Lahore’s social dynamics are changing — for the worse. Or, how would you explain our shrinking private spaces?

Right from the top (state level) to the bottom (the individual), we are seeing a trespassing and violation of personal spaces. The Big-Brother-esque state is constantly watching us on social media, which is a violation of the individual’s right to privacy. On the other hand, we are witnessing similar attitudes of the common people towards each other. You stop at the traffic signal on a busy city road and you can’t escape those begging for alms. They may be professional beggars, or simply window cleaners, or flower sellers. They’d knock hard on your car window, as if you owed them money.

Speaking of window cleaners, they have absolutely no sense of what it means to seek consent. Of course, you didn’t want them to pour the cleaning liquid across the windscreen, but they went ahead. Without your consent. And, then they have the audacity to pester you to pay them for the ‘service’.

While it is appreciable that they are looking to earn, it is important to ensure that their actions do not infringe upon the autonomy of others.

Let’s not forget the drivers! Whether on motorbikes, cars, or auto rickshaws, they’d casually enter the other vehicles’ lane. Some bikers even take to the footpaths, if the traffic on the road is jammed, invading the pedestrians’ space.

The window cleaners have absolutely no sense of what it means to seek consent. Of course, you didn’t want them to pour the cleaning liquid across the windscreen, but they went ahead. Without your consent. And, then they have the audacity to pester you to pay them for the ‘service’. 

Ironic as it may sound, but many people seem to think that those behind the wheels are better than the pedestrians, just like in Orwell’s Animal Farm (reference to the four-legged being better than two-legged creatures).

The pedestrians in my beloved city don’t fare any better. Talk about jaywalkers!

And, if you’re taking a walk along the street at night, with your family members, the vehicles approaching you from the front won’t pass by without peeking well into your soul with their high beams illuminating every side of you. And if it’s a biker, his headlamp (definitely not an SOS light) will blink enough times to blind you for the next few minutes, forcing you to wonder whether you even have any claim to the street in your locality.

As someone who has lived in Lahore for most of their life and has seen the city change and grow, I have to say that I’ve never seen people be so bold and brazen in their violation of other’s privacy. It’s as if it’s their birthright. Whatever happened to the good old virtues of knowing your limits and minding the gap etc?

The writer is a freelance writer based in Lahore, and has BS in English from the University of the Punjab