In recent reports more than half of us involved in the daily grind of some sorts are facing mucho depression and anxiety related illnesses here in Pakistan. Te reason for this huge problem is quite simple to me. We as a nation are utterly naive and totally overconfident in anything we can imagine. We deal in fiction rather than ground realities! Let me outline a few basic “Common thoughts” most of us have had or heard from our friends in the past days.
a) We thought elections would bring democratically elected leaders into power who would work on the mandate they have been voted into office upon.
We shall describe the above as fantasy A, the leaders do not have a clue as to what they are doing and have not been able to even select their PM or the Chief Ministers of the respective provinces so far. They keep blaming the GHQ when in 16 goddamn days they have not achieved co census on diddly squat
b) By this summer as the K.E.S.C has been privatized they must have done something for the power problem facing our city, as they are basically a monopoly and can earn much deniro if they provide running power for all throughout the summer!
Right ummm well the K.E.S.C has just said that their is a shortage of 700 MW in their plan for Karachi this summer, which basically means most of us will be waking up drenched in our own sweat sans power the whole summer as usual. They efficiently predict 12 hrs of power outages every other day.
c) After the elections the parties will do something about the various forms of inflation in witness today.
The parties can do nothing! the international prices of everything from oil to food to washing powder are going through the roof, i am not even going to touch upon precious metals and the like. No not even Scatland has some magical wand he can wave and make petrol go back down to 53 Rs again. We have to now face the reality of picking between our daily necessities simply because we cannot afford them all. While saying this i am automatically excluding anyone riding an SUV, as they don’t care if petrol was the price of gold or water.
d) Our economy because of the GDP growth seen in the last year or so is getting better, creating more jobs and prosperity to come!
Well lets just put it this way, when a government wants to increase GDP figures the easiest way to do so is to create artificial demand for consumer items through financing. Yes we can get anything from a car to a hairdryer on easy installments today and this is the reason why. The shortcut credit bubble keeps blowing up…and up… and up.. till it bursts and collapses on itself. This is why the banks auction lots are full of cars for repossession. The reality is that the biggest sector of the Pakistani export market, that being textiles is on the verge of collapse. They employ about half the population of our laborers as well.
e) As soon as Musharraf goes out of power the suicide attacks will stop!!
Yeaah right, “news flash” the people engaged in these suicide attacks are not doing them to get rid of Mush, they think all of us.. yes repeat slowly allll of us are non muslims and deserve to die.
f) As soon as the Judiciary is restored they will fight for the rights of the common man!
Yes sir off course thats what they were doing when they signed on to a military coup against a democratic government in the first place!! Remember these same judges took oath under a PCO. These are no saints or rebels fighting for us, its another facade of the same names in the same corridors.
g) It cannot get any worse! we are at the bottom of the barrel
Ah.. the greatest of all our fantasies, i need not even bother here as we shall all be witnessing what worst looks like pretty soon.
I think we should all go out and stock up on liquids, guns and ice cubes. Definitely ice cubes before they go up in price as well. Here is something to ponder while you are rushing to the grocery store
“Insanity in individuals is something rare — but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule”
Friedrich Nietzsche
Wow – that’s quite a sobering “report card.” Your blog is so much more informative than the western press!
Would be interesting – scary – to do a similar reality check in my country after our next election. Not sure we’d score very high marks either.
You know you really have the right idea, I think this needs to be read by more and more just as an eye opener… im thoroughly impressed bruv. very much so!
@ Anna and Armughan Thanks guys, just trying to tell the truth from my eyes!