Yes the title may seem annoying to a few, outrageous to a little and sarcastic to a hell lot of people. And Im going to stick with the latter. I know how visiting Graveyards is thought to be something very religious and very precise and it should be done properly, but heck NO these days it has been made a nuisance for the One's who wish to visit their dear one's and who are their solely for the Purpose of Fateha. But the moment you enter the Graveyard and offer your Salam, you are surrounded by all those bucket kids, yes the ones who run around the Graves and to be more precise pointing out the graves of your dear one's to you. Infact their GOOGLE MAP is far more intact then your Dearest GPRS, your the one who can rethink of the graves but aan aan they will MAKE sure you reach the right Grave at the right time. May be because they eat, sleep, play and die at the exact place. Then comes the time of the deal when they want You to pick Them out of the dozens of children to be responsible for cleaning up the grave (getting the dirt and stuff away from beside the Grave). No matter how much time and delay you take near your dearest's Grave They have all the time up for you, be it a funeral arriving at the moment or something more crucial They cannot in any circumstances spare you.
The moment you bade your farewell and get yourself and just yourself up for the departure you are first encountered from the kids for their wages and that has to be 200% more than what they actually deserve, a penny less would be considered a Sin and there will be a Siren sounded all over the Graveyard, the ones that can be heard at the time of an Impostor Alert, and an order for your Grave will be dispatched that instance, either you pay or you DIE that instance. That same moment you will be seen surrounded not only by the kids who did your work but also the ones who DIDNT do it, followed by the Amman Buddhan (dear old Lady) who calls herself as the Prosecutor and Demands that 5kg Aata and 2kg Sugar should be given away to everyone as a compensation. The moment of shear re-connection becomes an hour of Epic Drama of kids pulling your dupatta and qameez, following you to your car, wailing, whining, laughing, shouting, calling you names etcetera.
You ask them why is this stuff like this, they answer "Sahab koe paisa nahe dy kr gaya, is lyeh nahe kiya", you'l say "but your the one who is responsible for the cleaning of this area" and they will be reply you back with a blank stare (the one that makes you want to slap them real hard). They don't really have the potential knowledge about Not to Walk on the Graves, but spending 24/7 inside, this notion is lost somewhere in the Air. It's us who have to think twice before we manage to reach the Graves and I for sure decide to stand just outside, because in No Way do I want to step on to anyone being Living or Dead. But because at times due to the remoteness of the Grave they had to take that step and the habit of taking such steps is overpowered by the fact of not doing so. The thing that isn't really digesting inside me is that Why does it always have to be MONEY everywhere? Now what I see is my Mom keeping aside change in a pouch and waits for the time when it is heavier than a 5kg weight and then she plans her next visit to the Graveyard. Aren't Graveyards considered to be the resting place for the deceased, and Fateha is considered to be the One deed with which we can repay them. Why is that meeting with your dead Mother or Father made so hard that you first have to think about having the right amount of money before you plan your next visit? I don't want to go on playing the blame game. Along with many others, this is also a factor in the Country that is left un-attended. The kids are too poor to be scolded, infact while your Inside the Graveyard you dont feel like taking a word out of your mouth and once your Out, you just feel like beating the S*** out of them, but still following the ethics of the society and proving yourself Human enough you try and conquer the battle by Winning a Match of blank/hostile Stare.
September 9, 2010 at 4:38 AM
i can totally relate to that. there's another thing... the roses and stuff you put on the grave these rascala kids pick them up as soon as you leave the graveyard and sell em :D
September 9, 2010 at 4:40 AM
HOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW O.O I seriously DIDN'T know that. Dammit!
September 11, 2010 at 6:22 PM
Sahi baat hai.
September 17, 2010 at 12:03 AM
@Tauqeer: Thanks for dropping by :)