The Motions of Escape

It’s become sort of a habit now. A ritual we must go through at least 4 times a week. Stories collected from far and wide of this city and this country. These are stories of murder, robberies, shootings, kidnappings etc. Recent past has shown these stories growing in number and also in the state of their morbidity. The recent past of these stories shows a reflection of how our society is decorating.

Kids have started identifying other kids in their schools who are rich and worth the effort of kidnapping for ransom. Not just friends mind you, in certain cases relatives, even first cousins. This is what our society has become. Bullets and murder is fast becoming an immune part of the structural set up of this younger generation. A generation I am not that far away from in age. But sadly miles apart in culture.

Kidnappings have started resulting in the immediate killings of the victims primarily because of the fact that their relatives or close ones were involved. I heard a story tonight of how a kid who just got enrolled in the first semester of my university was kidnapped and murdered and then dumped in Phase 8 DHA Karachi. Another story of a similar nature resulted in the victim being killed, chopped and then the mutilated remains being presented on the door step of the family.

Why is it that our society is consistently hitting all time new lows? It can’t just be because of frustration and desperation that people are forced to commit crime, felons and unspeakable acts of inhumanity. Not when kids are involved from good backgrounds. It’s not just a point of absolute no return in all cases. It is also this decorating sense of values and a decorating culture.

Getting back to the ritual that we go through (by we I mean my family), the stories are then followed by an analysis of how things are getting worse and worse and how it would be good to be on board, everyone of us, on designing and making an escape route. Exit strategy would be more like it. An uncle of mine asked me to have a session with him one day soon on the situation of this country. So that he can convince me to go now, out of the country, to a safer haven and return when the situation of the country is better. I personally don’t think he even believes that the situation will improve in that time or in any time soon.

The motions have started for a lot of well off and affluent people to make their plans, scout out properties and possible opportunities abroad to make their ‘move’. A move to a safer future.

Rationality perhaps demands and persuades many to follow suit. Rationality tells you to do the sensible thing. To make the wise choice and decision. Rationality tells me all of the same things. But then, rationality is not supposed to be based around one thing in isolation. It’s not like if it professes one thing, it doesn’t exist for another. Somehow, this rational comes to me, explains me everything. But then there exists rationality in my mind. A rationality which goes against the motions of planning an escape route.

I have said it before. And I have come to the conclusion that I’ll say many more times to come. I don’t know why. Maybe because so far I have been fortunate enough only to have experienced one personal gun point robbery. Of course I have my close family who has experienced it as well. But I have only had one experience so maybe that’s why it doesn’t take a hold of me as much to go abroad. Maybe it’s because I have always lived in comfort in my country. Mostly remaining untouched by the various jolts going and coming in society and the economy. Maybe because I was any army kid so the sense of loyalty and passion and love for the country is a bit stronger than other people. Maybe it’s because I am still young at 23, fire in eyes and blood. A raging love inside. And an innocent sense of noble righteousness. I don’t know.

Whatever the reason for it but the rational that takes hold of me more than the more common well founded one is to stay here. To stay here because, if everyone who wasn’t a crook and had a clean slate left, or started leaving, then this country will absolutely go to the dogs. To stay here because, I still believe in myself and in my passion enough to sense that I will, somehow, some way do something to help people in this country. Even if it’s a little thing. I will be able to do something. Maybe it’s a sense of not having really had the opportunity to try yet to play a role. To stay here and fight. Fight someway or the other for just ice. For humanity. To stay here and appeal to the greater good of mankind.

Do I have a plan? No. I don’t. But I believe that I am justified in not having a plan. I am 23. What would have I done before? Left my studies and tried to do something I wouldn’t have been able to achieve and then hurt both my cause and my set of values? I couldn’t do that. By completing my education I do believe I have given myself a better chance for being able to achieve a change. A change in that I hold dear. So no, I don’t have a plan. But I know that given the time, I have it in me to do something. Anything. Anything that will help. Even if I am able to achieve 1/100000000th of a difference. You want to know why even such a minor change will be ok? Well not ok but why such a minor change also convinces me to stay? Because that will be a start. I don’t think everything good starts with a bang. I believe sometimes you have to keep pitching in little by little to make something big. To change the world.

I suppose I am hell bent on this rationality. Not the one more commonly found among people and well founded no doubt. I don’t call people who want to leave selfish. I don’t say they are doing a wrong thing. They are making their choice, and I believe that I want to make mine.

Our Burning Plight

The Marriot Hotel in Islamabad was the latest venue of a terrorist attack in Pakistan. Till now the death count is at 40, and the hotel is engulfed in flames with 15 people reportedly trapped inside. The army has been called in for the rescue efforts. 

My brother usually stays at that hotel when he is in Islamabad for work. Diplomats and foreigners are also the usual residents in that hotel and the security arrangements have always been completely ‘beefed up’. Yet somehow they managed to bomb that place. 

The people, who have been killed, must include by and large the security guards and other staff of the hotel. These are people who are working on the wages of 6000 to 12000 a month. For the so called ‘jihadists’ and the Taliban my question is that are these your targets? If they are then they continue to prove themselves as nothing but barbaric terrorists with no understanding of the religion under whose Flag they perform their so called Jihad. 

Innocent people’s lives are lost in such attacks. People who have nothing to do with the affairs of running the country or dealing with other policies such as being part of the ‘war on terrorism’. What good does it do to kill them? What good for that matter does it do to kill anyone? Nothing more than giving the Americans more and more reason to continue to infringe our borders with their drone missiles and other strikes which also ironically results in the casualties of civilians more often than not. 

Bad intelligence, lack of regard and focus on issues which are detrimental to Pakistan and its existence is always going to result in bad things. Our President fresh from his laurels of winning the coveted title distracted my thought process for the past few days from the terrorism inside our country. I was caught up in what’s and ifs of the future under him. This was a cold reminder of the continuing problem in our country of a lack of security for anyone. No one is safe. 

My blog so far might seem very disconnected and somewhat vague and lost. But it is merely a result of continued and consistent depression at the decorating situation in our country. The economic factors are weak. The finances of the country are grim. The world over the finance situation is also grim given the events of the past week including the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, and the near same fate of AIG. However I digress. Right now it’s a question of the countless lives lost over the past so many years in these terrorist attacks and bombings and the increasing rate of suicide bombings. Innocent lives. People who were just going about their business. 

Where is the fault? Why is there such an increased number of people willing to kill themselves and others in the process in the name of false aspirations? Because these people, the ‘militants’ and the ‘taliban’, the soldiers in these outfits are brainwashed. Brainwashed by men who are so weakened and overwhelmed in the face of their own greed and desire that morality does not exist in their worlds. And the soldiers who are brainwashed are mostly young kids and men who probably either didn’t know any better or were unfortunate enough not to have any other avenue in their sight. Or at least they weren’t shown any other avenue. 

There is an increased need in my mind to sort and seek avenues other than the use of force, and the use of ‘diplomatic dialogue’. First of all, this is our country, and no one should be allowed to conduct any operation inside our boundaries, on our lands, against our people. Secondly, we need to desperately realize the fierce urgency of now and act on it. Act on factors which we are letting slip away from our hands. This will no doubt contribute in the future to making things more and more worse, leaving many a common man desperate and frustrated. 

Education, justice, humanity and the welfare of all citizens is a must. A means of survival is also a must. It is not only the duty of our sad excuses of leaders and federation to work at these but also of us, the citizens of this nation. We can’t just continue living off it until we are conveniently untouched and not bothered. Or rather let’s say till we are in our comfort zones. We must rise to the occasion of building this nation and its future. We must act. Ensure some sort of accountability on those who we have given the power to run the macro level affairs of this country. We must contribute towards building our societies in a manner which is progressive and productive. Till when will we remain in the clouds of ignorance? Only to be touched just a slight bit and the scoot off to the best possible exit route out of this country? If that’s the plan everyone’s following then there’s no use waiting. We are all done for anyway. 

 

Why So Serious?

Yes …. .I just saw the ‘Dark Knight’ … I gave in. I couldn’t wait for the cinema to show it. Although … I wouldn’t mind going and seeing it again on the big screen. It was a great movie. The action sequences might not have been as dazzling as lets say … the 500% hard to believe ‘The Wanted’ like…. but they were still pretty amazing. And .. yes…. the man… that we all wanted to see in his last role … in his ‘legendary’ performance… which will no doubt be acclaimed by the Oscars….. has done …a fucking amazing job. As Barney (From How i met your mother) would put it, ‘it was legen…. wait for it …….daaaarrrryy!!!’ .  But anyway.. so yea.. the title is such because i saw the bat yesterday. Thats that. Now on to the actual post.

We have quitely entered a new age. An age where people are actually asking ‘Is becoming a crook a way to become president one day.’ or the rather more non-humorous types would say ‘ Congratulations Pakistan. Now go fuck yourself over what you did. Or wait…. you’ve already arranged for that to happen to you.’

We are in an age … where a man, with criminal records, a term in prison… a suspect in murder cases including that of his own brother in law. And of course an un discussed suspect in the murder of his wife, the Late BB. A man who has corruption charges starting from his toes all the way upto his last and highest strand of hair. Yes. Mr. Asif Ali Zardari is the new President of Pakistan. ‘Aaj mohtarma kaa khwaab jamhooriat kaa… pura huwa’ … fantastic isn’t it? But then perhaps this will account for ‘Why so serious?’ . This sounds like a pretty good damn reason to be serious.

Or the fact that the US has stepped up its incursions inside Pakistan’s borders in their hunt for militants. The FATA region is constantly prones to US Drones attacks, missile attacks etc etc. Our Army Chief, kudos to him, has quite firmly said that Pakistan will at all costs. The Prime Minister has backed his army on this. The US has said nothing as to the ‘Rules of Engagement’. Our sovereignty is under immense threat and question. That’s why so serious.

Our Inflation rate has reached 24% …. our food inflation is more than 35%. Thats why so serious. Robberies, Kidnapping and murders are at a climbing rate. That’s why so serious. The job markets are slightly tightening. The financials of the country are tightning. Thats why so serious. The common man is beign crushed under the pillars of this worlds society and economic structure.. that’s why so serious.

A great man once said that his country must fully understand and acknowledge ‘the urgency of now!’. That’s what Pakistan has to realize. That’s what Pakistan should have realized quite some time back ideally but then again we don’t live in an ideal world. The only path to having a shot at glory and being proud of the country in recent times was cricket. Well sort of anyway. When we would lets say do the obvious and win against Bangladesh? But right now, even that is at it’s lowest. No one will come play in Pakistan. Security is just too much of an issue. Let alone the foreigners, it’s a problem and an issue for ourselves. The citizens and the residents of this country. That’s why so serious.

I know of late I have simply been writing low and depressing stuff for the country, but well, thats what’s the situation is right now. And you can’t do much more about it. We have to face the reality. And hold it smack in front of our faces so that we do ‘realize the urgency of now’. This country needs leaders. And there won’t be a leader to come from the heavens. We have to breed the leaders from amongst us. We have to fix ourselves and then maybe a leader will rise. For he will then see a great nation which deserves to be lead to greatness. But currently that’s nowhere on the horizon. That’s why so serious.

I believe. And I will continue to believe. But how much faith I have left in that belief.. is something I don’t know right now.

Oh and also, we don’t know when SCRUBS IS EVER GOING TO END .. .THATs also WHy so Serious!