Value Gap

JUNE 1999 - If you wish to lose hope about Pakistan in less than 90 minutes, go and see a film in any movie house. It may not be the best way to arrive at the conclusion that we are going nowhere, but it is certainly frightening to see how fast we are sinking as a people. Thank God I am not a female, the most endangered species in the country, the sermons notwithstanding, but even as a male, accosting the louts that throng public places is enough to cause gloom and despair even in the staunchest believer about our viability.

Earlier this week I was the unfortunate victim of a 90-minute ordeal when I suggested to some colleagues that we go and see a film in one of the new and thankfully clean cinema houses. We perhaps chose the worst evening of the year because we were surrounded by a large, boisterous and moronic gaggle of young men – all males as usual. Judging from the inane and jocular transmission of messages to and fro in the hall, they had graduated from the engineering university that very day or finished their examinations.

It is usual to witness public behaviour descend to its lowest abyssal depths when a romantic film or scene is on. This one was the happy exception since all it had was two man eaters and an all man-crew that was attempting to build a railway line through Africa at the turn of this century. For all that it mattered it might have been Cindy Crawford and Claudia Shiffer disrobing every three minutes. The intention of Pakistan’s next generation of professionals, managers and entrepreneurs was to catcall, pass the most idiotic remarks and act like buffoons every moment of the long film. They were constantly talking, shouting, exchanging seats all the time, shuffling, laughing and cracking jokes, passing remarks at the film, at each other and at everything else in general. They continued to do this in complete defiance of all norms of behaviour and they did this non-stop.

In the first twenty minutes of the film, they were in constant motion finding seats, changing seats, calling out to friends and doing most of this standing up. That this completely obliterated the view of the others who happened to be seated behind them didn’t cross their combined brains and that is not an surprise since it was easy to determine what size that particular object was. Attempts to talk some reason into their woolly heads was a lost cause. They couldn’t care less and the feeling one had was that they were treating the cinema house as their personal drawing room and if there were another three hundred occupants who had paid good money to entertain themselves, this was not their problem. They were having ‘a good time’ and if their idea of a good time was not your idea of a good time, then it was your tough luck because they were in larger numbers. In any case those who take on students always live to regret it. One kept hoping that the story would involve them and give the rest of us a chance to hear the dialogue, but that was rather wishful thinking. As the story evolved, so did the catcalls, the shouting and the hooligan laughter. It was rather pathetic after one got over the anger and frustration. Clearly something terribly wrong has befallen our youngsters.

The exuberance of youth one understands. It is nice to see it and even the exuberance is infectious, but there is a difference between inconsideration and enjoyment, between good-natured n fun and loutish behaviour. There is bound to be laughter, gags and back slapping when large groups of happy individuals, particularly students get together. One can also understand that groups can get carried away with the moment, but nowhere does anything justify rank bad manners and a complete disregard for those who happen to your neighbours in a public place. The sad fact is that like everyone else, our young men have lost sight of basic values. Liberty is one thing, license is another. What we are witnessing with increasing frequency is a breakdown of all value systems. The youngsters are part of the crumbling edifice. From a very early age they are exposed to right being wrong, white being black and truth being falsehood. Corruption practiced with religious fervour by their parents is commonplace. Hypocrisy long ago replaced faith and piety fell a victim to bigotry shortly thereafter. Mr. Jinnah’s unity, faith and discipline were happily buried with him in September 1948 and the country has never looked back. The rulers since then have ruled with absolutely no regard for rules. The institutions have fallen one by one, decayed and rotten from within with nothing to prop them. Each generation has taught their offspring to cheat, lie and push without fear. As their ranks have swelled, the few who still harbour some notions of decency, fairplay and faith have shrunk into the little holes they have carved out. The new Pakistan has plodded on, fed on this lethal dosage of falsehood and corruption. The loud youngsters in the cinemas, the unruly ruffians on the roads, the leering all-male louts at public places, the whole wide spectrum of our society – all are part of a teetering system that is caving in. The leadership at the top is wholly devoid of any sense of direction, encouraging indiscipline rather than condemning it; down below, where the masses reside, it’s push or get pushed. In between, there are the rest of us, most, part of the mess and the others just watching the mess. Will it change? Probably. My guess is, for the worse.