The Rivalry

Ever seen a dog snarl at another dog smaller in size? I see it everyday on at the corner of busy streetlights in Karachi. While the dogfight is metaphorical, it’s a common sight – the guy in the shiny car checking his competition out to the one on the cd70 bike. The furtive glances, territorial stance and the heavy noise of the vehicle are enough to chalk out the rivalry.

Karachi’s youth is characterized into many groups, but can be broadly classified in two. The first group consists of the bougie kids of Pakistan, better known as the ‘Burger Bachay’. Their lifestyle is composed of driving daddy’s fancy toys and wearing clothes directly out of designer magazines. The Burgers, their wallets overloaded with daddy's money, walk around with their designer labels proudly on display. They have a handful of English phrases memorized to up their cool factor, and pride themselves on being their idea of suave. On the other hand there exists a more prominent group, better known as ‘Bun Kebab’, ‘desi bachay’or ‘Mela Party’. Hanging out of buses (their mode of transport), living with empty wallets, and wearing counterfeit designer brands are all part of their charm.

The Differences:

The Talk:‘Yo man this is wicked!’/ ‘Abbey chalbey!’
It begins with the accent. The swanky American/British phonetics stands awkwardly against the crude local vocabulary. The Bun Kebab, executes his lingo with broken phrases and thinks its very ‘Engleesh’ to string in big vocabulary together. He thinks ‘subtle’, ‘comprehensive’ and ‘exquisite’ are big English words and his tongue inherently rejects it.

The Branding: ‘Dude, I bought this one for five grand, chic eh?’ / ‘Abbey ye meine Zainab (the thrift market where counterfeit clothing is sold) se uthayi 300 mein, anthna?’, Iphones to Blackberries, Cigars to Goldleaf (cigarettes) and etc.
When it comes to fashion, the difference between the groups is rather obvious. On one end, there is the extensive buying power of a designer supporting bureaucrat’s prodigy and on the other, a herd of piracy supporters. The Burger Bachay never think twice before spending huge lumps of money on whatever their heart desires; where the Bun Kebabs for spending too much money. While he wishes he could spend money without thinking twice, his pocket screams for survival. This is because he has to save for ‘doston ke saath ka khapa’ (hangout with friends) for later. Similarly, if the Burger Bachay smokes, it will protect his ‘image.’ He will be buying expensive looking cigars while the Mela will settle for anything that he gets and will never buy anything expensive because ‘bus mein jaib se nikal jayeega” (probably will get stolen in the bus).

The Ride: Shiny Red Corrolla vs W18
The Burger Kid probably received a classic ride as a birthday gift while the Bun Kebab struggles to maintain his dignity by trying to hop off the bus in one piece. Chances are the Burger Kid has plenty cars in his daddy’s garage where as the Mela is saving money to buy the ‘dream bike’, the likes of a Honda CD 70.

The ‘Khapa’: ‘Dinner at Grill tonight?’/’Auqaat dekhi hai apni – chal path anke dhabbay’
Like everything else, the Burger Bachay can easily afford to pay for exorbitant dining. This group treats their friends to exotic dining places and bills straight to dad’s account without a second thought. In stark contrast, the Bun Kebabs asks friends to pool in to pay for a decent meal. A Burger Kid’s birthday gift would be a car or a fancy new gadget, whereas for the Mela it is more likely dining bill for a restaurant they might not typically eat at.

The aforementioned differences are only a few of the major differences between the Burgers and Bun Kebabs. Needless to say, a big chunk of the youth varies between these two extremes. Some rely on the wanna-be status, trying very hard to be accepted by the swanky crowd while some really don’t care how they project themselves. The Burger-Mela rivalry is easily identified with Burgers ignoring the Mela existence, while Mela refuses the Burger the upper hand to the best of his ability. The competition and understood enmity between these two bigger factions is what makes the Pakistani youth so interesting. Aside from the differences of financial status, clothes they wear, or brands they use, it boils down to what ‘class’ they have. In their peculiar manner both have their thing going this underlying rivalry between youth has made for this interesting aspect of Pakistani culture.

Passing out from a fancy private school, advancing onto a fancier college and then winding up in a government university has provided me with an up close and personal experience with the Burgers and the Melas. Somewhere along the way I picked up habits from both the factions. I stand somewhere in the middle, so I guess I can be classified as a ‘Burger-accent-wali-desi-bandi’ (a 'regular girl' with a 'Burger' type accent) - not that I prefer it. I might have subconsciously picked up on the accent, fancy television series and football club fan following like any Burger Kid, but I am always flat broke. I tell my friends to chip in money when we hangout, and will proudly announce I bought a rip off handbag for half the price, true to Bun Kebab style