Wednesday 12 October 2011

Loosing Parity


"Ok guys, good news! I've brought my laptop and speakers" announced the guy from Islamabad. All excited, he took his laptop, connected the speakers and started playing that really torturous i-am-urban-and-i-listen-to-english-music sound. I wonder if everyone from Islamabad is such an eccentric, listening to English music, watching bizarre serials, using products and brands that are hard to find anywhere else but good old 'Isloo'. And when the show-off session approaches the end, they start whining about how they miss Isloo. Pathetic!



What bugs me most is the huge deal it is for an Islamabadite to stay in a town a little more than hundred kilometers away; that how is our town so disparate from Islamabad? Fine, understood that they have better roads which we don't, they have cabs instead of our rickshaws and yup, they have the advantage of calling themselves the citizens of the capital, yet it remains inexplicable how can they listen to such repugnant music and watch boring movies without songs.



Its not that we don't listen to English music, we know all the big stars, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, that Enrique guy, that Hanna Montana girl, that GaGa woman, to name a few, but we prefer the new Atif Aslam song featured in that new Katrina movie. Weird thing is that not only is this Isloo-baby oblivious and uninformed about that Atif Aslam song, but he gives you disparaging looks if you mention that you know all the superstars like Britney and Boyzone.



He also mentioned that he worked on a radio station back there in Islamabad. I reckon it was something… 94… yeah, PlanetFM94. That is where he plays all that torturous – what he calls – music. But who knows, maybe the sort of music that we listen to is equally detestable to him. Maybe his thoughts reciprocate what we perceive about his ideas and tastes.



I wonder if the personalities diverge to such an extent as you travel along the GT Road, and with those personalities vary the choices in music. But this divergence itself is not the question. The question is how these differences signify? Does this individual choice of music enrage itself into a violent clash of ideology or transform into something productive, positive exposure maybe. Does this difference encourage enmities or does it persuade more tolerance. I really can't say about everyone, but maybe we should go for the latter. Maybe different music isn't that big a deal. Maybe we should give people more space and maybe, we should listen to and accept, rather enjoy each others' music.

3 comments:

  1. Great narrative. Only good writers can detach themselves and see the world from another's point of view - in their shoes. It also goes to show that the writer is conscious of other people's judgement and, instead of changing, as many insecure people would do, he funnels it in a creative way yet continues to maintain his identity.

    I also like the subtle way he conveys that we really are an intolerant lot within our Urban bubbles - for instance, making disparaging faces at the names of Britney etc. This is an outsiders confusion at that very dubious system we have developed, as Urbanites, for judging each other for our choices of music - the rock heads saying pop is for losers,the metal-heads calling everything else "sissy" etc.

    Also, if this is a veiled article on intolerance, not necessarily limited to music, then the metaphor is not lost on the reader and its a job well done.

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  2. Great man.. You are so creative.. After all these qualities in you I think you must not stay at NBP for a longer time. World is waiting for you to explore it. Best of Luck :)

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  3. Thanks Hamza, you make it sound like some ligit publication. You remember I told you to start writing critiques for books. But anyway, thanks for taking out so much time to write it.
    Arif, thanks for reading and appreciating. We'll talk about NBP later on :D

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