Much has been said about May 9 as the day of plunder and arson, but little has been mentioned of the frozen strawberries of Jinnah House, Lahore.
Groups of students from across the country are now encouraged to visit the burned down Jinnah House and lament the day it happened. To visitors, Jinnah House is projected as a national heritage which was subjected to plunder and arson by miscreants, who are condemned. Interestingly, to these visitors, the caretaker (guide) does not tell the purpose of frozen strawberries lying in a deep freezer.
The price of one kg of strawberries is more than Rs 1000, which is equal to the price of 10 kg of atta (wheat flour). One kilogram of atta is sufficient to prepare 30-40 chapatis. For sustenance, by using one chapati per head, a family of five may use 10 kg of atta for about one month.
It is heard that Jinnah House would be reconstructed and revamped, but it would be converted into a museum to let the future generations know about the country’s history. Certainly, this would be the single best propitious outcome of May 9. At least, Jinnah House is recovered. As exploding mangoes affected the political future of Pakistan, frozen strawberries are bound to sway the political course of Pakistan. The dust of growing awareness declines to settle down forthrightly
While giving visitors, who are mostly naïve youngsters, a tour of (the remnants of) Jinnah House, the caretaker does not tell them how many kilos of strawberries were bought each month? What was the cost of electricity spent to keep those strawberries preserved in the deep freezer? The reason for not telling this aspect is simple: Strawberries draw a line between the Haves and Have-nots of this country.
The caretaker does not invite attention of visitors to the plight of people who are back-broken by high inflation and who are paying untold taxes to let strawberries be bought and let deep freezers run. Perhaps, the caretaker remains hidden in the confines of Jinnah House and does not come out to find out the way the poor vie with one another for getting just one kg of atta.
What about the luxurious lifestyle the inhabitants of Jinnah House adopted. The caretakers observe silence on this aspect. A salaried class inhabiting Jinnah House was enjoying luxuries on the taxes paid by the people. Ironically, Pakistan has been begging for loans to avoid default but the refrigerator of Jinnah House was having packs of frozen strawberries.
The trespassers-turned-ravagers must be punished not only for looting and setting Jinnah House on fire but also for expressing their hatred towards superfluities impregnating the House. In fact, Jinnah House accentuated the disparity existing between the residents and the common people. The inequality answers the question why around 200,000 educated and skilled Pakistanis have been leaving the country per year since 2021. Leaving the country means that these doctors, engineers, information technology experts and accountants would serve some other countries, where they would not be subjected to the torture inflicted by strawberries.
Along with them, these emigrants take hatred against strawberries. Otherwise, leaving one’s home country is an excruciating decision. Staying away from one’s sweet home, from the scent of indigenous surroundings, and from the company of near and dear ones, is agonizing.
The detestation that the emigrants carry along is what boomerangs on Pakistan, which is otherwise making efforts to ban this route of expression or that one. All efforts are underway to make the country give an outlook of an intimidated muffled population. Strawberries are in search of Kugo Korray (empty-headed, dull-witted), who remain tongue-tied and work unthinkingly as well. On the other hand, emigrants are influencing international institutions to save democracy and freedom of expression in Pakistan.
Social media of various types are transforming Pakistan fast. The mainstream media are facing the threat of irrelevance, even if not of extinction. If seasoned anchorpersons and analysts such Naseem Zehra and Ansar Abbasi are resorting to v-logs (an informal source) to spread their message, the change rocking the foundations of the mainstream media can be well understood. Even on the mainstream media, listen to Nadeem Malik, the soft-spoken guy, and find out how he turns red when he considers it a bounden duty to defend the powers that be. The influenced wanta to influence the viewers in turn but then the grievance is “viewership is getting down”. The same is the case with the great story teller, Javed Chaudhry. The reason is that over the years the viewers have got mature enough to fathom the difference between objectivity and subjectivity.
The tragedy with talk shows is that they run more on speculative news and a supposed future than anything concrete. For instance, elections will happen this year vs elections will not take place this year. Most talk shows lack substance and variety of thoughts and participants. The same trite arguments uttered by the same mouths surface on one talk show after the other. In contrast, social media offers an alternative. Though the platform of social media is vulnerable to fake news, the platform permits the blend of diversity and objectivity to flourish.
With the benefit of hindsight, one can say that if buildings representing colonialism (such as Governor Houses) had been demolished legally or turned into universities or museums to let the people feel empowered and owned, the fury of demonstrators against Jinnah House (populated by the salaried class) could have been lessened. Access to strawberries could have been averted.
Currently, Pakistan is in the firm grip of international institutions which tend to see an imbalance existing between red strawberries and white atta, ravaging the country and reducing the prospects of loan recovery. The institutions disrespect Pakistan’s record of human rights violations and that of stifling the freedom of expression. They find Pakistan’s consequent trajectory unconventional to international norms. Strawberries cannot dictate atta.
It is heard that Jinnah House would be reconstructed and revamped, but it would be converted into a museum to let the future generations know about the country’s history. Certainly, this would be the single best propitious outcome of May 9. At least, Jinnah House is recovered. As exploding mangoes affected the political future of Pakistan, frozen strawberries are bound to sway the political course of Pakistan. The dust of growing awareness declines to settle down forthrightly.
