Firstly, hello!

My name is Arishman and I've been living in Pakistan all my life. I'm a very proud Pakistani citizen, thank you very much.

I have seen a very few Pakistan centered story or a story with a Pakistani protagonist/antagonist ( sarcasm inserted on 'antagonist')

You can never write a story about a specific culture or country if you do not know the first thing about it.

Let's face it, you've got no whatsoever clue about Pakistan except those stereotype statements out there.

Let's fix that, shall we?

1)"Pakistan is so dangerous! It's a terrorist lounge! Oh my! I'm never ever going there or I'll get shot by a frothy mouthed crazy bearded terrorist!"

Pfft. Puh-leez.

Firstly, yes, we have a huge homegrown terrorism problem in Pakistan, that's true, but terrorists communities DO NOT parade our streets, waving guns and throwing bombs like candy. It's perfectly safe here.

You won't get shot, and Pakistan is not dangerous.

Have you seem the show 'Homeland?', did you see it's poster? The Blondie in the red headscarf, surrounded by women wearing burkas?

Yeah that one.

I am very sad to say, that 'Homeland' is also affected with those stereotypical terrorist-hot-pad-of-a-county-Pakistan.

You have to see how they've shown Islamabad (Pakistan's capital) like.

Islamabad is a quiet, beautiful metropolitan city with lush green mountains, fresh crisp cool air, with modern infrastructure.

In Homeland, it's portrayed as a grimy hellhole and war zone where shootouts and bombs go off with dead bodies scattered around.

What?

Sad, really.

If you do write something about Pakistan, please, avoid such misconceptions.

2)"Do you live in a mud hut?"

Sorry to break your bubble, but no.

Most of the people in Pakistan live in actual cement and brick houses, and if you happen to know the upper-middle classes, their houses are absolutely palatial.

We have well paved roads and all. Even in very rural areas nobody lives in shanty huts.

Only people in the northern highland of Pakistan, where it is very cold, people have tents. They are nomadic people who constantly move around, moving to the warmer plains in the winters.

I have no problem with Indians. But no, for God's sake, we are PAKISTANIS, not Indians.

Our country was separated from India in 1947, due to some controversial reasons, which exist even now but I'd rather not discuss them. We do resemble them, but since we separated from northern India, our skin tones are mostly a shade lighter.

We have some of their culture and they have some of ours.

But we are different people of different nations.

Don't confuse us.

3)"Girls/women in Pakistan are beaten, starved, uneducated, and treated like animals."

This girl here, who has provided you with this very informative essay/chapter is 1) Pakistani, 2) educated, 3) a girl. Unbelievable right?

No. In fact our female literacy rate is increasing by a leap. Women rights are being brought into law and order very strictly.

Only in rural areas, it happens.

But our government is very conscious about this and our women are not shackled to their homes.

In the past, yes women were severely persecuted and in the very backward areas of Pakistan, still are.

But do not point fingers.

In England, a woman was nothing more than a good ole' housewife and baby bearer until they protested, and only after the Suffragette movement they were recognized.

4)"Pakistani's have those thick ugly stuttering accents."

In Pakistan, almost the entire school curriculum is taught in English, and this has created generations of Pakistanis who navigate English with complete ease.

Our young generation speak English very, very well.

But we are a really patriotic who is very proud of our national language Urdu.

Don't let our freakin' fluent English fool you.

5) "Pakistani people look like a) men with long scraggy beards and rabies injected rabid eyes, b) naked poor little children matted in dust c) Women in long creepy burkas."

Say what?

No. No. NO.

Not all our men have beards. And those who do have are because of 1) religious purposes and 2) stylistic, bad-boy-look-achieve purposes. Also, get your facts straight, Pakistani mem are listed as third most sexiest in the world. For example; Fawad Khan, Imran Abbas and Hamza Ali Abbasi( This guy looks like Robert Pattinson, seriously).

Not all our women wear burkas! They wear jeans, shirts, shalwar, kameeez and everything in the latest trends! (For example , Mahira Khan, Mahnoor Baloch etc.)

And since children are a duo of the both. Well...you get the idea.

"Thank you for clearing up our misconceptions, Arishman!"

My pleasure.

Any more misunderstandings you want to clear? Comment on! I'll answer your questions.

Now, ladies and lads, since we've done the crucial part, let's proceed to my favorite part.

Pakistani culture.

It's very diverse.

Our culture does not consist of bearded, armed, animal-like, terrorist men, children blowing themselves up or women wearing long black burkas.

Let me correct you, on this stupid stereotypical thought.

Honestly, your head will spin if I start on every one of them, but I'll cover the basics.

Pakistan has four provinces (divided further into areas) . Each of them is unique with beautiful cultures that'll take your breath away.

I'll start from the province where I live in, Punjab.

Punjab . It is a punjabi word, which means 'the land of the five rivers', and indeed it is. Indus river's tributaries flow here. It is the most cultivated, fertile region of Pakistan.

We experience all five seasons, with good precipitation.

Our people are called 'punjabi' and we speak the language of Punjab, 'punjabi' , which is also my mother tongue.

Now, now, don't get confused. Urdu unites Pakistanis. It is our official language.

But all provinces have a language of their own too. And we have Punjabi.

Our villages are very famous.

And our music, oh, our music.

Our traditional music is the 'dhol' or, the way you'd understand, drums.

But not just any. It is a tune so lively and full of passion and colors that you'd want to dance on it all night.

And our dance is called 'bhangra', such a dance which my vocabulary alone cannot explain.

The capital city of Punjab is Lahore.

Islamabad is also in punjab, but it is the capital of the country, not punjab.

It is a metropolitan, modern city full of warm, colorful scents and sounds.

Lahore's food street is very popular. With the most delicious temptations of Punjab to offer, not just that, but also also the cuisines all around the world, tossed up in our own delicious spices.

We are known for our paintings, pottery art, movies, dramas and dance.

We wear kurta shalwar/ kameez shalwar.

In fact, almost the whole of Pakistan does, really.

Which are like long shirts and loose trousers, women also wear dupattas, or shawls. But most of us also wear jeans, short shirts, suits etc.

We are punjabis. People known for our good warm nature and evergreen passion for our country.

(You'd be most likely making a character/story from my province. XD)

Now, Balochistan.

It's capital is the grand historical city of Quetta.

This is the bad boy of the country. And the most valuable one as well, as it contains many untapped sources of gold, sui gas, salt, limestone, marble, coal, silver and so many more I can't even remember.

It is a dry, rockier province, with looming brown mountains void of vegetation.

Balochistan has some of the largest desserts in the world.

To name a few,

Thar, Cholistan, Kharan, etc.

But it's population is very few, mostly poor and illerate. So don't write about the province being super modren and all.

It has one of the largest deep sea ports in the world as well, Gwadar. It's population is mostly busy in fishing related occupations.

It's people speak balochi, along with Urdu of course.

The people here are rugged, warrior like and nomadic/ semi nomadic.

(They are rad. No?)

Up comes Khyber Pakhtun Khuwa, (or for short, KPK), FATA, Gilget Baltistan and Azaad Khasmir, which are a subdivision. This is the northern part of Pakistan.

I'm explaining these four provinces together, since they are more or less the same.

Firstly, they are beautiful, extremely scenic places.

Why don't you Google up 'Lake Saif ul Mulk', 'Chitral', 'Swat', 'Ansoo jheel', 'Gilgit' and Azaad Khasmir and see for yourself?

Where the Balochi's (residents of Balochistan) are the warriors of the south. The Pakhtunis are the warriors of the north.

There are about 12 million Afghan refugees in Peshawar.

So mostly they are Pashtuns (Afghani) or Pathans (Pakistani), and they speak Pashto. They are physically, beautiful people.

Men and women with porcelain-ish tanned skins and green, blue, hazel eyes and dark hair. Their children, know how to handle guns. They spend their lives on the rugged mountains, and cold harsh climate of the north.

But they are mostly illiterate and backward people.

But, you may know Imran Khan? The tall, good looking man, who was the captain of Pakistan cricket team, ex-husband of Jumaima, internationally renowned for his cancer memorial hospitals?

Yeah, he is a Pathan/ Khan.

FATA is the only area I'm not well aware of. But there's reason for that. They're very aggressive sort of people, so they're like, 'don't bother us, and we'll not bother you.'

Azaad Khasmir is up next.

It's called azaad, which is the urdu word for 'free'.

There's a reason behind it; so there's been a huge issue on Khasmir's division with India.

Knowing that it is a very sensitive issue for both us and Indians, I won't be discussing that.

I'll tell you about the part which is included in Pakistan currently, which is azaad Khasmir a.k.a.'freed' Kashmir.

Its lush and green and gorgeous.

Clouds seem to permanently cling on the snowy green mountain tops, all year round. Tourists say its paradise on earth and I possibly couldn't agree more. There are no or really less mobile signals over there.

I'll tell you about the culture collectively below.

Ah, now, Gilgit Baltistan.

Chitral and Gilgit, two über scenic cities are its main cities. Polo grounds, historical buildings and apple orchards are very popular.

These were the northern areas.

His Highness Agha Khan's (who is the owner of the five star hotels, Serena) followers, the Ismaili's live in the northern areas I mentioned above. So do the Afghans, Pathans, Mogul-descendants, and the descendants to the Greek army's soldiers of Alexander the Great live there.( Lore is, that many Greek men, when passed the famous Silk Route, linking us to China and India, took Pakistani women as wives. Their children call themselves, ' Animist Kalasha'. Historians prove it to be true.)

Very cool, no?

They have there own music, and really awesome dance routine. Which is done in a group, and is surprisingly easy. They specialize in wood carving art, on apricot or timber wood.

They also specialize in making intricate woven hand made carpets which are one of the leading exports of Pakistan.

There folk-lore/ tales are also popular.

Now is the final and fourth province of Sindh.

The capital of Sindh is Karachi.

Karachi is a very modern cosmopolitan city, with a developed active seaport, The Karachi Seaport. People from all around the world come here. A dark age came over Karachi, when the most dangerous of criminal organizations plagued the city badly. It's aftershocks are still felt today, but our army cleared most of them.

With golden beaches and the scorching humid weather it's Pakistan's equivalent of California, with malls of international standards and romantic restaurants by the shore.

Sindhi people are cool,suave and modern.

They are the original Urdu speaking and they also speak sindhi.

Most of Pakistani actors reside there as well. (Pakistan's Los Angeles as well.)

They specialize in making colorful cotton shawls, decorated with small pieces of mirrors. Very pretty, I tell you.

(I love them! And I love Karachi!)

Pakistani food.

You might have been too worried with the terrorist problem to notice what we ever ate.

Well, I'm going to tell you about Pakistani cuisine so you may not add Pakistani characters eating only gunpowder and human bones.

I'll start with...street food. My favorite.

We love a nice charred spicy tikka. Which are basically juicy, boneless pieces of chicken on a skewer cooked to a smoking perfection.

With a nice raita, which is cool yogurt with mint and really fine diced cucumber and a brush of pepper and salt.

We have malai boti (creamy chicken, spiced and charred), roast chicken drumsticks, tossed chili mutton, and

beef chapli kababs, (Flat small disc-like spiced cooked mince meat, brushed with vegetable grease).

There's shami kababs (The same like chapli kababs, except they are mixed with a little bit of dry lentils) and seekh kababs, (Cylindrical-shaped spicy minced meat)

We have siri pai. A signature dish of Lahore, eaten with a soft naan or crispy roti. Siri pai is a thick soupy-curry made with the bone marrow of a goat's bones.

(Mostly the legs-feet area)

Yup, let that sink in.

You may find it disgusting, I did too. But it's so damn yummy. I bet all Pakistanis shall agree with me.

There's nehari. My favorite dish EVER!

It's made of chicken or mutton or lamb meat, finely diced, folded into a spicy thick-y brown curry, sprinkled with lemon juice.

Paratha comes into the bread family, along with roti and naans. It's like roti, but a hundred more times crunchy, oily, crisp, and fatty.

And it goes great with everything. Sugar syrup, simple cream, curry, daal (lentils soup), showrba ( thin savory curry), everything.

I could rave about it all day long, but I'll proceed.

Breakfast is a Pakistani omelette (Egg cooked with red chilies, green chilies, onions and coriander), toast or paratha, yogurt and tea.

I eat cereal with milk and paratha with any curry cooked at that time for breakfast.

For a special Sunday breakfast most families order naan chanay, which is a chickpea spicy curry with a sesame naan. Also halwa purri, which is sweet dish. Halwa is a creamy, sugary paste like dish made from suji (A grainy white thing). Puri is made of a flat fried flour-dough like roti.

We have three types of main rice dishes :

Pulao (slow cooked in spices and steamed chicken), biryani, ( boiled rice folded into a spicy biryani paste, which is a Pakistani secret. Sorry.), and simple boiled rice, which can be eaten with daal,(savory lentils curry/soup).

We have some hundred vegetable curries, chicken, mutton, beef curries eaten with roti on a daily bases.

Our sweet dishes include halwa (as mentioned above.) Sweet rice, (With yellow food coloring, currants, coconut milk/ shavings) Kulfi, (almond iceream), kheer, ( smaller rice grains cooked in a creamy concoction of sugar and milk), jalebi (daal, beaten to powder dudt, mixed with a milky concoction , then piped and fried) and a lot of honey, nuts, milk and cream sweets.

We eat a wide array of food around the world as well.

And yes, we have McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC and many other international fast food joints like that as well.

We have a Muslim (Followers of Islam) majority, therefore our food mostly only halal.

(Halal meaning no alcohol, no pork/pig meat, and a couple of other Muslims are forbidden to eat.)

Pakistani castes/ancestory/sects/religions.

First up is ancestry/castes.

Ancestryis a very important thing to our adults.

Our castes are like....factions in Divergent trilogy and districts in Hunger Games. Sorry, those were the only examples I could think of at the moment, but hopefully you get the general idea.

They are like an inside to our personalities, attributes and family reputations.

Not much nowadays. But my grandfather tells me how important it was back then.

Certain castes don't marry into certain castes, they don't trade, buy, sell, borrow from certain castes sometimes.

I'll list the main ones below, with there supposed attributes.

1) Sheikhs.

The first thing that pops into your mind is the Arab sheikhs, right?

Well Pakistani sheikhs are more or less like that.

They are known to be the elite, rich, businessmen. Their women love shopping and men love creating empires. But they also have a bad reputation of being miser as hell.

But then again, this is a collective stereotypical view in our society. A person belonging to sheikhs could be poor and very generous.

Only that I've never seen one.

2) Juts.

I'm a juts ! Woo-Hoo!

Okay so we're reputed to be authentic, 100 percent Punjabi. We are descendants of pirates, rich landlords and Indian Sikh monarchs from India.

Sikhs is a religion, and those men and women who converted to Islam and migrated to Pakistan are Juts.

But not necessarily.

Hindu/ Sikh juts are also juts.

Our caste surname is Chaudhary whereas Hindu or Sikh juts use surnames as Singh.

We are reputed to have brave, reckless men, with heavy manly mustaches and guns. Our women are also brave, with taller built, and traditionally beautiful (I'm not saying this because I'm a jut! It's true, I swear!).

That is true to some extent. My great grandfather was a rich landlord in India, in the classic Punjabi village of Patiyala. We have a village in Pakistan as well.

None of the men in our family is a coward and very reckless indeed, with a lot of guns, yes. (They are all licensed, mind you.)

My father is a 100 percent jut and so is my mother.

We don't marry into sheikhs or pathans. Only in our own caste and into rajputs.

So twelve or ten years later I'll be, probably, destroying the life of a poor jut/rajput guy.

3) Rajputs.

They are known for their grace and royal manners. They were also a ruling class in India, only less reckless than juts.

Traditions also say that they were the illegitimate children of the Mughal Emperors of India from concubines.

They couldn't be exactly called 'princes' or 'princesses' so they were called Rajputs, or royal children/ children of royals.

They marry within they're own castes and juts, of course.

4) Pathans.

They are warrior like people, mostly living in the cold northern harsh mountainous terrain. Known for their beauty.

They are descendants of Afghans/Pashtuns. The only ones who didn't migrate from India.

Khan is a caste surname for them. Juts don't marry into Pathans at all, and they don't like us either. Since we are the two warrior tribes, it's kind of understandable.

A very good friend of mine is a pathan, too. So those old caste based rivalries don't exist in the modern world.

So those are the main caste groups, I can remember.

I'll start with various religion groups.

We have a Muslim majority, like I mentioned above. In minority and other religions we have Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsi ( fire worshipers).

I've never seen a Jew in Pakistan before, so I can't be sure.

Pakistani lifestyle and random facts.