March 30,
2015
By Saeed Qureshi
The Pakistan Day falls every year on March 23. Laudably PSNT
(Pakistani Society of North Texas) celebrates this overly important event with
traditional fervor. Nadeem Zaman, the current president of the PSNT is an energetic,
robust and thoughtful person. He succeeded Anjum Anwar, a charming, graceful
yet dignified female who had held the prestigious portfolio of PSNT presidency
for two consecutive years.
The chief guest for this year’s celebratory function was the
newly appointed Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States H. E. Jalil Abbas
Jilani. He graciously came from Washington DC to grace this auspicious occasion
of national import and a proud reminder of the epic struggle of our stalwarts
and leaders towards carving an independent state for the Muslims of India. It
was on 23rd March in 1940 at Lahore that conceptually Pakistan came into
being.
As such it is an exceptional memorable
day.
I would wish that such a dignified function should have been
observed at an accessible and easy to reach place for the ordinary
participants. It was certainly a tall order for a newcomer and for a person
unaware of the winding and tricky roads of the congested downtown to reach Ritz
Carrolton Hotel: the venue of this evening’s function.
Ritz Carrolton Hotel is a posh and high profile hotel
serving mostly the VIPs, the government functionaries and super duper
bureaucrats and businessmen. Not to speak of the free public parking, it maintains
only a valet parking system with exorbitant charges of 15 dollars per car. One may
imagine the predicament and frustration of someone who did not have enough cash
under the impression that place like Funasia and other hotels in DFW should be having
free parking also.
This is a kind of no go hotel for commoners. Yet it must
have been chosen by the PSNT management body to accord befitting and
magnificent welcome to the ambassador of Pakistan. Should we please our
diplomats, political big-wigs and celebrities with such a lavish pomp and show
that is out of sync with our culture of modesty and temperance?
Inside the hall there was a kind of pandemonium. In a hall
no matter how spacious, if the lights are dim and one has the difficulty in
recognizing the faces of your well wishers or distracters, the atmosphere becomes
murky. The main reason for feeble lights
was that all main lights including the chandeliers were switched off.
There were two floodlights placed in one
corner of the spacious ballroom and were exclusively focused on the stage.
Someone must explain why chandeliers were switched off causing a dim and
relatively dark aura in the hall.
Those who fell in the line of those irresistible piercing
flood lights must see an ophthalmologist this week. I could even see the
president of the PSNT blinking his half opened eyes while delivering his welcome
address because of those two devastating lights than one can see over the jail
walls or in a playground. Wasn't it distressing?
On the central long table were seated the VIP guests
including the chief guest the honorable ambassador of Pakistan. Sitting on this
precious table were also an assortment of the leading business tycoons among the
Pakistani community as well as the retina of the present and former office
bearers of the PSNT.
Yet the occupants of this special table seemed to be caught
in a miserable condition. While they were rubbing shoulders with each others
because of the narrow space between the chairs, a halo of darkness engulfed
that table making it difficult for onlookers to recognize them. Honestly despite
my best efforts and by widening my eyes I could not place H. E. Ambassador
Jilani as to where he was lodged.
As a keen observer I could watch the guests looking like
shadows particularly those with their backs towards the main stage. Apart from
their predicament of the gloomy light, they would steer their heads all the way
backwards in order to cast a momentary furtive glance on the stage to discover how
the speaker looked like and who he or she was. That queer gesture included also
the VIPs sitting on the central table.
The other guests mostly the families sitting a bit far away around
the stage with their backs to the stage were faced with a similar dilemma. Ill at ease, they would turn their whole
frame of body to look at the speaking figure at the stage.
For the food serving staff, it was rather an
ordeal to reach the tables with food-stuffed crockery. As the tables were laid
close to each other, you may invoke your imagination how they would negotiate
their accession to each table. It was amusing to see them emerging from the
kitchen doors one after another in a queue with eyes down like penguins walking
on the seaside.
I would suggest that instead of serving the dinner on the
round tables, the buffet could have been a much better option. The PSNT has
been offering buffet dinners on such previous occasions and those were least
hazardous. That was rather a safe and easy
mechanism to avoid the army of the bearers to walk to every table and serve the
food to every guest.
It would have been impressive if the management of this
grand evening had thought of serving Desi or Pakistani cuisine as was done in
such festivities in the past. That could have added to the flavor of
celebrating a national day of joy and jubilation. On such rare occasions we
Pakistani should think of promoting our culture by exhibiting our costumes,
carpets, jewelry, foods and similar other facets of our life back home.
President Nadeem invited me personally with a gratis ticket
of $ 200. But it was worthless as the seat for me was neither reserved nor
marked with my name. And this bizarre situation must have been faced by many
clueless invitees like me. By courtesy
of Amir Rupani, I was taken to various tables by an exceptionally courteous person
(Nadeem Farooqi).
On each table I was
treated like a gate-crasher and an unwelcome intruder. I am not aware how many
jay walkers might have faced such a bizarre and unpalatable situation. Even
those who knew me for ages turned their faces away as if I was a lifter or a
sneaky trespasser. The basic snag in that invitation was that I was given a
ticket but no seat allotted.
After going around several tables finally I was lodged
(courtesy Awais Naseer a celebrated journalist) on the media table placed close
to the stage. But while sitting there it was difficult to look back because of
those two dazzling lights one may call the min-suns.
Besides the dim light and flawed seating arrangements, the sound
system too was not as resounding and clear as it should have been. The buzzing
of the guests repressed the sound system or else sound system was considerably
toned down.
Pardon my audacity not to report the contents of the address
of the ambassador as I left in a hurry because of the meager quota of
resilience left in me.
But notwithstanding these imperfections as pointed out by me
I offer my best and most sincere compliments to the PSNT team for celebrating a
day as momentous as Pakistan day. This demonstrates that despite the above
mentioned odds, they are imbued with a trenchant passion of nationalism and
blessed with the edifying gift of patriotism. I am with them if they launch a
campaign for putting Pakistan on the right tracks.
Note: The above presentation is with malice towards
none.
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