Last week, a guest in a TV talk show questioned the way people in Pakistan looked at the West. He was of the belief that if the West had not invented poultry, Pakistanis would take their children poultry-bird watching at a zoo. Voices like his are rare across South Asia, but in today’s Pakistan, he seems to be a loner.

His opinion, however, opens your thoughts to the homogeneity of debate on TV that sees a threat to Pakistan and a rejection of something unnamed and unexpressed. If the names of talk shows and television debates reflect the sense in the street, the call is to wake up and act.

Sawal Hai Pakistan Ka is described by the broadcaster as a ‘window of expression for the people of Pakistan’. The name raises a sense of existential threat. It sets the stakes high. The importance of messaging in TV not ignored, other channels follow up with names that send messages to wake up, decide and act.

So there is a talk show named after Alama Iqbal’s Bang-i-Dara. There is Choraha, drawing an image of a crossroads where you choose your path. While others like Faisla Aap Ka lead you to make a decision, there are expressions of hope too – one of these shows goes by the name Hum Dekhen Ge. This homogeneity in messages breaks when we consider the schools of thought they conform to.

The development of a nomenclature conforming to a certain theme is not new. For Pakistan, however, the conformity in nomenclature describes the challenges of life in 2012. Media finds the severity of challenges such that producers and broadcasters across half a dozen channels are catering to this common need of the audience and thus brand their shows accordingly. The restive Pakistan is in the process of churning a response to its challenges, if names of TV shows are a reflection.

There is one that wants to make peace with India. It is called Aman Barabri Ke Saath – translated by the broadcaster as ‘peace on the basis of equality’. It is a forum of analyses of Indo-Pak relations.

The list of such names goes on. There is Bolta Pakistan, a name that probably hints at the argumentative Pakistani and Do Tok, evoking a sense of urgency for voicing concern without mincing words. There are the all time favourites of the genre too—Frontline and Crossfire, or the more native ones like Awam Ki Adaalat. What tops all the names that seek accountability is Pakistan Poochhta hai.

Is the content of these talk shows also reflective of the sense on the street? A deeper content analysis will be able to tell. The names, however, leave little doubt that restive Pakistanis have started responding to issues that challenge their existence and have the potential to shape the future of a country at a crossroads.

With India, the clarity in terms of ‘peace with equality’ is betrayed in the name of the programme itself, an urge to find clarity on terms to deal with the West is reflected too, though subtly. Probably, the choice of names is suggestive of that urgency to deal with the issue as well. No one praises the West here. The call to stand up and put things in order might be directed more at the West than India.

Meanwhile, poultry birds shall keep growing in grandma’s backyard unless the aim is to feed them to death before cooking.