Anyone remember the PTV drama with the above title aired a
couple of decades ago! Let me recollect some trivia of “Guzara Nahi Hota”
wherein an upper middleclass family finds it hard to cope with growing
expenditures against the stagnant monthly income. Being owner of a sizeable
house, a car and good job, the head of a family nearing retirement is wary of
how to meet existing and future demands from the paltry income. One day a poor
farmer from his ancestral village visits him, who walked some 10 miles distance
to reach his house and still looking fresh. He offers the farmer some food to
eat but the farmer politely smiles and brings out from his bag a piece of Gur
(raw sugar) and a chapati, and starts eating.
The owner takes a deep look at the farmer and asks: You seem to be a
very poor person, how do you manage to live with almost none or meager income?
The farmer smiles again and says: Alhamdulillah, I’m doing very well. I’m
grateful to Allah on bestowing my family with a kacha (made with un-burnt
bricks) house, we have some clothes to put on and earn food from the work we do
in the field all day long. That’s what we need to live. And he concludes with: Mera bara sohna
guzara hota hae.
On the contrary, millions of people find it extremely hard
adjusting their monthly income to fulfill ever-growing needs. The centuries old
concept of meeting basic needs i.e. food, clothes and house is no more valid
even in rural areas in the contemporary world. In an average middleclass
family, it is true that kitchen and clothes do not cost much but other
expenditures such as ever
escalating utilities bills, exorbitant schooling fees, vehicle maintenance
costs, buying new appliances and gadgets on hire purchase, expensive cell
phones; at least one for each member of the family, internet charges (now add
wifi systems also), and the most heartbreaking one; receiving an invitation to
attend a marriage ceremony in the family that requires attending all 5 to 10
functions. Hence, Parkinson’s Law that says; “work expands so as to fill the time
available for its completion” can be better transformed here as; “expenditure
expands to adjust with the increased income”.
I for one, without being ungrateful to Allah (SWT), feel the same
crunch. Uttering Shukar Alhamdulillah never gets me to the level of the farmer.
Thus, in spite of having permanent job in the public sector, handsome salary
with fringe benefits, official & personal cars and living in a small cozy
but rented house maintaining a well educated family I cannot escape Parkinson’s
Law. So, where did I fail & falter? Like thousands of people who are trying
in vain to maintain their middleclass status while having their eyes and
efforts pinned on the upper middleclass, I am also a victim of similar daydreaming
without generating the necessary resources. Way back in early 1980s I had
chosen a shortcut to secure employment in the public sector because it provided
a potential to become wealthy instantly through illicit means of commissions,
bribes and underhand deals at the expense of compromise on religious, ethical
& national values, and of course on my job description i.e. quality of
works as well as procurement of services & equipment.
But I proved to be a coward. I failed to seize the
opportunities like many of us. I was not daring enough to be a hypocrite, to
orate on honesty just after slipping black money into the briefcase. I must confess,
however, that my sins and wrongdoings committed during the short span of my
long service are much more than what I have done so far in the remainder life. I
am still coward after 30 years, albeit being in much senior position I have
more opportunities with almost safe environment to recover my previous “losses”
and earn exponentially. In spite of open temptations, my resistance prevails
and the scare also grows with the age and gets multiplied on account of my
children being labeled as offspring of a corrupt officer and my heart &
mind sink at the thought of accountability of my deeds on the Day of Judgment.
The trouble is that I want to stay clean but affluent as
well. In the current scenario my colleagues are spending lavishly on daily life
including; building their new houses, buying new cars, performing Umrah &
Hajj and their children studying in expensive schools and are looking ahead
targeting accomplishment of long term goals. On the other hand I stay focused
on the salary day of the month to contemplate for a viable solution from the
labyrinth of my existing woes; to clear short & long term debts, to pay
schooling fees, clear dues of maidservant, milkman and buy monthly groceries,
which too, never last more than a fortnight. The realization of life-long
objectives like replacing 15 year old car with a new/reconditioned one, owning at
least a 120 yard house, and on top of that, going for a Hajj pilgrimage with my
better half looks a distant probability!
Believe me; it is hard to withstand the pressures and
temptations of realizing personal desires & family goals, and expectations
of colleagues & society to maintain living standards and keep on trying to
elevate it. The pressures of raising the standards of living do not allow to
even thinking of rolling back my status, to cut down on expanding expenditures.
Practically, it is simply impossible to live a life of the
farmer and say: Mera
bara sohna guzara hota hae!
