Ahmed had been sitting with his mobile phone in his hand for a long time, and every now and then he would say, “Wow”, “Awesome”, “Beautiful”, etc.

Nano, his grandmother, had been looking at him all this time, and then she spoke up, “What are you engrossed in Ahmed?”

Without looking towards Nano, Ahmed spoke, “Nano, let me show you something beautiful! Here, look at this picture of Switzerland, this picture of London, and here … see this is Paris ....” he showed pictures on his cell phone. “Nano, these cities are so beautiful and clean!” Ahmed added.

“Yes, they are, but our Pakistan is also beautiful,” Nano replied diligently.

“No, Nano, there are only a few places that are clean and beautiful, otherwise people spread garbage everywhere. We have so much garbage up in the sea, just look at this!” he said while touching the screen of his phone and then opening a picture and showing it to Nano. “See, do you call this beach beautiful?” Ahmed said angrily.

“So why can’t our country be clean?” Nano asked.

“Because people don’t understand that garbage shouldn’t be dumped everywhere,” Ahmed replied.

“Well, who are these people?” Nano asked.

Just then Ahmed’s cousins, Ali, Yusuf and Affan joined Nano with Ahmed.

“What are you two secretly talking about?” Ali asked while sitting next to Nano.

“Good thing that you guys came too, I was telling Ahmed that Pakistan is a beautiful country and Ahmed says that other countries are better because they are cleaner,” Nano told everyone.

“By the way, Nano, I agree with Ahmed that in most areas, the sewage system is so screwed that it spills out in residential streets and even the main roads are not exempted. Plus, we are all witness to the big mounds of dump that are piled up in places which are not assigned as dumping sites,” Yusuf also supported Ahmed.

“Alright then, both you and Ahmed tell me who pollutes our country and who keeps other countries clean?” Nano asked.

“People, Nano people, these people around us throw rubbish from their houses, from their cars and even while walking,” Affan spoke out.

“That’s what I’m asking about. Who are these people?” Nano said while smiling, they all started looking at each other in surprise.

“What do you mean, Nano, people are people and who else?” Ahmed seemed confused.

“Well, tell me, when you three came in what did I say? Nano asked.

“You said, ‘It was good that you guys came too’,” Ali replied and Nano smiled again.

“So the three of you are the same people, so do you people make your country dirty?” Nano asked.

“No, Nano, mamma doesn’t even allow us to throw garbage in the park, and all the garbage is packed in a bag and brought back home to put in the waste bin if we find no dumping area outside,” said Ahmed.

“And that day, I ate a corn cob on the beach, like other kids, I also wanted to throw it as far as I could in the crashing waves, but Mama got so angry on me,” Ali said.

“So what we should do to stop other people from making our country dirty?” Nano asked again.

After thinking for a while, Ahmed suddenly spoke, “Idea!”

I’ll post an awareness message on Facebook and you all must share it and then our friends will share it with everyone and everyone will know that we have to keep our country clean!”

“Don’t you think this has been done a millions of time by a lot of people out there?” Nano pointed out to them.

“Nano is right, this doesn’t make proper sense. People will like it or forward it and then forget all about it.” Yusuf said thoughtfully.

Nano looked at the four of them and thought for a while then said, “Your heart wants Pakistan to be the most beautiful country, right?”

All of them nodded in agreement.

“Well, tell me, how did Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah got Pakistan?”

“With a lot of hard work and struggle,” Yusuf said.

“What hard work and struggle?” Nano asked.

“He and his colleagues went from house to house. They gathered people and gave speeches and a lot more,” Ali said enthusiastically “Exactly!” Nano said.

“But if Quaid-i-Azam had a mobile phone and he just kept forwarding messages that the British should give us freedom, the British should leave our country, etc, and spread this message so much, would the British have left and given us Pakistan?” Nano asked.

Everyone laughed.

“So, dear children, the country cannot be cleaned just by texting like this. It has to be demonstrated and every effort has to be made to make all of you and your friends put garbage in the bin instead of throwing rubbish here and there. So when you and your friends will do your part, others will see and learn from it. Slowly but steadily, you will notice a positive change and our lovely Pakistan will be clean!” Nano explained it.

And the four of them pledged that they will do so because they knew that only desires do not change destinies.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 21st, 2022