WHISK

I drive a lot. As a middle-class, struggling couple, my husband and I cannot afford a driver, or a servant (normal for Pakistan – labor is cheap, and we can usually hire a full-time maid or driver for as little as $50 a month) to run errands, so we both drive a lot. We’ve gotten good at identifying our needs and cutting down on daily errands by stocking up for a month at a time. But we still have to drive to get to clients, to see my parents, to run office errands, so we drive a lot. Lately though, I seem to be succumbing to fits of road rage almost every time I hit the road. I would understand if I got cut off on the road by a driver, or a cab, or a truck – drivers are rarely educated beyond a 5th grade education and often get their licenses through employers or by bribing a cop. It makes sense then, when a driver thinks parking behind my car and going off for a ten-minute errand is no big deal, or turning the wrong way into a one-way street, or driving down the wrong side of the road to get ahead of traffic is allowed.

But what excuse does the educated man driving a $20,000 car have?

How dare he (or she) drive down the wrong side of a two-lane road, and cause a traffic jam in the middle of the busy Sunday Market?

What part of a US education teaches our youth to disregard traffic laws, or basic rules of courtesy?

What makes the rich man think he can drive his Land Rover through a red light and f**k the traffic cop who dares to stop him?

What makes it okay for parents to let their 13-year-olds drive at ridiculous speeds on residential streets (besides the fact that our glorious ex-Prime Minister Benazir let her 11-year-old drive her Range Rover on the main streets of the city)?

Why is it okay for them to park on a no-parking zone, assured by a traffic cop that their car won’t be towed away?

Why is it okay for owners to sit in the back seat and let their driver break every rule in the book, as long as they get where they need to get to?

Why are these same owners happy to block 30 cars behind them while they get dropped off in front of their destination (as opposed to finding a parking spot and walking 12 feet to the store)?

Why do we let them get away with it? These are the people with the education, with the knowledge, and supposedly, with a civic sense that we cannot expect of our drivers.

Funnily enough, these ‘educated’ people are the same people who work for charity organizations, who donate to civilian programs, who are friends and owners of NGOs, who work for ‘socially responsible’ corporations.

These are same people who call themselves the ‘leaders of the community’, and who pretend to have earned the respect of their peers.

These are the businessmen, the doctors, the lawyers and the bankers who can afford to buy a $300,000 house before they turn 40. These are the people with 2 to 3 luxury cars parked in their driveway, where wife and husband and children go their separate ways every morning.

These are the people whose children in prestigious schools block entire avenues every morning and afternoon, just because they cannot walk a few feet after parking their car.

These are the people whose own houses will be kept spotless by an army of cleaners every day, but they will throw the empty McDonalds box out of their car window on their way to the beach.

These are the people who will spend $100 on one meal, and think that $50 a month for a cleaning lady is too much to pay.

These are people who employ 10-year-old children as au pairs to their children, and when they go out for their $100 meal, the au pair will sit at the end of the table with a glass of water and some breadsticks.

These are people who employ 10-year-old children as au pairs to their children, and when they go shopping for toys and new clothes, will take the au pair along to watch as the children they look after get everything they will never have.

These are the people who will spend their summers in the US or England, where they will be courteous, erudite, and exotic, but will forget all that when they land on Pakistani soil.

These are people who will stand in a line for hours in a foreign country, but won’t have two minutes of patience to do the same here in Pakistan.

These are the people who will pay local craftsmen and artisans $5 for a handmade quilt that they will then turn around and sell for $500 (NIKE hasn’t cornered the market on sweatshops!).

These are the people who own multi-million dollar businesses, but will cap a janitor’s salary at $100, no matter how long he or she has worked for them.

These are the people who, according to Eqbal Ahmad, are the hope of our future. These are the ‘harbingers of change’ in a dying country.

These self-absorbed, avaricious, status-conscious wannabes are going to shape this country’s future.

Why am I here?