Kamran on Bike
Dear Pakistan, my story begins with you even before I was born. When mom was pregnant, there was one Pakistani patriotic song, "Har Ghari Tayyar Kamran Hain Hum!" that would often play on PTV. While listening to it, she would pray to God to bless her with a son so she could name him Kamran.
My earliest memory of you is when I used my pocket money to buy mini-flags. How neat and evenly spaced those mini-flags looked when I glued them on the parapet wall of our old house using flour paste! Everybody knew dad as Pakistani Sahib. Such was his love for you that he even had his name on the National ID card written as "Zafar Ali Pakistani."
In your dusty streets, I learned to walk, and here I used to roll a motorcycle tire. Here, I learned to ride a bicycle and did my first cycle tour as a kid. When I flew to Germany in 2002 to study, looking through the window, I promised myself to return to you from Germany on a bicycle.
For over ten years, whether I was studying, working, or partying, all I was thinking was cycling to you, pushing the last pedal, and seeing the bicycle stop, mom appearing from behind the door, and me falling on her feet.
Every night when I laid my head on the pillow, you reminded me of an unfulfilled promise. You made me listen to the voice of a dream over & over. I left everything for you, my job, all my belongings, and hopped onto the bicycle.
How many countries, uphills, and rivers did I have to cross before we met again? And when I was finally home, I had brought nothing but your flag that I had carried all the way. I laid it on top of mum's grave. You were the most precious gift I could give to her.
Everywhere I went, I told people about you. In Mexico, I even installed a signpost pointing towards you from over 13,000 km away. Thank you, Pakistan, for all the lessons, laughs and tears, and my first love.
Thank you for embracing the bodies of my parents in your soil. Little did I know that they were all preparing me for the journeys I would take on later in life. Everything I am today is because of how you raised me. For that and everything, my dear Pakistan, I will always love you! Happy Independence Day!
