Dreams taking shape

“In the vacant places

We will build with new bricks

There are hands and machines

And clay for new brick

And lime for new mortar

Where the bricks are fallen

We will build with new stone

Where the beams are rotten

We will build with new timbers

Where the word is unspoken

We will build with new speech.”

1. S. Eliot

Whenever I read these lines, and that is quite often, I am reminded of a place in a state of utter disrepair reverberating with these voices of workmen chanting about toiling together. And the mind races to what we have become accustomed to seeing in our own midst where those who have indulged in merciless pillage of all structures and assets are the ones purporting to be the saints and saviours. And I continue to hear these voices soaked in pain and anguish, yet singing their song of hope.

It generates a strange feeling. There are innumerable people in our surroundings who have been systematically deprived of their rights through a vile and wicked mechanism perpetrated over decades. There is pretty little that they can look forward to in their future, and those who shall take their name hence. But they don’t lose hope. As a matter of fact, the more they are bludgeoned, the more resolute their spirit becomes in coping with adversities. It is a strange phenomenon which is difficult to understand through a process of exercising logic and reason. It appears that they are imbued with ceaseless optimism that is nurtured within their beings and there is a celestial presence somewhere which they pursue by way of continuing to regenerate their belief in the goodness of things to come.

The credit for this change rests with Prime Minister Imran Khan who cultivated among people the courage and confidence to stand up for their rights. He is the one who drove the fear out of their minds and gave them the daring and grit to walk out in the front to demand what they have been criminally deprived of. This is the making of a vibrant society that is alive to its fate. “Absolutely not” is a key stage of freeing it of the shackles that it has been wearing through decades. It is time to cast off all residual semblances of subservience and rise to attain a destiny which awaits the brave

It may be just as well that one does not quite comprehend what is the motivating power driving their faith. But one understands the ordeal that they have been subjected to without a care which has left behind indelible marks of suffering they have to deal with in their endeavour to survive another day, and then another. This is the cycle of life for them which comes laden with the burden of more to do in a desperate struggle to continue living. In the process, they are reduced to a skeleton of a presence that casts a chill. As T. S. Eliot said, “I remember, those are pearls that were his eyes”.

One wonders why is it that there are people who see ill in everything they encounter when it is not there while others don’t see it even when it is all around them? Why is it that the ill that they may be enveloped in does not appear to be so to them? And why is it that they are even willing to put their faith in the goodness of things in spite of the immense hurt those may have caused them? These are strange things generating strange feelings.

But one also understands why it is so. Through decades, these people have been forced to live in the company of a host of belittlements and ignominies without even the freedom to speak because that would be construed as rebellion against the interests of the ruling elite who had usurped their rights to advance their personal interests and those of their hierarchical associates. This pain has travelled through generations, only increasing in intensity with the passage of time. So, for the sake of sheer convenience, this pain is espoused as normal to live with. It is as if it is their eternal companion. This is not how societies progress and prosper. This is not how societies become sustainable entities driving the course of history.

But nothing stays static for long. Change is inevitable without which life would wither away. In spite of the fear that bulk of the people live with, there is a heart within them pumping good tidings. This is what stirs them out of slumber and motivates them to chase their innocent and harmless ambitions. This is when the society actually begins to take shape and character – around the dreams and desires of its impoverished and marginalised communities. This is what helps them cast off the innate fear and injects in them the courage to stand up and fight for their inalienable rights.

In spite of much despondency that we have been accustomed to in the past years, I strongly believe that we are now passing through times of change driven by the indomitable spirit and resolve of the people. They are no longer content with what has been their bounty through the years of a miserly life they have lived. They want it better with rights that would be on a par with those enjoyed by the ruling elite who have kept them hostage within the containment of promises made, but never delivered. While the ones exploiting the cudgels of manipulation prospered with ballooning coffers, the impoverished communities lost even their right to two measly meals a day. Instead of realising their dreams and desires, hunger stalked them as they looked hauntingly at the promise of a future repeatedly disintegrate in front of them while their hands remained tied and their voice taken away.

But things cannot remain static for long. These must change – and they are. Through mal-governance spread over decades, Pakistan had lost much of its vibrancy and exuberance. It had struggled with an excess of corruption resulting in depletion of both its assets and its promise. Its wings were clipped and the body lost its agility. It was reduced to a mass of sufferance. With the promise of change also came a change of approach. People are no longer content accepting their fate as dictated by those who have been the cause of their multifaceted deprivations. They have renewed energy driving them to raise their voice for their rights – and they are.

Much of the freedom that they have today has come through the mass awareness created by Prime Minister Khan’s political struggle. He stoked the rebellious streak in people who had been reduced to listless existence for fear of reprisals. It is khan who drove that fear out of their minds and sensitised them to their rights and gave them the courage to demand them. This is what has changed the equation for a new contract which is taking shape. But the old one has been thrown out and is no longer relevant.

A thief is being called a thief. Looters and plunderers are known by those names. Usurpers are being recognised as such. There is no fear among people and there is no restraining them any further in demanding what actually belongs to them. Times have changed and they continue to change further with every passing day. A new spirit and a new resolve dictate the fate of these people, not their hereditary subservience before the powerful. It is not the might of an empire of times bygone that dictates their fate. It is their right to demand that is changing the culture. It is no longer the past times stamping the future. It is the new-found human courage and confidence which are bringing about an irreversible change in the way things are shaping up.

The credit for this change rests with Prime Minister Imran Khan who cultivated among people the courage and confidence to stand up for their rights. He is the one who drove the fear out of their minds and gave them the daring and grit to walk out in the front to demand what they have been criminally deprived of. This is the making of a vibrant society that is alive to its fate. “Absolutely not” is a key stage of freeing it of the shackles that it has been wearing through decades. It is time to cast off all residual semblances of subservience and rise to attain a destiny which awaits the brave.