“You You,Me Me” Environment

To start with I have been so dead busy with my academic stuff that I haven’t been able to write here.I decided to name this post of mine ‘You You Me Me ‘ Environment because of prevalent conditions of my society.It infuriates so much to see the blame game being played upon by the Powerful ones,and its the common people who are always violated and victimized.The particular phrase was shared with me by one of teachers,although it was supposed to stir in a little fun but it was so witty and raw that I decided to borrow it for my blog post title.

I am not definitely not trying to preach anybody anything but if you just look around you would realize suddenly there is so much negativity and conflict in our environment,one cant help but wonder what's the underlying cause behind it.I say its the ongoing aura of blaming and accusing one another,the constant tug of war among other things.We have somehow become very rigid and intolerant of diversity ,constantly at odds.I just don't know why.I just don't.It was not like this in past.

This recent blast in Karachi and the aftermath of its ,made me take in the fact that we as a society are almost always making excuses,pointing fingers at each other & are terribly averse to assuming responsibility.Hard & Bitter.I know but  that's the awful truth,the Bitter Pill we must all swallow and then work towards it.Over and above we have made fortresses of Egos and that we aren't willing to tear down ,be more empathetic or compassionate,no body gives a damn anymore.

It is truly ‘You You Me Me’ environment,what I know for sure is that when we only have compassion and love for our own race,friends or whatever, then we leave a sort of a vacuum for anger and hate to flourish.And if it is not interrupted eventually it makes us irate and we demonstrate badness.Overtime it manifests itself into heinous acts of segregation and discrimination.This You You Me Me’ culture is at work both ways ,we exhibit its values for both ‘self enhancing’ and ‘self protective’ objectives, depending upon the people,place or point of time in question.

We cant change the way others act and think,but we can surely change the way we perceive and respond to the environment.There’s is quote which says “Make yourself an honest man , then you’ll be sure that there is one less bastard in the world”.So lets make a resolution that we as individuals will try to better human beings, make this world a better place to live in.

‘Miss Call’ Ritual

I don't exactly remember when it actually started, but today looking back at it all seems that it has been like this all this time.I am referring to this ritual of ‘Miss calling’.Some of you might think that Piscean has ran out of stuff to write about and is now babbling about non issues, but I beg to differ small things such as this miss call thingy tell a lot about our culture and ourselves as individuals.So I deem it significant enough to be written about.

It was a time around mid 2000s that cell phones or mobile phones as we like to call them really picked up in Pakistan.It was a kind of luxury that you could flaunt around and people started using the buzz words such as ‘text me’, ‘msg me’ etc. and it changed our culture forever.However this ‘Miss Call’ culture started to gain momentum when these cellular network began a Price War(which by the way is like a nuclear war in Marketing terms), all of a sudden more and more people could afford this gadget but not all could/would call or  text message each other.So the most convenient solution when you want to give somebody your number (or Buzz someone etc for instance) was to deliberately ring such a short while that the intended recipient wouldn't or couldn't receive it.So you don't lose a penny yet your objective is achieved.Thus the ‘Miss call’ Culture was born.

As with other things in our culture there are variations to this as well depending upon the people in question,each one of us does it in a unique way, time and place.It is so prevalent in our society that most of us wont find anything wrong or weird with it, but for moment keeping other things aside If we look at it from outside  ,you would certainly realize how miser of society we are (or have become).Some people may object to my opinion saying that in this time plagued by inflation and other crises, people are rather forced to resort to such activities,let alone being generous.Gone are the days when people used to travel miles just to know if someone was doing ok or not and make their presence felt,now one can just give a petty “Miss Call”  for the same and that’s pretty much it.

I don't know how this term ‘Miss Call’ was coined and became so viral eventually.Because when one is unable to receive a call ,all the major handsets display you have ‘X Missed Calls’, but one way or another we Pakistanis turned it into our very own ‘Miss Call’(Me thinks its related to the title of feminine side as in Miss Mr, we are very obsessed aren’t we?).

But what amazes me the most is unlike other fads such as texting obsessively etc have gone away pretty quick ,this ‘miss call’ culture still reigns supreme in most of our society.While most of our younger population has moved on to twitter, facebook etc, our culture continues to evolve and is coming up with more novel rituals such as the ones cited in this blog post day in and day out.It is just a matter of realization.

Geographically Challenged and Unable to Drive

Owing to the bacteria like development in places all around the country,people such as me who are ‘Geographically challenged and unable to drive’ are finding it harder to get around or should I say fighting to survive in these rapidly growing concrete jungles.

The term ‘Geographically challenged’ doesn’t mean that one has to climb mountains or walk through deserts practically rather it refers to people who find it difficult to get around the city,figure out roads/routes to destination and basically are easily lost.what further aggravates this condition is when that person is unable to drive.So, for one you don't know where you have to go and how you have to get there,secondly you cant get there even if you somehow figure it out because you don't know how to drive.

People usually assume that people don't drive because they are scared or just plain.But I on the contrary am of the opinion that its quite normal not to drive,because otherwise what would professional drivers do and who would use public transport services? hmmm think about it.It is a like natural balance of modern day societies that should not be disturbed you know .Elders usually the most critical of non-drivers should also remember the fact that the game is not that simple anymore.They played Pacman ,now its the age of virtual reality strategy games.

Back in old times,roads were few and far between ,very sparse traffic laws were there and very few vehicles were on the road just a few  animals or animalistic people roaming around .The landscape was much like an African desert But now just consider driving in any metropolitan city and even the most experienced of drivers would  experience a hike in blood pressure,its like herd of wildebeests  migrating just one wrong move or lack of thereof and you will be doomed.

Life has not been made any easier for ‘Geographically challenged’ by construction of  flyovers,underpasses and what not as if life wasn't difficult enough already.When on the road we are confronted with a plethora of lanes and once you make a wrong move or take a wrong turn then  one just has to go with the flow ,you cant just stop and turn back.One has to go till the very end of it and then figure where you are & what you wanna do ,pretty much like from fire into the frying pan.

Moreover mushroom like growth of high rise buildings and housing projects have created sort of a maze,its so difficult to find even a simple address on the main road especially if the person is new to the city.Within every such real estate project there are phases, then it cascades down into blocks,numbers this that.Even ‘multivariate analysis’ and ‘finance mumbo jumbo’ seems easy to me then figuring out these addresses.

I don’t know what will happen to people like me who come across such things everyday.I have heard from people of faraway places that there is gadget called GPS navigator which aids people suffering from same demise elsewhere,so there is hope for us maybe our leaders may beg that for us too.

I am hopeful that I would see better days as former Beatles star John Lenon in his song says ‘They say I am a dreamer but I ‘m not the only one……’