“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him” is the mantra for making it big, especially on alien soil. Would it not be wonderful if we too could make it ‘big’ and boast a billionaire? I said to myself as I wistfully looked out of the window of my airplane and saw a parked Boeing 747 with the letters “India” written boldly across the fuselage. We were in North Carolina, the venue of high flying businessmen mooting ideas on how to make more money. Mukesh Ambani, rated 4th richest man in the world had flown from India in his own jet. Nita, his charming wife and business partner stayed back to look after the family fortune. No one from Pakistan was there. “Well my sister lives in Karachi,” was the closest I got to hear on Pakistan from another Indian billionaire Azim Premji.
Maybe next time, we’ll have a Pakistani hobnob with the billionaire’s club in the US. We now know that we finally have a billionaire who has made it to the world’s wealthiest list. “This is a proud moment for Pakistan as it is the first time a Pakistani has been included in Forbes list,” a blogger declared. Mian Mohammad Mansha has been placed at 937 out of 1011 billionaires.
Pakistan can also boast a successful crop of men and women who have carved out a niche for themselves in the corporate, medical, business, arts and education arenas of America. Wherever one goes, the name Pakistan is present. It does the heart a world of good to see our professionals at the top of the slippery totem pole while the Americans look upon them with open adoration. Honestly!
The huge shopping mall in Manhattan looks cold, impersonal and alien. Anything you pick up says ‘Made in China.’ Quite by chance I pick up a set of towels and bed sheets and lo and behold (do excuse my wild enthusiasm) the tag says, “Made in Pakistan.” Suddenly the loneliness leaves; a warm pride tingles the senses; homeliness surrounds. In another store, I see a designer tee shirt that too says it’s made in Pakistan. I grab it and return home fully secure of my roots.
Mansha may have made a part his billion selling cotton garments to the West, but overall, Pakistan has lagged behind in exports. It’s the quality that’s poor. The towels that I buy clog up my washing machine because of the amount of fluff that comes off them. In the end I have to throw them away. The bed sheets bleed and their colour runs into my other laundry. Out go the bed sheets too. I still have not washed my prized designer’s tee shirt for fear that the red may run into the white!
What we can sell to the West is our natural beauty. Driving on the brand new road along the shore near Seaview in Karachi, a fellow passenger comments, “Our country is so beautiful; we have everything that the heart would crave and it’s for this reason our neighbours and others want a piece of it,” she says spontaneously looking seaward at the setting sun. “We must guard every inch of our land.”
Lahore is the land of gusto; culture; art; fashion and friendships. High society tends to be cliquish judging you by the clothes you’re wearing, the shahtoosh shawl you’re sporting and the diamonds you’re displaying. But the less snooty are wonderful people spreading good cheer around them at any time of the day. Not only do they tout being Lahoris, but take undiluted pride in their brand name ‘Made in Pakistan.’
‘Islamabad the Beautiful’ is our pride and joy (sorry for the cliché). Let’s save it for our future generations. Let’s keep the parks green and the roads unlittered of VIPs. Also, let’s try keeping the bumptious bureaucrats in their place and not allow them to strut about our space. It’s people like them who deface the brand name ‘Made in Pakistan.’
As for the gorgeous North, there’s so much history, romance and chivalry that it can take volumes documenting it. Unfortunately, we allowed the land to be used for terrorism by foreigners and home grown Taliban. The war is still on and we will win. Balochistan deserves better. Its natural resources have been exploited without making the life of the poor better. These wretched are also “Made in Pakistan” and deserve to be treated equally with people of other provinces.
The Pakistani media too has come of age, especially the electronic. But its talk shows are turning into a nightmare. Too much politics; too much posturing; too much puppetry. Instead of getting politicians – ruling and opposition – to fight like cats and dogs on the idiot box, better it would be to turn to civic journalism and ask about issues related to everyday life. Dawn News conducted laboratory tests on a number of imported and locally made toys randomly collected from stores. They contained high levels of toxic metals and chemicals. And yet no other channel/newspaper bothered to pick up the data to warn the unaware public and demand the setting up of a ‘Standards and Quality Control Authority’ to monitor such serious health hazards.
East or West, home is best. But while the media makes such a hullabaloo about Pakistanis being singled out at American airports for body search and secondary questioning, what about our own consulate general in New York? Recently a Pakistani-American went to get a visa to visit Pakistan. “It was a torture. There was just one man sitting behind the window and he was beginning to lose it because the crowd was getting unruly…no queues, no order. It was free for all. The attitude of the staff was obnoxious. It’s a double whammy for us: we get sorted out by the Americans when we exit or enter the US and we get sorted out by our own Pakistani officials at the consulate.”
Said another, “We love Pakistan, we remit valuable foreign exchange and we visit home whenever we can. Please treat us with some respect.” The two PIA flights out of New York for Karachi and Lahore are always full of immigrants going ‘home.’ They may earn and live in the US, but at the end of the day, they are folks “Made in Pakistan.” Handle them with care and love.
More power to Pakistan!
Mohammed Abbasi 