31/05/2021 The Lost Generation: Ideas & Identities of India Pakistan

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Shandana Minhas
On Awakening »
The Lost Generation
Shandana Minhas
October 8, 1998
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The Relationship That Heals
Ali Hashmi
Shandana Minhas is a featured columnist on Chowk. She also teaches literature at a
private school in Karachi, so she can earn enough money to support her filthy free lancing An Eyewitness` Account of
habit. Death, Horror And Misery
Veeresh Malik

Life with Wife

A columnist in a famous weekly writes, "Karachi people are suffering nazar khan
from compassion fatigue". I take this to mean that she is disturbed by
the fact that we no longer rant and rave when faced with rising death explorechowk
tolls and civic breakdowns. Instead we smile wryly (never really
Poems (312)
expected it to be any better), maybe even sigh, and go back to doing Short Stories (134)
what we need to do to survive without losing a significant percentage of Plays (6)
our sanity. Interviews (24)
Novelletes (8)
Translations (33)
For a Karachi dweller life is like a particularly bumpy ride down a Profiles (59)
Memoirs (15)
pitted, pot-holed street (lets say Sharah-e-Faisal). You see the ditches,
Being There (17)
you want to avoid them but the hands clutching the steering wheel are Society (27)
not your own. The interesting thing about these mysterious hands is that Journeys (51)
Humidor (8)
they do not appear to be attached to anything. The body is in Woman's Room (9)
Islamabad..in denial..but the right one would be the first to deny the Playing Field (4)
BollyWoodstock (4)
left even exists. Attempt to wrestle their grip from the wheel and
you'll find yourself being bonked on the head with a hefty jail term,
and unlike Zardari you won't get an AC. After years of studious practice topics
we Karachiites have learned to just sit back, buckle-up, and talk to the Environment (23)
others in the back seat about fruit and other things that don't bite Corruption (19)
back. In the meantime the city continues to dance in the arms of Relationships (27)
Old-age (3)
invisible forces, crushing innumerable civilian toes along the way. Christian (14)
Halloween (1)
Diversity (5)
People who have undergone a severe trauma often react by distancing
Scriptures (4)
themselves from the event itself, or their identity. They fragment, Marriage (70)
create another personality better equipped to deal with the emotional Incest (1)
Karo-kari (3)
fall-out. Hence Karachi for many of its inhabitants has become a totally Law (194)
separate entity from the streets where they live and breed. It's in generation-gap (1)
Infidelity (1)
orbit around an imaginary sun we cannot see and it has absolutely
Drug-Addiction (1)
nothing to do with the garbage we dump or the lights we break. We are Agnostic (2)
numb to its entirety, we cannot absorb its vastness any more than we can Prophet (11)
Civilizations (4)
drink its water and not die of cholera. Hence it is easy for us to Language (33)
ignore what happens to people "the other side of the bridge"; to look Fashion (13)
right through leprosy scarred beggars at intersections, to think
view more topics
everyone who asks for our help is a fraud. Perhaps a little voice in our
heads is screaming "no no this is not fair this is not right" as we turn
Google
the other cheek to yet another pimple on the face of creation, but it's
okay because that voice doesn't belong to us, it cant possible be

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talking about us. I like to call this phenomena "epiphany with Search
ostrich".
web chowk

So communities in Karachi (as in most other large industrial cities in

the world) are divided into colorful hot air balloons on the basis of
ethnicity and income; suspended hundreds of meters above the real world
waiting for the righteous winds to come and blow the bad guys away. To
this end many segments of society are undergoing a religious rebirth of
sorts (pop stars turning into tableeghi jamaatis etc). But since even
religion has disintegrated to the point where it has innumerable sects
culture as a whole remains a motley collection of one messiahs do's and
another messiahs donts. Because we are so fragmented we are unable to
make that one united push that will hopefully rid us of those nasty
things some of us call problems and others call government servants. We
will continue to be stuck in this rut till we realize we all have a lot
more in common than four limbs and bad hair (notice I don't say
functioning brains?). This is probably not going to happen anytime soon
If the present government has anything to do with it (and the three
before that): so do leave a note for your great great grandchildren
telling them how happy you are they've stopped shooting at the
neighbors.

It is said you cannot throw a stone in Karachi without hitting a cynic

(conversely you probably cannot throw a cynic anywhere in Karachi
without hitting bedrock or cement). There is a very simple reason for
this. Natural selection dictates that the strong survive and, I'm not
sure what the statistics are; its probably harder to kill a cynic than
it is to kill an optimist. Cynics expect the worst; they thrive on
chaos and destruction as it fulfills their predictions. They grow
embittered and thick skinned, frown a lot, little children run screaming
when they enter the room. But cynics by definition are prepared to take
life's hard knocks. Optimists take things personally, hence are more
prone to do silly things like join the CPLC and fight for what is right
(just like Captain Planet only they don't all wear their undies on the
outside). And everyone knows that doesn't do any good, in fact
sometimes it can even prove fatal.

So many in my generation (1965-1975) are not surprised when we walk

into Copper Kettle and catch glimpses of embittered twelve year olds
with sardonic leers on their faces, even if that is more frightening
than anything Freddie Krueger could have dreamt up. We go to thematic
parties along the lines of MTV's "the grind" and discuss "the
inevitability of the Islamic revolution in poverty stricken nations"
with people who have just come back from college in the states. We have
long since given up resisting to the pressure of "you know standing in
line wont work - …why don't you just jump it" and are passionate in our
belief that there is nothing left here for our children to be and anyone
who believes the only way to go is up has obviously been smoking
something. We don't get much representation in the media because we
don't think most people can read and those who can don't care.

The generation before us had their "seasons in the sun", the generation
after has grown up with these conditions and adapted to them with great
alacrity (scenario fits right into their video games). Those of us who
are indeed suffering from "compassion fatigue" are content with what we
have and fairly conversant with reality. Those of us who aren't are
sitting here waiting for the little men In white coats to come and take
us away..but they'll all been very busy with the bomb lately.

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Times read: 2031 Interacts: 17 Published on October 8, 1998

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#17 anandy
set reading options Chowk filter layout=flat order=newest first change #16 sipahi
#15 rehanrizvi
#14 slink
#13 Zehra
#17 by anandy on July 9, 1999 7:02pm PT #12 rehanrizvi
Dear Shandana, #11 slink
#10 bg
#9 mastanah
Your articles(down to top, upto lost generation) have been good.I have not gone thru the other #8 arif
#7 arif
articles so far- not that i donot wish to but because i found this site just an hour back and i will #6 arif
need some time to rummage thru all of them. #5 shafqat
#4 bg
#3 slink
Well, now coming to your articles, they seem to reflect something which we, the so called #2 shafqat
#1 Godot
professionals tend to lose in our run for attaining the professionalism thru objectivism and
materialsim(many -ism may follow..).It reminds me of the very fact that we are human beings and
in order to live like a human we will need some humane qualities(include humour and caring in
them..).

May be your other articles help me wake up my dead human values from the death bed...

Wish me a happy reading..

anand

[Reply to interact #17]

#16 by sipahi on October 22, 1998 9:14am PT

I liked the article, it made me think. I go thru life as an optimist. I don't think it makes me any
easier to disappoint. Optimism does not mean idealism, you can very well hope and live for the best
whilst still being prepared for the worst. An optimist believes the best is yet to come while a cynic
fears it to be true.spent my teenage years in Karachi from 1986 thru 1990, the height of the MQM's
regime of violence. I distinctlty remember going to take my O levels in '90, feeling as if I was in a
warzone. Bunkers, machineguns, gunfire, it was all a part of life. You took it in stride or you moved,
simple as that. It didn't stop any of us from enjoying life or partying though.am simply trying to say
that no matter what life throws at you, it is your own fault if you let it kill a part of your personality.
And there is no justification for letting part of urself die. Ask not for whom the bell tolls etc etc.the
same time, i fully understand where the author is coming from, a very stimulating article.

[Reply to interact #16]

#15 by rehanrizvi on October 18, 1998 2:46am PT

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Re: Zehra

LOL! Nahin Larki, nice try though. But I AM going to attend my best freind's wedding. I guess, it's
not my time yet. Still looking for Ms. Right. It's a long road ahead. :)

[Reply to interact #15]

#14 by slink on October 16, 1998 3:57am PT

zehra, heheheheeeee :)))

[Reply to interact #14]

#13 by Zehra on October 15, 1998 2:54pm PT

rehan,

kya shadi karnay jaa rahey hou :))?

z.rizvi.

[Reply to interact #13]

#12 by rehanrizvi on October 15, 1998 12:50pm PT

Almost nine years after I left Karachi, I'm going back there in a week. And I'm very very excited
about it. Why's that you ask? Yeah, I read Dawn and all other papers on the net. Yeah, I know
about all that has changed over the years. Yeah, I know the anarchy that rules the city. And, by the
way, I belong to that same "65-75" generation that Shandana does. The same generation that has
seen the peace and calm of the eighties. When the military wanted to keep peace because it WAS
the ruler.

So why do I not care about the potholes, the shortage of water, the loadshedding, the works?
Because I am not politically ignorant. I know who's responsible for everything that has gone wrong
in Karachi over the years. And I know how to survive under those conditions. Am I a "Theorist" here
Saad? No, I don't think so. I'm none of the six you mentioned. I'm just plain me.

I want to go back and visit my old neighborhood more than anything in the world. I'm going to
watch the Pakistan v. Australia one-day's with my old cricket buddies. I'm going to enjoy my time
there despite of everything. And I'll do that without forgetting who's responsible for the destruction
of Karachi. Without forgiving any one of them. Without losing the anger buried inside me. The point
is, that you can go on with your life without being apathetic no matter if that's exactly you appear
to be. Ironic, isn't it?

The key to understanding Karachi is that you have to understand history. Things take time to
change, but they do. In the long run, no one can take away Karachi from its people. In the short
run, they are trying and think they are successful. We'll see who has the last laugh about it. They'll
find out, in time, up North, who's going to lose what. Hint, its not Karachi and/or its people.

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[Reply to interact #12]

#11 by slink on October 15, 1998 11:53am PT

re mastanah and bg:

the article 'a voice in the wilderness'(was re-published here a little while ago) is about a person who
is using the radio to spread his message. arif abrar has stuck his neck out on more than one
occasion, appealing for sanity and tolerance after the bombs, criticising the intrusive 'holier than
thou' elements, all kinds of stuff. it's a pity we dont have more people like him.

shandana

[Reply to interact #11]

#10 by bg on October 15, 1998 8:21am PT

re mastana
"okay if you do not believe me. do you not have at least one servant in your house??? can you not
influence him/her? usually your servants will pretty much follow what you tell them. they like you,
they
want to be like you. they will follow you."

why do you think 'servants' follow what their employers tell them? it is not because they like them
or think they are smart, its because the employers have more power than their servants. jus t
because some of us are wealthier does not mean we are smarter or better.

i think you have a good point about mass media. however, there is immense state control and
censorship (have you read bina sarwar's article?). also, tv is really quite expensive as a medium.
radio is more promising and that might be a way to go if it is more 'free'.

[Reply to interact #10]

#9 by mastanah on October 14, 1998 8:06pm PT

keep those ideas streaming onto these pages. bravo.

few comments....

those of you karachites who are fortunately, still left in karachi have many means at your disposal
for improving the situation there. ofcourse i read this article from many miles away in Washington,
DC. you know it can get quite disgusting when you hear about moneeeka and her adventures
twenty-four seven on the media out here. i mean when there are issues of such immense
magnitude needing to be dealt with elsewhere in the world, the populace of the USA are still
involved in the soap opera "Monica Gate".

Yet, I point you, lucky Karachiites, what shall I call myself? Am I an ex-Karachiite? Tell me what you
think? I finished high-school at the same institution that the author did the same and then I
proceeded to gora land, but am I still a Karachiite? I'd like to think so, please confirm. Getting back
to the point. Look what media is doing in the states....it is so powerful.

so as Ms. minhas points out in her piece, whats the use of writing in newspapers, when most of the
peple of pakistan cannot read?

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some one said that the author can be seen in some video on MTV?? HINT HINT!!??!

So while the print media may not be a effective means to reach out to the populace of our country,
we have available the television media, which our generation has not really exploited. so when will
that happen.

I agree that those of us who are in the West probably have access to resources that can probably
use the desi airwaves more effectively. I mean in the sense that getting on air , is expensive. and
the the western desi's probably control more resources, and are at a safe distance from the desi
regimes, so we can sponsor TV programs designed to promote progressive ideas on the desi-
airwaves.

but i feel that if the resident karachi-ites, or lahoris were to utilize the airwaves they would be more
effective.

the non-resident paki's are just too whacked in any case, too remote and too removed from realities
in our city of lights.

but you guys know whats going on. Ms. Minhas is indeed a bold one. a truthful one. and she is so
totally correct. we read her pieces on the web and savor her ideas. but lets try to get on
television??? lets try to reach out to the hari in the field? lets get on radio?

many of those who are reading this are the children of the ruling elite, children of business elites, of
armed forces generals, of intellectual authorities....you have a lot of authority in the society you live
in.

okay if you do not believe me. do you not have at least one servant in your house??? can you not
influence him/her? usually your servants will pretty much follow what you tell them. they like you,
they want to be like you. they will follow you.

let me tell you about my servants.

although i am not in pakistan right now. we own a farm just outside karachi. a few years back on
eid, we dicided to give our haris, (farmers, for those inclined towards the western term) some old
clothes, some old sweater of mine and my sisters, some shoes etc. everything was used. you know
what happened? our neighboring landlords complained to us, and the good citizen and neighbor that
my dad is he agreed, and we did not make such gifts in future eids.

there complaint was that if we spoilt our haris with such gifts, their own haris would get spoilt and
ask for simialr gifts.....i mean totally outrageous......

so how do you get to the ears and eyes of our nation? TV and RADIO. I wish you folks in pakistan
can mobilize enough resources to get your voices heard on TV and radio so you can reach the
millions who live in oppresion.

India does it. they are on star tv, giving all kinds of anti-government ideas. and i believe that you
can do it too. give it a shot. and let us know if we can help.

i will live, if i am lucky, another fifty years, and before i leave, i bet my life, i will see to it that i have
not left my country and the humanity that inhabits it in worse shape than now.

[Reply to interact #9]

#8 by arif on October 11, 1998 11:57am PT

p.s. i forgot to mention there's also an interview with her in this month's issue of 'She' magazine.
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Are we seeing the emergence of an international celebrity cult? :)

[Reply to interact #8]

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