can you point out the cultural changes Pakistan and Pakistanis have gone through?
My recollections are of a country and an urban people who were deeply patriotic, but semi religious. Thoughts were progressive… life was simple and the overall outlook, despite having come out of fierce wars.. was positive.
Then I saw all that change as dictators forced religion down everyone’s throat changing the whole country into something we were not. We were introduced to drugs, arms and bombs in unidentified baggage under commuter bus seats.
For the first time we all stopped feeling proud to be a Pakistani and more concerned with what suffix to add to our names to identify our casts.
I also remember surviving that period, things did get better.. Life returned to normal or maybe we just got used to how it was. Many however got disenchanted. A lot had gone wrong. The seeds of extremism sown in the dark ages had grown into weeds of “religious thugs” spoiling the pure garden.
We saw decreasing opportunities, a ballooning population.. an increase in poverty and a steady exodus of manpower; which gave birth to the nuevo rich.. the sell-land-to-buy-a-Pajero class and a much more materialistic nation.
I can only remember that.. as i lost regular contact and now am just a visitor once or twice every year.
After the generation of Pakistanis who fought for the freedom holding dear unprecedented ideals which they later came to doubt themselves, I believe the generation raised in the 80s got the worst deal. We came to our senses in the era of bomb blasts & violence, utter sectarianism & staged religious self-righteousness. We were readers of the new found history & writers of one that will probably be remembered for its hypocrisy than the achievements.
When I look back I see warm memories of childhood that could be so much more.
before i went to america, i used to see Pakistan as the land of virtue and somehow in america i viewed all Pakistanis as the virtuous ppl…
everythnig related to pak was pure and good, and pakistanis were all nice ppl..
everyone in pakistan was a good Muslim..all families were wholesome..all marriages were long lasting…everyoen respected religion..the youth respected the elders..
and all such good things…
i guess this was only based on the exposure/social circle i had in pak..
now, as ive grown up, i see the social evils in pakistani society…and bel;ieve it or not but gupshup itself has played a huge role in making me realise how diverse pakis r…
and its a sad realisation that a lot of evils that exist in western society also exist in ours…maybe sometimez in different forms tho…
i still think pakistan is much better socially…but im more conscious that just like other countries, good and bad both exist here as well
though, east or west, Pakistan is still, and will always be, the best
