SiD’s Sphere!!

Note: For Facebook and WordPress readers, please click here to watch the videos.

Ordinary men and women who have never set foot into the Bazaar-e-Husn (literally beauty market), when told of these tawaifs(prostitutes) find themselves asking, ‘How could these women sell themselves for money? How could they stoop so low?’ These are the men and women who step into Cukoo’s Den (a posh restaurant in Heera Mandi) as if into a forbidden enchanted land and return none the wiser about the actual lives of the inhabitants of the Mohalla. And these are the men and women who most need to see this documentary.

Before you go on reading, I hope you have seen the documentary above, and if you think this is eye opening, I urge you to read ‘Taboo‘ by Fauzia Saeed.

The book gives an ethnographic account of the prostitutes’ lives. I look at it from an economic viewpoint. As long as there is demand for a particular service, someone in society will provide it. If demand ceases to exist, the service will cease to be available. Then, is it really fair for the self-righteous hypocrites that we all are to direct our disapproval only to the service-providers while the users go blame-free. These prostitutes and kothas are really products of man’s lust, which at least in Pakistani society ‘is usually grudgingly recognized as a necessary unpleasantness, consequently denied and never discussed.‘

That the men go to these women to satiate their appetites with impunity is not surprising, but a failure to recognize consequences of their nocturnal activities irks me the most. How can these men live with themselves knowing that they have caused for more lives to enter this mad mad world from which there is no easy escape.

anaginat sadiyon ki taarik bahimanaa talism
The dark dreadful magic of uncountable centuries
resham-o-atalas-o-kamkhvaab mein bunavaaye huye
Woven in silk, satin and brocade
jaa-ba-jaa bikate huye kuuchaa-o-baazaar mein jism
In every corner are bodies sold in the market
khaak mein lithade huye khuun mein nahalaaye huye
Covered in dust, bathed in blood

I wrote this 2 years ago, and I feel no different today:

So I may be wearing green and singing Dil Dil Pakistan at the top of my voice, but what is missing is the spirit of independence. 14th August is supposed to be the day Muslims of the subcontinent earned their freedom from the British as well as what was predicted to be a bleak future under Hindu rule. And yet, I’m still asking if the present day Pakistan was worth all the trouble our forefathers had to go through. From my vantage point, the bloodshed was needless; the sacrifices, a waste.

Many a patriotic soul would contend that the rights of Muslims would have been under serious threat in a nation dominated by Hindus. I look around and wonder if the ordinary man in Pakistan has any rights. Even in a Muslim nation, I feel no sense of security even inside my home. The law of the land is not there to protect me or my rights but a manipulation tool for the power hungry. And the saddest part is the apathy. An apathy that is just as much a part of my character as any other Pakistani. An apathy reflected by the collective insensitivity and indiscipline out on the roads or the disgusting tolerance towards corruption in the top echelons as well as lower down the hierarchy. A state of apathy that leaves me hopeless. Hopeless, yet not helpless. But I chose to not help because of the same apathy.

I’m sorry but I don’t see this nation going anywhere. And it’s surprising that it survived so long.

Happy Independence Day!

In a way, its grown worse. The lip service and rhetoric has increased, but I see no substantial change.

A few moments ago on twitter, someone announced a cake-cutting ceremony at one of the busiest roads in Karachi at the strike of 12. Concerned, I tweeted back requesting the person to not block roads. I was accused of ‘overreacting on pointless discussions’.

Really?

Does this Proud Patriotic Pakistani not remember the times, he’s been stuck in traffic because some political or religious party was celebrating something. Does he not remember the frustration he felt when he had to get somewhere and he couldn’t because some people had no consideration for others.

That, in my opinion, in Pakistan’s biggest folly as a nation. Most Pakistanis think only of themselves.

“My daughter is getting married, I don’t care about the neighbour’s sleep. I will play loud music into the wee hours of the night.”

“My Quaid was born today, I will block this road and hold a procession. It is the Quaid’s city, after all”

“My Prophet was born today. I will steal your electricity to light up my mosque. You are a kafir if you protest”

“My nation became independent today. I will make a racket at 12 am and sleep it off tomorrow. The sick and the old who go to bed early should be happy we are a free nation”

What a sad sad state of affairs. And you can’t knock sense into them. That’s akin to blasphemy.

I don’t mind the load-shedding anymore. I have learned to live with the lawlessness. The corrupt leaders I have stopped complaining about. But this hollow, superficial celebrations going on right now in the name of Independence Day PISS me off.

Stop! Your nation does not need this of you!

Someone just posted this on my facebook and I agree:

Aaj ka cheraga raat ki roshni mein doba nazr aata hai
14th august ki subha jub kal ka insaan soya paya jata hai
tub mera watan yateemi ki aghosh mein akela mehsoos kerta hai…
aaj mujhko woh dadi dada ki kahaniyoon wala Pakistan yaad ata hai

Translation:

The lights and celebrations will fade out with the night
The morning of 14th August will find everyone asleep
It is then that my nation feels orphaned
I remember the Pakistan that my grandparents told me of

I cannot agree more with Nelson Mandela:

For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.