“Take care. Apna bahut khayal rakhiyey ga. Stay happy and cool. Be nice to yourself ...”
These days, many such phrases are in vogue. At formal and informal gatherings, on television talk shows, radio programmes — be it the DJs, anchors and politicians or distant relatives and close friends — everyone keeps telling you to take care of yourself.
When the first time I heard these words uttered by a friend, I got emotional. But soon the echo of similar statements everywhere around me made me realize that these phrases are spoken as a ritual rather than in the real sense. Most people utter these words when they have nothing else to say. Such things reflect modern trends. Connotatively, they mean that if you want to stay fine, take care of yourself as no one else has enough time to take care of you.
If you live on the ground floor in a flat in Karachi, this suggestion is specifically for you. In fact, you are living in a permanent danger zone where nothing is secure including your life, property, honour and privacy. You have to tolerate all kinds of nuisance — noise pollution, ecological hazards — thrown at you by the people living on the top floor without registering any complaint as you live at the bottom. They keep themselves busy with construction work all day long while you remain awake for 24 hours due to all sorts of weird sounds coming from the top floor. If you complain about it, you often get the response: “What can we do? These are universal ground floor problems. You better take care of yourself.”
We may be living in modern times, but somethings never change
While driving on the bumpy roads of Karachi, one confronts these ‘take care’ signals at every step. The old buildings, the broken roads, the pollution-emitting public transport, all seem to send you the same message: “Take care of yourself or get ready to go to hell.”
Here, the survival of the fittest appears to be the name of the game. In the days of yore, human beings used to butcher each other for food and shelter. In present times, the superior beings butcher the inferior ones to flaunt their wealth and power.
I have a chubby, intimidating colleague. She’s a living example of the dictum ‘might is right’. One day she found my cabin attractive enough to capture it. So, she captured it. When I reached my office, I inquired timidly about the usurpation. She responded with a shrug; “From now on, I’ll sit here, so find another cabin for yourself.”
“But this one has been allotted to me by the administration,” I reasoned. “So what? Here everyone has to take care of his or her own self,” she said.
The casual reply made me realize that your modesty is taken as your weakness. So if you want to protect your rights, you have to be offensive.
If you are the parents of schoolgoing children, you will know what I’m trying to say. Traps are laid for you at every step. Every other day, you tackle issues like the rising tuition fee and van drivers’ demands for a hefty tip (mithai and bakshish) etc. Then you have the whole battalion of stationary and uniform retailers, who make you run from pillar to post in search of your child’s complete course and other accessories at the beginning of every academic session. And because of shortage of material, you are asked to pay double. When you try to raise your voice against this mindlessness, the usual reply is: “We can’t help it. After all, we have to survive in these difficult times too.”
No matter what you do (trying to pay utility bills or buying a burger) and where you live, you have to act like a mean, self-centred person. Otherwise, you keep on waiting in the queue, and when your time comes, the window is slammed shut on you, because the working hours are up.
The ever-increasing selfishness is the reason why many families disintegrate. In a joint and extended family set-up, one has to take care of others as well, especially the elderly.
Since these days people are more concerned about their freedom, they prefer to live in a nuclear set-up where they face no nuisance. But soon they realize that it’s no mean feet. Living all alone demands a lot. You have to take care of yourself against a whole army of strangers, ranging from the sweeper, the milkman and the gatekeeper to the plumber, the electrician and neighbours.
So, if the next time someone asks you to take care of yourself, take it seriously as you may really need to do that whether s/he means it or not.
“Take care. Apna bahut khayal rakhiyey ga. Stay happy and cool. Be nice to yourself ...”
