Let there be no doubt that the weather is changing - and in more ways than one. Whether we like it or not, the seasons are changing and the year 2007 is gradually (and I hope gracefully) moving towards the finale. Even though nostalgia is evoked by seasonal change, in many instances, perhaps keeping out of memory lanes is a preferred option.
There is too much happening in our lives at the moment and it is not just the state of emergency announced on the 3rd of November that I have in mind. The general election is also to be held by the 9th of January 2008. On that day begins the month of Moharram. Now whether the elections will be held with the emergency in force and the Constitution suspended is a big question mark.
It is a question that is being raised here, and abroad. An indicator of "threatening" public opinion perhaps is the point that the Commonwealth has given to Pakistan ten days (ending 22nd November 2007) to "restore the constitution and lift other emergency measures or face suspension from the 53-nation grouping."
And as a pointer to what is happening on the political front is also the fact that the former prime minister, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, has been placed under house arrest, in Lahore, for seven days. Keep in mind that former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif has written to her a letter on the subject of forging an opposition alliance for the restoration of democracy.
There is so much to keep in mind, as the weather changes. With the middle of November here, the climate will turn cooler as the temperature drops, but the political temperature will turn warmer as the days go by. How warm can it get? Among the many other questions that media and society are curious (read agitated?) about is the caretaker government that is to be announced by Islamabad. Names of caretaker Prime Ministers are being considered, reports contend.
Obviously the mood of the country has been political for almost all of this year - and one would observe that this has affected work attitudes and ethics and all the rest that economists focus upon. Even when employees are at work, the political scene in the country is on their mind, and conversations on the numerous disturbing dimensions and agonising aspects take precedence over what employers are demanding.
One would like to refer here to an article "Emergency and the economy" which has appeared in Dawn and its writer Nasir Jamal has said: "Whether the emergency is lifted in one week or in six months or more, does not matter much now. The harm is already done and our country perception as a politically stable nation is further eroded around the globe," says former Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Parvez Hanif.
It has also been observed that the activity in the home market has lost lustre in the last few weeks. And wholesalers and retailers are trying to adjust to new realities, keeping in mind the rumours that are doing the rounds. Indeed.
On a very personal level, I must also try and adjust to lowered standards in the days to come. Or else it will affect my sugar and triclycerides levels, and I will not be able to face my physician.!!
Not only are there letters to the editors of various daily newspapers appearing about the fact that the traditional landline telephones of various subscribers are dead, but even in more than occasional conversations are they grumbling about the subject. Those landline phones are dead either at people's homes or in their offices - and that nobody from the PTCL is bothered. That the complaints are not being attended to. That for all the changes that have taken place in the privatised PTCL, the issue of an unresponsive phone complaint system is still very much there.
In fact one disappointed, angry subscriber said that the human face of the PTCL has still a long way to go, to be subscriber friendly. All that digitalisation and the new corporate image that is being publicised does not mean much when it comes to restoring dead phones.
The fact that telephone subscribers have become demanding and quality conscious, and very sensitive to issues of connectivity and billing (to say the least) is something that needs to be understood clearly here. With the revolution that has come in the way of the cell phone availability and its usage by all and sundry, at amazingly affordable costs, is something that has given to the PTCL landline system a competition that is beyond imagination.
Therefore, when the landline fails to functions, that is when PTCL complaint centres claim that a cable fault is the cause (or other familiar excuses and explanations) it reminds one of the days when there was only one option - the landline of the telephone department. I am reminded here of the days when to get a telephone connection was a matter of years of waiting, and how useful it was to get a recommendation from the federal communications minister.!
And one would marvel or envy the person who got his telephone connection in 24 hours or that kind of time. Many such stories of influential contacts employed successfully come to mind. But does anyone marvel or even think twice about the cell phone connection that has become so easy, which of course has me wondering about the persuasive advertising that now takes place.
Precisely, I wonder at times what does all the cell phone talk revolve around. What is the sociological change that is taking place in terms of interpersonal relationships? But this is a subject for another time. Right now the emphasis is on that of PTCL landlines which, when gone dead, bring frustration and anger to the subscribers and am amazed that newspapers which focused in detail on this aspect of the public utility do not do that any more.
And even the electronic media doesn't bother about public suffering. I also recollect the days when the telephone department used to issue a telephone directory regularly (yearly?) And its delay was a subject of worry for all. One has not heard of the telephone directory for some time, and PTCL's service 17 is also forever busy - and when reached the men and women behind the system unable to provide the phone numbers that are required. I suppose the Telephone Directory is no more.
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