Saeed Siddiqui
A few months ago, the world was in
toxicated with its music. The system,
happy in its black and white, was as if the fall was just a fantasy. It was a story of an old woman. But then an epidemic broke out that brought today’s modern world to its knees. Lockdown, curfew, hunger, famine, mosques closed and street riots. All this, which I had seen only in novels and movies before, suddenly came true.
In a few hours, the world changed. Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, looks like BT aint for me either. A nation known for its sympathy and hospitality. Even in these circumstances, he could not stop showing off. If you open social media, there is a line of such sympathizers. Photo with ration envelopes. Photo with food items. And if you are not satisfied with that too, then the picture with the needy standing with their heads bowed in shame.
Celebrities are flying the flag of their greatness. Organizations and parties are joining hands with regular media coverage to ridicule the poor. But many white-clad people are sleeping hungry because of this insensitive showmanship. Religion says that give charity in such a way that even the other hand does not have knowledge. But as long as our sympathetic nation does not make a hash tag and flaunt its goodness, it is as if the reward is not received properly. That’s the decent thing to do, and it should end there.
We haven’t even used this disaster for profit, from making masks expensive to making number two sanitizers, what have we not done? Let’s leave it at that. There are ups and downs in giving and taking, but we are a nation that even the fear of death has not been able to take us home. Somewhere they are eating sticks. So they are secretly holding parties somewhere. Someone asked, “Brother, you have given a damn to the police and the administration, but how will you give it to Corona?”
These are the insensitive people who are endangering themselves as well as others. In all these situations the mind says that indeed Corona has become a torment and trial from God but think it is also a mirror.
Who is unveiling our distorted inner self and showing us His true nature. So this is a blessing for our dirty society, yes, but if you do not have the courage to face the reality, then pick up the camera and take a selfie with a poor person and continue to satisfy your false ego.
—The writer is a Manager Library Services, Ewing Memorial Library, Lahore.
Covid-19: A transformation
