Pakistan, the Pied Piper to our children

“Everything depends on upbringing.” – Leo Tolstoy

Case One

My parents always give me what I want, and in the end, I win. I have been giving tantrums since I was born – at least that’s what I have been told. I always wanted something; either it was permission to go to a forbidden place, or permission to hang out with a forbidden person or permission to buy something forbidden. Yes, it was always one thing or the other with me.

But somewhere along my years, I should have been stopped by the authority figures called parents, right? Why didn’t my parents stop me? Why?

I got decent grades at school, hence every time I wanted something, I told my parents,

“You have to allow me, I got good grades.”

To which a mature parent would say,

“We expect you to get good grades regardless, that’s your job. We are very proud of you but will not allow unreasonable requests to be granted just because you got good grades. Request within reasonable boundaries will be entertained because your grades call for a celebration, always remember that. However, you trying to milk a Harley Davidson out of me will not happen. You will thank me for teaching you a value system when you mature and have children of your own.”

Case Two

“Perhaps it takes courage to raise children.” – John Steinbeck

“Yes, it does,” thought Haleema.

My parents always said the same to me but I never really understood it until I had children of my own. What did Steinbeck mean? More importantly, what did my parents mean?

It’s not like parents have to stand in a minefield, or better still with a desk load of diplomatic exchange to counter argue their case with arguing or demanding children, or do they?

Does it really take courage to say “no”?

Yes, it does, and that I learnt first-hand when my child came to me with an unreasonable request and I had to say “no”! Accusations were hurled at me and my kid hated me in that moment, but I understood that it was better to be despised that instant rather than encourage the Pied Piper – in this instance, encouraging a wrong value system by giving into the demands of an immature child – which may eventually entice my child into the cave of greed forever.


Fairy tales are a wonderful tool to explain life. All stories can be interpreted in light of the time and social menace they were written about, or interpreted in the context that may apply to our lives. Hence, there are no wrong or right rules to the understanding of a story, or what significance it may play in our translation of the same at a particular time. Yes, The Pied Piper of Hamelin was based on a legend about the disappearance of 130 children in 13^th century Germany, and the fable thereafter was written telling a rather different tale; a story where the town folk paid the price of breaking a promise to the Pied Piper with the most valuable lives of their children.

In modern times, we can interpret this story in whichever way it deems suitable to our lives personally.

Following is another way of looking at it.

Case Three

Last December, Pakistan paid the heaviest price of cutting a deal with the devil. Hundred and thirty three precious and valuable souls were lost forever when the decades-old corrupt leadership of Pakistan, made the proverbial ‘sins of the forefathers’ come true, and the children and parents of Peshawar were forcefully made to follow the heinous and demonic masterminds of the massacre at the Army Public School (APS).

Yes, the Pakistan of the 80s and its leadership allowed radical extremists to take seed, they were encouraged to radicalise a moderate nation, and hence today, the children of Pakistan are paying the ultimate price by disappearing into the night, into an abyss, into an unpromising future, into the proverbial Hamelin cave.

Case Four

I left my homeland, as did many of my peers, and migrated to lands afar.

Why you ask?

For better prospects, good job, security and safety of my future, my children. Yes, I left Hamelin behind and followed the hypnotising tune of the Pied Piper into lands beyond the seven seas because the elders of Hamelin lied to me. They cheated me and the ones like me. Hence, to seek revenge, we left Hamelin, maybe to return another time, another generation, another day.

The aforementioned cases all speak varying perspectives and interpretations of the ill-fated tale of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, all similar yet somehow different.

For cases one and two, Richelle Goodrich shared some of her parenting wisdom when she said,

“Someday, my children will look fondly on the annoying things I did and see them clearly as evidence of love.”

As for the morality in cases three and four, I could write a whole book on those. But for now, let us interpret them the way we choose best and leave the unsaid to be just read between the lines.