“Nothing to be done!” utters Samuel Beckett’s character Estragon in desperation in the play Waiting for Godot. Estragon is trying to remove his boot and, failing repeatedly, gives up exhausted. The despair in Beckett’s play contrasts starkly with the leader of the Russian revolution Vladimir Lenin’s book What Is To Be Done? This outlines a clear course of action for bringing about a revolution. Many concerned and well-meaning people are asking the same question: What can we do to improve the conditions in the country? I propose that involvement in the mainstream politics of today cannot yield any positive results. Politics has become so corrupted that no honest and sincere person can safely enter this arena and do something useful. Today, Pakistan is like a bus with failed brakes sliding down a steep slope. There is too much inertia for anyone to halt it. In fact, any individual trying to prevent the headlong rush is likely to be crushed under the bus. So, let the bus slide and hit rock bottom; only then the bus will stop. The chassis may go flying while the wheels and the engine can take a different trajectory. It is only after that happens that there is a chance to change, repair or fix things properly. Unfortunately, the process of this crash will have very bloody consequences for the passengers of the bus: the people of Pakistan. Issues in Pakistan have become so convoluted and hopelessly intertwined that there are no answers anymore. Neither the elite US think tanks nor the locally grown intellectuals have any clear understanding of the disease and how to cure it. What is the problem? Is it the weakness of state institutions, excessive powers of the military, religious militancy, corrupt and inept governments, absence of rule of law or destruction of the environment? What came first: militancy or bad governance? What was the cause, what was the effect? Did the chicken come first or the egg? Where does Islam fit in the framework of the constitution? Where does one start and where does one stop? Some say it is all because the ideological foundations of the country are flawed. Others say no, it is because the country has deviated from Mr Jinnah’s vision of a tolerant and democratic Pakistan. Talk to a taxi driver or a shop owner in Karachi and he will say that Musharraf’s government was the best. Ask any member of civil society and the answer will be the opposite. Nobody is certain whether the US and the Saudis are our best friends or our worst enemies. There is debate even on whether Osama bin Laden is dead or still alive. With the futility of involvement in politics at this juncture, the only useful action in today’s Pakistan is to strengthen the core services and institutions of society. This can take the form of providing medical health, education, theatre, music and sports with or (mostly) without the help of the state. No matter what form or shape a future Pakistan takes, these fundamental aspects of life would still need to be in some decent shape or form to rebuild society. The country will need this head start if people are to survive the chaos and anarchy after a complete collapse. So, forget about politics, stop watching the mindless shouting matches that go by the name of talk shows, stop listening to the so-called experts who turn whichever way the wind blows, ignore the mindless coverage of dharnas (sit-ins) or the endless ticker tape of breaking news. Try to retain your sanity, stay alive for another day without getting depressed and disillusioned. Look at the car speeding in from the wrong direction on a narrow one way street with the calmness of a zen master, turn the other cheek when you are insulted, handover your mobile phone and wallet sans resistance and consider it a legitimate form of indirect taxation. And, if you have any spunk left after all of the above, give a little money or a little time to the likes of Edhi Trust, go work as a volunteer at a hospital, teach for free at a school for the have-nots, help organise a sitar concert, start a mohalla (neighbourhood) cricket team and hope, against hope, that sometime, maybe in another lifetime, it will count for something. The writer is an engineer by training and a social scientist by inclination. He works as a consultant in the social sector