Let's do #14ActsForPakistan this August 14!

Don't sit there and judge this time- come join us spread some love around the city this Aug 14 because you can!

Sara Muzzammil August 13, 2013
“Check the top trend on Twitter right now guys!” My colleague, Ahsan said pointing towards his laptop.

This was a regular conversation for us as we sipped on our morning teas and chatted about how depressing it was to wake up so early. Perks of being in the Digital Marketing field, you can say. Yes, we take Twitter very seriously.

We also take patriotism very seriously.

You can tell by the green and white décor and the sound of national songs resonating within the walls of our cubicles as August 14 approaches.

Anyway, we huddled around Ahsan’s laptop, peering over each other’s heads to stare at a blue hyperlink. The hashtag that was trending on top was Justin Bieber (JB). No offence to JB fans out there, but wasn’t the public supposed to be talking about nationalism and love for Pakistan at that time?

We as a people have the tendency to curse others for their acts. We judge. We condemn. We lament. We disapprove. But what we hesitate to do is do anything at all.

I don’t blame us, the words ‘change’, ‘revolution’ and ‘peace’ have become too clichéd for us. They have been politicised, abused and patronised.

We decided to start a trend; an Urdu trend. We named it #میراپاکستان. Sparked by only a few tweets from us, it blew up not just in Pakistan but all over the world. Within a matter of hours, it was trending worldwide as the first ever Urdu hashtag. We smiled at the success. Pakistan was not dead, Pakistanis were not dead.

But, at the end of the day, it was just another Twitter trend - words, not actions. We had to do something to channelise all this positive energy into positive acts. That’s when we started the #14ActsForPakistan, for this August 14, to promote doing certain ‘acts’ for Pakistan.



Hand out some candy to the child selling flags on the street. Throw a packet of juice to the random guy stuck in traffic, sweating in the heat and humidity. Gift a nice pair of sunglasses to that traffic policeman at the signal, controlling the boisterous rush of cars.

Give something, do something, for a Pakistani, for Pakistan.



The idea, although simple, received an overwhelming response from the public. It was, once again, a worldwide trend on Twitter with 1,500 contributors and a staggering number of 5,000+ tweets. People were curious, people were amazed.



We encouraged them to form their own groups of friends, take to the streets and do their own version of #14ActsForPakistan this Independence Day. Even our friends from across the border started talking about how they could do something similar for their own country.

https://twitter.com/OhMyKohli/status/367031243759562753

The people are not the only ones with us in this venture. We have support from renowned brands and companies pitching in funds and coverage. Radio FM 89 is the Radio Partner and ARY Muzik is the Media Partner. Superpower Motorcycle brand is generously sponsoring the goodies we give away on our road trip across Karachi.



We have our cars, we have our supplies and we have our patriotism ready to hit the roads tomorrow.

We invite you to be a part of this campaign as well!
WRITTEN BY:
Sara Muzzammil An A level student based in Karachi who is interested in art and blogging. She tweets as @saramuzzammil https://twitter.com/SaraMuzzammil
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (23)

Zog | 10 years ago | Reply Saw an article on some kids planting trees. Why does'nt every one plant 14 trees, or pick up 14 pieces of rubbish....great idea well done
mhaq | 10 years ago | Reply lets start by consuming less electricity, switch off your acs(trust me you can survive without it too), try telling your servants not to throw garbage in front of others houses, become austere in your daily eating-out plans (bring it down to a monthly plan, you will save the charm of eating out too that way), give more charity, shop only on need basis.
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