By Areeba Nasir
If you are a young female living in the city of lights contemplating how to achieve the feeling of freedom that you have always desired but never really gotten, then this article might just be for you. By looking at the events surrounding us today, we realize that the largest city of Pakistan also harbors the smallest mindsets and these mindsets are destroying our everyday life. Because of the events surrounding us today, I have found new restrictions imposed upon me, not by my “overprotective” parents but by my “scared” parents.
Times like these make me feel suffocated, they make me want to run away into a world where none of this exists, into a world where every time I step outside I am not subjected to unwanted stares by both men and women; men for objectifying my body and women for judging my character. Times like these make me want to go back to the valley of swat, hide in the mountains of Kashmir and truly live my life.
Earlier this year I went on a road trip to Kashmir and swat with my family and you know how we always complain about not having any personal space in our brown homes, well let me assure you, that, spending nine days in a car with your two elder siblings, your parents and your sisters’ kids will not just develop an unhealthy amount of appreciation for that personal space but it will also make that personal space your biggest desire. Even after losing all my personal space, I have never ever felt as free as I did on this trip.
The first location of my trip was Malam Jabba, a place that provides you with the opportunity of zip lining at the height of 2804 meters. Against all my better judgment, my fears, and my phobias, I went on that zip line and when my harness was getting attached to the zip line I felt numb like my heart could stop at any given second but the second the machine started and I started flying through the skies, I felt alive; a feeling that I haven't felt in a long time and today when I look back at the moment, I believe that I'd rather face my fear of heights than my fear of being groped while walking through the markets of Karachi.
I remember I wasn't afraid to dress the way I wanted because no one ever stopped and stared, no one looked at my clothing with judgmental or sinister eyes, it didn't matter if I was wearing Eastern or Western clothing, the style of my scarf didn't matter, the color of my lipstick didn't matter, the paint on my nails didn't matter and all this made me feel liberating, I felt free to be me, to express myself and I wish, I wish I felt the same when going on lunch with my female friends in my home city because every time me and my friends go to lunches alone, we become an interesting subject for the 'aunties' to judge.
Last but not the least, I remember the feeling of missing home because no matter how freeing those places were, they weren't home. Karachi is home; it is a place with narrow mindsets but it is also the place with perfect biryani, where you can get food even in the middle of the night, where the streets are awake even when you are not. So instead of running away from our home let’s make it freer, let’s make a promise to never become one of the 'aunties' that judges’, let’s stand to the man that gropes or stares at you so he won't do it to the girl that comes next. Let’s make Karachi free again.
