ABCD: derogatory or a compliment?

Sure we might be more Westernized now, seemingly moving in new directions, not seen before, but, ideas, people and movements that challenged the status quo were unfortunately a thing of the past. Gone are the years of Saadeqain, Nazia and Zoheb, Alpha Bravo & Charlie, where one was not afraid to create as oppose to present; the era of revolutionaries. Instead we have a generation of a capitalistic foot-soldiers wearing mundane ties, the mark of well accepted new age slavery. They will refurbish, they will repackage, they shall present, but creation longs to be cited as a form of differentiation. For years Pakistan’s elite and middle class were comatose with a cultural stagnancy unparalleled in the years of yonder. This stagnancy is now being traded in as Pakistan’s middle to upper income bracket mirrors a drink being stirred into a whirlpool, coming perilously close to spilling over. With a widening gap between the rich and the poor, two parallel societies are developing with distinct societal, spending and buying patterns. Ostentatious by nature the rich are beginning to become more brazen in terms of flaunting their wealth: houses are becoming larger, television screens thinner, NAB (National Accountability Bureau) sightings rising and cars more luxurious. A new culture aping the West emerges, where being called an ABCD (a common acronym used liberally to describe the American Born Confused Desis) does not carry the negative connotations it previously held. “Hell I’m confused, and proud of it!” a common thought permeating mindsets all over. As this parallel society develops, cultural norms are becoming the primary battlefront of differentiation. Cultural mainstays such as ‘jigger’, ‘pundi’, and ‘soot’ (among many others) that used to cut across economic divides are now being traded in by the more fortunate. Instead we’ve got an elite of ‘dawgs’ who ‘chill’ and scope out the fine ‘booty or chicita or fit birds or senoritas’ at the many ‘hangouts’ blossoming in every city. Nevertheless the above is no revelation. This phenomenon has been observed by any and everybody, so let me talk of the dawgs no more. Instead let’s talk of those with karma; let’s explore the new niche. Due to an emerging middle class which happens to be quite sizable, the elite have lost their form of differentiation. We’re all dawgs aren’t we, and we all go to the Hotspots, the Zouks and the Café Alantos, so what is so special about that. Exclusivity is truly a thing of the past. Or so one is led to believe. Hmmm. Since elitism is dated, the uuber elite are reverting to the basics, albeit in a form distinctively desi. Sure they still have their Pajeros and their Mercs but no longer do we need to listen to 50 cent to be ‘in’. Instead we witness the rise of fusion, as well its foremost practitioners. Buddha-Bar, Talvin Singh, Rishi Rich, Imran Khan ;), ABCD, *the wicked restaurant near hera mundi Lahore*, etc ensure that our elite no longer have to be ashamed to be who they are. They flaunt their ethnicity to those who know it best and assume that they’ve figured it out. Maybe one is putting too much emphasis on categorization and the concept of being ‘in’ but alas, it oddly still seems to ring true. Somehow a larger percentage of the elite seem to be reverting to their bohemian state, drinking special herbal teas, practicing yoga and viewing movies bringing the problems of globalization to the forefront (monsoon wedding, bollywood Hollywood, etc). Hell who cares, I'm a bohemian dawg, here there and nowhere. Stuck in the middle of everywhere with a smoke in one hand and my guide to rediscovering Pakistan in the other. So where do we go from now and where are we coming from? Its difficult to answer a question still formulating, for such is the rate of societal development. The only answer which I could possibly conjure is… real time commentary.