Living Life in Layers
A walk through a forest may be simply to get through to the
other side, or to study the foraging patterns of ants. Religious devotion can
be going to the mosque to pray on the clock, or to spend hours contemplating
the hidden meanings of Quranic verses. Most people take the much travelled
route to work with bumper to bumper traffic, a few look for alternate routes and
in the process discover new neighbourhoods of the city.
Similar choices apply to our perception of different countries,
class, race, communities and individuals.
Broad sweeping statements about the West or the East, or Africa, or
first world versus developing countries, may be supported by facts, but overlook
the nuances and subtleties that reveal the true picture.
Whenever we read a biography or an obituary of a person we
thought we knew so well, it takes us by surprise to learn about aspects of
their lives we were unaware of. People wear many hats –simultaneously a son or
daughter, a parent, a colleague at work. Many may have secret passions such as
playing a musical instrument, singing, composing poetry, painting, photography,
joining fight clubs or an addiction to gambling.
Sometimes the passions become the identity. Mushtaq Yusufi
is known for his humourous satirical writings, rather than as president of
United Bank or chairman of the Pakistan Banking Council. Mustafa Zaidi, Parween
Shakir, Qudratullah Shahab became famous for their literary contributions
rather than their civil service careers. While TS Eliot was writing The Waste
Land, he was working on foreign accounts at Lloyds Bank. Music composer Philip
Glass did odd jobs as a cab driver and a plumber. The poet William Carlos
Williams was a paediatrician, writers Kurt Vonnegut, a car dealer, William S.
Burroughs a bug exterminator, and Franz
Kafka, a legal clerk. Artist Jeff Koons was a commodity broker and the list
goes on.
The poet, Stanley Kunitz, asks us to "Live in the layers, not on the
litter." Litter refers to superficial moments of life, floating on the
surface, while layers implies a deeper exploration of life and relationships.
Large multicultural cities like Karachi take time to be
discovered. They reveal themselves through their layered network of activities.
The city is mapped differently for shopoholics, for foodies, or even for
burglars. Car enthusiasts gather at a
cricket ground in New Karachi’s sector 11-D
to buy and sell cars. , Bird lovers wait for the last Sunday of the
month for the Lalukhet bird market.
Rickshaw drivers compete in races on the highway, with engines
retrofitted to reach speeds over 100 km per hr. Street cricket, carom or snooker
teams, know where the next match will be held. Gamblers know when the next cockfight
will surface.
At a more global level, Special Interest Tourism is gaining
momentum. People tour countries following less known archaeological sites, nature
trails, music festivals, sports events or cuisine, even rediscover their own
country through another’s eyes, such as Karl Rock’s vlogs of Pakistan. When Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide
Web in 1989, it became possible to browse and investigate the layers of other
lives and virtually acquire new layers of knowledge and experiences.
Each of us is also an amalgam of layers. Our physical
selves, our values, our personal histories, our interests, our place in the
community. We are subconsciously aware
of these layers in ourselves and others. Through conscious introspection, we
can delve deeper, to seek the more profound truths of life and to give meaning
to our existence.
Critics of literature, art and music are familiar with the
process of peeling away the layers of creative works in order to get to their
essential message and value. As the world axis wobbles with the unravelling of its
power structures, historians, political savants, sociologists, and
climatologists are also in the process of stripping away the layers of past
practices to understand how we arrived where we are today.
Durriya Kazi
July 3, 2021
Comments
Post a Comment