Feature

Sad but True

Wasia Mehnaz Minna

Istared at the guy holding the microphone in front of me with utter shock and embarrassment. He had just asked me to name the 7 martyrs of 1971 who had won the title of “Birsreshtho” for a documentary he was making and I had managed to recall only three names! I felt my cheeks turn red and wished for a small crack to open in the ground so I could blend right in with the floor! I felt completely ignorant and selfish as a person who only cared about living in the present and did not bother remembering her roots. Yet I pacified my soul with the fact that at least I identified and admitted my mistake and was not one of those who failed to show the minimum respect to our history, culture and the very roots from which we have arisen. Sad but true, I cannot say the same for many young people nowadays.

I always held a grudge against those elderly people who kept on stereotyping younger people as insensitive pricks who they believed didn't bother to care about our history, culture and traditions and disrespected our motherland. I felt that they were being judgmental because of our unsettled youthfulness and our attitude towards all things new and different. I loved believing that in spite of our inclination to Western music and fusion clothing, we still had that patriotic streak in all of us and that was something that could not be taken away. I was deeply saddened to discover that my beliefs could be shaken.

Very recently the annual cultural function of a reputed private university took place. Since our Victory Day is just around the corner, the whole event was based on the theme of independence and how the younger generation is slowly moving away from our roots. I started watching the show with the idea that their concept couldn't be farther from the truth, and by the time the show ended, I knew I was right. All throughout the function, I kept on hearing crude comments from the young audience that told me how irritated they were at having to bear the agony of listening to patriotic songs and watching plays that told the poignant tales of our liberation war. Even when some heartbreaking video clips of the war victims were shown on the screen, their thoughtless gestures did not stop, as the insensitive bunch remained absolutely unaffected. At a point when our national anthem came to an end, I actually heard someone say how glad he or she was that it's over because at last they'd be able to sit down. And like an insult to my battered injury, a girl actually started singing a tacky Hindi number very loudly, the moment the video clips of 1971 vanished from the screen. You may think I'm exaggerating, but sorry to disappoint you, I'm not!

Can anything in this world justify the utter lack of respect towards the very soil that we are made of? What can anyone say to defend this impudent behavior towards the valiant souls who gave their lives to achieve the right to express our opinion? We wouldn't even be able to speak freely or do as we wish in our motherland if it were not for those selfless human beings who did not hesitate to thrust themselves upon the sharp bayonets of the Pakistani army in 1971. The least we can do is honor their memories and pray for their souls to rest in peace. Don't we owe them this much ?

I will not act like the older people and stereotype all of the younger generation as thoughtless beings. I know there are many of us who love our country and our history. We may have studied in English all our lives, may spoke in English half of the time, may listen to Western rock music or Bhangra or whatever, but in the heart of our hearts and soul of our souls, we remember our roots and where we come from. The names of the 7 martyrs may not be on the tips of our tongues, we may not know all the patriotic songs by heart, what we do know is how to be grateful to the people who earned our motherland her independence and gave us freedom to live as we choose. Then again sad but true, I cannot say the same for all of us.