The scene below is from June 01, 2008 where people are seen pushing a broken down bus near S.M. College, Karachi. The photo is a very good representative of our society in literal as well as philosophical way.
Let me tell you why I think so..
(1) Literal in a sense that such scenes are very common in Pakistan where passengers of a bus are also asked to push it when the engine dies down.
(2) Philosophical in a sense that note the dua (prayers) written on the bus as ‘allah nigehban’ (May God Protect You) and ‘allah mehrban’ (May God be Benevolent to you). But unlike our symbolic and ritualistic society these brave men are not waiting for some divine help to appear. They are taking matters in their own hands and should I say..‘himmat-e-mardaaN, madad-e-khuda’ (God helps those who show courage).
I’ve read somewhere that while the war of independence in 1857 was getting crushed by the British, the ladies in old city Delhi were heard saying:
‘khuda karay faraNgioN ki topouN mein keeRay paReN” (May God put pests in the guns of colonial powers). Of course such prayers were not going to be heard. In the end Delhi lost its power seat for the next 90 years.
Allama Iqbal has also said:
Khuda ne aaj tak us qaum ki haalat naheeN badli
na ho jis ko khyal aap apni haalat ke badalnay ka
Photo Credits: Jehangir Khan at Associated Press of Pakistan
Very interesting post and subliminal message it carries… alas for those it is intended cannot read.
Enjoyed. Thanks.
Khushi Muhammad
Thank you for paying a tribute to our people. It is easy to find evils in our society just as in every other society, but many unique “goodies” can be found among us, just as this one.
Divine help does not mean someone will come from sky and do something for anyone. People who are pushing the bus DO NOT KNOW whether the bus will be started or not. (But most likely it must have started.) Nothing can happen without Allah’s will and these people know it very well. It is just a matter of His will whether something would be executed or not. He asks us to create resources and He has promised to help.
Allah has said in Quran that Human gets what he strives for.
An Indian friend commented on our situation and said that she is impressed with the resilience of Pakistani people. I said, its about time we become less resilient about taking things on the chin from our successive government and start reclaiming decision making power, after all it is the tax paying awam that is dealing with all the blows.
I live in Beijing and I have friends and relatives living in many different parts of the world. I don’t know ANY other region where people answer the call for help as readily and promptly as folks do in Pakistan. That’s commendable!
Sorry for being slightly off topic, though.