Eid and money in Pakistan

Hard times: It’s been two years since children could indulge in playing with their Hari Raya money like this lot in 2019. So let them indulge this year, says the writer. — Filepic/The Star

A FATHER to a nine-year-old child has a strange kind of dilemma. The child is asking him to purchase some toys that are not very expensive, but the problem is they don’t exist. They’re tokens in a video game against which you can make in-game purchases. This particular game involves collecting little pet animals. The child can either play the game and collect the tokens “organically” over a long period of time, or pay money to buy the tokens and use them to buy exotic high-end “pets” like unicorns with a golden horn, or penguins with neon bellies.

So far this father has resisted the pressure and said no despite welling eyes. But the cost is not that much and the toys may not be real in the sense we old-fashioned folk like to think – they are not tangible after all – but neither are rides at an amusement park.