Just another day
If you are a wanderer in the city of Karachi, you will come across a lot of sightings which will blow your mind
If you are a wanderer in the city of Karachi, you will come across a lot of sightings which will either blow your mind or throw you into a deep thinking phase. The afternoon of August 27 was responsible for the latter for me.
As I was taking my usual route to office, irritated for having narrowly escaped an accident (happens nearly every day if you’re a Karachiite), I saw a girl and boy in their early twenties standing on the side of the road besides their bike. Two men had parked their bike with theirs and there was a heated argument going on. Multiple thoughts crossed my mind. What is happening? Why are they quarrelling on the road side? Suddenly, all my questions were answered when I saw the girl grudgingly take off her bangles, cry and shout for help. The boy who accompanied her stood flabbergasted and the other two men wielded a gun in their hands which they were carefully hiding, but it was visible enough to scare the couple.
It was obvious for any passer-by that a robbery was taking place. At the very moment, the most surprising thing happened. A police mobile, containing a driver accompanied by a senior officer sitting next to him, plus two constables at the back rushed past this scenario in full speed with its horn-cum-siren. The police was blind and deaf to street crime happening under its very nose.
All this happened within a time span of 10 to 15 seconds as I was myself riding my motorcycle and was stuck in traffic. A rush of adrenaline gushed through my veins. Should I stop and try to help them? My mind and my conscience both concurred that I should mind my own business. And I did that.
After travelling a little further, I was hit by a simple thought. The basic building block of any social structure is an individual. And all those individuals who were stuck in that traffic, including me, have become so numb that we couldn’t stop and help them. Two overpowering thugs wouldn’t have been difficult to tackle for a whole bunch of people. Upon noticing this, I smiled and concluded my thoughts on the point that we are not ready for a revolution now. We couldn’t fight two good-for-nothing snatchers then how can we fight the bigger menaces of our society? And on the better side, thank God I am safe!
Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2014.
As I was taking my usual route to office, irritated for having narrowly escaped an accident (happens nearly every day if you’re a Karachiite), I saw a girl and boy in their early twenties standing on the side of the road besides their bike. Two men had parked their bike with theirs and there was a heated argument going on. Multiple thoughts crossed my mind. What is happening? Why are they quarrelling on the road side? Suddenly, all my questions were answered when I saw the girl grudgingly take off her bangles, cry and shout for help. The boy who accompanied her stood flabbergasted and the other two men wielded a gun in their hands which they were carefully hiding, but it was visible enough to scare the couple.
It was obvious for any passer-by that a robbery was taking place. At the very moment, the most surprising thing happened. A police mobile, containing a driver accompanied by a senior officer sitting next to him, plus two constables at the back rushed past this scenario in full speed with its horn-cum-siren. The police was blind and deaf to street crime happening under its very nose.
All this happened within a time span of 10 to 15 seconds as I was myself riding my motorcycle and was stuck in traffic. A rush of adrenaline gushed through my veins. Should I stop and try to help them? My mind and my conscience both concurred that I should mind my own business. And I did that.
After travelling a little further, I was hit by a simple thought. The basic building block of any social structure is an individual. And all those individuals who were stuck in that traffic, including me, have become so numb that we couldn’t stop and help them. Two overpowering thugs wouldn’t have been difficult to tackle for a whole bunch of people. Upon noticing this, I smiled and concluded my thoughts on the point that we are not ready for a revolution now. We couldn’t fight two good-for-nothing snatchers then how can we fight the bigger menaces of our society? And on the better side, thank God I am safe!
Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2014.