Romancing across Borders

Myself writer this side and my identity exist as a writer only. I can be a Chinese, or a Belgian, or an African, or a German, or an American or may be an Indian. But if I say, that I’m an African writer or an Indian writer, does that matter you? Does this identity affect you? Does it create some stereotypical notions in your mind? Aren’t you stunned and shocked if someone asks you these questions? Well, I will be and you know why because someone nationality’s will never imply that I tend to have negative or bad feelings for him and also because I know how to romance beyond borders.

When we think about Pakistan, we think about all the positive things. Do you remember that beautiful movie — ‘Khuda ke Liye’, or the electrifying qawwali’s and gazals of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Gulam Ali, Mehendi Hassan or the politician Benazir Bhutto and also the poet and writer Fatima Bhutto? These people define what Pakistan is and we have always appreciated and loved their work. When Sania Mirza married Shoaib Malik, when Sadat Hassan Manto and Ismat Chugtai who are Indians but write in Urdu, when movies such as Veer-Zara are made, when Warsi Brothers and Dhruv Sangari sing Sufi music and qawwali’s, the barriers are transcended and romance is the only thing which tends to prevail in the surroundings.

Let us consider another country — China. The first thing which comes to my mind as I think about China is the famous actor, comedian, choreographer, martial artist and what not ‘Jackie Chan’. Who can forget his films — Who Am I?, The Karate Kid, Armour of God, Police Story among the other 150 films in which he has acted, and this makes him even more special. Apart from this, who can forget the delicious scrumptious Chinese food? Szechuan, Fried Rice, Chinese Noodles, Dumplings, water chestnut cake, herb tea is preferred by almost everyone. Sports also helped us in transcending any barrier. The famous Indian badminton player, Jwala Gutta’s mother is Chinese and his father is an Indian.

Similar is the case, when I look upto other countries, like France, London, New York, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc. We love their art, literature, culture, music, and take inspiration from them constantly. So I came back to the same question from where I started, does it really affect you, when someone tells you their identity? Prejudices, grudges and misunderstandings will take you nowhere. Only love, peace and romance will helps us to break any barrier, any wall that exists between two countries. Barriers are just the ‘shadow lines’ which tend to shape our mind. They don’t exist! We all look same, so why waste time concentrating on a border and that would be the time where our future is very peaceful, where visiting people in other countries would always be like visiting people in our neighborhood area.

In the end, I would like to quote few lines written by a poet,

“If you show me, what true love is,

and not pity, not anymore,

I will fly as high as a plane.

If you show me, what true love is,

I will fight this battle again!”

I believe in romancing beyond borders.