Is it just me or did June fly by? Another month bites the dust as COVID-19 ravages through human civilization and we find ourselves between uncertainties upon uncertainties.
June was particularly difficult at home, June 17th meant Anas had been gone for 6 years. On the 18th, Areeb’s birthday as always was extremely awkward and soon it was Father’s Day!
The precariousness of our times, leads to many wise and a few foolish decisions, for example, I decided not to buy more books up until I am absolutely sure of my finances. And then I decided to wax my underarms all by myself; I am sure you can filter the wise against the foolish on your own.
Work has been – well – when everything around is unprecedented, the one constant in my life has been my work and I am so grateful for it. Many of us continue to struggle with ends-meet and I feel privileged to be able to continue earning a living for the comfort of my home. Privilege – this word should hold new meaning in this ‘Brave, New World’ (thank you Aldous Huxley for that adequate term) for all of us.
For the last 4 to 6 weeks, there has been a constant inflow of information in regard to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Although I come from a family where caste, creed and color does not decide how you are treated, sadly my culture dictates otherwise.
I live in a country where daughters are weighed against the color of their skin and sons are measured against their monthly income. Structured Ignorance and Organized Racism prevails under the name of norm/tradition in Pakistan. And while Unilever – Fair & Lovely tried to address its brand name, Netflix shifted $100 million to Black-owned banks and the English Premier League printed ‘Black Lives Matter’ on players’ jerseys; our Mothers continue to hunt down the fairest maiden in the land.
As businesses re-open across the country, my nation fails to pay heed to what the government and the WHO say. We can change democracies, ace Oxford/Harvard, beat England/Australia/South Africa/New Zealand at cricket, fight extremism, print 5.2 billion square meters worth of textiles but we cannot breathe through a mere 3 gram, non-woven polypropylene mask! When I see women in designer Lawn using iPhones at a Supermarket queue with no mask on, I feel compelled to stop and point. And I’ve done that on a handful of occasions but it still doesn’t seem to make an iota of difference.
Everyone is in a hurry to get back to the normal but what we fail to consider is that our negligence is only going to stretch this test further. I understand the economic downfall, I know we cannot stay at home any longer but would it hurt to wear a mask while doing groceries? Would it be the end of the world to let people pass through a narrow passageway and wait for your turn? Is it completely insane to maintain social distance in offices?
On bright side of things, Liverpool was crowned Champion(s) of England, I gave up on clean eating, organized my bookcases, watched all of Mahesh‘s movies, found a new favorite book and now TAX season is finally upon us, and as we say goodbye to a scorching June, we can only hope and pray that July brings what we call Herd Immunity.
I’d like to take this moment to acknowledge my privileges both in personal and professional capacities. And I vouch to continue to educate myself in and against Cultural, Economic Institutional, Sexual, Physical, Religious and Racial Discrimination in hopes that one day my daughter would not be required to send in her best-photograph for a match that is already made in heaven.
P.S. I broke my book-buying-ban of 3 months on June 18, 2020 but don’t worry, I donated 25 titles from my personal library and then bought only 5 new ones. But as Areeb says, “Sis, that justifies nothing…”. How is that my 22 year old, baby brother holds the sum of all that is true in the world today – nothing justifies, nothing!