In case you are following me on Instagram then you must be aware that I changed the continent, for good, almost over two months ago. It took me this much time to settle in and hence the delay. These two months, and the time spent in my motherland was a roller coaster ride. There are hundreds of things I really want to talk about. From giving you tips on packing your bags, to giving you a visual update on how I found Sydney and what I have seen and experienced till date – there is a plethora of things I want to share with you all. But this will not allow me to properly close Pakistan’s chapter and say a couple of things before jumping on to the new life. I’m also dedicating this one post to Pakistan and my life back there because I’m totally sold on the idea of giving closure to things and relationships. Otherwise, they keep haunting you for the rest of your lives :! So my dear readers, here is my way of saying “Good Bye Pakistan!”.

How many of you have seen “Kung Fu Panda?” or read the book “The Alchemist”? One is a cartoon movie and the other one is a book of philosophy. But can you imagine they both revolve around one supreme idea – and that’s YOU! So whoever you are, wherever you go and whatever you do or believe in – its just you who matter and nothing else.  We are the secret ingredients of success and we are the culmination of happiness in case, there is ever a pursuit of happiness!.

Born and raised in Pakistan, I always wanted to travel and see the world. I got a couple of chances earlier to move on permanently – but nothing ever worked. You know why? Because nothing was ever meant to work until this time. When my papers finally arrived, I was asked many times as to why I was leaving. Especially when I had a great life, a nice place to live, a good job and an excellent family to live with. And I could never came up with a decent and satisfactory answer. Actually, there was never an answer to this. People don’t necessarily always move for a reason – they move to feed their untiring soul. They move because they feel that they have to!

Pakistan is an interesting place. It has given me everything. A good value system, great education, and a beautiful culture. You need to believe that every place or thing or person has their own merits and demerits. You need to decide which things annoy you the most and what make you let go of them. If you are happy about your eco-system – then there is nothing better than this. Otherwise, you do get this itching all the time which makes you do weird stuff like changing the whole continent altogether 🙂

I have traveled a lot within Pakistan. Credit goes to both my father and the companies I worked for. So I guess I will miss the north of Pakistan the most- especially Hunza. I also recall the beautiful rides to south Punjab with meandering roads having trees on both sides canopying over it. I will miss that.

I will miss my darzi (tailor) who provided me home delivery service. I was a shopaholic (seriously I’m not showing off) so my relationship with my tailor was one level up the normal societal standards. With giving him urgency over an important dinner invite to pushing him constantly for a better dress design, he never disappointed me.

I will miss the cone ice cream from Lahore Liberty market where my dear husband would take me at night giving a sweet end to our random long drives. I will not miss the gazillion u-turns and the forced signal-free intersections though. I will remember that random guy who sells newspapers in the morning and flowers in the evening at the Walton road. I always respected his hard work.

I will miss Nandos and Lahore Ring Road. The later was my all-time favorite place for a long, random and relaxing drive. I will miss home. Both my husband and I had made it from scratch so yeah, it is extremely close to my heart.

I will miss my friends and my family. But I guess I will miss my father the most. The man who made me. Both literally and metaphorically 🙂 Normally fathers of our times were never the ‘friends’ material. I mean, they wouldn’t give much time to their kids. My father has always been a great example of a typical Pakistani, reserved father who would keep his kids at an arm’s length. But very surprisingly, he made sure that I get sold on this point that he loves me the most in this whole wide world. Pata nahi kesay ker letay hain log aesay 😐 I mean, they wouldn’t even talk to you much but would make you realize who you are to them. So yeah, I will miss him the most :/

My relationship with my motherland, after coming to another country, has leveled up actually. Earlier I used to live in Pakistan and from 6th October, 2018 Pakistan will live in me!

May God bless Pakistan and our new home – Australia!

Until then, with more stories on our settling adventure in this new country, stay tight!

Bye!