Homeland

My homeland is Pakistan. It is full of nature and beautiful scenery. I love my country. I have become more patriotic after coming to Canada. Although I had a lot of memories in Pakistan, I miss the joint family system and how families meet and care for each other. 

Whether it is a time of joy and sadness, all relatives came no matter how far or near they lived. Almost everyone has two types of relatives, one is from mother’s side that includes grandmother, grandfather and mother’s siblings, also similarly from father’s side. Usually these families meet randomly on weekends, they do breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner together. They plan outings and hire a big vehicle and sit in the bus to go for a special date. 

For weddings, all these families and friends come and make the day memorable for the bride and groom. The wedding invitation is usually for three days. The first day is called Mehndi, the second day is Barat (Nikah ceremony) from bride’s side, and third day is Walima from the groom’s side. 

Likewise, if someone dies, all these families and friends come for condolences, and only men attend the funeral prayer of the dead person, and all the ladies stay at home and seek forgiveness from Allah for the dead person. All these families and friends visit the dead person’s home often after the death of a person and say prayers to seek mercy from Allah to forgive all sins of dead person. They say prayers that may Allah grant patience to the rest of the family for the loss of their loved one. 

In Pakistan, people of different beliefs live together, but the majority of them are Muslims. Muslims celebrate two major events every year, one is called Eid- Ul -Fitar in which they celebrate after fasting the whole holy month of Ramadan, and second is called Eid-Ul-Adha, in which they do sacrifices of goats, camels, and cows. On these big events all the families go to each other’s home and enjoy their traditional delicious food together. Government announces official holiday for three days and all schools, colleges and institutions remain closed. 

Apart from that, families caring for each other, I miss Pakistan’s food the most. I love to eat our traditional food from different street foods, and these streets are worth watching, especially at nighttime. The streets are lit up with different colors of lights and some shops remain open for the whole night. 

Pakistan’s northern areas are so beautiful. They present a glimpse of nature. Pakistan has different lakes, high mountain ranges, glacier’s and so many wonderful vistas. Pakistan has four seasons: summer, spring winter and fall. All these seasons differently present marvellous beauty in these areas.