Last night as I lay in bed, desperately unable to fall asleep and also not being able to do much either at that late hour, I started reminiscing about those… good ole days. Suddenly it hit me hard, in the face probably, the date! The frikkin date! It’s been a month, a whole entire month since we were last together as a group, as a whole. A whole month since we bid farewell to each other in a very filmy andaz on Doha airport, complete with rona dhona, Ima miss you!’s, hugging shugging and some more hugging, and ofcourse pictures where everyone but me and komal had their bateesi out.( Jeez, could you guys have even pretended to be unhappy with the situation?) Ofcourse I was among the one who was phoot phoot ke crying when suddenly we realized we have no time left and we have to make a run for it if we wana catch the plane from Doha to Islamabad, and it hit me (things tend to hit me, I know) that our half of the group was about to separate from the karachites/sindhis! There wasn’t enough time. If it had been my way, we would’ve just casually waved saying ‘see ya later, suckersss!’ and went our way without the whole dramatic good bye. But things never go my way, do they. Cuz if they did, the world would be so much better a place to live ofcourse. Anyway, this scene was supposed to be replicated on the Islamabad airport, but I don’t know what the hell happened on the flight, we kinda grew up and said bye like adults would. Like, really. Afterall, there was that excitement of actually getting home and seeing our families after a very long time, that the only tears we shed were those of happiness.
It might seem not very worthwhile to state again that the time period of June 7th 2009 through June 12th and/or 13th 2009 (Okay I am not gona go into the whole time difference shit right now) was undoubtedly, and I do mean, without a flicker of doubt, one of the best times of our lives, and I say that time and time again, knowing some people might get sick of hearing this but hey, who gives a f*ck? Let’s just be honest here awrite. It was pretty awesome.
The anticipation had been building up for months. But when we actually set foot on the campus of Trinity University, Washington DC with our whole lives packed into 2 suitcases and our minds all woozy from traveling for hours and ofcourse the sorrow of leaving the place we’d called home and our host families, it was all just too much to take in. And then above that, the ridiculousness of all those faces, all the faces that appear to be familiar, but not quite (“Wait, was that… nah, it can’t be. But wait a second… OH SHIT!”) Afterall, it was a ten month long process of Americanization, where not just our appearances changed (points at yours truly) but also our behaviors too. In some cases, a little too shockingly (remember the dance? hahahahaha)
But it was ridiculously awesome to see each other in flesh and blood. I remember screaming my head off when I spotted fizza abid and komal ali at the foot of the staircase leading to the girl’s dorm and then them screaming in return while also making their way to me on the other side and everyone turning around to gape at us as if we’d gone crazy but did we care? Hell no! And then one after the other, those familiar faces kept coming. The best was reserved for Saad shahid, whom we walked by ignoring his existence haha how did that feel saad? I forget who’s brilliant idea that was. But alas, we couldn’t do the same to Shehroze Ozzy Hussain, who arrived a little way past our bedtimes. I just realized… did my wish of you having your flight delayed and me coming over to rescue you in Washington, thus meeting a certain someone come true? Hahahaha! Oh wow :D
Even though the dorms sucked, we made the most of it. I remember how luckily komal’s Lebanese left and I sneaked into your room, only to end up having the longest, weirdest, totally uncalled for and open heart convo that lasted a little too long. And I haven’t forgotten how I woke up to you with your camera in my face, but me being the smartass I am, refused to take off the blanket/pillow resulting in some wrong pictures. Iska badla tou mein lun gi, meri jan :D
The time that we had in trinity to ourselves was a little way too much fun. The meals, specially, where we bugged the crap outve the guys (excluding Saad) who would eat the meat without a care in the world. The worst of it was when in mid-meal/mid-taunt, someone exclaimed, “Breaking news! The Imam is here, aur who gosht kha rahe hain!” Well, that apparently didn’t go to well for our case. But the YES people were nice enough to arrange a barbeque night with Halal meat (or so they said :?)
We did try watching a movie once, during the dance when ‘we’ refused to go there. That was an epic failure, and im glad it was. Borat would’ve resulted in Komal having a 105 degree fever and unforgiveness for the rest of our lives. And that’s not even an exaggeration. But we did end up making an awesome video jiss mein sab ki asliatein saamne aagaye :D
And ofcourse Komal’s birthday! Luckily we went to the mall and was able to buy her the most awesome gifts a foreign exchange student from Pakistan in Washington DC with some nutty friends could ever hope for: ‘Revolutionary Road’ from Asim Hassan, a kid’s book ‘the cow says moo, the sheep says baahhh’ courtesy of Mehwisky Zuberi, and the best of the best, a whoopee cushion from Fizza Abid. I remember being the first to do the honors in fizza’s room. Man, that was unbearably realistic. Though we did try to get Komal to sit on it, it just never happened. Then we tried it with osama, failure there. Then asim, another failure. Then I went up to get a coke (diet, ofcourse) and I knew that they would do it with me too, so another failure. Still, the sound remains in my ears to this day.
There were other instances. *THE MORON TEST!!!! I almost lost my mind in the process. Komal almost broke Osama’s itouch haha good timessss. *Let’s not forget how I actually believed ozzy was consuming pork in the mall. That was really God awful, you guys, I was really scared of what he’d do next. *And then you guys woudnt even let me take a single frikkin picture with the New Moon poster haha! *Oh and Fizza et moi lying on the pavement, enjoying the freedom of America as this is one of the things we can never do in Pakistan. *The poles at the Trinity College are amazing. They are just awesome. They brought out a hidden talent in me, though thankfully there is no remaining proof, I made sure of that :D The boys found some bromance there too hahahaha *and let’s not forget the chappal pictures! Fizzy pop, you is so brilliant. *And being so bored that we started reciting all them old PTV commercials “Meri muthi mein band hai kia? Bata dou na!” * And Komla’s various international admirers haha*And all those “That’s what she said’s” that were highly, highly inappropriate but way too funny haha *Ahh and then there was ozzy ki patlooon! I will not even bother elaborating on that one. All im gona say is its framed on my wall with the caption in bright gold “DC ki yaadein” *And the “chalein? ;)” uff khudaya hahahaha *and then the entire group (with the exception of us ghairatmand people, me, komal and osama) singing and dancing in the rain. That was entertaining, even just to watch. *I wish I could list em all, but we gotta be PG 13, right? :D
The last night was probably my favourite. Sitting around reminiscing about the time when we didn’t even know about each other’s existence, leading to coming to know each other, the flight from Karachi to isloo where hot apa and chota bhai came into existence, then the rapid fire, and the CR and the wait and coming to America and American University and then seeing each other again… remembering all that was a little too overwhelming. But I cant think of a single other thing I would’ve rather done.
Last morning in Dc, Fizza Abid and I planned to horrify our mothers when they finally see us so we put on black nailpolish and I donned my Twilight tshirt. We took our yearbooks and our diaries and made each other sign it. That little book cheers me up in the darkest of times. Silence was so much more powerful than words and we just sat around until it was time to go.
And then the flights… uff that was epic. All I gota say is : Stuck in the drive through!!!!!! And ofcourse not to mention, I discovered I have a pretty awesome shoulder to sleep on. . (Komal, you owe me, love) But even the flights came to an end all too soon.
Dure, I specially tagged you cuz I wish with all the might of my heart that you would’ve been there. But even if you werent there in person, you know you were in our hearts, our minds and ofcourse on our tongues :D Love you, my lovely person who understands all my sick jokes.
I had the time of my life with you guys. It would be nashukri to have asked for anything more. I miss you guys more than I miss America. I miss you guys like a fish would miss water in the dry desert of Cholistan (that is, if it wasn’t dead already). I really would give my left kidney and half my leg to be with you guys. When I signed up for this exchange thing, the last thing I expected was to find the most awesome bunch of people to be friends with. I can not wait for us to grow older, be 30 and still be friends and go to each other weddings and then sit together and have coffee ya chai and do stuff we shdnt be doing and say stuff we shdnt even be thinking. I love you all a little too much. Let’s never ever get out of touch, shall we? Je t’adoreeeeeeee!!!!
your's truly
Mehwisky Zuberi
It might seem not very worthwhile to state again that the time period of June 7th 2009 through June 12th and/or 13th 2009 (Okay I am not gona go into the whole time difference shit right now) was undoubtedly, and I do mean, without a flicker of doubt, one of the best times of our lives, and I say that time and time again, knowing some people might get sick of hearing this but hey, who gives a f*ck? Let’s just be honest here awrite. It was pretty awesome.
The anticipation had been building up for months. But when we actually set foot on the campus of Trinity University, Washington DC with our whole lives packed into 2 suitcases and our minds all woozy from traveling for hours and ofcourse the sorrow of leaving the place we’d called home and our host families, it was all just too much to take in. And then above that, the ridiculousness of all those faces, all the faces that appear to be familiar, but not quite (“Wait, was that… nah, it can’t be. But wait a second… OH SHIT!”) Afterall, it was a ten month long process of Americanization, where not just our appearances changed (points at yours truly) but also our behaviors too. In some cases, a little too shockingly (remember the dance? hahahahaha)
But it was ridiculously awesome to see each other in flesh and blood. I remember screaming my head off when I spotted fizza abid and komal ali at the foot of the staircase leading to the girl’s dorm and then them screaming in return while also making their way to me on the other side and everyone turning around to gape at us as if we’d gone crazy but did we care? Hell no! And then one after the other, those familiar faces kept coming. The best was reserved for Saad shahid, whom we walked by ignoring his existence haha how did that feel saad? I forget who’s brilliant idea that was. But alas, we couldn’t do the same to Shehroze Ozzy Hussain, who arrived a little way past our bedtimes. I just realized… did my wish of you having your flight delayed and me coming over to rescue you in Washington, thus meeting a certain someone come true? Hahahaha! Oh wow :D
Even though the dorms sucked, we made the most of it. I remember how luckily komal’s Lebanese left and I sneaked into your room, only to end up having the longest, weirdest, totally uncalled for and open heart convo that lasted a little too long. And I haven’t forgotten how I woke up to you with your camera in my face, but me being the smartass I am, refused to take off the blanket/pillow resulting in some wrong pictures. Iska badla tou mein lun gi, meri jan :D
The time that we had in trinity to ourselves was a little way too much fun. The meals, specially, where we bugged the crap outve the guys (excluding Saad) who would eat the meat without a care in the world. The worst of it was when in mid-meal/mid-taunt, someone exclaimed, “Breaking news! The Imam is here, aur who gosht kha rahe hain!” Well, that apparently didn’t go to well for our case. But the YES people were nice enough to arrange a barbeque night with Halal meat (or so they said :?)
We did try watching a movie once, during the dance when ‘we’ refused to go there. That was an epic failure, and im glad it was. Borat would’ve resulted in Komal having a 105 degree fever and unforgiveness for the rest of our lives. And that’s not even an exaggeration. But we did end up making an awesome video jiss mein sab ki asliatein saamne aagaye :D
And ofcourse Komal’s birthday! Luckily we went to the mall and was able to buy her the most awesome gifts a foreign exchange student from Pakistan in Washington DC with some nutty friends could ever hope for: ‘Revolutionary Road’ from Asim Hassan, a kid’s book ‘the cow says moo, the sheep says baahhh’ courtesy of Mehwisky Zuberi, and the best of the best, a whoopee cushion from Fizza Abid. I remember being the first to do the honors in fizza’s room. Man, that was unbearably realistic. Though we did try to get Komal to sit on it, it just never happened. Then we tried it with osama, failure there. Then asim, another failure. Then I went up to get a coke (diet, ofcourse) and I knew that they would do it with me too, so another failure. Still, the sound remains in my ears to this day.
There were other instances. *THE MORON TEST!!!! I almost lost my mind in the process. Komal almost broke Osama’s itouch haha good timessss. *Let’s not forget how I actually believed ozzy was consuming pork in the mall. That was really God awful, you guys, I was really scared of what he’d do next. *And then you guys woudnt even let me take a single frikkin picture with the New Moon poster haha! *Oh and Fizza et moi lying on the pavement, enjoying the freedom of America as this is one of the things we can never do in Pakistan. *The poles at the Trinity College are amazing. They are just awesome. They brought out a hidden talent in me, though thankfully there is no remaining proof, I made sure of that :D The boys found some bromance there too hahahaha *and let’s not forget the chappal pictures! Fizzy pop, you is so brilliant. *And being so bored that we started reciting all them old PTV commercials “Meri muthi mein band hai kia? Bata dou na!” * And Komla’s various international admirers haha*And all those “That’s what she said’s” that were highly, highly inappropriate but way too funny haha *Ahh and then there was ozzy ki patlooon! I will not even bother elaborating on that one. All im gona say is its framed on my wall with the caption in bright gold “DC ki yaadein” *And the “chalein? ;)” uff khudaya hahahaha *and then the entire group (with the exception of us ghairatmand people, me, komal and osama) singing and dancing in the rain. That was entertaining, even just to watch. *I wish I could list em all, but we gotta be PG 13, right? :D
The last night was probably my favourite. Sitting around reminiscing about the time when we didn’t even know about each other’s existence, leading to coming to know each other, the flight from Karachi to isloo where hot apa and chota bhai came into existence, then the rapid fire, and the CR and the wait and coming to America and American University and then seeing each other again… remembering all that was a little too overwhelming. But I cant think of a single other thing I would’ve rather done.
Last morning in Dc, Fizza Abid and I planned to horrify our mothers when they finally see us so we put on black nailpolish and I donned my Twilight tshirt. We took our yearbooks and our diaries and made each other sign it. That little book cheers me up in the darkest of times. Silence was so much more powerful than words and we just sat around until it was time to go.
And then the flights… uff that was epic. All I gota say is : Stuck in the drive through!!!!!! And ofcourse not to mention, I discovered I have a pretty awesome shoulder to sleep on. . (Komal, you owe me, love) But even the flights came to an end all too soon.
Dure, I specially tagged you cuz I wish with all the might of my heart that you would’ve been there. But even if you werent there in person, you know you were in our hearts, our minds and ofcourse on our tongues :D Love you, my lovely person who understands all my sick jokes.
I had the time of my life with you guys. It would be nashukri to have asked for anything more. I miss you guys more than I miss America. I miss you guys like a fish would miss water in the dry desert of Cholistan (that is, if it wasn’t dead already). I really would give my left kidney and half my leg to be with you guys. When I signed up for this exchange thing, the last thing I expected was to find the most awesome bunch of people to be friends with. I can not wait for us to grow older, be 30 and still be friends and go to each other weddings and then sit together and have coffee ya chai and do stuff we shdnt be doing and say stuff we shdnt even be thinking. I love you all a little too much. Let’s never ever get out of touch, shall we? Je t’adoreeeeeeee!!!!
your's truly
Mehwisky Zuberi
7 comments:
whoa. She sure had a lot to say.
Good, nonetheless.
YES!! I'm reading it the 7th time, i guess. lol.
wonderfullllllllllllllll!!!
i love long reads. though i find a lot of complains to entertain cuz of it :)
thanks for sharing Komal :)
:))))))
Wow, this was so absolutely wonderful to read.
Your blessed! :)
Will be read ASAP (:
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