France celebrated its national day, the Bastille Day, ‘la Fete Nationale’, on July 14, marking the French revolution in 1789 and the founding of democracy.

“In Pakistan, we will mark it in the autumn when the holidays are over and the weather is cooler. Now, we focus on Ramazan,” says Philippe Lecuyer at the French Embassy.

Philippe adds that the summer has been busy; France did quite well in the Football World Cup, and the embassy held several public screenings of matches.

“I congratulate Germany and the other top teams, including the host country Brazil and its neighbour Argentina.”

Rodolfo Saravia, the Argentine Ambassador and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, is busy as usual, also after the World Cup, and during the whole of Ramazan his calendar is crowded. He strolls down the road near Kohsar Market in Islamabad, on his way back to the office one afternoon last week, accompanied by a colleague and a business visitor.

In the evening, he will attend two events; one to bid farewell to an international staff member in the Red Cross, and then he will host a dinner at his own residence.

This is how many ambassadors’ calendars are; office work and meetings in the day, and receptions and dinners at night, and with some luck, a short stroll in the afternoon.

Germany is also back to normal work calendar, yes, in spite of becoming world champion in football, for the first time in 24 years. Chancellor Angela Merkel did not given any extra holiday to her fellow citizens in spite of the success, but she was there, in Rio de Janeiro, at the winning match, when Germany received gold and Argentina silver.

“Sports can only play a positive role in contact and cooperation between countries. There is a lot of attention given to the host country, but also the other countries benefit. Less than 10 per cent of the world’s countries qualified to participate, but people from all over the world were keen TV spectators, including many of my Pakistani colleagues at the German Embassy,” says Dr Dan Tidten, Head of the Press and Culture Section.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2014