We Pakistanis are surely resilient. A place where a bomb explodes almost every week yet the people continue to live a normal life is surely a feat on its own. Nowhere else are people so carefree and inhumane that they return to their normal routine minutes or rather seconds after a bomb blasts.
I happened to be in India when the recent bomb blast happened in Mumbai. Though I was not in Mumbai and in a far away city of Lucknow, I could sense the loss on people’s faces there. I am not denying the fact that they might know the persons who died but a general sense of loss could be felt. The shops closed down half an hour early, eating places gave a deserted look despite being the peak dinner time and the roads portrayed as though the bomb had exploded in Lucknow rather than Mumbai.
Unlike its neighboring country and countrymen, we Pakistanis have probably become so accustomed to hearing bombs being blasted that we care little about them unless a close one becomes a victim. The recent bomb blast in Karachi in the posh locality of Defence despite being so close to schools and in the heart of the new city life, the life here did not get stop. The traffic on road was flowing normally, the schools that were not nearby or rather did not get destroy were open, the shops opened at their normal time and the rush was normal, the only difference was the increase in policemen for obvious reasons.
AFFAN H KHAN
Karachi
