Read Zahida Hina’s novel ‘Na junoon raha na pari rahi’ recently. It was about a Muslim girl from India (just after 1947), who comes to Pakistan for her fiance (who migrated to Pakistan). She could not find him and had to live with a Parsi family for sometime till she finds him. When she knew the reality that the guy was going to marry daughter of a seth sahib,she left for India again with regret and thought ‘A person can never be that important to make you leave your country forever’.
So, how do you see this thought?
Do you agree that a person is not that important that you abandon your country forever?
Are some people that important that makes your house ‘home’ for you, a place ‘homeland’ for you?
Re: Can a person be that important to abandon your country?
A country --- defined as a piece of land, can be abandoned
A country -- defined as a group of people, cannot be abandoned
If you physically move out of a country, it doesn't necessarily mean you are 'abandoning' it. A lot of people move around the world for employment or business. Are they abandoning their countries?
Re: Can a person be that important to abandon your country?
My view, maybe incorrect.
A country as piece of land can be abandoned
A country as a group of people can also be abandoned
Physically moving out, permanently changing your address, and getting a dual nationality are all examples of abandoning the country and people in it altogether.
It depends on priorities, if the person is priority people are willing to abandon not only country but families and friends too. For some, land is important than life, and they die (abandon family and friends) to protect it.
Re: Can a person be that important to abandon your country?
A country --- defined as a piece of land, can be abandoned
A country -- defined as a group of people, cannot be abandoned
If you physically move out of a country, it doesn't necessarily mean you are 'abandoning' it. A lot of people move around the world for employment or business. Are they abandoning their countries?
for employment and business ... its about financial survival. In Faiz's words, 'Tujh se bhi dilfareb hain gham rozgaar ke'.
but for a person, its a different story. But then again 'Love is also blind'.
Re: Can a person be that important to abandon your country?
My view, maybe incorrect.
A country as piece of land can be abandoned
A country as a group of people can also be abandoned
Physically moving out, permanently changing your address, and getting a dual nationality are all examples of abandoning the country and people in it altogether.
It depends on priorities, if the person is priority people are willing to abandon not only country but families and friends too. For some, land is important than life, and they die (abandon family and friends) to protect it.
The girl in the novel goes through different phases. Her father was a congress man and he avoid migrating and also advised others not to move. But her cousin (fiance) and his family migrated with thoughts if they stayed in India, they will have to pass their whole life as clerk with not much opportunities that a new land was offering.
The girl had to leave India, because her father dies and no one was India except unfriendly step mother. She visited Pakistan because she had trust in her finance, but when she know the business minded approach of the guy, she suddenly felt that her decision was very much wrong to abandon her homeland for such a person.
I think if you leave your land / people for a person, then there may arise circumstances that lead to a guilt, because normally people don't get what they expect from other people.
Re: Can a person be that important to abandon your country?
I know of a person who left Bangladesh after partition (1971) for a Pakistani girl and then he stayed in Pakistan all his life. He left his family back. Both of them died hours apart, although both were unaware of that.
Re: Can a person be that important to abandon your country?
Oh yes, guilt is always there. Questioning ourselves when in doubt shows that we have a conscious mind. Even if she had never taken the journey, she would have always thought that he might have waited and blamed herself for not having the courage, which would amount to more guilt. So isn't that a good thing that she went and witnessed everything?
Re: Can a person be that important to abandon your country?
Yep. The guy was a silent admirer of the woman as they had studied in the same university. He travelled to Pakistan and convinced the father of the lady to marry her to him.
Re: Can a person be that important to abandon your country?
Oh yes, guilt is always there. Questioning ourselves when in doubt shows that we have a conscious mind. Even if she had never taken the journey, she would have always thought that he might have waited and blamed herself for not having the courage, which would amount to more guilt. So isn't that a good thing that she went and witnessed everything?
I think you are right. One can't avoid guilt and it is never a deciding factor while people opt from certain alternatives. The left out options always haunt us with 'Kash!'.
Re: Can a person be that important to abandon your country?
for employment and business ... its about financial survival. In Faiz's words, 'Tujh se bhi dilfareb hain gham rozgaar ke'.
but for a person, its a different story. But then again 'Love is also blind'.
I thought emotional attachment is stronger than financial survival. If someone puts financial success above human relations, there is something fundamentally wrong.
I know several people who moved countries for love. Some who even moved to Pakistan from the West. Now, leaving country (land) is one thing but leaving the people (family and friends) is another and it would depend on how strong your bonds are with them.
Re: Can a person be that important to abandon your country?
Islam meN hijrat saHeeH maqaasid ke liye nihaayat mubaarak kaam samjhaa jaataa hai. vo saHeeH maqsad Islam aur Islami zindagii ke taHaffuz, apne aur apnii family [including parents and siblings] ke liye bahtar mavaaq'e, bahtar ta'leem aur bahtar taHaffuz haiN. mulk, qaum aham haiN magar NOT at the cost of the sacrificing the above valid goals.
Re: Can a person be that important to abandon your country?
I don't see it any more different then moving out of the country for economic reasons. And so many women end up getting married to guys who either live in different countries or end up moving there. This happens a lot in arranged marriages so women basically end up moving countires for a guy they don't even know.
I probably would never move for a guy. Ain't got no time for that.
I do think the 1947 mentality was slightly different. The people did not know that the border set up was so ironclad that moving across it would be difficult. Unlike a normal country boundary coming and going, getting visas was made doubly as hard which a lot of people had not anticipated.
Re: Can a person be that important to abandon your country?
I don't see it any more different then moving out of the country for economic reasons. And so many women end up getting married to guys who either live in different countries or end up moving there. This happens a lot in arranged marriages so women basically end up moving countires for a guy they don't even know.
I probably would never move for a guy. Ain't got no time for that.
I do think the 1947 mentality was slightly different. The people did not know that the border set up was so ironclad that moving across it would be difficult. Unlike a normal country boundary coming and going, getting visas was made doubly as hard which a lot of people had not anticipated.
Yes, in 1947 movement between India-Pakistan (which is still an uphill task) is different when say one move from Pakistan to west. Today, you got means to get / remained linked with your dear ones at homeland. As they say world is a global village.
wo to pehli bahoo se bhi do hath aage nikli 