Monday, November 08, 2004
Ramblings...
The guy was bearded, well-built, had just arrived from Pakistan, and spoke excellent Urdu in his baritone voice. My analysis: Jamatiya, possibly a nazim or something, most probably a Punjab University thug, hence not worth my attention.
I was at the PU hostel for about a year, and was much disgusted by the antics of the PU Jamatiyas. I had arrived at the conclusion that the Jamaat had a good agenda and everything, but it had been infiltrated by many a village boy whose only chance at acting all important was to become a part of something big. Something like the Jamiyat. Once in the Jamiyat he became a thug, who derived his self esteem from asserting his Jamiyat endowed authority at people he thought did not fit in his Marxist/Communist scheme of things.
Now, that’s another thing. Have you noticed how in our part of the world the “ghareeb” (the politically correct English translation would be under-privileged) no matter how wrong he might be, is always presumed the mazloom, the victim, in a conflict between one and one not so under privileged. I am no capitalist, and I am a good Muslim who knows the importance of attributing equal respect and dignity to all people whatever their financial standing in the society be. However, I am perplexed by the stereo-types which have evolved in our young country over the last half century. Krishan Chandar (Or was it Prem Chand, it was the Chand who did not write Fasana-e-Azad), Manto and scores of writers after them have crucified the blood-sucking capitalist in their short stories and afsanas, and moviedom has happily followed suit. We are a nation weaned on the concept of evil rich man vs. good old principled but poor hero. Take a look at any of the movies of the last four decades, more often than not, this is how the hero-heroine meet each other for the first time.
Red sports car, top down, (Who drives those things in the Sub-Continent? I never saw any on the road) comes speeding around the corners, and rams straight into this 99 year old thela-wala’s fruit laden cart, who almost always decides to cross the road with his thela at the precise moment that car is coming down the road. Wham!!! The thela is destroyed, the ghareeb’s day’s assets splattered all over the road, and out steps the flashily dressed heroine to slap the thela wala for not having checked for incoming traffic before he decided to push his stupid cart onto the road. Still, she reaches into her purse and doles out a stack of currency notes to the “victim”. Enter, the Knight-in-not-so-shining-armor: “Memsaab, we do not need your money. A small dent on your car will get repaired in no time, but the scar your slap will leave on his dignity will not go ever. You in your smuggler, villainous father’s birthday gift car to you have destroyed the poor old man’s livelihood.” He rambles on about mansions built on poor people’s land usurped by the heroine’s father, the need for compassion, coup, and fund raising campaigns by Imran Khan. Then, he leaves with the old man and his cart, while the heroine slips into utopia where she prances around the world in Barbie customs with the Knight-in-not-so-shining armor in flashy yellow pants The audience claps.
The Same audience gets out of the cinema hall, and looks menacingly at any signs of prosperity and wealth. They presume any such wealth has been amassed at the expense of the ghareebs. Ergo, they have a right to hold these villainous fiends by the scruff of their necks should they now step on the toes of a fellow ghareeb. The irony is that most of these self styled ghareebs are quite well off but look at themselves as under privileged in relativity to those better endowed than themselves. It is a vicious cycle, which leads to a situation where everyone considers himself the wronged ghareeb, because there is always someone better off than them.
So, when a Land Cruiser scraps a poor Corolla, the Land Cruiser guy is, if without his body guards, held accountable for rash driving and lack of consideration for the ghareebs. (Ghuraba) Same equation applies to all of the following pairs: Corolla scraps Khyber, Khyber scraps Mehran, Mehran hits Bike, Bike hits Bicycle, Bicycle hits pedestrian. The latter party in all these pairs reserves the right to point the accusing finger, even if he were hell bent on colliding with the former.
And to think, I was going to introduce Jalali Baba. Well, maybe next time...
¶ 11/08/2004 01:03:00 PM
I was at the PU hostel for about a year, and was much disgusted by the antics of the PU Jamatiyas. I had arrived at the conclusion that the Jamaat had a good agenda and everything, but it had been infiltrated by many a village boy whose only chance at acting all important was to become a part of something big. Something like the Jamiyat. Once in the Jamiyat he became a thug, who derived his self esteem from asserting his Jamiyat endowed authority at people he thought did not fit in his Marxist/Communist scheme of things.
Now, that’s another thing. Have you noticed how in our part of the world the “ghareeb” (the politically correct English translation would be under-privileged) no matter how wrong he might be, is always presumed the mazloom, the victim, in a conflict between one and one not so under privileged. I am no capitalist, and I am a good Muslim who knows the importance of attributing equal respect and dignity to all people whatever their financial standing in the society be. However, I am perplexed by the stereo-types which have evolved in our young country over the last half century. Krishan Chandar (Or was it Prem Chand, it was the Chand who did not write Fasana-e-Azad), Manto and scores of writers after them have crucified the blood-sucking capitalist in their short stories and afsanas, and moviedom has happily followed suit. We are a nation weaned on the concept of evil rich man vs. good old principled but poor hero. Take a look at any of the movies of the last four decades, more often than not, this is how the hero-heroine meet each other for the first time.
Red sports car, top down, (Who drives those things in the Sub-Continent? I never saw any on the road) comes speeding around the corners, and rams straight into this 99 year old thela-wala’s fruit laden cart, who almost always decides to cross the road with his thela at the precise moment that car is coming down the road. Wham!!! The thela is destroyed, the ghareeb’s day’s assets splattered all over the road, and out steps the flashily dressed heroine to slap the thela wala for not having checked for incoming traffic before he decided to push his stupid cart onto the road. Still, she reaches into her purse and doles out a stack of currency notes to the “victim”. Enter, the Knight-in-not-so-shining-armor: “Memsaab, we do not need your money. A small dent on your car will get repaired in no time, but the scar your slap will leave on his dignity will not go ever. You in your smuggler, villainous father’s birthday gift car to you have destroyed the poor old man’s livelihood.” He rambles on about mansions built on poor people’s land usurped by the heroine’s father, the need for compassion, coup, and fund raising campaigns by Imran Khan. Then, he leaves with the old man and his cart, while the heroine slips into utopia where she prances around the world in Barbie customs with the Knight-in-not-so-shining armor in flashy yellow pants The audience claps.
The Same audience gets out of the cinema hall, and looks menacingly at any signs of prosperity and wealth. They presume any such wealth has been amassed at the expense of the ghareebs. Ergo, they have a right to hold these villainous fiends by the scruff of their necks should they now step on the toes of a fellow ghareeb. The irony is that most of these self styled ghareebs are quite well off but look at themselves as under privileged in relativity to those better endowed than themselves. It is a vicious cycle, which leads to a situation where everyone considers himself the wronged ghareeb, because there is always someone better off than them.
So, when a Land Cruiser scraps a poor Corolla, the Land Cruiser guy is, if without his body guards, held accountable for rash driving and lack of consideration for the ghareebs. (Ghuraba) Same equation applies to all of the following pairs: Corolla scraps Khyber, Khyber scraps Mehran, Mehran hits Bike, Bike hits Bicycle, Bicycle hits pedestrian. The latter party in all these pairs reserves the right to point the accusing finger, even if he were hell bent on colliding with the former.
And to think, I was going to introduce Jalali Baba. Well, maybe next time...
¶ 11/08/2004 01:03:00 PM
