Post By : Sania Zulfiqar
I would like to elaborate on an interesting theme regarding the social structure of the karachi’s youth. Common notion on the street is that every well-dressed person, with an average car (not too top-notch) who maybe has his hair gelled, is able to speak English and looks presentable is a “Burger Batcha” or as they put it in karachi, a ‘Mummy Daddy Batcha”.
Why is that the common notion? Because that is the belief of the majority that resides in this city, some 90% of the residents do not fall under the “Burger” category. Who exactly are burgers? This is an unanswered question largely because it is an unasked question. The remaining 10% classify for the “Burger” category because they are comprised of youths apparently residing in privileged areas called; Defense housing authority, Clifton or KDA or as they say in Karachi, “Pull kay us par”. The burger category also includes overseas Pakistanis who visit Karachi and are well-exposed to the global issues; be it politics, fashion, economy or eatery. 90% of the city defines burgers as people who have no knowledge or a sense of association with Karachi or Pakistan. The burgers, according to them, tend to live in their own little fantasy world where there is lots of partying, BBQs, beaches, fancy cars, girls, exotic houses, forefathers’ businesses to run, first-class travel tickets for vacations across the globe and are barely concerned with the daily issues of Pakistan like; poverty, crime, unemployment, power shorta! ges, economic meltdown, terrorism, water inadequacy, unexpected hike in oil, rice, flour or sugar prices etc. Their belief is that a burger’s life is all set and there never was or will ever be anything to worry about.
Whenever an individual is referred to as a burger his first reflex is to call the referrer a “Maila”. This is a term that has evolved over the past 5-8 years, and what it exactly means is also unanswered because it too is largely unasked. According to a few burgers “Maila” stood for, “Any individual who can’t speak English, is a fashion disaster, belongs to a lower middle class faction of the society, can’t impress girls, does not drive a vehicle, attends public school and eats a lot of PAAN, CHALIA and MANIKCHAN! D”.
I personally believe that there is a socio-cultural gap between various factions of Karachi and the city has witnessed immense social stratification on the basis of finance. There exists an urgent need for the ruling and the largest political party of this city, to gather all the youth, both mailas and burgers, under one umbrella. Because, with the momentum of social hatred increasing between the rich and the poor, or burgers and mailas, the near future not only seems dark, but destructive as well. The youth needs to be given; leadership training, career counseling and guidance, enhancement in communication skills (both Urdu & English), emotional support, boost in the motivation etc, all these skills will consequently result in an increased self-esteem and self-confidence of our next generation and will facilitate Pakistan in producing better human beings.
I would like to elaborate on an interesting theme regarding the social structure of the karachi’s youth. Common notion on the street is that every well-dressed person, with an average car (not too top-notch) who maybe has his hair gelled, is able to speak English and looks presentable is a “Burger Batcha” or as they put it in karachi, a ‘Mummy Daddy Batcha”.
Why is that the common notion? Because that is the belief of the majority that resides in this city, some 90% of the residents do not fall under the “Burger” category. Who exactly are burgers? This is an unanswered question largely because it is an unasked question. The remaining 10% classify for the “Burger” category because they are comprised of youths apparently residing in privileged areas called; Defense housing authority, Clifton or KDA or as they say in Karachi, “Pull kay us par”. The burger category also includes overseas Pakistanis who visit Karachi and are well-exposed to the global issues; be it politics, fashion, economy or eatery. 90% of the city defines burgers as people who have no knowledge or a sense of association with Karachi or Pakistan. The burgers, according to them, tend to live in their own little fantasy world where there is lots of partying, BBQs, beaches, fancy cars, girls, exotic houses, forefathers’ businesses to run, first-class travel tickets for vacations across the globe and are barely concerned with the daily issues of Pakistan like; poverty, crime, unemployment, power shorta! ges, economic meltdown, terrorism, water inadequacy, unexpected hike in oil, rice, flour or sugar prices etc. Their belief is that a burger’s life is all set and there never was or will ever be anything to worry about.
Whenever an individual is referred to as a burger his first reflex is to call the referrer a “Maila”. This is a term that has evolved over the past 5-8 years, and what it exactly means is also unanswered because it too is largely unasked. According to a few burgers “Maila” stood for, “Any individual who can’t speak English, is a fashion disaster, belongs to a lower middle class faction of the society, can’t impress girls, does not drive a vehicle, attends public school and eats a lot of PAAN, CHALIA and MANIKCHAN! D”.
I personally believe that there is a socio-cultural gap between various factions of Karachi and the city has witnessed immense social stratification on the basis of finance. There exists an urgent need for the ruling and the largest political party of this city, to gather all the youth, both mailas and burgers, under one umbrella. Because, with the momentum of social hatred increasing between the rich and the poor, or burgers and mailas, the near future not only seems dark, but destructive as well. The youth needs to be given; leadership training, career counseling and guidance, enhancement in communication skills (both Urdu & English), emotional support, boost in the motivation etc, all these skills will consequently result in an increased self-esteem and self-confidence of our next generation and will facilitate Pakistan in producing better human beings.
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