Lions…Family…India..Politics…Dolphins
With torches in our hands, me and my newly acquainted family member Sobi were going towards our camp when we saw three lions just few meters away from our tent. The torches were more to see any wild beast around then to find the way in the dark jungle, and we unluckily saw what we did not wanted to see. It is so strange, sometimes we look around just to ‘not to see’ what we donot ‘want to see” and assuring ourselves of being in control of only that frozen moment in the ambiance around, knowing in our hearts only that every coming moment is as uncontrollable, and this was just one of that moments.
It was a long day of doing safari in the western Serengeti National park in Tanzania and we just finished a good dinner and were trying to find our way in a dark bushy way after listening to New Year resolutions from everybody. It feels so funny now as I am trying to re-imagine and create the whole episode here but at that time both our feet and thoughts were frozen with the primal fear in our hearts. The camp was of the same distance as these lions, but we managed to reach the camp and the lions simply ignoring us left slowly in there own proudly walk, assuring that we are just no bodies in their territory, not even worth eating or looking at. Long after that most of us were thinking how much the camp fabric will be able to save us. It was a long night and sleep was far far away. The very next day we saw another lion in a middle of the road a meter away from our jeep and another one with her cubs on top of a recently hunted zebra, and then we saw hundreds of animals, from ugly hyenas and hogs to the static beautiful giraffes all just meters away.
The trip was organized by a relative living in Australia who married to a girl from the other side of the border. It was a funny idea, to meet the new family members from India and Australia among the dark jungles of Africa, yet it somehow materialized and went so well, four days in the African jungle and another four days laying in the calm Indian ocean of Zanzibar island. Now that I think, nothing has changed much, we still are having the same language, same shyness, same issues with time management and same things to get excited to. We feel excited about taking pictures with totally alien cultures, yet feel hostile living with the people who are more similar to us then any other place in the world.
Today we got the news of the Punjab governor’s assassination by a Islamic extremist, and the news that some parts of the country some people have praised the killing and even distributed sweets. Recently coming from the jungle I can only say that even jungle dwellers have very clear rules to safeguard everybody’s freedom, a lion kills only one animal and only when hungry, the zebras resting one’s neck to another zebra’s back in a criss-cross fashion helping each-other, the dolphins still having faith in human goodness playing without any fear or aggression. In Pakistan it seems that even the jungle law is not applicable. People are taking law in there own hands and killing each-other, and praising the assassination and their extremism. The only question I want to ask to my deluded country mates is why to kill people for holding to different views and thoughts then themselves. What are we afraid off???, why such intolerance???? I wish the chief justice takes a suo motto notice and put cases on all the people who have praised this act of violence. I wish the lawmakers should put a new law to stop the hate-mongers from spreading hatred,a law that holds for everybody. The religious hardliners have gone beyond human killings and now trying to kill our thoughts. Is there still a hope?
Closing my blog today after a good swim with the dolphins and feeling so aligned with the nature, yet feeling concerned about the people of my land and still trying to keep the dwindling candle of my hope burning…
