TOWN TALK
*Mansoor's
Miniatures: An exhibition of paintings at Vogue Art Gallery, 8-A,C.II,Main M.M.Alam Road, Gulberg III, (Opposite Village Restaurant) till Thu, Oct 28.
*Exhibition of paintings by Ali Abbas at Ejaz Art Gallery at 79-B-I, M.M. Alam Road, Gulberg III, till Oct 30.

homeless

We have all heard of the Sicilian mafia, the New York mafia, the local and the international mafia, the worthless mafia, even the contemporary lawyers' mafia, but who ever thought of coming across the teacher/student mafia.

Students have now become a symbol of resilience to nothing but studies themselves.

The acquirement of knowledge is their worst enemy -- granted. But, who ever thought that teachers would become part of the same group?

Probably there is not a problem with the children of the twenty-first century; perhaps it is a problem that is ingrained in our thinking. Just like our blind attitude towards all the other problems, we never really bothered to think that one of the major problems that we are bound to face now as well as in future is of a rising mafia culture among students. In addition, they are not completely to be blamed just as we are not exempted from the censure either.

The plethora of knowledge stored in the books have always discouraged even the most intelligent among the students, (Einstein and Bill Gates, just to name two) but it never turned their feelings violent towards their teachers.

Teachers were always respected figures, at least for as long they were present in front of them. Behind their backs, well, who is a saint? Moreover, children are the least saintly when it comes to discussing those people who had foiled their precious plans for the next game.

Naughtiness, distraction, digression from the topic under discussion, and subtle cheekiness were some of the forbidden temptations in the classrooms. The once innocent attempts to disrupt studies were always directly proportional to the ambition to score highest marks in the class; aspiration of every student to be an all-rounder. In addition, when such was the twofold output of the students, the teachers have been more tolerant of slight disturbances in their lectures.

After all, their efforts were paying off in the end with the good results. Somehow, a good result from a naughty class is a euphoric experience: the sweat spent paid off in the end. However, what have these naïve endeavours of the past turned into now?

Nowadays, if the students are not interested in studying, then on the other hand the teachers are not interested in teaching them. The factor widening this gulf is the non-serious attitude of both the parties and money. Amazed? Yes, money has played a major role because most of us have become slaves to a consumer mentality that make us believe that when we pay the fee to the school or colleges, we become entitled to treat teachers of these institutions as our servants.

The teachers aka servants become totally responsible for making children into geniuses and saints in a matter of a few hours spent daily with them, not to say that this demand of parents is unreasonable. It is the 'duty' of teachers to groom people: psychologically and physically. However, what they deserve in the end is respect -- a tall order these days.

Teachers are equally to be blamed. The amount of money that they can bag has taken precedence over every other thought. Almost 80 percent of contemporary teachers prefer to work in schools/colleges to advertise for the academies that they run in the evening, and ensure their clientele. With this approach, they have lost their value in the eyes of an already stray society.

I remember one of my principals saying once 'if teachers will stop taking pride in their work, they will be unable to engender any respect in the hearts of their students and that the teachers can never term their work as a job as it is derogatory when taken in perspective of the responsibility that rests on their shoulders.'

Many parents lament the fact that they don't have the same kind of teachers now that they had in their times, well, to say the least, their children are not exactly the same kind of innocuous children that they used to be. I am forced to believe that their children have not been brought up with the same kind of values that probably their own parents gave them. Had that been the case this insolence of children would have stopped somewhere. Since the children are no longer afraid of any chastisement from their money-oriented parents, they test the limits all the time. When the parents give this security to their children that if a teacher ever strictly punishes you, we have three options: change the school/college, get the teacher changed or else drop the respective subject. Never have I seen today's parents telling their child that their teacher is like a surrogate parent and that they should respect them.

No! The other option available is to either kidnap teachers to humiliate them, or if chance offers itself, kill them. For crying aloud, are these the actions of a sane or cultured society?

Though this is not an apology for the teachers' ineptitude that is inherent in our society now, I still have to come across a society where the least respected person is the one who is responsible for handing down the torch of knowledge. Not only has many a teacher made the uncultured herd of children into literate individuals, but has channelised uncouthness into sophistication as well. Even if one word that is beneficial for the youth is taught by these disliked torchbearers of knowledge and then learnt, I am deluded to believe that it will make people into better humans than they are now. All the three concerned parties need to take their respective yoke of responsibility -- for the better future for us all.We have all heard of the Sicilian mafia, the New York mafia, the local and the international mafia, the worthless mafia, even the contemporary lawyers' mafia, but who ever thought of coming across the teacher/student mafia.

Students have now become a symbol of resilience to nothing but studies themselves.

The acquirement of knowledge is their worst enemy -- granted. But, who ever thought that teachers would become part of the same group?

Probably there is not a problem with the children of the twenty-first century; perhaps it is a problem that is ingrained in our thinking. Just like our blind attitude towards all the other problems, we never really bothered to think that one of the major problems that we are bound to face now as well as in future is of a rising mafia culture among students. In addition, they are not completely to be blamed just as we are not exempted from the censure either.

The plethora of knowledge stored in the books have always discouraged even the most intelligent among the students, (Einstein and Bill Gates, just to name two) but it never turned their feelings violent towards their teachers.

Teachers were always respected figures, at least for as long they were present in front of them. Behind their backs, well, who is a saint? Moreover, children are the least saintly when it comes to discussing those people who had foiled their precious plans for the next game.

Naughtiness, distraction, digression from the topic under discussion, and subtle cheekiness were some of the forbidden temptations in the classrooms. The once innocent attempts to disrupt studies were always directly proportional to the ambition to score highest marks in the class; aspiration of every student to be an all-rounder. In addition, when such was the twofold output of the students, the teachers have been more tolerant of slight disturbances in their lectures.

After all, their efforts were paying off in the end with the good results. Somehow, a good result from a naughty class is a euphoric experience: the sweat spent paid off in the end. However, what have these naïve endeavours of the past turned into now?

Nowadays, if the students are not interested in studying, then on the other hand the teachers are not interested in teaching them. The factor widening this gulf is the non-serious attitude of both the parties and money. Amazed? Yes, money has played a major role because most of us have become slaves to a consumer mentality that make us believe that when we pay the fee to the school or colleges, we become entitled to treat teachers of these institutions as our servants.

The teachers aka servants become totally responsible for making children into geniuses and saints in a matter of a few hours spent daily with them, not to say that this demand of parents is unreasonable. It is the 'duty' of teachers to groom people: psychologically and physically. However, what they deserve in the end is respect -- a tall order these days.

Teachers are equally to be blamed. The amount of money that they can bag has taken precedence over every other thought. Almost 80 percent of contemporary teachers prefer to work in schools/colleges to advertise for the academies that they run in the evening, and ensure their clientele. With this approach, they have lost their value in the eyes of an already stray society.

I remember one of my principals saying once 'if teachers will stop taking pride in their work, they will be unable to engender any respect in the hearts of their students and that the teachers can never term their work as a job as it is derogatory when taken in perspective of the responsibility that rests on their shoulders.'

Many parents lament the fact that they don't have the same kind of teachers now that they had in their times, well, to say the least, their children are not exactly the same kind of innocuous children that they used to be. I am forced to believe that their children have not been brought up with the same kind of values that probably their own parents gave them. Had that been the case this insolence of children would have stopped somewhere. Since the children are no longer afraid of any chastisement from their money-oriented parents, they test the limits all the time. When the parents give this security to their children that if a teacher ever strictly punishes you, we have three options: change the school/college, get the teacher changed or else drop the respective subject. Never have I seen today's parents telling their child that their teacher is like a surrogate parent and that they should respect them.

No! The other option available is to either kidnap teachers to humiliate them, or if chance offers itself, kill them. For crying aloud, are these the actions of a sane or cultured society?

Though this is not an apology for the teachers' ineptitude that is inherent in our society now, I still have to come across a society where the least respected person is the one who is responsible for handing down the torch of knowledge. Not only has many a teacher made the uncultured herd of children into literate individuals, but has channelised uncouthness into sophistication as well. Even if one word that is beneficial for the youth is taught by these disliked torchbearers of knowledge and then learnt, I am deluded to believe that it will make people into better humans than they are now. All the three concerned parties need to take their respective yoke of responsibility -- for the better future for us all.

blockage

The Walled City, originally built as a fortification along River Ravi, still remains un-intrudable for many even after the passage of centuries. Now the entry to 'outsiders' is not blocked by vigilant soldiers, as was the case then, but the ever-increasing encroachments that have appeared everywhere.

These encroachments, according to the residents of the area, have grown exponentially over the years due to the lack of administrative control, over-commercialisation of the area and patronage of land mafias by politicians. Apart from restricting pedestrian movement, the blockade of roads has made rescue operations extremely difficult inside the Walled City, they believe.

Amir Asghar, 50, resident of Rang Mahal, is just one of the many affectees who had no idea what to do when his 4-yer-old son got seriously ill last year. He had to rush to the Mayo Hospital but couldn't as all roads leading there were choked by slow-moving or static vehicular traffic. He tells TNS that he put his son on his shoulder and ran all the way to the hospital. He says he had to pass the whole Shah Alam Road, Bansan Wala Bazar and Gawalmandi Chowk to reach the emergency ward of Mayo hospital.

'I was short of breath and it seemed I could never make it to the hospital. Had I been running for my life I would have abandoned the journey. No doubt it was my love for my child that kept me going,' Amir tells TNS.

Muhammad Yaqoob, 70, a resident of the Walled City since pre-partition days tells TNS that the unplanned commercialisation of the place had made residents' lives miserable. He says when the Shah Alam area, a purely residential place, was burnt by arsonists after Partition, the government of the time rebuilt it and converted it into a commercial centre. He says this was start of the process that has expanded to other parts of the Walled City as well over the years.

For example, he says the rich and influential people have moved out from here and converted their ancestral homes into commercial centres. They even rent out the road space outside their shops or plazas against huge monetary consideration called pagri (goodwill price) and grease the palms of town administration officials if they come and question them, he says. Yaqoob says as these people do not live here they do not care about the problems faced by people, especially in case of any emergency. Their extended properties leave little or no space for any vehicle, even an ambulance, to ply on the roads inside the Walled City.

Dr Ahmed Raza, District Emergency Officer, Rescue 1122, Lahore tells TNS that encroachments within and around the Walled City are the biggest hurdles in carrying out rescue operations there during emergencies. He says they have prepared contingency plans for different areas of the city according to their particular needs. But in case of the Walled City the inability of the emergency vehicles to reach deeper has always hampered rescue work there, he adds. His point is that people can be made to move from the streets in times of emergencies but immovable encroachments like tharas (pavements) and kiosks can't be.

Raza says in the recent past Rescue 1122 had to carry out rescue operation in Noor Gali, Rang Mahal where a building caught fire. What happened was that the emergency vehicles reached Rang Mahal Chowk in five minutes but it took the rescue workers around 20 to 25 minutes to reach the place of action. The reason, he says, was that it was too difficult for them to carry necessary equipment and walk through extremely narrow streets. Such delays can increase financial and life losses as fires have to be extinguished immediately to evacuate injured people lying under the debris without delay.

He says Rescue 1122 has also acquired portable water pumps for firefighting in areas like the Walled City. But the problem they had to face during the above-mentioned operation was that there were no fire hydrants in the Walled City from where they could refill water during firefighting. Raza says Rescue 1122 has conducted a survey in this regard and pointed out places where fire hydrants can be set up on 4-inch main water supply pipelines. 'The Walled City will be a much safer place if this demand is met and encroachments removed without delay,' he adds.

Yousaf Ahad Malik, former Nazim, Ravi Town, Lahore tells TNS that the shelving of the district government system has halted all the efforts to make the Walled City encroachment-free. He says in his time there was a $130 million plan to remove all encroachments along the Shahi Guzargah (Royal Trail) which starts from Delhi Gate and ends at Lahore Fort.

He said their government had also finalised a plan to accommodate displaced shopkeepers in a plaza which was to be built on district government land situated just outside the Walled City.

Yousaf tells TNS when he assumed charge there was not a single functional tubewell in the city and by the time he left 12 tubewells were in working condition. 'You cannot set up fire hydrants there if you don't have sufficient functional tubewells,' he adds.

He says the people of the Walled City should show responsible behaviour and help improve the situation. 'In my time the whole sewage system was cleaned every morning but by noon it would choke and water would over flow.' The main reason was that shop owners in Azam Market would throw polythene wrappers and other pollutants in the main drainage pipes, he adds.

Recently, two brothers from Gulshan-e-Ravi lost their lives on hitting a speed breaker. They were on a motorbike while a colleague also lost a cousin last week when his bike hit a speed breaker at a blind turn on Bund Road while coming from Batti Chowk. Hundreds of illegal speed bumps on various city roads are causing accidents, some of them fatal, and damaging vehicles.

'There are over 3,000 illegal speed bumps on small roads in residential areas and 32 major roads of the city, according to a rough estimate,' says a Lahore Development Authority (LDA) official.

Sadiq Ali, a government servant and a resident of Makkah Colony Gulberg crosses over half a dozen speed breakers on his way to the office on his bike. He met with an accident a month ago because of a steep speed breaker.

According to international standards, a speed breaker should be 3 to 4 inches (7.6 and 10 cm) high and 12 feet long. Director P&D, TEPA, Khalid Alvi says that generally TEPA does not construct speed bumps and if it really has to, on an area assigned by the government, like in front of hospitals, it follows international standards. He gave the example of a speed breaker with white markings constructed near Shadman Chowk following the international standard. 'Speed bumps should not be allowed except at places where they are unavoidable such as blind corners of roads,' he says. If someone has a complaint against a speed bump in his locality, he should contact the concerned corporation looking after that location. Depending upon the location this corporation can be CDGL, respective society or LDA itself.

Zafar Iqbal, an engineer at LDA says it is the responsibility of the enforcement wing of LDA to take action against speed breakers made without its permission. The LDA spokesman says, 'The authority does not support speed breaker in areas under its jurisdiction because it hampers smooth flow of traffic.'

'The LDA's enforcement wing is assigned the task of removing encroachments and speed breakers only when it receives a complaint against one. The Punjab University administration had constructed a speed bump close to its Garden Town gate. When a team of LDA was sent to remove this speed bump, the university administration did not let them. At the same time people keep coming up with new speed breakers at the same place from where the LDA removes one and this cycle continues,' says the engineer.

Salman Rashid, a resident of DHA, calls them car breakers. He has Honda City 2009 whose body hits the speed breaker whenever he crosses one, causing damage to the vehicle.

A motorist, Kashif says, 'anyone can make a speed breaker anywhere in the city. There is no law to check this practice. These humps are dangerous as there is no traffic sign or a reflector to warn there is a speed breaker ahead.'

The people TNS talked to demand installation of reflectors on all speed bumps erected on all important roads of the city in order to avert accidents. People view installation of reflectors a more viable solution than removing speed breakers altogether.

People construct speed breakers in streets to prevent accidents. Some speed breakers were made to discourage of speeding bikes. 'If people develop enough civic sense not to rush into streets in speed, we may not need speed bump,' says a resident of Township.

SSP traffic Lahore Imad Ahmad says although he doesn't have any data of the accidents caused by speed breakers, a few accidents were brought to his knowledge. 'Speed bumps are justified only in residential colonies but their presence on main roads is a traffic hazard which should be avoided,' he says.

In 2007, the Lahore District Council approved the removal of illegal speed bumps in the city in its session held at Jinnah Hall. A District Council member Farah Deeba had demanded removal of speed breakers which pose grave danger to people's lives, through a resolution. District Naib Nazim at that time Mian Idrees Hanif, also the speaker of the house, assured that the council would seek a list of legal and illegal speed breakers from town municipal administration and the CDGL officials and present it before the house; but no action was taken.

The LDA spokesman says, 'A municipal court on the model of consumer courts can be an effective tool to minimise such occurrences as LDA can only remove speed breakers but can't prevent them from being built.'