Civilians Heaven, NEDUET Civil Department 07-08

FOR PAKISTAN….

Skimming through the TV channels last night, I glimpsed through the Indian movie “Rang de Basanti”. It is a blockbuster flick which became another mark of success for Amir Khan. A story which certainly goes directly to the heart has a deep message behind it. Bless the racism germs running wildly in my blood since birth; I am not a huge fan of Indian movies among many of their products. However this movie couldn’t impress me more. I have viewed this film couple of times before but last night it got me into thinking. It was thoughts which shook me from inside and I couldn’t help but penning them down.

For those who haven’t watched the movie here is the story for it would be difficult to follow without knowing the story. This movie “Rang de Basanti” is about 6 friends who lost their friend at the hands of corrupt politicians and government officials. The friends, students of a university, now set on the course to change the system. They are faced with hurdles and obstacles but their determination triumphs showing them the path of their course. For the rest of the story you will have to watch the movie.

During the course of their journey of changing the country prevailing system these students kills the Defense Minister. Now what struck me as stunning was the extent to which these students were prepared to go for achieving their goals. At this point many of you might argue this was merely a movie and it was recorded according to a well decided script. However if we eliminate this argument for the time being and believe this movie was basically a real story recorded then we will discover a very disturbing nature of humans. Being a university student I couldn’t imagine myself going to the heights the 6 friends went to achieve their goal. It was at this time I realized this unsettling fact about human nature. These 6 six friends had faced a very huge loss in the shape of their close friend. They were numb with the pain of this unbearable loss and it was this loss which was feeding their strength and determination. The idea of pain strengthening the determination of a person may sound absurd but this is the unbelievable fact. The person who is satisfied with life turns immune and insensitive to the problems of others. With the passage of time this person is encased in a shell turning him blind and deaf to the issues related with those around him as he is bothered only about himself. Now this shell will only be broken when he will be faced with a loss of great magnitude. Only after bearing the loss the person appreciates the problems of life and lives life in the truest sense.

Now if we look at ourselves with a criticizing eye to uncover the truth about us then we would realize that we are being encased in that impenetrable shell with each passing second. The condition of our country is far worse than we can even imagine. If we would start enumerating the problems or rather the visible signs that will eventually lead to the failure of our country then maybe an entire book could be written on it. However the thing to be borne in our minds should be that it is all down to us to take care of our country. Instead of being encased in a shell and simply caring for ourselves only if we could commence with the idea of working for all the people around us then visible signs of progress could be observed.

Our ailing country needs this medicine from our hands. It’s the least we can do to put our country back on the right path. This doesn't need any huge sacrifices from us. All we would be required to do would be to think about the greater good. Take a minute and sit back to analyze how far we have come on the road of selfishness. Everyday our latest model wide screen television updates us about some doctor's malpractice leading to death of a poor man's child. Everyday on traffic signals we watch without a care children begging while we sit in our air-conditioned cars waiting for the signal to turn green. Almost everyday we hear news about someone succumbing to suicide as life had gotten tough for him. We see our brothers in the Army fighting brutally with their brothers in remote villages and other sparsely populated areas. We see mutilated dead bodies of our brothers who became the victim of suicide attacks. Now how long will we continue to stand as bystanders, acting to be aggrieved over the sorrows and losses of others? How long will it be before we stand up to take some action over the loss of our brothers? Does an only blood relation matter to us? Are we free from bonds tying us to the people of same nationality, religion, race etc?  Just analyze this personal event to see our height of selfishness. I was sitting with couple of my friends when one, after reading a SMS, said three people are dead in a suicide bomb attack today. The other friend asked was it in Karachi? On hearing the reply in negative the friend exclaimed a sigh in relief. This event merely goes to show that just because this condemning event didn't take place in our home city so we shouldn’t be bothered by it. Plainly speaking unless we face a loss bereaving us of our personal possession or relations we would continue to be immune and careless to the worries of others.

We have all transformed into self-occupied machines that are running wildly after personally set worldly goals and objectives. We are suffering diseases like diabetes, depression, migraine and numerous others which have made our lives miserable. Instead of pondering over the reasons of these ailments we trust the medicines. The reality is that we are destroying the human traits. In other words we are quitting being human anymore.

Even at this point my mind is over-flowing with ideas and my fingers want to keep writing but I guess that would be digressing from my topic. To surmise I believe it would be more than sufficient if we all try to live as human beings are supposed. Simply by replacing self-interest with care of humanity we could change the course of this country. All we need to realize is that simply by performing our duties, whatever they may be, with sincerity and devotion we will be contributing to the betterment of our homeland and the world at large. Lets end with the hope that the moment of awakening approach us before we have to face any personal losses.

LONG LIVE PAKISTAN