The Pakistani Spectator

“I get to actually experience what it would be like to be a psycho, which is not a fun one, or to be a cowboy, or to be a weird character of some sort. For me, it suits me. It suits my personality. I’m an emotional kind of person anyway”. These are the words of American model turned actor Josh Holloway Almost the same feelings I have since this Monday; the reason is Fountain House. Fountain House is a rehabilitation center in Lahore for psychologically different people.

It was decided to reach fountain house, at 9am on third day of Eid, in the PYR meeting held this past Friday. On Monday morning which was the third day of Eid I left for Fountain house after having a strange combination of food, Kheer and coffee, as breakfast. I managed to reach the destination in time even after losing the path (as usual). At that time only a few PYR fellows were there and Amna Usmani was trying to manage the things. She also briefed us about the Dos and Don’ts, and she also introduced some of the members of Fountain House.

The people inside the fountain house are just like us or I should better say like me. The only reason for which they have been isolated from the society is  their way of taking on the things. The have a different psychology than the so called normal people. While I was standing there and waiting for other fellows to arrive a member suddenly came, and hug me to wish Eid. He started crying and complained that no one came to see him. This was the story almost every member of Fountain House. Each and everyone there had a different past, a unique story but having a same tag line “no one come to see me”, “what is my fault”, and even one of them said, “we burn like a rubber inside the pressure cooker”.

It had been a great time which I spent over there from 9am to almost 5pm, some of the great memories I have left and collected from the house. Those innocent smiles, that unmatched happiness and sense of having someone close among the members got emerged. The people were really happy and what it cost to me and other PYR fellows? Farhan bhai answered this question by saying “we did nothing more than what we do for the celebration of a 2 years old kid”. It might be the small effort from our side but those people had a great day, which have no one to see them who have been admitted there by their family as they might have become a burden on them.

Most of the members don’t seem to be having any problem and I mean ANY PROBLEM. Some of them were really intellectuals while talking to them, I got to learn a lot of secret about life and reality. One of the members there had been assistant librarian in a Public Library; he reminded me my (late) maternal grand father, by his looks. I had a small chat with him and got to know many things about the world inside and outside the library.

How can I forget the musical factor of this event? Many members were artists of there own class, many of them started singing on the tune of guitar, some were dancing and rest of them were enjoying the scene. The female members were not allowed to come in the lawn where we were having fun, therefore female members of PYR were there in the female block to make the thing better there.

I would like to thank Ma’am Suraia Khanam (Famous Singer), Member of Fountain House Club (the governing body of the House) for arranging a nice lunch of “Pathooras” for all of us there. While talking to her I got to know that how the lives inside this house really work and how these people look so normal. She told us that the members take care of themselves if they know about an event or they know that some one is coming to meet them.

Dr. Haroon Rasheed Chaudhri,The Executive Director Fountain House; really admired our small effort and told us that the good effects of this work will not only appear on the members of the House but also be enjoyed by yourself as well. He further told us that many members, who don’t really like to come out of the room and never talk to any one, were enjoying themselves and having fun among all other members.

We left the place at about 5pm after having a day full of great experience, and some memorable moments with us. On my way back home I thought about all the people I met there in Fountain House, every member, every face, and every story had a unique plot but a same tag line “no one come to see us”.