What is the Pakistani dream? Pakistan is a lovely country with lovely people who exhibit affection at almost every opportunity provided. However the disparity of wealth is slowly affecting the mindsets of millions of Pakistani families. A Pakistani family no longer wants to live peacefully alone and satisfied. They aspire to become like the icons they constantly watch on TV, the elites who constantly torture the brains of the mediocre Pakistani.
Today a modern Pakistani teen aspires to study at a hip, hi-fi school such as beacon house , Froebels Atchison , LACAS etc . Why ? Its not because of studies . These schools skin you alive with their massive fees and they really donot offer anything worthy in return , other than English I guess. They donot teach you urdu , they donot teach you proper history . Why does the Pakistani teen still want to go there ?
Once I was standing at a counter of a shop. In front of me was a characteristically Pakistani aunty .She was narrating the story of her son to the cashier, “Asif sahib I have put him in beacon house because I want him to go to Harvard , wahaan se tu bacha jaata hee bahir hai “ she said boastfully . The cashier, in no position to argue, nodded his head as a sign of approval. This small dialogue which I overheard was the epitome of the mindset of the Pakistani family. The mother perhaps wanted what is best for her child but she decided what was best on the exclusivity and hype of a school rather than logic. She would live beyond her means and do anything possible. To a certain extent she wanted to show off. She wanted to make sure that whatever she does is conforming with the society. She wants to brand her child with western values as they are ultimately what the elite follow and that culture is slowly being adopted by the masses.
This “hypnotism” is not only limited to the youth. The most common “sight” if you ever visit Islamabad is a Pakistani uncle walking in the morning with his german shepherd dog. Another sight which you must observe is a Pakistani aunty going in a Toyota corolla with her driver, for shopping to a place like Jinnah super wearing those huge posh-rayban sunglasses .
Our minds have been infiltrated with corrupt western ambitious values. We were never like this. This is not us. Our ideals were not this. Our social structure was one of satisfaction and cohesion. Materialism has overtaken our souls. We today live a very sad and tragically tense life only because we crave for materialism that is personified by the western icons we follow.
At the end , what good is a Pakistani if he/she cant conform to his own values , if he/she does not maintain his/her identity and if he/she does not maintain his/her pride. Let us hope that this constant deterioration of the society can be stopped and we can rediscover our Pakistani Identity.
