Tasweer

Blue-grey clouds cover the sky, and the green Margalla Mountains seem to touch them, hiding a muted sunset. The pine and cypress trees sway gently in the early evening breeze as the returning birds call out to their companions to hurry home. As I look at the window, I have an image of my own beloved in my minds eye, which seems to permeate through all the sights, all the sounds, encompassing my heart. I turn to look at his image, on a day when I have to make do without him.

I like to look at him. In person, or his picture, or Tasweer as we call it in urdu. It warms my heart . When he is not with me, I look at it to assuage my constant longing to have him before my eyes, to hold him, to hear him speak, laugh, and scold me intermittently. He likes to test how much I want him,whether I can match the great passion he feels but likes to hide behind his sweet smile. His Tasweer keeps his sweet smile with me at all times. And his shining , ever hopeful eyes, which reflect the goodness of his heart. I look into them and they speak to me, at times with love , at times admonishing, but always reminding me why I fell in love with my darling. Why I chose to be with him with so much idealism in my heart. Despite what he may think of as his shortcomings, I have never felt disappointed with him. I do complain, but only to remind him that I am there, waiting for him to smile at me and do the simple little things he does to make me happy, and sometimes to make me jealous, only like he can.

Why do we need a tasweer when we have the image of those we love engraved on our hearts? why do we adorn our walls and desks at office with their images? why do I need to see his face so much?  Perhaps to sustain ourselves with their images, to remind us of what they mean to us and how significant they are in our lives, what part of our life, emotions and selves do they represent. When I look into his eyes, I see all that is good and idealistic in me, my hopes, dreams and desires. I don't think he has ever tried to rationalize why we love each other, and why we need to be together. He just feels. I have a tendency to find and list reasons. But his smiling eyes makes me forget to think, but only feel.

Rab Di Marzi (The Will of God)

Picture this: A hot Lahore forenoon in July, Main Market, Gulberg, one of the poshest areas. I get out of my car to go to the ATM machine, my son and I are going to do some shopping. Actually I am, he just likes to tag along. I love him for tagging along. Just next to the machine in the veranda, two boys, seeming to be street urchins, are sleeping on an old foam mattress that has lost its cover. I looked at them, i looked at my son in the car, wearing his nightsuit and waiting for me in the air-conditioned car while he played some game on a Samsung Note phone. And yes, apart from all disparities, he is fair, and the urchins are brown, with sun bleached blonde hair. I didn't like it. I felt guilty. Now if i were to follow the usual political rhetoric, which is reflected in wearing of khaddar, establishing it war bazaars and turning off ACs in offices to show solidarity with the plight of the poor, in vogue in Pakistan, me and my son would come out of the car and stand in the heat with these guys and postpone our shopping plans. But would it help them? No. Neither would it if i gave them some money and got rid of my guilt. The charity would help them for some time, but would not take them out of this vicious circle of poverty. What we need in our country is not superficial acts of charity to give impressions of caring, but a system that throws a lifeline to the poor to get out of poverty with their own efforts.
I , perhaps cruelly,  and certainly not respecting their privacy, took their picture and posted it on twitter, calling for a safety net for such children. it got lots of response, but one comment hurt and revolted me to my core. Somebody wrote, Rab di Marzi, or that it is as Allah has willed. It is the same mentality that feeds the above superficial acts. It is engendered by the erroneous belief that somebody who is born at a particular class is supposed to remain there because he was born there through the will of God. And, as good muslims, we are supposed to surrender to His will and not try to change things too much. This attitude is in itself tragic. It makes us take the opium of acceptance, and prevents us to make an effort to change even the things that can be changed. As Muslims, we are supposed to accept the things we cannot change as the will of God, but we are exhorted to make efforts to change the things that we can. In fact, it is our duty as muslims to struggle to put things right. If we recall, it is called Jihad, and is one of the pillars of Islam. It is this effort to create a more equitable society that Jihad envisages, not terrorism .
Now whose responsibility is to establish a more equitable society? Individual effort definitely counts, but it is the State which has to do this huge task, because it taxes us and then decides where to spend its revenues. Right now, whatever efforts are being made at State level are in the old mode of giving charity, subsidies, and short term relief to the poor. Very little effort is there for creating an enabling environment for them to get out of poverty through their own efforts, learning some self respect and gaining confidence along the way. But we are ignoring our children the most. We have so many young people, and we need to very quickly devise a system, a safety net to enable them to get out of poverty and illiteracy. The answer is in giving street children access to education, nutrition and skills to get them off the streets and into educational institutions, and then to workplaces. Our children are the future and we can jump start progress by investing in them. A mega project that funds such a safety net for our young people is much more valuable for us than brick and mortar. This is the real will of God. This is what He enjoined us to do.