Who cares? Not me

The people in my country are so dissatisfied. I mean who cares if 100 people were killed in some godforsaken area?

Myra Azhar July 22, 2011
I am a Pakistani. Don’t confuse me for an illiterate, poverty-stricken person. Or a displaced one in that case. Not at all! I can assure you, I live quite comfortably. I did my schooling from one of the best institutes in the country. I speak English very well, and I only wear branded clothes. I buy them from the US or Europe during my annual visits abroad. It’s annoying how people assume I’m needy just because I’m from Pakistan.

Oh no! I’m a first-grade citizen, albeit of a third world country. Apparently the fact that our power generation is less than the total demand is true. I accidently tuned into a local news channel the other day, and they were showing videos of protests against power outages in the country. The heat probably gets to all those poor people. But I wish they wouldn’t whine so much. Their behaviour can get a little embarrassing, you know. Anyhow, I have generators at home so I’m just going to forget about all this.

It’s a pity my country is so poor. The roads are full of drug-addicts and beggars. But if you look closely, you’ll notice people like me also survive. In fact, I’ve almost never interacted with the millions of people who live below the poverty line in our country (apparently). Of course that doesn’t include the numerous servants in my house. Mind you, I’m not one of those people who sleep hungry at night; we have lots and lots of food at home, so much that a lot of it just goes bad and needs to be thrown … or I give it to the maid if she’s good.

It might surprise you, but my world is quite different from those of other Pakistanis affected by bomb blasts and floods. I mean I heard about the floods on TV, but that doesn’t mean I was affected by them. Not in the least.

The people in my country are so dissatisfied. Our poor interior minister has to keep telling them he’ll solve their problems some day. Why do they have to make a big deal out of everything, anyway? I mean who cares if some 100 people were killed in some godforsaken area of Karachi? Honestly, I think I’ll just move abroad.
WRITTEN BY:
Myra Azhar A sub-editor for The Express Tribune
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (48)

farasat | 13 years ago | Reply "hunger of the poor is only caused by the pleasure seeking of the rich , and Allah ,the exalted, will question them about this ." Hazrat Ali (a.s). i don't have any doubt that we as pakistanis have to sacrifice to make our country educated and better so that the rural folks and uneducated people can be tought and we as a nation develop not as individuals.
A Man of Hope | 13 years ago | Reply @SM.: Well penned, my friend! In response to all the negative remarks to this article, I remember a famous quote from a US president "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!" And in our country's scenario, theres a lot the rich and elite can do. For one, they can earn the respect and appreciation of large sums of people by doing just a little even!
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