Pull Push
This topic was originally written in Urdu by “Shahzad Basra” a humorist, translated by Hooria and revised by Lynne Hand.
Who says we have very few occasions for being happy.I have to do nothing, neither I have to go anywhere to make myself happy. After every few moments God provides me opportunities to be happy. These opportunities have become a matter of day for me nowadays. In the begninning the thing on which I became irritated and got angry on others gradually became a source of recreation for me.
Last year I got my university renovated ( I renovated my university) and also made an office cabin there. The glass door of the office cabin where gave me the advantage that on one hand I could keep an eye on the whole of the labortory, on the other hand I could also come to know that who was comming to see me because everyone had to pass through the labortory to enter my office. But there happened to be a big problem which was that, the door of the cabin used to open outwords, but everyone uesd to come straight and with a sudden jolt pushed the door inwords and when received a jerk from the door then he came round and pulled the door towords his side to open it. The whole day this resling was carried out with the door, thus my attention diverted due to this repeated disturbance.
I waited for few days hoping that people will concord themselves with the new change, but when the situation didn’t show any change then I started feeling irritated that these learned idiots will break the door and not let me do my work peacefully.
After being afflicted for many days at last two big stickers of “PULL”- “PUSH” were pasted on both the sides of the door. On pasting the stickers I became satisfied that now the door will be opened and closed sensibly.
But what is this ! still everyone with a thump tried to do a useless attempt of pushing the door instead of pulling and himself got struck and then pulled it.
My irritation was rising to its climax day by day. Often I scold the students that ” what is this nonsense,can’t you see why this big sticker is pasted on the door, but still you were going to break it”. In anger often I kept the door open for the whole day, but still it was not the solution of the problem. Everyday I quarrelled with many people but invain.
Then one day a senior professor came. By chance I was looking towards the door. The professor observed the labortory eulogistically ( expressed praising expressions), advanced towords the door and observed the sticker on the door. I became happy and thought that he looks like a wise man after reading attentively will see whether the door be opened inwords or outwords. So the senior professor after reading the sticker “PULL” planely pushed the door. Instantly when he realized that what he had done he felt ashmed and looked at the sticker so indifferently as if he didn’t notice it before and then pulled the door and came in. I could hardly controll my laughter and smiled. The professor got the clue that I got to know his mistake. When the professor was about to depart after finishing his work I felt that he was confused from PULL – PUSH. I was fully engrossed towords him now that let’s see what he does now and how he opens the door. For going out he had to push the door outwords but in his embarrassment pulled the door and again felt ashamed, in his astonishment on looking the push sticker he pushed the door and went outside. I kept on laughing alone for a long time.
From that day to this day my irritation turned into smile. Visitors used to come and go in and out of my room in every few minutes. The visitors mostly included students of MSc, M.phill and PHD, professors and staff of the department.
Less literate staff( clerks, peon, etc) was used to this pull- push due to their everyday routine and very occasionally repeated the mistake, but the rest of highly educated staff in my humble opinion was confused a lot from this situation.
Now God pleases me twice when there is a sudden rattling at the door. First when a visitor comes to see me and pushes the door instead of pulling it then feels ashmed and second, when the visitior goes out and repeats the same mistake with shamefull expressions on his face.
In many departmental stors and in many offices the same scene can be seen, perhape this is the reason that in public buildings instead of “PULL- PUSH” it is being written,
” Please open the door outwords”
” Please open the door inwords”
But according to my observation here still people remain confused that in ” Please open the door inwords” what is the meaning of “in” whether inside the shop or towords the person himself.
Those who can be seen opening the door calmly to its right direction also often repeat the same mistake.
This is exactly the situation of the government with the nation of Pakistan. The nation everytime casts the vote with this hope that the new leader will pull them out from ignorance, inflation, poverty etc, but every leader instead of pulling, pushes them in the same darkmness.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Revised Paragraph
This topic was originally written by “Shahzad Basra” a humorist. Translated by Hooria, revised by Lynne.
Who says we have very few occasions for being happy? I don’t have to do anything. Neither do I have to go anywhere to make myself happy. After every few moments God provides me with opportunities to be happy. These opportunities have become a matter of course for me nowadays.
In the beginning the things about which I became irritated and that made me angry with others, gradually became a source of recreation for me.
Last year I had my university renovated, and also had an office cabin installed. The glass door of the office gave a couple of advantages; I could keep an eye on the whole of the laboratory, and I could also find out who was coming to see me, because everyone had to pass through the laboratory to enter my office. But there was a big problem, namely the door of the cabin used to open outwards, but everyone used to come straight at the door and with a sudden jolt try to push the door inwards, and when they received a jolt from the door, they would come round and pull the door towards them to open it. The whole day was full of this wrestling with the door, and thus my attention was diverted due to the repeated disturbance.
I waited for a few days hoping that people would get used to the change, but when the situation didn’t show any improvement I started feeling irritated towards these learned idiots, who would keep trying to break the door and not let me do my work in peace.
After being afflicted for many days at last two big stickers of “PULL”- “PUSH” were pasted on both the sides of the door. After pasting the stickers on I was satisfied that now the door would be opened and closed sensibly.
But what is this? Still everyone made a useless attempt at pushing the door instead of pulling it, and with a thump they got themselves stuck and only then did they pull it.
My irritation was rising to a climax day by day. Often I scolded the students with, “What is this nonsense? Can’t you see why this big sticker is pasted on the door? You are going to break it!” In anger I often kept the door open the whole day, but this was not a solution. Every day I quarrelled with many people but in vain.
Then one day a senior professor came. By chance I was looking towards the door. The professor commented on the laboratory eulogistically and advanced towards the door, he observed the sticker on it and I felt happy, thinking, this looks like a wise man, after reading attentively he will see whether the door opens inwards or outwards. But, the senior professor after reading the sticker “PULL” plainly pushed the door. As soon as he realized what he had done he looked shamefaced and then looked at the sticker as if he hadn’t noticed it before, pulled the door and came in. I could hardly control my laughter and smiled. The professor realized that I had noticed his mistake. When he was about to depart after finishing his work I felt that he was confused about PULL and PUSH. He had my whole attention now and I watched him, “Let’s see what he does now and how he opens the door”. In order to go out he had to push the door outwards but in his embarrassment, he pulled the door and again looked shamefaced, in his astonishment he looked at the push sticker, pushed the door and went outside. I kept on laughing alone for a long time.
From that day to this my irritation has turned into smiles. Visitors used to come and go in and out of my room every few minutes. These visitors were mostly MSc, M.phill and PHD students, professors and staff of the department. The less literate staff (clerks etc.) were used to this pull-push thing, due to their every day routine and very occasionally repeated the mistake, but the rest of highly educated staff in my humble opinion were completely confused a by this situation.
