A young person from the middle class of Pakistan is faced with a strange choice: Whether to stay in the country, fight for security, development and restoration of the judiciary, or to get a nice job abroad with the possibility that one might have to fight with the judiciary over immigration or perhaps child custody. Surprisingly, there are no easy ways to predict what choice a person will make. Some very religious people hike up their shalwars or adjust hijabs firmly and head for foreign lands bravely facing the temptations of bikiniclad models and the possible challenges of raising teenage children who might announce one day that they are gay Muslims.
On the other hand, many people who’s favourite books are by Marx, Darwin or, more recently, the ‘God Delusion’ by Dawkins decide that they cannot possibly give up their weekly arguments on Friday with the neighbourhood ‘tableeghi’ team, or give up the daily roar of outrage on reading about the latest defacement of female portraits on billboards, and decide to stay put.
Similarly, personality is no predictor of choices either. Many a timid soul, meekly hand forth their passports, and head for Australia where they very likely will come face to face with red faced, outraged Aussies announcing that they were there first. And it will do no good to point out that actually, Aussies were there second or possibly even third and in any case most of them were handcuffed on arrival. On the other hand, many bold and willful people decide that the new world that they wish to conquer is no further than the city of their birth and possibly also includes their spouse and in-laws.
In short, as mentioned, it is hard to predict who will end up where. Faiz once wrote that ‘From religion we got tradition and from drinking, good company. Between the one and the other, there was never such a gulf’. Between staying at home and heading abroad, there is an indisputable difference, which makes the fact that one cannot predict who will do what, all the more maddening. Cynics suggest that the lack of a pattern is because it all depends on opportunity, which may strike anywhere. Or rather almost anywhere, as it seems to miss the cynics themselves regularly. And, most unfairly, it seems to have struck many idealists who lodged abroad, write long complaint filled letters to editors about how their beloved country is the wrong track very unlikely to achieve a 7-8% GDP growth. But this does not explain the fact that some people don’t seek opportunities and others turn it down even when offered and, perhaps tired of composing letters, return home to lodge complaints in person.
A possible philosophical explanation lies in the difference between the objective and subjective. In the western world, since the 17th century more and more of the world is habitually viewed ‘objectively’ i.e., abstractly, in a cut and dried way. This includes human beings. This means the trains run on time and the electricity is fairly uninterrupted. On the other hand, it also means that you ‘speed date’ to fall in love, and schedule ‘quality time’ with family into carefully selected slots. Life is divided into goals to be met and criteria to be achieved. And this, for some people, is a very comfortable and sensible way of being. On the subjective side however, are the kind of people who really must eat that extra plateful no matter what their current cholesterol level. Who might complain if their electrician is late, but when he explains that on the way he ran over a dog who bit him, while trying to avoid a stupid-looking child, will understand and get into a long conversation about the unpredictability of small children and dogs.
A cousin who is happily settled in the US came over for a visit. At the local McDonald, usually a very objective establishment, he complained about the amount of icecream in his sundae. The manager shrugged and said that was the amount they always put in. At this point my cousin leaned over very close to the manager and said: “You say you aim to make your customers happy. Tell me, do I look happy to you?” Perhaps the two worlds are not so different after all.
By Yasser Hashmi
Courtesy Dawn Newspaper
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