Adil Najam
Sepoy, of Chapati Mystery fame, sent me this picture before. It is a crude sheyr (verse) crudely written at the back of a bus.
Girls these days are so proud of their beauty
They don’t know the first kalma, but speak in English
Sepoy said it made him chuckle. It makes me chuckle too. But it also makes me shudder a bit. And not just for the (lack of) poetic skills displayed here. The verse and its display probably says more about the way we view women – especially young women – than it does about the state of poetry in the country.
Notwithstanding the fact that not just rhyme but reason is also missing here and the first and second misras have little connection, the verse does suggest what is viewed good (knowing the pehla kalma) and what is not (speaking in English).
All too often people will presume that a certain behavior correlates to certain moral positions. I remember how we wrote on ATP about an Ad in Dawn’s classified section for
Thinking about the ad and all the societal assumptions imbedded in it still makes me mad. As did this interesting post from ATP friend Mansoor on Metroblog Karachi, where he writes about a new way of stealing cellphones that as practiced in Karachi.
A girl is standing at a bus stop, waiting to catch a bus to go home and talking on her cellphone. There are quite many people around and its daytime.
Two guys on a bike pull up in front of her, the guy on the back gets off the bike, comes in front of her, and without warning, plants a loud slap right on her face! The girl is stunned, cant even utter a word. He then shouts (for the benefit of whoever is listening) “kitney dafa bola hai! Abba ka cellphone nahi lay kar nikla karo” (how many times have i told you, not to take dads cellphone out), grabs her cell, gets back on the bike, and they both drive away.
The girl is too shocked to say anything and just stands there, her hand holding an imaginary cellphone to her ear. People around ignore the situation thinking its just some family tiff or the other…. till she screams out “ye mera bhai nahi tha!!!!!!!” (he was not my brother!!!!!)
What I found notable is that even though the post generated intense discussion it was mostly focused on crime prevention and law enforcement and very little about what – to me – was the most shocking line of all:
People around ignore the situtation thinking its just some family tiff or the other…
Wait, wait, wait. Please. It is OK if someone comes and slap their sister or wife or daughter in public? Or even in private? And the rest of us will say, ‘OK, its a family tiff.’
I must confess that I am shocked most because in my heart of heart I know that many people will, in fact, do exactly that. And, that, is the tragedy of it all.
“the verse does suggest what is viewed good (knowing the pehla kalma) and what is not (speaking in English).”
After reading this line, I read the misra several times over just to get a glimpse whether it contains any negativity towards English as a language. Sadly, I didn’t find any.
Rather, it is the sarcasm that is intended without getting derogatory towards speaking English. Just like someone says “terna ata nahin chalay hain samundar mein koodney” (doesn’t know how to swim but is interested to take a dip in the sea). Like in this, nobody intended that taking a dip in the sea is “not good”, similarly, the lament was that the girls in mention are more inclined towards the “maghribi” culture than sticking to Islamic roots. There was no “not good” sentiment associated towards speaking English, as far as I see.
And about the girl-with-the-cellphone issue, I agree with most of the commentators above that probably it was so shocking for all the by-standers that they couldn’t react in time. However, I believe, that if they would have known that there is a crime taking place, they would have taught those guys a good lesson.
That too because it would have happened with a girl.
That said, there is a growing sense of insecurity among the people of Karachi. It’s all too well to feel brave and courageous and to think that one can stand to criminals, but as it happens, the macho feeling subsides with the first glance of the gun. Same thing happens with countless young men in Karachi, and happened with me too. The basic instinct remains to survive, and the only thing that comes to mind is to let go of the valuables because they can be earned again, but life is too important to let go off for immaterial items.
The government fails here, its failure to provide law and order makes us all confused. And this confusion, transforms us into the chickens that we are.
Pakistan’s image and disrespect of women will never change,
Pakistani mentality needs to be changed.
hi am simon,
main ya khana chta hoon k abb es duar main pyaar jase koi cheez nahi hai or main ya bhi janta hoon k agay hu bhi nahi sakti es ke waja hai logo ko baas abb dil caspi hai pasay main or log samajty hain k pasa hi saab kuch hai main app ko btaata hoon k main ne bhi pyaar kia lakeen muj ko us ka koi musbaat jwaab nahi milla or pta challa ka wo mary he dost ko psaaand karti hai or mary dost ko bhi mara pta tha lakeen ajj kal ka dur main koi dost nahi hai
bass main or kuch nahi khow ga es k alwa
girls kochay k wo us ko appna hum safer bnay jess ko jo in ko pyar karta hai na k us ko jiss ko ya pyar karti hain.
i am simon mithan from sahiwal
its interesting how the shairi in the article has been immediately interpreted. not that i condone in any magnitude or form the exploitation and disrespect of fairer sex!(please oh please dont label me MCP!)
what is of note to me here is how a humorous comment can be blown so out of proportion. to me it simply poked fun at the particular species of youngesters from rich families who care more about acquiring a new ipod and consider pakistani culture and values too primitive for their taste.
please do not pretend that there is not an increasing group of teens who have grown up with tv as a staple and derive their morals from the series ‘friends’.
just my first thoughts.
THAT BEEN SAID!
i do agree that staring at women and general disrespect IS a big problem and there is also a very sexually disturbed species of men out there. i shall not venture to propose a solution to this nationwide (worldwide?) crisis but just an observation.
i have observed during my schooling how different male attitudes towards females can be between a co-ed school and a ‘boys only’ one. i believe that the problem may lie in the strict segregation of the sexes we have in our country.
objectification of a human being is always done out of ignorance. as long as i was in a boys only school, the only information we had of girls was from other boys and they were equally ignorant. the only interaction that our ‘informants’ had with girls was by staring, jeering, or similar harassing often on bikes outside girls colleges.
my shift to a co ed system gave me my first up close look. the boys at co-eds are genereally times more respectful because as soon as you have interaction, the myths dissolve, the preconceptions shatter and so does objectification, thereby getting rid of the staring and harrasment!!
i now have several female friends and men who do, have attitudes that are miles apart from those who dont.
we may not be able to change the bulk of men in our country, but there may be a solution to male attitudes in co-education.
The Pakistani man staring at women…..defiant and unapologetical is nothing but a message to women “to get out”. I live in USA, when I visit my homeland, the staring makes me so uncomfortable that I wrap myself with a huge chaddar the moment I step out of the airport…..yet the staring persists. Sadly our country is still living in the dark ages. Courtesy and respect for women don’t exist here. KUDUS to Tina for explaining it so well!!!!!