Published on, Sept. 5 -- September 5, 2025 1:35 AM

Regardless of where you live in the world, if you are a member of the South Asian community, I am pretty sure you have heard the words "Log Kya Kahenge?" which directly translates into English as "What Will People Say?" Yes, these three words are what most Pakistani people are brought up with. We are told to worry more about others' perceptions of us than ourselves.

Before people make any decision, priority is given to ensuring one's reputation is not at stake. Somehow, one's reputation is always a sum of what people think and say. It is not based on merit. Mind you, this isn't easy, because unfortunately, most of our reputations are at the mercy of narrow-minded, highly judgmental, and...