I am a TELLI

A few months ago I got an opportunity to visit Mona Depot. It is the largest depot of its kind where
military horses and mules are bred and trained. It was a family trip and my family along with my father’s
friend’s family went there for an overnight stay. These people had recently returned to Pakistan from
US, where ‘uncle’ was a part of Clinton administration.

After the trip was over and we were walking towards our cars, there came a comment from this ‘uncle’.

“In US vets are very highly paid and they charge heavens for treatments and what do we to them here in
Pakistan? We call them ‘dunger daacter’.”

Everyone had a laugh at ‘dunger daacter’, while simultaneously agreeing to this profound observation
that had horribly stigmatized our society, not to mention how it paints a serious and honourable
profession derogatorily. The sound of it made it look as if this is one of the biggest problems that
Pakistani society must rectify if it wishes itself to progress.

But this very statement for its analysis invites many questions, which seek answers for better
understanding of societal behaviour. The very first question that can be raised is that why vets are not
better paid in Pakistan? Secondly, are vets the only ones who hold a label such as ‘dunger daacter’?

In my opinion there are two reasons for vets not being better paid in Pakistan. The first reason for this
trend is the same for all professions, including doctors, engineers, scientists, etc. In short general wage
rates are lower here. Second reason is that Pakistan is a poor country where about 25% of its population
lives below poverty line; I think people have better things to do with their hard earned money than to
spend it on pets. This makes demand for vets abysmally low and thus reducing their income.

The second question is that whether this attitude is restricted to vets alone? A deeper look at the
society around will tell you that this is not the case. There are various other professionally attributed
names that are looked down upon. Some of the examples are; tarkhan, telli, kumhaar, mochi, julaha,
lohar, etc. Here, with the exception of mochi, you would not see many of the workers using these names
for themselves. They would be reluctant to even admit to the idea that their work is somehow related to
these professional names. The phenomenon is more vocal in urban centres and gradually reduces as you
move to rural areas of the country. In other words, this practice is proportional to educational level of
people. As for mochis, they are always from that segment of society that is illiterate and downtrodden
anyway to bother about such issues.

A close observation would tell you that a tarkhan would never use this word for himself and nor likes it
being used for him, but if you call him a “carpenter” he feels elevated and thinks of it as a respectable
profession. In the same way a person working in oilfield or associated with its business might frown
upon you if you call him a telli, but he would be fine if he is called as “oil-man”. The same goes for
kumhaars who prefer “potter” or “ceramics worker”, julaha prefers “textile engineer” for himself.
So what is with these words that are disliked? Is dislike for these professionals the main reason behind
this attitude? Are these professions considered menial to be labelled like this?

I don’t think these professions being menial or disliked is the main reason behind this, for they are well
paid comparatively. The only thing that is common between them is that they belong from “Urdu”
language while the preferred ones are from “English”. Although a remnant of our colonial past, this
social attitude has gotten embedded in our society that it is barely noticed.

In my opinion the problem was seeded in colonial times and it flourished after independence. The elite
class being educated from British schools and colleges spoke English and thought everything British
being good. Rest of the crowd tried to conform to these attitudes adopted by elite in an effort to look
like them. Hence slowly and gradually this attitude seeped into our thinking process and made itself a
permanent home. Although in later years America replaced the British in preference but it did not
change much apart from the fact that now we started to copy American accent.

This behaviour is not limited to language alone. It is present in almost every aspect or our thinking.
Whether it is any commodity, or newspaper, or fruits and even educational degrees, foreign is always
subconsciously equated to better while local is inferior. A seed implanted by British education in colonial
times and flourished on our own wrong decisions and personal prejudices of the ruling class in post-
colonial era.

Coming back to the language, recently there was massive hue and cry raised for implementation of
constitution and restoration of constitution in its original form but the ruling class conveniently forgot
even the mention of article 251(1) of the same constitution which states:

The national language of Pakistan is Urdu, and arrangements shall be made for it being used for official
and other purposes within fifteen years from the commencing day.

One line of argument that might leave you inches from accepting the hegemony of English language is
that ‘you cannot progress in science and technology unless you speak English’. But wait a minute; a
nation just north of us got its independence two years after us and in almost the same condition as we
were at that time, zoomed past us in all the fields including that of science and technology so much so
that it is even out of our sights now. Its local language was never a hurdle in its technological
advancement, then how come ours is?

Probably the reason for non-implementation of article 251(1) is that if it is implemented it would make
educated class the same as illiterates and the elite would not be able to flaunt in front of the rest of
menial Pakistanis. The absurdity reaches its pinnacle when people are asked as to why English is used
and they would try and give self-justifications reinforcing their views with ‘facts’ such as that the whole
world speaks English and this makes it easier for communicate with the rest of the world, or simply put
English is an international language. Now if you scan across the globe you will find that, not more than
5% of continental Europeans speak English, the same goes for Russia, Turkey, China, Central Asia, while
Latin America might have a higher population of English speakers but still that is certainly not as
overwhelming as you might think. So where is this world that speaks English? It is most of the third
world which was colonized by the British at some point in their history and is still to get its minds
independent from their colonial masters.

On a lighter note, I myself work at an LPG plant. It makes me a telli. Do I like being called like that?

Author: Muhammad Shemyal Nisar