I can spend long hours counting everything that is perhaps wrong with my life, or at least the things I believe are wrong. Some of those things have not yet come to pass, but I believe they could go wrong. And in these hours, which soon turn into days and then weeks, I do not dare think about the 46% of the Pakistanis who can’t even count. This, my fellows, is what breaks my bubble of denial. I am indeed one of the privileged ones in this third world country.
While we sip our tea and wait impatiently for winter so we can get all cozy in our blankets, sit by our heaters and wonder a little more about life, there is a farmer who never gets the actual worth of the wheat crop he worked on, a young Iqbal Masih is shot dead, a Kalashnikov is bought for education that was never received, a disputed Pakistani goes missing again while innumerable citizens breed.
These are some of the problems which Pakistan faces every day.
What we hear on the news are views of those who have developed the intellect to actually understand what these issues hold in totality. To the poor farmer it’s a matter of roti, kapra and makaan; but we like to label them under the UNDHR clauses of the right to earn and live, right to life, right to education, right to reside, etc. And so we are faced with a dilemma, where the actual victims don’t know the extent of their suffering, which is explained by those who do not suffer – at least in the same manner.
This paradox has been faced by Pakistanis for a long time and it has, for the same amount of time, gone unnoticed. Each country has its problems but I am amazed to see the same people who gallantly refer to Partition, succumbing to the miseries they face and yet in face of all of it keep working. As an agro-based economy, we have our fair share of floods, but each year crops are sown with the same amount of compassion and belief that it would only pour down a little. Never have I been more proud of my resilient nation.
Chaos is hence beautiful. We face a range of problems. And we aim to get above that each time.
Pakistan has a lot of issues, some of which it should take more seriously. But the beauty lies when I step out of my house and I see people on the street miserable. Don’t mistake me for a sadist; what I mean is that despite all this we keep going. Each day. Everyone makes the most of it. Humans are by nature driven for the things they don’t have and need; so us Pakistanis are driven for most basic things one can imagine: an air-conditioner in the long hot summers, a gas heater in the winters, a good flow of both electricity and gas, two meals each day and just enough rain to keep us believing that God wants to bless us in our daily triumphs. This is what an average Pakistani basically desires. For others it’s Ivy League acceptance, good job ‘abroad’, nice Sedan and good family Sunday brunches.
The basic aim of this blog is to differentiate how the two dominant classes in Pakistan perceive their lives. There is a basic difference of comprehension. Referring to the point I made when I started; 46% of our entire population is illiterate. This means that nearly half of us don’t know what is going on around them, and inside them. I realized this a few months back when I visited different housing societies of Lahore for my research project and interviewed some of the shopkeepers working in the commercial areas of these societies. To my dismay, these people had no idea for how satisfied they were working in these areas. For most it was all that they knew. I realized that vocabulary actually makes us understand and explain what we are experiencing.
It’s funny. We associate illiteracy with brutal issues like honor killing, forced marriages, heinous crimes etc, but we do not think for a second that it goes much deeper. It makes you aware of what is happening within you that is affecting the world. Hence, the educated or the literate can understand and actually drive their aspirations and aim for something. It’s not only because they understand the significance of the problems; it’s because they understand how without it their lives could never be better. How a part of them would never be complete.
So many of my own countrymen only aim to make ends meet only because they were taught that in the face of all the problems one can only always keep going ahead. It makes for a great resilient nation; but one that is just ingrained with the ideas of sustainability. Many who wander amongst us don’t know what’s inside them.