Celebrating Anjum's B'day

Week 02	January 5, 2015	January 11, 2015

1.     Preamble:

Although it is too early for the blog of this week, 8th Jan as always is a special day that can not go un remembered. This particular blog as such is being issued early, solely to celebrate Anjum's B'day. Since last many years both of us could not be together on this day as she travels to Karachi on account of extreme cold winter with her mother, who herself escapes from Canada for identically the same reason. I myself however don't mind cold and prefer to stay back at our farmhouse. Before leaving in mid December, she makes sure, I will not go hungry and stuff both the fridge and deep freezer with the boxes after boxes of cooked meals of all possible types and combinations. She would even leave a sufficient stock of  clothes, towels and bed linen, all washed and ironed, stashed in the cupboard. Could there be any person more considerate other than a loving life partner, especially for the one who occasionally could be as difficult and grouchy as myself? On her birthday, which is just about to dawn, I would like to go through the memory lane a bit!

2.     Family Event:
2.1.  Celebrating Anjum's B'day (Born: 8th January 1952):

I am older than Anjum by seven or so years. I still remember seeing her as a little girl with two pony tails and a flatter nose when we all were spending our summer holidays at our nana's place in Saidu Sharif (Swat). I of course didn't worry about her then and even much later in 1967 when in my capacity of family driver I picked them up from the Kotri Railway Station on their return from Kuala Lumpur and subsequent brief stay in Hyderabad, on way to Sudbury, Canada. She by then had grown big and her nose, I noticed was a little less flatter. She was dressed in 'parrot green chooridaar slacks' and was constantly directed and drilled to walk straight by Shaheda Khala Amman (her mother). I still didn't think much of her. She had grown a bit chirpy but seemed none the less 'happy with her life' kind of girl. When the time came for their leaving, I drove them to Karachi for them to take the flight to London and onwards to Toronto. I then didn't have the slightest inkling of things to come only a couple of years later. We were married in September 1971.

Anjum, over a number of years has changed much but she remains loving and very caring as she always has been. She bore us four lovely boys and mothered them through difficult times. She chose to go through the difficult life with me in Pakistan away from her parents, brothers and a sister in Canada. I now ponder with much respect and appreciation for her, what on earth prompted her to do that? She left her studies midway in Canada with much better prospects, to come and live in Pakistan and to spend her entire life with a person, whose future was uncertain and who had just embarked on a career as a scientist in a poor country. I remember our early days together. We lived in a shared house with only a bed room and a living room to ourselves. I had to sell my books to buy a cot bed, two easy chairs and a smallish dining set. In spite of the two chairs, we always sat huddled up together in harshest of winters to watch TV in its infancy in the evenings. In spite of her much happier life in Canada, she always smiled and appeared ever so contended. I remember our daily walks to the market place, our trips to Murree and friends places. We were a happy couple barring occasional 'border skirmishes' which always ended up in enhancing our fondness for each other!  All in all we have had a wonderful life.  Our best times were a couple of weeks together in Sudbury, where I had gone from Copenhagen to be with her and our sons, Hasan and Omer. I was never more homesick as much as I was on my returning to Denmark (where I was then working as a visiting scientist with the Danish Atomic Energy Commission).

We as a family have over the years lived, apart from Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Karachi and back again in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. We Enjoy outdoors. Apart from going to scenic places in the country itself, we went together to Beijing and twice to Istanbul.

Among the places we would like to go again and again is surely Istanbul. We have fond memories of being together in that very old yet an enchantingly modern city!

We have sailed through calm seas but also occasional rough ones. I often think, rowing and propelling the boat of our life often striving very hard, this voyage has brought us to the shores of contended happiness. She has been an equal contributor, in my estimate, to this fruitful and successful journey. We now live happily together in our farmhouse, which we have built together. In the following picture she is seen laying the first brick in its foundations.

We have had our life. We now live for our dear sons, adorable daughter in-laws and masha Allah some of the most awesome grand children. Come to think they would not have been there for us to enjoy, had we not married each other! What a great loss it would have been?

To you Anjum, I would say, I am no longer the young man I used to be. However, I am never too old to say I love you and show you how much you mean to me. Happy Birthday Anjum!