The Mind Creative
Wonder what is going through my friend’s mind. But should I
wonder? Like millions and billions of other faithful of all religions,
he would never connect the dots to see the larger picture. He will
see the trees but not the forest.
Over two decades ago, I was waiting in line for check-in at Karachi
airport for a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight to a
European destination. As the line was long, I got into a chat with
the passenger in front of me. He turned out to be a Malaysian
Muslim who, to my surprise, had deliberately chosen to fly the
Pakistani flag-carrier.
When asked why, he explained that he chose PIA because its
flights always commenced with an Islamic prayer for a safe
journey. I couldn’t resist reminding him that these prayers had
not prevented a few PIA planes from crashing, most recently when
one had hit a mountainside in Kathmandu at landing in 1992,
killing all 167 passengers and crew.
The only reason I didn’t get punched in the nose for my comment
was because he was a Malay, who are known to be a genial people,
unless they run amok. Many readers may not know that amok is
a loan word from Malay.
Shortly thereafter PIA must have lost this valued patron not on
account of my unhelpful comment but because Malaysia Airlines
(MAS) caught up with PIA insofar as the prayer is concerned. PIA’s
loss would have been MAS’s gain.
But, again, the prayer which sent off every MAS flight did not save
MH-370 from vanishing into thin air on March 8 over the Gulf of
Thailand with 239 passengers and crew on board and another
(MH-17) from being shot down over Ukraine four months later,
killing 298 passengers and crew. Wonder what is going through
my friend’s mind.
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