Pathans were originally from Afghanistan, though now they are found in large numbers in Pakistan and India too. They are a brave people, and Afghanistan is said to be the graveyard of invaders. Their homeland was invaded by the greatest powers on earth– Alexander the Great, the Mughals, the British, the Russians, and the Americans. Yet they never surrendered.
Their surnames are Khan (though not all Khans are Pathans ).
About Pathans there is a saying that if you give a Pathan respect, he will jump into a well if you tell him to without a second thought. But if you do not, he will not listen to anything you say.
In the film Rambo III an Afghan tells Rambo a popular saying : ” May God deliver us from the venom of the cobra, teeth of the tiger, and the vengeance of the Afghan. Do you know what that means ? “. To which Rambo replies ” That you people don’t take any shit “.
So I often tell my Pathan friends ( and I have many ) ” You Pathans are a bit ‘sarphira’ or ‘manphira’ ( crazy ).
Pathans are very hospitable. Once a friend of mine went to Afghanistan on the invitation of his Afghan friend. The Afghan was not at home when my friend arrived, but his wife served lunch to him. When the Afghan returned home he scolded his wife that she had not fed his friend properly. To which the wife replied ” What can I do when your friend does not have a stomach ? “.
Apart from other accomplishments ( e.g. Irfan Pathan in cricket, Dilip Kumar in films, etc ), Pathans have made an outstanding contribution to the development of Hindustani classical music. A large number of our classical musicians have been Pathans, e.g. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Faiyyaz Khan, Allauddin Khan, Fateh Ali Khan, Rashid Khan, Bismillah Khan, Amanat Ali Khan and his son Asad Amanat Ali Khan, Vilayat Khan, etc
Here is Nashenas, a Pathan from Afghanistan living in Australia singing this song originally sung by the immortal KL Sehgal
P.S.
( Kaatib means writer, and taqdeer means destiny. So Kaatib-e-taqdeer means writer of destiny i.e. God )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashenas
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