Islamabad- the Beautiful?

I moved to Islamabad in April 2009 to work at a private organization that I hoped was doing some good in the capital. Like many other NGO's, this one is well-funded and sponsored, has tonnes of contacts and looks set to rock the world. Will it? I have my serious doubts. Maybe that's just how they work? Rather, don't?

In any case, my job landed me in F-8. This is prime property. Houses in the paper quote their prices in crores. I can't ever tell whether that's a 100 million or a billion or whether that's the same. All I know is, F-8 is quite the weight on one's pocket, has madly long driveways and an average house size of 4 kanals, I would safely bet.

Here's the thing: apparently, everyone here has a car or doesn't mind blowing endless amounts of hard-earned money on taxis. Which makes me wonder just how hard-earned it is. Does that offend you? Well, then, take offence and see if I care one bit. This is the capital of a country that is going round the world with a begging bowl, that seems to be losing every ounce of its already meagre self-respect, that boasts a hefty population living under the poverty line and that has an economy falling through the cracks. This is a country that constantly falls back on the IMF, but does the capital in ANY WAY reflect that?

NO.

So if I don't have a car and I can't afford taxis all the time, what do I do? For most of my time here, I've spent nights writing or reading on the bed assigned to me at a private girls' hostel. How we are treated there while our owners rake in money enough to buy them 2 Mercedes, 2 Corollas, 1 Mehran, 1 Khyber and other unknowns in their fleet, is a seperate story. I can walk in the limited part of the street outside the hostel that has lights, otherwise it's very dark and there's nowhere else to go.

If a kind friend takes me out, I have evening entertainment. Otherwise, I'm stuck at home. Mind you, there are a million ordinary middle-class Pakistani girls like me, whose parents are NOT ok with them walking around late in the dark.

For a capital city, Islamabad has little lighting on its roads/streets. It doesn't offer an effective public transportation system. There isn't ONE route that connects in some way the F-sectors, which is why I can't THINK about moving out of F-8 because at least this way, I can walk back from work. There isn't sight of, nor any plan to be heard of, that will very soon allow residents of the capital to start commuting regularly on urban transport. The few routes that are available are restricted to the 'less posh' parts of the city like I-8 or sectors G et al.

What has Islamabad got to say for itself? The entire country has bled a million times since the '60s to keep it together, to keep it running. The least it can do is offer these people shelter when they come to work in it. Or live in it. Or visit it. If you want to grow, Islamabad, you can't depend forever on cars and posh restaurants. You can't only serve liquor at your restaurants and charge dollars to paying guests in F-8. You can't just keep and keep and keep churning and gurgling and then regurgitating money. And give NOTHING in return. One day, people WILL get sick of you. In fact, I think we already ARE.