Happy 61st Independance Day!

What does the 14th of August mean to expats like me exactly? I’ve spent many a 14th August in Pakistan, not much celebrating used to be done (the school age kids would do some childish things like face paints or mehndi with the crescent moon and star but nothing too exciting, PTV would just repeat cheap cooking desi ghee adverts, the same annoying woman over and over again ”Dalda ghee aur cooking oils ki jaanib se Jashne Azadi Mubaraaak -echo-echo-echo”. On one occasion I even travelled back to England on 14th August from the Capital’s airport, but there were no decorations or any fun activities going on, (maybe because we were flying out at the crack of dawn and the sleepy staff had not yet got started?) Oh, except I recall we were handed out cute little Pakistani flag enamel brooches by airport staff they weren’t tacky, they were quite classy and expensive looking actually, I still have mine, somewhere, out there. I’ll admit I was quite nonchalant in my Pakistani stance in my younger years.

Maybe I value Pakistan as a country more now because I’m older now or something else? Heck! I even wear green and white clothes on the day.
It’s ironic how it’s adversities like these we’re seeing today that make us all the more patriotic.

I was very excitedly showing my work colleagues pictures of the area of Islamabad I’ll be staying (with family) and they were awestruck, ‘’oh it’s beautiful, so .. like it’s not really like India is it? I mean india’s like really poor, this looks much more posher and like.. cleaner and greener”.
(She is blonde, but she’s not a dumb blonde, she’s holidayed twice in India, but often complains about the deperate poverty and the world’s highest murder rates in Delhi, but yes, her above statement sounds very dumb blonde-ish! Besides, why is it Pakistan cant have any mention without a mention of India first?)

That wasn’t a cue for me to get into the India Vs Pak in-depth reports but for some reason, I dropped what I was doing, to describe the geography of Pakistan to them (my favourite topic), for I feel that nowhere else is quite as varied and glorious as pakistan’s natural landscape. Which goes to show why it was prominently featured in a book called ‘World’s Greatest Natural Landmarks’ (or something – I’ll find that book and get more details for you). K2 and the the Himalayan, Karakoram and Hindukush mountain ranges, the desert of Sindh and Thar national park are given a mention in that book. Back to my colleagues, it was as if I was telling a story to fascinated children, and I thoroughly enjoyed telling it.
At that an Italian colleague exclaimed; ”Italy has beautiful enough rural areas and then built up urban areas with modern facilities, like you’re describing Pakistan, but I’ve never felt as attached to it as you do Pakistan?”
At that I just fell quiet, just simply stated, ”all my family is there, my cousins, uncles, aunts, I miss them.” It was the truth, but only half of it.
How can you say you ”LOVE” a country without sounding proud or naive, cheesy and unconvincing? People usually ask: ”If you love it so much, why don’t you stay here in Pakistan, why flit to and fro? Why wont you just settle here?”.
I did try that, Plan A didn’t quite work out, now I’m on Plan B.

Money, money, money:
That’s a big factor, as to why we jump ship  some return, some never look back again.
One huge contributing factor is the government and welfare!
An observation I have made is; Pakistan has a history of the worst governments in the world and successively, England, who I have to hand it to, has possibly the best government in the world. Yes, it latches onto America’s shoddy foreign policies, but when it comes to looking after its own people it’s second-to-none. On the other hand, if it wasnt for the government this country would probably be nothing. The lifestyles are poor in comparison with the all the exciting, atmospheric culture of Pakistan. The govt. may not look after us but we know how to look after ourselves.
Pakistan  has so much more to offer, its sole problem is its government. Enough with dictators and threats of hitting its people with danday! The people have their own set of rights which have been violated for so long.

It’s all his fault, and his, and his too!
So? I’m ”blaming” someone else, well DUH? It’s like being shot dead whilst walking down the street minding your own business and when you go for justice they say; ”hold on, it’s not the murderers fault, don’t blame HIM, it’s you, you’re twisted for walking down that street that day!”
No nation is full of mr and ms. perfects, maybe a small fraction  of the blame does rest on individuals, but there’s no denying how much other countries intervening has led to disastrous results. Let’s not forget Ayub Khan, Zia Ul-Haq and now Musharraf, who not only is being backed by USA but last night on the eve of Independance day Indian govt. officials showed their solidarity for Musharraf. Hello hello… last time we checked Pakistan belonged to the Pakistani people and it is up to them who they decide they want in power. They have already decided. We are not dumb people, we are perfectly capable of making a collective decision, and we’ve made it.
I’m sure the ‘latter concerned party’ has had much involvement with Musharraf’s rule from the word go. It’s pretty obvious actually. Yes, I love a good juicy conspiracy.
Conspiracies however will come and go. Just like when a group of Indians said Pakistan wouldn’t last beyond 2008, back in .. I think 2004?

Jashn-e-Azadi Mubarak!
So here we are, celebrating the 61st Independance Day in the year 2008 (HAH! At those Indians – in your faces!). We’ll do the same next year, the year after, the year after that, the year after that too, and so forth. Ameen to that!

Dil Dil Pakistan!

This was originally written for Teabreak’s ‘Phir se Jeevay Pakistan’ under the title ‘All ‘pak’ed up; ready to go’.