E-Paper
Pak hospitality bowls over NDRI scientists
THREE NATIONAL Development and Research Institute (NDRI) scientists who recently returned after attending a two-day international nutrition conference in Pakistan have been bowled over by the hospitality extended to them by the people of the neighbouring country.
THREE NATIONAL Development and Research Institute (NDRI) scientists who recently returned after attending a two-day international nutrition conference in Pakistan have been bowled over by the hospitality extended to them by the people of the neighbouring country.
They were also encouraged by the genuine desire of the scientific community there to strengthen scientific relations between the two countries.
The scientists were part of a delegation of 14 members mostly picked up from the agricultural universities of Punjab and Haryana. The Nutritionists Association of Pakistan, under the aegis of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, had hosted the conference.
Recalling his experience, NDRI scientist Dr T.K. Walli told HT today that he had felt the change in Delhi itself when a Pakistan High Commission official did all he could to hand him over his visa the very same day he had applied for it.
He said that in Lahore, the Indian scientists were received with a warm hug at the airport by the university dean and organizing secretary, Dr Talat Pasha. He said although delegates from Iran, Belgium, UK and Germany were also present, Indian scientists formed the focus of the hosts’ attention.
Walli said Pakistani scientists cut short their presentation to give more time to their Indian counterparts. “Never during our stay was the K (Kashmir) word mentioned by the hosts,” he said.
The other two scientists, Dr Harjeet Kaur and Dr A.K. Tyagi, were also all praise for the Pak hospitality. “After learning that we were Indians, merchants offered us cloth at half the price and a paanwaala refused to accept any money.
A scientist, Dr Javed Qurashi, who took us around Lahore, went out of the way to find vegetarian food for some of us,” said Tyagi.
