“So, what do you do?” A stranger asked me, at a charity dinner of a mesmerizing classical dance performance of Sheema Kirmani. I sat down, at a vacant chair, next to his wife and her sister. They were visiting from UK, or was it Canada? Well, somewhere abroad.
I was distracted, looking around for the familiar face of my friend the famous cartoonist Nigar Nazar. We had planned to meet at PNCA at the National Art Gallery, in Islamabad, where the charity dinner and dance show was taking place. But we lost each other in the huge crowd. So, I tagged along with this friendly group.
“Nothing, much…” I replied.
The ensuing conversation with total strangers at the table, resulted in them finding out how much my ‘nothing’ entails…
Studying for my MBA degree in HRM (with hardly any time or money, to study), constructing my house, (with no funds), appearing at courts for the cases (I have put against my outlaws, and facing the cases, they put up against me,) the traumatic loss of my losing my husband through cancer, living alone in a city of Pakistan with my daughter, taking care of my elderly parents, and looking after my cocker spanial dog and Persian cat too! Oh, and the book which I got published in USA called ‘My Life, My Stories’, its based on my printed articles during last twenty years….
May I also add … making a success out of all! No, I didn’t mention any of these.
Why should I? We were enjoying each other’s company. And it was nice to talk to people living all their lives abroad.
In spite of all that I’ve suffered here, I love living in Pakistan. After all, suffering is a ‘life thing’… people suffer at different times in their lives. And so did I. Thanks to Allah, I had the right friends, mentors, people, strangers and unknown factors that helped whisk me out of most of my dangerous situations.
I often wonder, if I’d have done it all without my childhood love for adventure.
But one thing I know for sure. It was Allah, who brought so much love and support for me, so I could take it all, and ride over it. And here I am, ready to write about it….
I guess, you can say, that the bad things were there due to living in a country with such a pathetic legal system, which gives strength to the bad guys. But in this same country, due to all this, the good guys help you even more, because they know, you have no one to help you. So, they go the extra mile to help you! While being complicated, it’s very simple too. It’s because of all this evilness that the goodness comes out in people around you.
Does that make sense?
