Home is where the heart is........

I love Pakistan. 

Its the country where i was born; 

where i grew up;

where i spent so many years with my family;

where i made friends with whom i shared my good and bad times;

where i fell ill from missing my dad when he went to karachi for a week;

where i was educated by the teachers i admired;

where i spent the evenings of 13th august glueing jhandian on a never ending thread;

where i stood on our house roof top to watch the F-16s on 7th september;

where i sat in front of the TV all night to watch election results;

where i cheered for our cricket team; 

where our "maulvi sahab" used to give a jumma khutba in his splendid voice;

where i bargained with khan baba over the price of a suit piece;

where i ate paratha rolls and masalay wali chhalli;

where eating halva puri on sundays was a must for me;

where i had my first and last PAAN and didnt know whether i was supposed to spit it out or swallow;

where i used to run to the door at the sound of walls icecream vendor;

where i watched my brothers flying kites on basant and ALWAYS failing miserably at beating the neighbours;

where i liked going to mehndi functions and hated barats;

where i tried over a hundred ECS chappals and bought just one;

where i spent eid chand raats looking for the right bangals and the best mehndi;

where the dhol wala group used to wake up everyone way before sehri time;

where i threw tantrums when my tailor got late in making my dress for eid day;

where my mom used to put food in my mouth when i refused to eat during exams because it wasted precious minutes;

where i cried for days when i gave a bad exam and kept picking out imaginary mistakes when i gave a perfect one;

where i taught students who probably didnt understand my lectures;

where i learned how to drive but could never drive;

I still remember a voice going deep into the winter nights..... "garam aanday";

Oh God; How i miss everything.

I miss Pakistan. I miss home.


Its where my heart lies.