Many
years ago, a friend of mine told me a true story narrated to him by his
elders, which permanently printed in my memory. He said, during the
heydays of the British Raj, a Laat Sahib wanted to kiss his wife on the
veranda of his bungalow. She pushed him away pointing at the presence of
nearby servants. Laat Sahib laughed and pointed his finger at a dog, a
few cows and chickens in the foreground, and asked her whether she would
have pushed him away in front of those animals? Then without waiting
for a reply he carried on “we are the masters of these people, who cares
if they are watching us”
One
of the servants who understood English started to smile. The one next
to him asked him why was he smiling. He narrated what Laat Sahib told
Ma'am Sahiba. He also started smiling. For them it was a joke but in
reality it showed their salve mentality. Our nation has inherited that
mentality.
Let
us be grateful to the US and other Donor countries for feeding us. So
what if they humiliate us now and again. Before objecting to their
attitudes or rejecting their assistance we have to come out of our slave
mentality and learn how to live like free souls. In the meantime, while
we are in that mode; let us come to terms with our humiliation, enjoy
our slave mentality and. smile at our dead souls, just like those
servants many years ago at the bungalow of Laat Sahib.
Dr Ghayur Ayub
