\u2018We do not need the\neducated lot, they elicit more harm than good to us,\u2019 grunted Allah Ditta, wiping\nsweat, which had started streaming down his chin. \u2018What?\u2019I interjected.\nDeciphering my obvious disgruntlement and bafflement, Allah Ditta waved me to\nsit down for a few minutes. To convince him with my wide exposure to the literati,\nstaying abreast with sea of knowledge through internet, and having attained a\nscholarly degree, I chose to sit on a shabby stool in front of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allah Ditta is an old\nblacksmith in his late sixties. Age has not stolen his strength of hard work\nand returning people\u2019s tools as per his\ncommitment. \u2018So what were you saying\u2019, I asked him, fixing my tie. Smearing the\nsweat with his sleeves, he kibitzed, \u2018my homeland needs uneducated youth to\nrise out of the present mess.\u2019 Looking straight into my eyes, he continued,\n\u2018those were the illiterate men, the people who were at the forefront to carve\nthis country, when world would laugh at the demand for Pakistan. Raising his\nhammer, he proclaimed, \u2018They were the men who strove sacrificed for watne aziz\nPakistan, without questioning.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before I could respond,\nhe hissed, \u2018but, who ruined this country of our dreams. Tell me who brought\nPakistan to the present jumble? \u2019Again, without giving me any space to reply,\nhe groaned, \u2018the qualified men who boast of having foreign degrees (not\neducation), and up-to-date knowledge. Those who befooled the simpletons like me\nof rights and routi and equality.\u2019 The country continued to sink to the bottom,\nwhereas, their accounts kept on swelling. We are amongst the leading corrupt\ncountries of the world. These highly educated lot played gimmicks and guzzled billions,\u2019\nhe sermonized, his voice getting hoarser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Our students, the\neducated lot is our future \u2019I protested. Digging his rubbery right ear, he\ngrinned, \u2018you mean these students, who proudly import the culture and customs,\nwe had not even dreamt of, to the society. Proudly, they protect and promote\nthose values we would abhor to think of. They feel pride in their foreign\nlanguage fluency, wearing their immaculate dresses, ways of eating and humming,\nbut when it comes to extract to actions, they do not follow their good traits.\u2019\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Goggling the latest news\nupdates, I listened to the boring sermon of Allah Ditta, \u2018Telling lies was an abominable\nsin, while now Allah muaf karae (God forbade), these educated -young people deem\nit as a skill to extract their immodest motives. Seldom, we would raise our\nvoices to our elders, teachers and gray-haired persons, but today you can see\nthe condition. Parents openly ridiculed, teachers degraded and oldies a mere\ntool to crack all jokes on the lips, stampeding all cultural norms. And ah, what\nabout the litter all the way round. Driving in luxurious cars, eating MacDonald\u2019s\nand KFC, they would throw the leftovers on the road or on the tracks where they\nhop to reduce their bulging bellies.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Please stop blaming our\neducated people, especially youth for all the ills in our country,\u2019I blurted.\n\u2018Do you want to see Pakistan in dark ages?\u2019 I winced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Foam flying out of his\nmouth, Allah Ditta continued with his obdurate exhortation. \u2018How about those\neducated henchmen who do not even hesitate to manufacture substandard life\nsaving drugs, adulterate the edible items?\u2019 \u2018And What happens in the courts,\nwhere poor people die yearning for the\njustice, where your highly qualified judges and lawyers trade justice, and\nbribery is accepted as a cherishing\ngift, \u2019he boomed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018This old ruffian has\nhammered my mind so relentlessly,\u2019 I thought to myself, unknotting my tie. \u2018Puttar\nbring very nice tea for bavu ji, \u2019he asked his aide. Dragging his seat a little\nfarther of the fire, he stretched his hand toward my chin, \u2018I am sorry for my\nmarathon speech bavu ji,\u2019 his voice shaking. \u2018We will have to uneducate\nourselves and revert to glorious culture to rise again, \u2019he concluded.\n\nSipping tea, I\nglanced at the aide who was coughing at Allah Ditta pointing towards clock. It\nwas time for prayer, perhaps. Grabbing my newly purchased novels, I started\nhomeward.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018We do not need the educated lot, they elicit more harm than good to us,\u2019 grunted Allah Ditta, wiping sweat, which had started streaming down his chin. \u2018What?\u2019I interjected. Deciphering my obvious disgruntlement and bafflement, Allah Ditta waved me to sit down for a few minutes. To convince him with my wide exposure to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sliklight.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sliklight.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sliklight.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sliklight.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sliklight.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sliklight.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50,"href":"https:\/\/sliklight.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions\/50"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sliklight.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sliklight.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sliklight.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}