To One in Paradise

The life of a prisoner in a dungeon seems to be making a career comeback in Pakistan. With no where to go, no where to shout, locked up, sometimes in fear and at other times in hope, we live our lives thanking The Almighty that surely we've finally hit a low and it just couldn't get worse, only to hit another low... then another ... and yet another .....

There were times when we had electricity, we had water and we were proud to have 'unlimited reserves' of natural gas. There were also times when we had cheap food and plenty of it. Seems like a history lesson now. There were times where you could walk around a shopping mall and relax, not worried about pushing and shoving your way through a sea of people. There were also times when every traffic signal took less than a minute to go through and moving around the city was more pleasure than a chore. Believe it or not there were even times when our cricket team would win atleast one game a series. Ohhhhh …. THE GOOD OLD DAYS !!!

My spirit of entrepreneurship leads me to an interesting business model. The dying Pakistani locked up in the dungeon could be given a life line in my business premises. The bright shining lights at the entrance should work instantly to change his mood, and take him back memory lane when all the lights in his home were lit, when the kids played online games while he watched his favourite football team on the TV and the missus was just too busy to get on his nerves.

“ Oh, Sir ! this is nothing please come on in” his escort said before he completely went ga-ga.

He is led along the winding pavement, through a garden in its bloom, by two escorts. We’ve found a single escort is just not enough when he faints. Probably the oxygen content doing him there. By the time he comes to his senses he’s in a room warmed by heaters.

“Gas” !!! he shouts. “Woooooow, kiya baat hai bhai”.

His resurrection continues with a movie showing people washing their cars in their driveways with water hoses pouring out water and children playing cricket on the road with the occasional vehicle making its way around the bricks acting as wickets. He is completely energized when he sees a beggar on a traffic signal begging for a rupee and not free minutes for his cell phone.

“Eureka !!! Eureka !!!” he shouts, after rediscovering the purpose of being alive. With patriotism oozing out like never before he remembers the words of Poe …

Thou wast all that to me, love, For which my soul did pine-
A green isle in the sea, love, A fountain and a shrine,
All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,
And all the flowers were mine.

I just wish he would remember the next few lines too….

Ah, dream too bright to last!
Ah, starry Hope! that didst arise
But to be overcast!