It's been eighteen months since I got here, and its seems like I left Minneapolis yesterday. Don't get me wrong I remember most of my most of my time here and its been a very tiring and rewarding time, its just that whenever I go back to the US or Pakistan I expect things, people, relationships to be just as they were when I left and that is almost never the case.
Take my recent trip to Pakistan a few weeks ago. As has been the case since I left Pakistan a decade ago, whenever I go back its a bigger cultural shock than when I go back to the US.
Part of it is cause things don't change at the same rate in the US as they do in the developing world. Whenever I visit Islamabad there is always more people, more roads, more traffic, more buildings, more shops, more police, more beggars, less order, less trees, less parks, less tolerance, whereas in Minneapolis things are not really changing at all - I think I like it better that way, I think I'll always keep a home there.
My trip to Pakistan this time was for my sisters wedding, my only sisters wedding, and those of you who don't know how big of a deal weddings are in Pakistan, go watch "Monsoon wedding" and multiply that by like four. That's how crazy it was - festivities that lasted for a week.
But I'll start my story with my journey to Pakistan. On my flight from Doha to Islamabad, I met this young lady who was on her first 10 day trip to Pakistan. She was going to evaluate the efficacy of a USAID funded program and was currently doing her master's in Public Policy. As it was her first trip to what "TIME" magazine calls the most dangerous place on earth she had many questions about Pakistan. How are the people like? Hows the food like? What are good places to go? etc etc. I answered her every question as truthfully as I could, maybe more truthfully than I think she would have liked I suppose.
Pakistan is a very confusing place, you will find extreme corruption and honesty at the same time, you will find apathy and enthusiasm also in abundance and it drives even a guy like me whose lived 18 years in the country absolutely nuts.
Lets take my flight back as an example, when boarding the plane from Doha all the passengers who were mostly Pakistani were relatively orderly, queuing properly, not being overly loud just like people from any other place, but as soon as the plane landed in Pakistan it was like all of them were bipolar. Even before the plane had stopped moving most of them got up from their seats and started removing their luggage, the cabin crew kept mentioning on the PA system that we haven't stopped yet but had no affect on what seemed like a herd of wilder-beast on their annual migration from the Serengetti to the Masai Mara. Bags were falling over, people started arguing and I was just sitting back and telling myself "yup, nothings changed, I'm back home".
I had told the USAID lady earlier during the flight that the problem in Pakistan is not that there aren't proper rules or policies in place, the problem is enforcement, and as soon as she saw these people getting up from their seats on a moving plane she looked at me and smiled.
Finally everyone got off the plane to get into the bus that had to take everyone to the terminal at the same time so God knows what the hurry for leaving the plane was all about. Once on the terminal, passed the immigration and customs to the baggage claim you could see signs everywhere which read NO SMOKING, in both Urdu and English but as I expected 6 or 7 people lit their cigarettes. I confronted one of them and pointed out the signs to him, to which he replied, I'm back home, I can do whatever I want. I pointed him out to a police officer who politely told me off "kuch nahin hota jee..cigarette hee to hey" - "doesn't matter sir, its only a cigarette". For the LOVE OF GOD, it is not "only a cigarette", its the law.
That is the problem in Pakistan, these same people who were probably day laborers, who are abused and overworked in Dubai but because there is someone who enforces the law no matter how inhuman that law might be, refuse to revolt or say anything, but in their own country take advantage of the fact that no one is there to enforce the laws.
To be contd.........................
8 comments:
I am really disappointed this time by reading your post i was not expecting such kind of view from towards your own nation... uhhhh i don't understand why people who go out for studies or for work abroad start criticizing there own nation where they born grew up no matter what you do or how many years you live in other nation u will still and always be a Pakistani.. would u ever think of criticizing your family or siblings or relatives No Neva but u Criticize your own nation own country in front of thousands of people because you don't have true feeling that it is your own...I just want to ask you a question if you are so Mr. right why don't you come to Pakistan and work here for the betterment of this nation? it is so easy living far away n criticizing..m sorry to say then you people don't deserve to be called Pakistani...
If somebody is criticizing their own people or nation then I don't think there is anything wrong in that because whatever he said is true. Pakistan is not bad.. but we Pakistanis are definitely not good. We are just like our politicians. We are using this country for our own benefits. We are not sincere to our country.. we don't do a single thing for this country. What have we given to Pakistan? Nothing! We just pretend to be a patriot and not realizing and not knowing the true meaning of it.
What is the point of saying good about your family if your family is not good. We are so proud to be pakistanis but do we actually sit and think about our responsibilities?
You are right in the sense that we should work here and do something for the betterment of our nation but telling someone to hush up and not speak the truth wont change the fact. Face the truth .. we are like what he has seen.. I don't know if he himself is like that or not. But, we don't really have a good reputation in the world.. and I am not referring to terrorism only.
But if you yourself will talk n poet rate a bad image what others gonna think? yes there are loads of mistakes we are wrong and he is true in many cases but whats the point of praising Africa n Sudan (which is one of the corrupt)and Talking bad about your own nation...they visit Pakistan upload worst pictures so that other people can see how poor n backward we are why aint anybody took pictures of beautiful n scenic views that Pakistan is also blessed with it at least talk about both the aspects naaaa not just one that we are corrupt,bad n ugly people in this entire universe...
Dear anonymous 1, thank you for your comments but please read part II which will be up tomorrow before you pass any further judgments. Salam
All I can say right now whatever you have said in Part 1 is absolutely right. I am waiting for part 2.
I feel the same way whenever I return to Pakistan too. Each time I fly from Dubai to Lahore, everyone is normal at the Dubai airport. As soon as we get on to the plane...everything is a mess. But I don't think noticing these things means that one is criticizing their own nation. I think every Pakistani loves the country and cannot stand seeing what is happening to it. I usually blame the system and the people who made the system. But I also realize that it is the masses who allow the system to get as bad as it is. The public have lost their civic sense or maybe they feel that to survive in Pakistan, one has to follow the "grab what you can and do what you want" rule.
A majority of the country cannot afford to eat meat because the price is around 500 rupees per kilo yet there are numerous high priced restaurants opening up every week. A normal outfit in the stores cost over 20,000 rupees...it is crazy! As a girl I am appalled at the fashion industry in Pakistan. The fact that fashions change so drastically every season is a way to make more money...and people happily spend so much. If you are not in vogue, you get criticized.
Everywhere you go, one can see poverty and desperation but somehow we have all become blind to it. Sadly I have also heard the excuses people make "there is no point in helping the poor, the want to be poor".
When I read the book "Three Cups of Tea", it made me realize that a non-Pakistani saw the plight of Pakistani in the north and decided to do something about it. He lived in poor conditions just so he could save up enough money to build schools for boys and girls. If you ask any Pakistani to do this, here are the excuses you will hear: "there is too much corruption", "there is not point helping the poor", "it is too dangerous"...etc. Even if the book exaggerates Greg Mortenson's feats...his accomplishments are extraordinary.
And I know I cannot criticize the country and the government if I don't even vote. So this time I am planing to make a trip especially for the next elections. It hurts to see what is happening with my own country. If I could go back in time, I would even try to enter the civil service to try and make a change or a small difference to a profession that has now become associated with corruption.
But what I can do now is change my goals and area of study. I plan to work on public policy and gain enough experience so that I can go back and try to help the people of my own country.
I feel the same way whenever I return to Pakistan too. Each time I fly from Dubai to Lahore, everyone is normal at the Dubai airport. As soon as we get on to the plane...everything is a mess. But I don't think noticing these things means that one is criticizing their own nation. I think every Pakistani loves the country and cannot stand seeing what is happening to it. I usually blame the system and the people who made the system. But I also realize that it is the masses who allow the system to get as bad as it is. The public have lost their civic sense or maybe they feel that to survive in Pakistan, one has to follow the "grab what you can and do what you want" rule.
A majority of the country cannot afford to eat meat because the price is around 500 rupees per kilo yet there are numerous high priced restaurants opening up every week. A normal outfit in the stores cost over 20,000 rupees...it is crazy! As a girl I am appalled at the fashion industry in Pakistan. The fact that fashions change so drastically every season is a way to make more money...and people happily spend so much. If you are not in vogue, you get criticized.
Everywhere you go, one can see poverty and desperation but somehow we have all become blind to it. Sadly I have also heard the excuses people make "there is no point in helping the poor, the want to be poor".
When I read the book "Three Cups of Tea", it made me realize that a non-Pakistani saw the plight of Pakistani in the north and decided to do something about it. He lived in poor conditions just so he could save up enough money to build schools for boys and girls. If you ask any Pakistani to do this, here are the excuses you will hear: "there is too much corruption", "there is not point helping the poor", "it is too dangerous"...etc. Even if the book exaggerates Greg Mortenson's feats...his accomplishments are extraordinary.
And I know I cannot criticize the country and the government if I don't even vote. So this time I am planing to make a trip especially for the next elections. It hurts to see what is happening with my own country. If I could go back in time, I would even try to enter the civil service to try and make a change or a small difference to a profession that has now become associated with corruption.
But what I can do now is change my goals and area of study. I plan to work on public policy and gain enough experience so that I can go back and try to help the people of my own country.
sorry for the two comments...my computer was acting up
Post a Comment