Roman Holidays

In the words of a dear friend, “The scorching sun blissfully smiles down upon us.” I couldn’t help smiling at the oxymoronic description when I realized how ironic it was. The sun can itself blissfully smile while inflicting so much pain upon all those under it. How evil, I thought to myself but when you see the greater picture, it’s the general nature of things, especially humans. The sun may have been known to be vile since the ancient Egyptians begged ‘Ra’ for mercy when building the pyramids, but humans have been feared of greater peril since the dawn of time.

With humans, their treacherous ways have also evolved, becoming more subtle but venomous as time progressed. The Pharaohs, Romans, Mongols, Barbarians and the participants of the world wars, all became fiercer than the preceding race but the felony we commit today as a society has surpassed it all. It is as if living under various tyrannical regimes for over 60 years, we have attained the ability to plaster plastic smiles upon our faces, speak hollow words and indifferently hurt those around us with our cold actions just as these tyrants do.

Why is it so that those who rule upon us have been becoming increasingly corrupt and heartless? Harsh as it may sound, we have brought this upon ourselves owing to our social malice. Everyday, various acts of terrorism in our country claim the lives of at least 10 people and we have now become so used to it that those who do know of it, don’t even bother to stop for a moment and at least hope that they rest in peace. And some of us, who have lost their relatives in any such accident or to more humble diseases, are petty enough to color their grey hair in time for the funeral or they might have to join a purgatory for committing the blasphemy of showing their grey hair to the mourning crowd! And those who seem to be slightly more considerate, halfheartedly recite portions of the Quran, desperately waiting for the dead to be taken away to their final abode so that they can indulge in chat and gossip!

Very recently we saw a terrible plane crash, a bomb blast and a flood on the same day. The death toll by that night was no less than 200 at least. The whole nation grieved, so much so that even people who fortunately lost no acquaintances, cancelled their weddings scheduled for the next day. But there were some of us who were completely unaware and oblivious of any of these heartrending events; some who were aware but as is the custom, did not stop to think about it for a moment; and of course those who weren’t touched by the tragedy in the air and made the most of their day laughing, chatting, celebrating various events when the whole country was officially mourning- it was officially a day of ‘soag’.

Pakistan is battling with a food crisis- complacently accepted by the government AND the citizens because if we did care enough we wouldn’t be sitting in our houses simply cursing the government. We would at least try to take a stand, protest, or try to do something of our own accord- provided that we did care…

                           

Two years ago, a hunger-beaten six-year old child fell into a ‘daigh’ at a wedding and burned 75% of his body while trying to steal food because his father, who was a painter had been out of work for the past two days and thus unable to find them any food. May 2010: A married couple threw themselves on the railway tracks to be minced by the train because they were left devoid of any strength to battle with life anymore. The answer to why they chose death is easy: Inflation, hunger, crushing poverty, helplessness, etc. But why did they choose such a painful death? The answer to that was given by Khadim Hussain, who works almost 24 hours in a mill in Lahore, doing over times to suffice his basic needs. And in spite of that, he had to sell his kidney to prepare a not-so-ostentatious dowry for his daughter, who in spite of being perfectly normal wouldn’t get married without it. According to him, dying is harder than living for you require at least Rs. 10,000 for a proper burial, which he, the unfortunate couple and many other Pakistanis are unable to afford.

The story doesn’t end here, though. June 2010: A family ate poisoned food hoping to find the peace lost from their lives in afterlife. Another family attempted to attain salvation via a similar path.  This led Mr. Qamr-uz-Zaman Kaira to make another incredibly insensitive statement saying that if parents are unable to feed their children, they should ‘deposit’ them in the ‘Bait-ul-Maal’ instead of killing them. Now that certainly calls for a celebration since our government has almost reached the height of indifference. I wonder if anybody asked Mr. Kaira that even if people do that, what guarantee do they have that their children would be properly fed and not be stationed at some traffic signal to beg and fill the politicians’ pockets?

The bottom-line is that people in our country are dying mainly either due to terrorism or hunger and we have become indifferent to the overwhelming misery around us. By saying this I do not mean that we should all become melancholy Jacques and begin to find misery in the hatching of eggs but that it’s high time we try and do something about it. As for terrorism, I do not know how we as people can help that but we can definitely try to relieve the not-so-fortunate of the worry of where their next meal will be coming from, if at all.

We spend around six thousand rupees on just one lunch at ostentatious food outlets like Nando’s and Arizona Grill. I’m sure we can take out a little to save somebody from losing their life or their most valuable possession- their child to a welfare centre. I believe that if every housing society/area sets up a small camp where three times each day, every house in the area contributes a single plate of food, all the poor in the area should be able to at least live, if not peacefully.

It is high time that we stop expecting anything from our government and take steps to prevent the frustrated lot from playing in the hands of death.

It is high time that we try to see through our cold impertinence that has made us truly the merchants of menace.