Heart Talk: My Journey ....

Whenever I visit a new place I am filled with gratitude. It reminds me of how incredibly blessed I am to be able to walk on this piece of earth so far away from where I was born.

10 Life Goals for 2021 and beyond...

It is hard to pen down in a single post what 2020 felt like. A whirlwind of events and emotions... where every day presented a new challenge. 

I am scared to make any resolutions for I don’t know what 2021 holds. 

Heart Talk: What will you be when you grow up?

Reading Michelle Obama’s book, ‘Becoming’ and the preface had such an inspiring concept that I stopped to share....

Heart Talk: It has been a while....

 

It has been a while..... 

Introducing Foodie & Mrs.

“In a time of anger or despair, even if we feel overwhelmed, our love is still there.

Our capacity to communicate, to forgive, to be compassionate is still there.

You have to believe this.

We are more than our anger, we are more than our suffering.

We must recognize that we do have within us the capacity to love, to understand, to be compassionate, always.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

And there is also food... food made and shared with love... 

Please check out our new venture Foodie & Mrs.

Heart Talk: My Work Life

I posted this image in stories yesterday and my inbox got flooded with messages and questions… so I thought I will put it here and also leave some thoughts … 

Heart Talk: Meet PY & J

Meet PY & J, my lunch buddies …J is the tallest one in this photograph… 

Same Year, New Me

Are you all ready for the “New Year, New Me” statuses and updates that are soon to start?

Well, let me present .......“Same Year, New Me”....... Full marks for my creativity, right?

Heart Talk: Choices

A few years ago Ahsan and I were at a very low point in our lives… both of us were jobless and we wanted to live in a country where having a job was the only way to secure a visa. With a friend, we sat down to see our options. The easiest option at that point required both of us to live in different countries. We both went silent on it. Our friend insisted on reasons and I couldn’t come up with any solid reason until he said, as if reading my mind, that I was allowed to say that I do not want to live away from my husband. But, he said that this ‘choice’ comes with responsibility and a price that we may have to pay. I was willing to choose a riskier path of trying my luck for jobs in limited time or going for another degree as an international student. Finding a job was very tough and getting a degree was costing us all our savings. But, it was a risk worth taking - for it was allowing us to follow our dream together. 

Heart Talk: A Little Confession

Even after being married to an extrovert whose idea of fun is to meet people, have people over, go over to meet people, and even after understanding the importance of networking, my introvert heart is still pretty dominant. Now, I am more of an extroverted introvert, I hope. I say that because, in the past, I had to do some self-talk in the car park to convince myself to attend a big gathering. 

Heart Talk: I was a Part of a Book!

My first job right after completing my master's degree was this 6 months project where I worked as a project coordinator on a coffee table book, The Craft Traditions of Pakistan by the Export Promotion Bureau. 

Heart Talk: The Last Run

“When was the last time you ran?” asked my hubby when he saw me breathless after running two minutes on a treadmill. 

Heart Talk: Birthday

My dad was posted in a small city when I was born. The nurses in the hospital believed that having a girl was not the best thing in the world. Also, in some confusion, they thought that my mother already had three girls (when it was 3 boys) and I was the fourth one. So, when I was born my mum says that the nurses were hesitant to reveal the gender. Finally, after seeing my mum’s desperation who was cooking all kinds of scenarios in her head at the nurses’ strange secrecy, she was informed with much regret that a girl was born. Mum who was prepared for the worst took a sigh of relief and asked the news to be delivered to the father. My anxious dad was pacing the corridors outside the labour room. All the guesses, symptoms and prophecies before my birth had prepared everyone for a boy but he was still secretly hoping for a baby GIRL.

Heart Talk: Life With a Creative Partner

Life with a creative partner… 

When Ahsan’s sister told us that he is studying film production to be a ‘cinematographer’, there was silence in the drawing room for a bit. Yes, ours was an arranged marriage and this was the first time his family came over. I, for one, did not know how to pronounce the word cinematographer, let alone know what such a fancy professional did. Back then I only knew few professions… doctor, engineer, teacher, chartered accountant. How did we end up getting married is a story for another post but, the point is that I married a cinematographer and entered into the world of creative people.