“If we had more reliable systems of law and governance perhaps our friendships would be shallower.”

–Kamila Shamsie

The sarcasm within this remark is self-explanatory, where in her critically acclaimed novel ‘Kartography’, Kamila Shamsi captures the South Asian trademark of making connections purely for the basis of bypassing the red tape of inefficient government institutions. If only corruption was not a part and parcel of the institutions within this country, meaningless and redundant friendships could be avoided. It is the institutionalisation of this mass dilemma that nothing can function without contacts. We teach this to our children, implicitly we ingrain this mindset in all future generations to come. Because it has become customary and irremovable from within our souls, this aspect of measuring the benefit of various associations before investing any effort within them has become a sad norm within society.