The outlook of the working class around the globe and Pakistan in particular has changed dramatically over the past 20-30 years. People are coming out from the comfort of their home towns and moving to bigger cities and foreign countries for jobs and education. But this comes at a cost; a large number of these people have to stay away from their families and friends for extended periods of time, and that changes a lot of things; from their personality to their lifestyle. Beth Jata Hon Mitti Pay Aksar (I Often Sit on the Soil) is a narration of such lives, something most the people from our generation, that live away from their families, and are either studying or working, can relate to. This life has become too fast and mechanical. We hardly ever get time to think about what we are doing and where we are headed. For most of us, the path we are on has not been carved out by us; it’s a mere case of managing expectations and trying to meet them. The narration revolves around one such life that speaks for all; we are all in a race against time. We move out thinking we will improve our personal lives but the reality is that this struggle of acquiring all the necessities of life makes us all wanderers. This hunt for peace actually takes out all the peace from life. Gone are the beautiful days of childhood when we used to have lazy Sunday mornings. Today, we often find ourselves working even on holidays. In this kind of life we realise that it was our parents who fulfilled our desires and now, when it comes to earning, we only work to meet the essential requirements. Where did all the passion go? How did a life that was once so colourful fade away? When did everything become so mundane? There used to be mornings when we’d wake up smiling, but today, we forget to smile altogether. The only smiles that are manageable are fake, and plastered on our faces concealing a form of inner sorrow. We have drifted too far away from our families in pursuit of making ends meet. We do end up meeting them, but somewhere along the way, we end up losing ourselves. The aim of this video is to give a voice to all those lives that feel this way every single day. It is a tribute to all the sacrifices they make. It is for these individuals that care deeply about their families, and even insurmountable distances can’t change that.
