Pakistan 2012

Despite a bit tragic end of 2011 (reference to blog "Goodbye 2011"), 2012 has started with lots of excitement for me as I (and family) will be travelling to Pakistan to visit families and friends. It will be first overseas trip of Musa when he will meet his grand parents, uncles, aunts and cousins.  Everyone there is anxiously waiting to meet little one as they all are counting days (just like we are). Yes this is very exciting !!!

The preparation for such a trip is multi-folded that includes, 1-shopping, 2-shopping, 3-shopping and packing of those shoppings :P and I'm glad that the major part of this preparation is completed (well almost). The packing cannot start until the last 48 hours before we get on-board. 

This time I'm going home after about two years and there are a lots of things to do when I get there. One of the most important (after meeting family of course) is to eat all sorts of local/desi food, hmmm yummy (even the thought of that). The top of the list is 'Halwa Poori', 'Hareesa', 'Muhammadi Nihari', 'Kali Mirch Walay Chanay', 'Bundu Khan ki Handi, Reshmi Kabab, Malai Kabab', 'SnP ka Stuffed Chicken Breast', 'Nadeem Tikka', 'Bhayye k Kabab', 'Liberty Burger', 'Dahi Bhallay' and rest of the list is very long :P 

Along with all the excitement, there is a bit of worry about health that I hope the trip goes without any health issues. The shortage of electricity and gas will also make this trip interesting, aah! There will be lots of travelling involved within Pakistan (I'm expecting although I'd prefer otherwise). 

The trip is going to begin in few days now and I can already see myself at the halwa poori shop, early in the morning "doing the justice" with my craving for it :D

Here is a "screenshot" of the image that I have in my mind, for you :P

With sincere apologies from those having a weak heart :P

Goodbye 2011

What an year 2011 was for me and my family. It brought some of the best moments and blessings in my life and also has brought me across some un-wanted and not so pleasant moments. However these good and not so good moments all are part of life and one should not complain when something is unwanted in the life rather should be thankful to ALMIGHTY for what good has happened and cherish it. Life should be based on all the good memories while learning from the bad ones so that their repetition can be avoided in future.

So here I am being thankful to ALMIGHTY for blessing me any my family with the best gift of life, my son. He brought me the utmost pleasure and joy of life, cannot thank enough to ALLAH. Life has become so beautiful and feels complete. I come home from full day's tiring job, but when I see his smiling face that washes all the tiredness away in a blink. It is just amazing. You've got to be a parent to feel that and to believe it :)

There were few occasions in 2011 that I wish hadn't happened. But I also know everything in life happens for a reason and for that one should not complain about the hard ships of life and lose hope. We should rather take such events as a challenge and work to steer ourselves out of it while taking note of the dos and donts of the whole event. These notes help you throughout your life to avoid the repetition of those unwanted and unpleasant scenes. I have learned as well from these and will try not to let these recur.

This Christmas and new year holidays I was thinking of touring the width and breadth of city but one last little incident of the leaving year 2011 forced me to sit back and relax, avoiding the Christmas rush on the roads and in the car parks of any mall or picnic spots. It gave me the opportunity to catch up with the lost sleep and clean the Macbook's hard drive of the long copied movies ;) It has been a very boring end of the year and holidays. Never hated any holiday period this much before and hope won't have to in future.

Anyway, to close this post and say goodbye 2011 here are a few of the year's highlights to be listed.

1- Birth of my son Mohammad Musa Shakeel
2- Birth of a baby boy (Ehan Ali) and a baby girl (Zainab Batool) to SS' sister and brother's families respectively.
3- Wedding of my cousin Muhammad Rizwan
4- Birth of a baby boy to Rizwan's family.

Thanking for these bright moments of the year, I say goodbye 2011 and welcome 2012 with these hopes and prayers that;

May 2012 bring prosperity, health and contentment for me, my family, relatives and friends. For my country, Pakistan, may it be a year of peace, glory, respect, growth and free from corruption, lawlessness, injustice and inhumanity. Ameen.