Brain drain

My friend was arguing with me about job opportunities offered in Pakistan. According to him, it is very much rational to leave Pakistan after receiving education. I was listening quietly and smiling. My imaginations led me to all the moments I've spent in Pakistan. The problems, reliefs, joy, sadness, people and my relations with them, all emerged in a complex form in my imaginations. Suddenly, I realised that he stopped talking and now it was my turn to say something. I said, "I love my country and I can't leave it permanently". He smiled and said, "You're a Kid"

I'm certainly a kid. A child who is still attached with his mother land. Or rather, a native who loves his nation. If loving is immaturity then I'm proudly immature. But my heart says that loving one's country and nation is a moral value which we all must acquire. Those educated people who leave the country instead of serving it, are like children who leave their parents alone when they get mature. But it's not that this always benefits them. Many of them face identity crisis in foreign countries.

I quote here a song sung by Mehdi hassan and written by Masroor Anwar. You might have listened to it, perhaps many times. But now, read it as if the spirit of our nation is complaining to the people who left it and settled abroad.

mujhe tum nazar se giraa to rahe ho
mujhe tum kabhi bhi bhulaa na sakoge
na jaane mujhe kyuN yaqin ho chalaa hai
mere pyaar ko tum miTaa na sakoge

meri yaad hogi jidhar jaaoge tum
kabhi nagmaa banke, kabhi banke aaNsoo
tadaptaa mujhe har taraf paaoge tum
shamaa jo jalaayee hai meri vafaa ne
bujhaana bhi chaaho bujhaa na sakoge

kabhi naam baanton mein aayaa jo meraa
to bechain ho ho ke dil thaam loge
nigaahon mein chhaayegaa gham kaa andhera
kisi ne jo poochhaa sabab aansuon kaa
bataanaa bhi chaaho bataa na sakoge

Click here for english translation of this song