Sunday, November 18, 2007

Canceleld Trip to Pakistan


(above is a picture sent to me by one of my friends, Ahmad Raza who worked with us briefly from an external auditing firm)


Pakistan is one place on earth I really would love to visit.

I have friends in Lahore, Karachi, Sahiwal and Peshawar and was actually looking forward to visiting there.

Several months ago, I promised my friend, Shoaib's parents that I would visit them in Sahiwal. They came to Jeddah for Umrah and I had the pleasure of meeting them in Makkah. It was funny when I met them. I have not actually met parents of my Pakistani friends.... together. Normally I get to be introduced only to the father. But that time, I had them both together. After making a few calls so we can finalize the meeting point, I finally got to see them, sitting under the small clock tower fronting one of the major gates in the Grand Mosque. I like meeting parents of my friends, its like family. So me and Shoaib's father shook hands and hugged, as is customary, and his mum reached for me, well actually you know, that time, I didn't know how to react……she reached to tap my shoulder as if to bless me, and to my own amazement, of not knowing how to respond, I did the same to her… aaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……. LOL……. It was so awkward, because I realized that it was very foolish… that I learned from my other Pakistani friends, well actually I have few.. lets see.. I have Shoaib, Saqlain and Hasnain Jillani – my friends from Lahore. Shoaib is my bestest friend in Jeddah, anyway, I also have Asim Hafiz – from Karachi, Umer from Lahore also and finally Salam Khan, who I call Khanji – from Peshawar. So I have this little Pakistani circle of friends.

So because of this exposure to almost everything Pakistani, there grew inside of me a desire to visit the place. Besides, I have seen a lot of beautiful tourist destinations on TV. I definitely will be very happy to see a glimpse of Kashmir, Muree, Peshawar, Sahiwal, Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Gilgit, Payperu etc.

Anyway, I made some plans to visit there this year, in December…. Unfortunately because of most recent events, I had to put that plan off….for obvious safety reasons. This kindda make me feel a bit frustrated.

But anyway, in the right time, inshAllah….. I hope next year will be a better time for my visit…. You know what is more amazing? Sometimes I dream of retiring as a farmer in one of the mountainside farms in Pakistan… well why not… dreaming is free anyway, no need for plane ticket!

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