| You are familiar with the syndrome. You must be if you live in a third world country like Pakistan. It is easy to detect. It is the tendency to do something that is just passable but not quite good enough, certainly not as good as it should be, nor could be with a little more effort and attention. Victor Borge, the Danish comedian, narrated in his stage show once how an uncle of his invented a fizzy soft-drink which he named 1-Up. It failed. His uncle changed to formula 1-Up to 2-Up and so on until it reached 6-Up. Then he died. His product was sold someone else who simply changed the name…and look what happened! |
| As a nation we are still in the 3-Up stage. We are quite to stay there, unwilling to make that quantum leap necessary to take us to the universally acceptable 7-Up stage. One encounters this attitude of complacency everywhere, and no more concentratedly so than when travelling. At home we can cushion ourselves against its impact on our lives. While journeying or on holiday, though, we re exposed to it in a particularly cruel way for as a defenceless tourist or passenger, we are completely vulnerable.[EXTRACT] |
Published in THE NATION 20 August 1992, and reprinted in THE ARMLESS QUEEN (1994). |
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