Sunday, July 10, 2005

A nation of complainers

I was listening to a program on radio last night. I think it was 103 FM. The program was called Karachi Complaint or something. I must say that the two presenters were quite talented. They were talking in the typical Karachi accent about Karachiites' strange mindset and life style.
They had a very unique way of criticising people's bad habits and mindset. They took a very controversial topic and took phone calls on it. The topic was, if the girls are getting married and sitting at home, why are they studying? First they themselves commented on what some typical responses would be, for instance, it gives awareness etc.
People started calling in. That's what's distinctive about our nation, we are a nation of complainers and we love to talk on issues, but no one has the solutions. We love to talk, though, pretending to be intellectuals. No one cares to do the slightest to make a difference, however. Seen that LifeBouy advertisement that shows a single kid who starts off cleaning the street? That's the kind of people who change the future of nations. Unfortunately for us, there's only one such person in our country and that is that boy who was cast in that advertisement, and even he isnt really that kind, he was paid to pretend to be that way. But that's philosophy!
So, one girl calls in saying that it gives you "broadmindedness." Now these two guys hosting the show are very good. They ask her what is broad-mindedness, and she cant define it. See, we love to talk, even when we dont know what we are talking about. No one has the solutions, everyone loves to talk. Later these guys define broadmindedness as accepting other people for what they are and keeping from poking your nose into other people's business, or something to that effect, which was quite right.
Then there was this girl that said that she wanted to study Nuclear Sciences and she had taken a test at KANUPP's institute. They asked her what she would do, make a nuclear bomb? She couldnt think beyond Hydrogen bomb. We're all like that. That's one of our tragedies, we dont even know why we're doing something. Yet, we try to defend it with lame explanations. The two guys asked her, can Nuclear sciences ascertain a rise for our nation? She said yes, they asked her several other nations such as Sweden have made progress not because of nuclear science. She was stumped.
Then there was this girl who wanted to serve humanity so first she wanted to be a lawyer then she changed her mind to study child psychology and work with some NGO. They asked her what was the guarantee that she wouldnt change her mind again, she was stumped, too.
Then there was this lady talking BS asking all the people with their houses and apartments alongside Shara-e-Faisal to please remove the trash and clutter from their balconies and put plants there because we should give a good image to the expatriates who come home. Yea, right, those expats who come home because they want to buy clothes and shan masalas for the an year or two because they cost too much abroad, want to boast about their house and car that they dont own, but have on financing terms, and cant even guarantee that they would live to pay them off. I mean, come on, what is the guarantee that your source of income is constant? What makes you think that you can surely pay the monthly instalment of your car, or your house, or even your credit card? Dont go making lame excuses now, like the ladies on that program. Face it, you're wrong, feel bad about it. Maybe you have no other option, but have at least the conscience not to defend your lame lifestyle.
The guys also talked about girls who wanted to marry the handsome rich guy. They didnt find one for some years, they fell down to the rich guy, not necessarily handsome, didnt even find that, then a few years later compromised to a rich guy even with an acid-accident-face. I wonder what they would compromise to a few years after that.
What I want to summarise here is this: People, shut the hell up! If you dont have a solution, at least dont complicate the problem with your shitty, lame, no good debates. Those who have a solution are already working on it, silently. They dont care to talk about it. Whether they will succeed, or the complainers will get them down like so many others in the past, time will only tell. So stay tuned!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Is it something inherent in us, lack of education maybe? We don't seem to know where we're headed.

Just take the example of elections, the people of this country keep voting for the same parties who have failed us so badly in the past, the same people who have brought this country to its knees. It's absolutely pathetic. God help us!

Muhammad Saqib Ilyas said...

No, not education. Wisdom does not come from education. Sometimes a thelay wala says something so true that it would stun even the highest educated people. But it's just that some people dont want to change. Until someone wants to change, nothing can change them. We, dont want to change.