Love Thy Neighbour

A good neighbour is a priceless treasure. Chinese Proverb

From cricket match practices to hitting gym, my husband prefers next door Bhaiya’s company where Bhabhiji tries to make unsuccessful attempts to teach me how to cook properly. We celebrate Eid with them and they celebrate Diwali with us. Their little girl of 3 years is always on lookout for her favourite uncle and auntie when she gets the glimpse of us from her glass window. We chat hours about Bollywood movies and soap operas.Watching India-Pakistan cricket matches together is the best part of our neighbourhood friendship when Bhabhiji displays the best of her cooking skills and I tend to babysit her younger daughter of 3 months.

In general, neighbours are always inspirational. In today’s world, where we have nuclear families, children get opportunities to learn from neighbours. We learn from each other’s experiences.There are lots of misconceptions about different faiths. Living together in the same neighbourhood erases the cultural barriers and opens the path of building a better community around us which is free of prejudices and hatred.

I read an article the other day by Aarefa Johari, a Mumbai-based journalist where she described her hospitality by Pakistanis while she was at a conference in Islamabad. You can read the article here.

There is so much hype and animosity against Pakistani people perpetuated by media and government agencies that has poisoned our minds. Every society has good and bad people. Let’s not generalize group of people and just like a good neighbour live in peace and harmony. Let’s forget about appearances, backgrounds and any other prejudices which affect our relationship with people living close to us. It does not take a big effort from all of us in creating such a harmonious and peaceful environment around us.