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
I am reading in this picture a number of other things that could be considered a microcosm of Pakistan.
The gentleman to the extreme right is an older person and was presumably first out of the bus, because he is farthest from the door, which would have led the others to join him. That’s leadership at the lowest level, where it really counts. The person to the extreme left doesn’t seem to be giving his all, a far too common occurrence too.
You can also glean a little bit of Pakistani urban culture from how the people are dressed. Three people are wearing shalwar kameez, two are wearing jeans and one seems to have chosen some hodge podge as his style.
The bus itself seems to be leaning slightly to the right, not in the political sense, although that might be its owner’s tilt too, but signifies a structural deficiency like most things in the country. And of course, it needs to be pushed to get it going. Enough said.
Dear ayesha,
what about the people who depends more on “Amerika”?
Hmmmm, shouldn’t it be himmat-e-mardan, madad-e-Allah?
On a less serious note, ;-), himmat-e-mardan, madad-e-khuda is also the motto of 1st (Skinner’s) Horse of the Indian Army, one of the oldest cavalry regiments of the old British Indian Army. On a side note, James Skinner, who raised the regiment, wrote his memoirs in Farsi.
During college days my friend and I were once travelling to Naran Valley.
From Mansehra to Naran, we were in a Toyota Hiace. After Kaghan there were quite a few glaciers on the road and this ‘Hiace’ used to get stuck in them. The driver and conductor were of course very experienced. At the start of every glacier, and in no time, the conductor used to tie a rope infront of the ‘Hiace’ and then shout “aa jaao bhuee aa jao” to the passengers.
This was a call to passengers to pull on the rope and help the ‘Hiace’ out of the glacier. It was like an expected duty of passengers to help the ‘Hiace’ out of glaciers. Of course almost everyone obliged b/c it was in the benefit of all to reach the destination early.
If you are interested then details of that trip can be found in an earlier ATP post called ‘In the Land of Kunhar’
Kudos to these people for not waiting for divine intervention….
I think the main problem in Pakistan is that people depend so much on “Allah”….