MicroPakistan

The Pakistani mindset is unique. We have a habit of not listening to people and taking it upon ourselves to do things our way. It is very difficult for us to take things seriously and to see them the other person’s point of view. Here are a few pictures that demonstrate this.

First: This woman has a young child in her arms. She is trying to cross a road from a point where there are railings so that noone is able to cross that road from that point. There are many things that could happen. She could lose her balance and trip onto the road and her child and her could be hit by an oncoming car. She could get stuck in the railing and lose the grip on her child who could fall and get hurt. She could get hit by a car while crossing the road, which seems to be a fast moving one due to the railing. These are obvious risks, but she is willing to take them. Why?

Because this woman cannot see how the hell else to cross this road. Most probably she is taking her kid to school and even though our authorities are very quick to put up railings and barriers for pedestrians, they do no build any pedestrian bridges or subways so that the pedestrians could safely cross the road. A new phenomenon is visible in Karachi, and I am sure must be picking up pace in other cities, of signal-less corridors. 3 billion rupees were spent on this one (right) which saves around an hour of commuting time for people in the morning. I am not in a position to comment on the pedestrian friendliness of this one, but I can safely say that Shahrah-e-Faisal in Karachi (which is also being turned into a signal free road) is as pedestrian un-friendly as it gets. When a road is signal free the cars travelling on it get extremely fast.

However, Shahrah-e-Faisal does have a couple of pedestrian bridges. Unfortunately, nobody uses them. There are a couple of reasons for that. One: The bridges are very high and would require a lot of effort to climb. Two: There are only 2-3 bridges for the whole of Shahrah-e-Faisal. What if a pedestrian needs to cross from some other point? He is not going to walk a couple of miles to cross. Understandably, they are willing to take the risk instead of spending the extra time and effort.

Interesting observance: There are still ‘zebra crossings’ on Shahrah-e-Faisal’s signal less road. It won’t be long before a pedestrian gets hit by a fast oncoming car.

Second: This one is even more interesting. An official (inset) of the bomb disposal squad tries to defuse a suspected bomb found on a garbage dump near the Firdaus Shopping Centre in Liaquatabad on Sunday as people have gathered at the spot after hearing about the ‘bomb’. WHY ARE THE PEOPLE STANDING AND WATCHING THE MAN DEFUSE THE BOMB?? WHY?? This is insane.

Now, standard human reaction is to run away. Or atleast stand at a safe distance. But no, we’re Pakistanis and we want to be in the thick of the action. Guys, this could be a matter of life and death!! Anyway, I think it is also the responsibility of the Police to make sure that the people are made to keep a safe distance, to make residents in the vicinity evacuate and that only the bomb defusal experts are allowed to stay in the area.

Third: The caption reads: ‘ISLAMABAD - February 9: The ‘danda force’, a group of militants defying the government over the issue of illegal mosques and children’s library, mill around Lal Masjid on Friday.’.

Seems like the ‘danda force’ (reminds of this 80’s movie with Chuck Norris, The Delta Froce) is protesting against the governments ban on illegal mosques etc. If you want to build a mosque you are not going to get it by taking out a ‘danda force’. Since when is there ‘danda’ in Islam to build mosques in an Islamic country? I mean if you are not doing something right as far as the construction of the mosques goes, fix it and try to get your plan reapproved. ‘Dandas’ are not going to work.

Last: Some good news. One of my first posts was about disabled access in Pakistan. Here is a pedestrian bridge being built at Nursery Bus Stop (many childhood memories attached to this place since my grandmother still lives there) on Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karachi and the attractive feature of this bridge is a special ramp for the elderly and physically challenged people especially those using wheelchairs.

Finally, the government authorities are realising the importance of building ramps. We need to ecourage our elderly and disabled people to move around. I wanted to put this picture up first, but wanted to leave the best for last. At the moment this is an aberration, but hopefully disabled access shall be a regular feature. Well done to all those involved in the planning of this bridge!