embarrassing, I know you are to know the way to your own home but the roads in UAE can be very confusing at times, luckily he found out the way, no wonder he is a taxi driver. No later he asked me about my lecture classes and training lessons for driving and I was quite amazed that a random 45ish -50ish guy  took interest in my driving classes. Well, no harms done I replied giving details about my driving schedule.

The next question was a little touchy; he asked me if I was a PAKISTANI or an INDIAN? I was a bit shaken but i replied with a proud note; " I am an Indian" then came the next question; " South India or North India", i was like he is so partial and replied with "Kerala". His next query startled me and never expected that from a Pakistani chap; "Calicut, Kasargode?" i reverted with kochi and he nodded his head indicating that he is  familiar with kochi. 

Kerala might be familiar to the whole world being called God's own country, the green country, land of house boats, ayurvedic treatments, beaches and many more but the places inside Kerala are still ignorant to many and by 'many' I meant to also include many Indians as well. But this random Pakistani guy who picked me up from my driving institute to drop me home knows the innermost malabar regions of  Kerala! 

He dropped me home but left me something to think about; he might have picked up the name "Calicut and kasargode" from his roommates, colleagues or passengers or may be some other source but the fact that he knows so much about India made me so little in front of him.How many places in Pakistan do i know? Well from the history text i know Harappa and Mohenjodaro exist apart from that i am clueless about the states or even the districts in Pakistan. 

How many places, states or districts are you familiar with in Pakistan? How much do you know about your neighboring country? Do you even know the capital of Pakistan?