‘Marasi’ Culture

The more I’ve been around fellow compatriots the more I’m seeing a rising trend in what I term ’Marasi’ culture, as in all that’s morally incorrect.

I’m not here to do some sort of lecture tutorial, this is just me gassing off.

Why are there two extremes? Either you’re a dervaish or a rock star, where’s the middle ground?

Wasn’t Pakistan meant to be the healthy balance between the extremely liberal India to the extremely rigid Afghanistan? Where’s the beauty of our moderate views?

Our musicians were known to be somewhat morally inclined and value modesty, projecting it well in their music and videos. For example Vital Signs and Junoon. I thought it was a great sign of respect, Things were done so mouthwateringly tastefully back then, zero trace of vulgarity, whether it was Fashion, Music or TV.

They’re not a lost cause just yet, things could still be much, much worse, but I’m starting to notice some things are changing for the worst. Pakistani entertainment is becoming so Indian. I’m seeing more and more wannabe-ism. Is that what they mean by liberalism? Is that freedom? ”Oh the girl in our new video is wearing a mini-skirt.. yeah.. we rock!”

Hah! Is that a step up? We’ll take Pakistan to higher heights will we? We’ll do so by renouncing religion and mullah -bashing and celebrating our marasi-ness! Oh yeah!!

I used to tut at the middle-eastern youth culture, the teenage girl wearing a full-on burka and suddenly stripping down to a bikini as she hits the mixed-sex beach, or as shown in Syriana the movie, the opening scene of the movie, in Iran, with the nightclub full of intoxicated sleazies and a scantily clad girl walking out of the club and re-wearing her modest outer-wear and hijab as she steps back out into civilisation. I think that’s the most unhealthiest thing I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately its true and its happening in Pakistan too!

However this blog entry is not about the females, it’s the men that are really taking the pi*s. For example, a lot of them are shouting filth at the religious man, and blaming the mullah for their own religious shortcomings. They justify themselves by being aggressive, confused, drinking alcohol, sh*gging away, and proudly renouncing Islam and on the surface they act as tortured heroes armed with know-it-all attitudes. The sad thing is, the rest of the Pakistani public rate and respect the above males. We idolise them as some of these are actually our famous singers.

The more shades of intensity and aggression being applied to Marasi-ism, the more the mullahs are going to add a more aggressive degree in getting their message heard. It is just escalating and widening an already broad gap between either extreme.

Conspiracy bit: (For we all like a little conspiracy in the picture!)

Divide and conquer has always worked as a rule for a certain nation, they have destroyed many a country by turning country man against country man and ever since a certain event in 2001, in Pakistan, this Mullah vs. Marasi fight has taken a new turn. Eventually we’d have lost as a nation, just as a certain people wanted! For gods sake, wake up people! We’re headed towards our own destruction.

Leave the extreme and find a good spot in the middle immediately!

If I was to give an example of exactly who best would fit my ‘Ideal’, it would be someone like Salman Ahmed, Im not bothered about his personal life, I’m using his image here as an example, hes a rockstar, but married, moderate views, is willing to explore the logic and reason of Islam and apply it to his life. Bringing Islam to the west and music to the Muslim world as an art. It’s called having the best of both worlds and being able to maintain it, without losing your sense of self and your passion.

Growing up in England, I suppose we were exposed to the goray Marasi’s and warmed towards the cleanliness/purity, logic and stability of Islam. And its working the opposite way in Pakistan where there is a higher concentration of muslims, we need some marasi’s thrown in for good measure. I suppose the scientific theory of diffusion can be applied here, Each person represents the cells. So I suppose it balances out. There always has to be ‘the one’ as they say..and we can accept that, if its ‘the one’ to a million or something, but ‘the one’ in every two? thats kind of crazy! We need to out a plug in it now.

I remember a conversation I had with a male relative the other day, hes a typical Lancashire born and bred Pakistani, we were discussing the painfully large gaps of understanding between our generation and our parents generation. But he mentioned that one quality Pakistani’s have, wherever we are in the world is self-reflection and self-awareness, the fact that it helps us better ourselves and that because of that, we learn tolerance and understanding and overcome such gaps.

Is that true? In the case of the way the situation looks in Pakistan? If indeed they had the quality to think that way and better themselves.. where is the tolerance and empathy?

It is humanely impossible for all individuals to think exactly the same anyway, no matter how much society conditions them into fitting into a role. But we need to do as best we can to bridge a gap between both ideals.

Right now each of us are on our own trip, we’re not realising how much our actions are affecting the other.

Moral of the story: We need more Meters and less Blades in Pakistan.

Please note: ‘Marasi’ is an alfaaz i’m using towards the crappy attitude our pakistani guys have, its not about the singers as such! So chill!