As the clock struck midnight on the 13th of August, the sky erupted with fireworks.Sure enough they were beautiful to watch but highly painful to the ears. A heart patient could have had a seizure anytime! Loud blares of toy trumpets below mixed irritably with the ear splitting screeches of flares and the loud explosions of fireworks above.
One of our neighbors is of a considerably well social status and can easily afford the sacks of fireworks and such stuff as his young boys demand.
They set up equally loud speakers on which they played Pakistani songs which were later replaced by Bollywood ones and a humongous stage was utilized as a dancing platform, these dirty tunes were accompanied with cheers of Pakistan Zindabad and Allah u Akbar from the crowd, oh the irony!
A few Pakistani actors were also invited and were given such an alarmingly deafening welcome that they would rather not come again.
On the 14th of August all this rowdiness took place again but this time a large cloth puppet impersonating Moodi the racist Indian PM was also burnt, while it was tied to a living green plant which was incinerated wit it. 'This is wrong' was the first thing that came into my mind and then I asked myself what I was doing to stop this? So here I am writing this post.
My point is that there could be so many people being troubled by this chaos! There could be somebody ill, somebody trying to sleep or perhaps somebody trying to listen to something more important than explosions. What if somebody was trying to pray for the betterment of Pakistan? Not only were humans being troubled but animals too were forced to reawaken and flee from the neighborhood.
Is this how we achieved independence? Have we achieved independence? No, when people dance to Indian songs to celebrate Pakistan's independence and when they choose to wear jeans and tee shirts instead of their national dress on this day, I know we are not free. The British control hasn't left us and nor has the Hindu control.
Are we the young people who Iqbal called his falcons? Who can not even fly higher, or shine brighter than a firework? Who think Pakistan was made so we could practice our rowdiness with freedom? Are we the people Jinnah wanted to give freedom? I must say it was ill deserved!
We dare not touch the real Moodi so we waste materials that could clothe someone to impersonate him and finally we burnt it down. Why? Why can't the richer among us set up a platform where the painful history of Pakistan is recalled? So that we can understand the importance of it all? Why can't they collect sacks of food and clothes to give to the poor instead of collecting sacks of fireworks?
I am not pinpointing anybody I am talking about the youth of Pakaistan in general which includes me. I wanted to do more than just this but being a young 'girl' has its drawbacks Still, I have done what I could to bring some sense about town, and I hope that my friends and family will help me by sharing this post as much as possible.
Azka Javeria
P.S You are free to copy paste as much as you want, for I don't believe in plagiarism!
Azka, I absolute agree with your perspective! In fact, I had wanted to write something about this madness that has been happening on 14th August, but couldn't get around to doing it.
ReplyDeleteIt is all really sad, but people aren't realizing it. Every year, the independence day 'celebrations' are increasing, but the true spirit of independence is nearly lost somewhere. You're right, the British and hindus haven't left us at all.
It is really sad to see that people who are otherwise 'educated' and considered respectable in society, are acting even worse than the uneducated. Millions of rupees are wasted on the decorations for this big day, but in the end, it all goes down the drain.
I would wholeheartedly support your cause and idea, and share it with as many people I can. I hope that the people of our nation get some sense and stop wasting their time and money on such meaningless celebrations that ultimately have nothing to do with independence.
Thank you very much for the encouragement Fatima, honestly we are not 'independent' rather we are 'dependent' on noise and fireworks for the sake of celebration!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! And you're absolutely right.
DeleteTrue Azka. We should stop them from doing all this
ReplyDelete(Hey Azka, sorry I'm super late commenting, how are you? :D)
ReplyDeleteThis is beautifully written and so meaningful! I'm not very familiar with the independence day celebrations in Pakistan as I don't live there/I'm not from there but your descriptions of the nuisances are so vivid and realistic. I fully understand how troublesome it must have been rather than triumphant. This is such a shameful way of celebrating such a prestigious event! I absolutely support your ideas of setting up a stage to talk about Pakistan's history or donate to the poor rather than party with a cacophony of fireworks that's bound to irritate the whole neighbourhood all night! On the whole, this passage is very deep and intriguing! I love how you've injected many rhetorical questions, making you and others reflect on this situation. Asides from the nuisances how did your independence day go? ^^
Hi Kenza, sorry I'm super late in replying to your comment.
DeleteThanks for your comment. And as for your question we invited some guests to our house for a 'halim' party, ('halim' is a delicious Pakistani cuisine made of lentils and meat) So we had a pretty good time.
this is absoloutely wonder full
ReplyDelete