Disillusioned no more

It is incorrect to say Pakistan is full of people who are jacks of all trades, but masters of none

I was born in a country that could not be confused any more. Yet the ever-increasing confusions never failed to amaze me. By the time I grew up to have sensibilities of my own, I was quite convinced that Pakistan is full of people who are jacks of all trades, but masters of none. Everyone likes to talk about everything but hardly do they have any pragmatic solutions to offer to any problem.

But a recent visit to The CAS School changed my opinion to an extent. I was sent to interview the six children who had come from Sri Lanka to Pakistan as part of an exchange programme. Maha Jafarey, a teacher at the CAS School, was running the programme and attended to the visitors.

She told me something that left me pondering over my judgments. Jafarey had arranged for three such exchange programmes with Sri Lanka. Children from Sri Lanka had come to Pakistan three times and Jafarey had sent her students twice. Moreover, she was planning to send six of her students to Sri Lanka again.

However, what affected me the most was the fact that she had had a two-way programme with an Indian school and had taken her students to Bangladesh as well. She was expecting students from Bangladesh now. I reflected over what she told me. She was a teacher with a will who seemed to know her role in society. Politicians can rant about harmony among countries all they like. But it is measures like these that count in the practical sense.

It was different to meet someone who did justice to her words. Often, I see self-conceited people suffering from a serious disorder of trying to sound like intellectuals. But it is examples like Jafarey that make you feel that all hope is not lost.

I didn’t know Jafarey personally. I do not even plan to know her any more than I already do. All I’m trying to convey here is that there are some people that you meet just once in life, yet you always remember what they taught you. She knows what she is doing. She knows her place and she knows her role. This is what makes her different. She is focused and doesn’t seem frantic about giving me her opinion on politics or fashion. All she cares and talks about is her area of expertise. And perhaps, this is what makes her a practical person.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2014.