I missed my van in the morning and was frustrated with
myself for not getting up on time. Now i had to travel all the way to Defence
Phase 2 (Ext) from Plaza quarters changing two buses on the way.
Cursing, I got ready put on my sweat shirt and made my way
towards the bus stop, the U-1 bus taken ages to come but when it did I was happy
that there was a vacant seat available. I reached saddar in less than 5 minutes
courtesy of the bus driver who I reckon was inspired by The Need for Speed game
series, and then got in the second bus which would have taken me to Akhtar
colony.
It is in this bus that an incident taken place which really
had me thinking the whole day. A girl climbed up the bus at the Kala pul (black
bridge) stop and started distributing some cards. My understanding of stuff
written in Urdu is quite weak and it taken me sometime to figure out what the
card said, but after sometime the girl was back demanding the card back.
I figured out then that she was begging here in the bus for
money and the card had a message which she wanted to deliver. Confused I just
told her “maaf karo” (forgive me) and she shot out furiously saying “subha
subha ka time hein aur koi kuch dehta hi nahi hein” (it’s the morning time and
no one is ready to give anything). I started to judge her instantly that here
she is begging and instead of being humble this girl has so much pride and
arrogance, this then further led me to judge her even more that she seemed well
fed and was doing this as a business.
The whole way from there till the Akhtar colony stop I was
thinking about this incident and it was getting really disturbing, to make worse
a chacha ji (old man) sat beside me in the bus and out of the blue started
speaking about the inefficiency of the government etc.
I whispered alleluia
when the conductor scream “Akhtar colony walen” (all those to get down at
Akhtar colony) but while walking to the office I was thinking about the
incident with the girl. It got me to think about why was she begging, was she
forced to beg by her parents? Did she enjoy such a life? These thoughts gradually
removed all my judgements against her because in reality I did not know what
life that poor girl was going through.
I was ashamed at myself for not helping her out with what I had,
even if it was ten bucks which really is of less value in these rough economic
times in Pakistan, yet it would have made a difference to her. With no other
way to approach her all I could think was to close my eyes and pray to God to
be with her and ease her difficulty.
This happened in our life most of the time and we only believe that this is wrong but when we start thinking back all the incident in-depth we always think positive.. nice written bro :)..
ReplyDeleteAbay Addo Shut up.... :-P
ReplyDeleteThanks Adnan for stopping by and sharing your views. Vincent it's only at times he gets to speak so positively let him Yaar :)
ReplyDeleteNeed not be so harsh on yourself. Though I totally respect how you felt about this whole thing, and abt not helping that poor girl. It shows character. But not many feel that way. Apparently the world isnt so round any more, a little rough around the edges.
ReplyDeleteIm sorry, I beg to differ. First off people do enjoy begging, because that is an easy way out of life. They are lazy to work hard, lazy to get away from this viscous cycle and become addicted to this way of life. I don't blame the girl though...I blame people like us who either say, "maaf karo" or who give away, "10 bucks" but think are you really helping them or are you helping their easy business?
ReplyDeleteCommon look around you, there are even disabled or poor people who are working day and night to make ends meet but will not beg. It's these people that you should help, not those who are well fed, who have clothes and shelter but will still beg,cuz they dont have a sweat to break. So please before helping anyone, take a second look.
Great people like Abraham Lincoln, Beethoven or even our own political leaders (pre-independence) were people who had no money but struggled hard to get away from the grips of poverty. God didnt make any of us poor. we became a poor society out of sheer laziness. Period.
It is easy saying things but when the time comes to live through circumstances such as these people then is the real test. I agree that great people like Lincoln, Beethoven etc made their hard work count, but were they going through the same circumstances such as today faced by so many of these beggars, especially the women? who ok find a job where they can work hard and earn but then are sexually harassed and many even sexually abused, where many who choose not to beg are beaten to death by their parents.
ReplyDeleteI agree that many of these people have made laziness their excuse to beg but then what other alternative do they have in a society which is so corrupt and full of vices such as homosexuality, rapes etc etc.