The ones who know English but are not familiar with the situation in Pakistan will never ever be able to come up with the definition of this word “route” that is currently being used all around the country (and especially Rawalpindi and Islamabad).
“Route” is basically the hold up of traffic. The conditions that turn the hold up into a “route” are as follows. It is initiated by the police as well as the military police personnel. It can also be initiated by police of any other military discipline too. The traffic must consist of the vehicles of commoners. To qualify as a commoner, the following traits are required:
- One does not belong to the Army.
- One is not any kind of minister of the ruling party of the country.
Note: There could be a few more traits but can’t think of any right now.
So there you have it; the perfect setup for the hold up. Any time a non-commoner (be very clear that this is NOT you) wants to commute, the rest of the traffic commotion is brought to a halt.
To actually put this into action (by obviously killing the rest of the action) several methods can be used. The police personnel can come in the middle of the road and stop all traffic with a wave of their hands. Or they could block the road altogether with police vans and/or bikes. For extreme measures, huge crates and even trucks may also be used as road blocks.
Once this is done everybody waits for the royal carriage to arrive, carrying his and her highnesses. The “carriage” will generally be a state-of-the-art car with tinted glasses and bearing a flag of some kind. It could also have some stars as well but that is only if the royals belong to the Army.
The hold up may last from minutes up to hours. It starts with a little jumble of cars, getting in line one after the other with some cars trying to squeeze their way in through the small gaps in between other cars (which is very annoying). The longer the hold up lasts, the bigger the vehicle mess gets. When the hold up is finally over, the vehicles rush forward, just like gushing water coming out of a broken dam. That gushing water usually causes floods as it breaks out of the defined banks. This congregation of vehicles, on the other hand, causes everything to choke as it already exists in every nook and corner within and outside the defined boundary of the banks (read roads).
Traffic of all roads literally comes face to face once the road blocks are removed. It then takes a lot of patience (not to mention time) to get the entangled vehicles released and let loose on the roads. All this while, from the start of the “route” till the time one’s vehicle is freed from the clutches of the traffic jam, one tends to “curse” (and a LOT). Road rage rises to unexpected levels. Barrels and barrels of fuel get burnt during the idling activity. Horns are honked and voices are raised. All of this presents a scene as if hell was let loose. Just as one gets out of this mess, ones comes to peace with the rest of the surroundings. All kind of noise dramatically changes to serenity and tranquility.
I wonder when will we get rid of this menace of “routes” that will allow us to drive in a serene and tranquil way on regular basis. I guess I already know the answer. It is “probably never”. And with this answer I pray that may Allah help us all “commoners”. Ameen.
The year 2009 is about to end in a few days. When it started I had no idea that it would pass so quickly. But just as the previous years, it did.
I have had years that held some misfortunes for me (and in which I was the cause of misfortune for others). But each time, by the grace of Allah Almighty I had recovered fabulously (and perhaps so did my victims). This year didn’t serve up any major setbacks. It was pretty calm on the calamity side. On the other hand, it did bring to me some wonderful things. And for each and every blessing of Allah I am thankful from the depths of my heart. Really. :-)
I made new friends, learnt new stuff at work, got a year older and stepped into a new decade of my life. All this is little stuff, but come to thing of it, it is the real great stuff. Big things seldom happen and rarely matter so much as the little everyday stuff.
Since this is the end of the year, I am once again motivated to ponder over the past happenings of this year. Would be looking to find out what good did I do and what bad; did I achieve anything or was the year completely fruitless; did I do anything new or was the whole year a repetition of a monotonous routine. Endless questions are popping up like bubbles on a bubble wrap sheet, waiting to be popped.
This is a dangerous exercise as I usually always end up with all the negative answers. I would conclude that the year was good as a whole but there were no significant achievements or good deeds. There were no misfortunes per se but there were no landmarks or significant endeavors either. Sometimes it seems like a useless exercise that apparently brings less joy than apprehension.
But it is not completely futile. It does bring one great thing to me and that is the will and pledge to do better in the next year. Even if I feel that I have not achieved much, I still always have the hope that I will do it in the coming time, in the next year. I fully understand that death is inevitable and nobody knows when it will come. Still, moving on to the next calendar year draws a lot of positive energy.
Right now I am just praying that may Allah enable me to use this positive energy positively to achieve something positive. :-)
PS: I never ever do it, but I wonder if I should come up with a list of New Year resolutions this year. *wink*
When life serves up heaps of goodies, you are more likely to take those for granted rather than show gratitude for them.
The beauty of “later” is in knowing that you know you can "still" get back to it.
Yesterday was Saturday. While it is usually a holiday for me, I had to go to office in order to complete some unfinished urgent tasks. Getting out of bed and going to office on the weakened was off course very hard. But once I got out of the house I felt much more comfortable. The roads were emptier and less noisy. I enjoyed that. Even though the roads were empty, I was not motivated one bit to increase my speed. I slowly trundled along the path I follow to office every day.
When I reached there and went inside, the emptiness of the work area made me sad for a bit. I once again felt a kind of torture, coming to the office on a holiday when all the rest were resting at home. Then I sat on my seat and started working. And guess what! I actually enjoyed that serene and calm atmosphere. People were not standing around me, all tugging me in their own directions. There were no line-ups of requests of tasks to be done "urgently".
There was no noise around. Lights were dim, the cloudy weather was lovely, and my music played in my ears while I calmly worked at my task with concentration. I wouldn't say the trip was totally successful. I was not able to complete my planned task 100%. But then I never seem to manage it whether a holiday or a work day. A tiny bit of work is always left to be dealt with “later”.
Looking at the day in regular way would reveal that there were two bad things with it. First I had to go to office on a holiday and second I could not finish my work. But looking at all this with a different angle simply changes the whole perspective. Ugliness turns into beauty. Sadness turns into happiness and contentment. Resentment changes to warmth and affection.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened but it still taught me a valuable lesson, yet again. Never stop and accept the things as they seem. Never make decisions or develop feelings on face-value. Always look at things, people, feelings and associations from all awkward and impossible angles to find the best in them.
