It has been three years I have been living outside Pakistan. In these three years, my life has been totally changed. I keep moving from country to country, making new friends, seeing new places. It is a good life with all the comforts but the restlessness keeps on growing inside me. I can not complain of lacking friends; I have lots of them. I can not complain of boredom; I have lots to do and see. Nevertheless, I don't have that inner peace now that I used to have. I am totally clueless about this race I seem to be running, constantly on the move. Last year, I realized one of the biggest facts of life; that no matter how beautiful a place is, it appears to be nothing without the company of loved ones. Every time I am sightseeing, whether it's cruising on the Baltic or walking through the palaces and museums in Stockholm, shopping in Seoul or having play rides in Disneyland, admiring the art in the Louvre or having a boat ride in Lake Zürich, I seriously miss my family and the need to share. All the beauty loses its charm. I realized this late one night in December last year when I looked down from the plane and saw the glittering lights of Islamabad. Tears swelled up my eyes and dimmed my view; I felt I had come home finally and God, did I need it! All the emptiness and sadness flew out of me and suddenly I felt that peace that had eluded me for so long.
The ache in my heart was not because of loneliness; it was because of homesickness, a feeling only foreign residents can know. I haven't got rid of it even after three years. I should have been a seasoned and hardened traveller by now but I am not. I am still the girl pining for home and my country. I love the scent of the air in Islamabad, the feeling of belonging there, the food, the language, the care and the ease with which I settle in there. I feel Pakistan is in my blood; every time I land there, peace comes to me. Love is irrational and unreasonable and so it is that I love Pakistan despite all its shortcomings and problems. It is mine and it is home.
God bless Pakistan.
Faroha Liaqat
http://avoiceforislam.blogspot.com
you made me cry faroha.....so touching it is....
ReplyDeleteThanks Nadia. It is just true, that's why it resonates
ReplyDeletesisoooo I love you :)
ReplyDeleteSisooo I love you and we all miss you too
ReplyDeleteI love you too sis :)
ReplyDeleteExtremely expressive, Faroha. Can really understand what you are saying. I lost my father when I was studying abroad. Its never easy to live far from your loved ones.
ReplyDeleteBut!!! you are not ordinary, Faroha. Peace is somewhere inside us, perhaps mixed with few other things. It needs 'separation' from some 'impurities'. Look for the best separation process/technique. Make it (peace) universal...eternal...immortal. We have enough potential to do that. Emotions are always with us, and we do need a true 'friend'to identify, assess and manage/optimize those emotions. Unfortunately most of us dont have such 'friend'.
Faroha, Excellent piece of writing once again. Reading you is always a delightful feeling. God bless you
@ Daniyal
ReplyDeleteThanks for the appreciation. As far as I know, the best separation method is to get rid of side tracks that lead us away from Allah. Once you get rid of them, peace comes eventually.
@ Faroha
ReplyDeleteYeah, you are right about side tracks. And such 'side tracks' vary in space-time continuum. We have to determine a correction factor, a programmed co-efficient, that could result into a nearly-perfect equation. Perhaps then we could attain eternal peace.
Nature want us to rule herself, without being arrogant. Nature want us to kill our ego, then it give us blessings, which are beyond our imagination. Eternal peace is one of such blessings. Humbleness, Non-Fabricated behavior are powerful tools, they can enslave peace. A paradox in our space-time continuum, but true perhaps.
Selflessness is humility. ... humility and freedom go hand in hand. Only a humble person can be free/peaceful.
ReplyDeleteWe must quit thinking we know everything, and quit placing "knowledge" over kindness and compassion.
This is so true. Depicts my feelings as well
ReplyDeleteIt is true for every Pardesi :)
ReplyDelete