Everything the Stranger Saw

He was experienced and somehow, he knew it. "Chakkar tay laanay painday nay. Tusi amreeka jay jana ay!" Roughly translating to: "you'll have to make the rounds (of this office), because after all you are going to America." I'm sorry I beg your pardon? He has got to be kidding me, but I only barely smile and held back from saying, "How the hell do you know?" Because he just knew, that wily old clerk at window number 3.

I was at the office of the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) to get some documents verified, and I will not even talk about how complicated the procedures are! No wonder most of the poor folks who come there for a myriad of tasks are mostly confused and baffled and the advice from the information window is not always the politest. So, even I ended up paying them more than required and had to produce extra photocopies to stop the clerks from their smirking and sniggering.

The highlight of the day was, however, the old clerk with his snowy white hair and unshaven receding chin. When I commented upon the endless rounds one has to make to these governmental offices because of the superfluous procedures, he uttered the wisecrack mentioned above with an uncanny nonchalance and made me think if going to America was such a cliche nowadays. Probably it is, but then they have some pretty neat colleges and the financial aid at some is quite handsome too. I don't mind that. Then again, what he said could have been a total coincidence, but I would like to believe that it was based on keen observation.

Anyway, Monday's a national holiday because dear poet and philosopher who wrote such gems as

"tu qadir-o aadil hai magar tere jahan mein/
hain talkh buhut banda-e mazdoor kay auqaat"



and

"mera tareek ameeri nahi ghareebi hai/
khudi na baych, faqeeri mein naam paida kar"

and

"kabhi ay haqeeqat-e muntazir nazar aa libaas-e majaaz mein/
kay hazaaron sajday tarap rahay hain meri jabeen-e niyaz mein,"

Not to mention the "The reconstruction of religious thought in Islam", was born on this day and therefore I'll only get the documents back on Tuesday!

Ah,
"hazaaron saal nargis apni bay noori pay rowti rahi/
barri mushkil say hota hai chaman mein deeda-war paida."