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Who am I?

Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 02:56 PM by ehsan

Sometimes wonder who I am. Born in Kenya with family originally from Lahore, spent part of my youth in Kenya and Pakistan. Than on to UK, Iran, UK, Saudi and than back to UK. Spent most of my life in Saudi, only ten years in Pakistan, yet my strongest feelings are for Pakistan. I identify strongly with that country. Wonder why? Maybe something to do with my roots being from Lahore. None of my family was born or lived there and I hardly have any relatives there.

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	Re: Who am I? Tannoun aapi nei patta? on a serious note, who are you anyway? sorry i just cant be serious :D .
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 02:58 PM by MYwish

	Re: Who am I? The head honcho's opening up
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 02:59 PM by Femme Fatale

	Re: Who am I? hi. welcome to gs :)
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:01 PM by shweetdreamz

	Re: Who am I? hey:waves: when did you leave Kenya?
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:02 PM by sidz_angel

	Re: Who am I? You are my Ehsan bhai. :hugz:
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:05 PM by MehnazQ

	Re: Who am I? That reminded me of a famous joke I read in Hamdard NaunehaaL when I was a kid Friend 1: Aik shakhs pakistan maiN pedaa huaa, london maiN palla baRhaa, sweeden maiN taaleem paai, canada maiN shaadi huee, New York maiN job kartaa rahaa, tokyo maiN retirement guzaari aur hindustaan maiN mar gayaa, uss ko tum kiyaa kaho gey? Friend 2: Marhoom
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:06 PM by AQ

Re: Who am I?

Have you ever heard the saying 'your only as old as you feel'. I think you can apply that here. If you feel like your a Pakistani, then you probably are one. I don't understand why you need to belong to a culture of sorts? Places, names, shapes and sizes do not make who we are, they make what we are. The kind of person you are, attributes you have, mannerisms, beliefs and values make who you are.

Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:07 PM by Miss_Mohabbat

	Re: Who am I? This just isn't fair. Peghlee entry par itnee attention. And then you guys wonder why the political system back home isn't fair. :(. I would be surprised if this journal gets 5 stars on one entry alone. hee hee hee.
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:11 PM by MYwish

	Re: Who am I? welcome shelcome to journals ehsan bhai
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:12 PM by DeSiMuNdA

	Re: Who am I? MyWish: your wish has been granted *****
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:14 PM by AQ

	Re: Who am I? Anwar Unkil. Tauba. Yeh kahan ka insaaf hai.
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:16 PM by MYwish

	Re: Who am I? Ehsan bhai
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:17 PM by ~Sehar~

	Re: Who am I? a paki-stani thru and thru. :-) you are a mohajir like the rest of us sitting abroad i suppose. :-D
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:21 PM by Ma Mooli

Re: Who am I?

I have a same question. I was born in Jeddah, spent 13 yrs of my life there then moved out to pakistan for 2 yrs and then moved to USA. Parents from lahore, unless like you ..I can't seem to have strong feelings for either pakistan or any other country. I say ..I don't care where I live untill my needs are met...lol I have lived alone on an island by myself for a yr now, which means now I can pretty much survive any where on this planet.

Ofcourse since parents are from pakistan...I am also considered as pakistani :)

Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:25 PM by evilmastermind

	Re: Who am I? Oops!!!! didn't expect that many replies so quickly. Thanks everyone. FF, do I want to talk to bird killers? Ma mooli, EMM, my family left Lahore for Kenya in 1920 and no one in my family was either born in or ever held the Pakistani nationality. Thats why my question as to why I have such strong feelings for Pakistan.
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:43 PM by ehsan

	Re: Who am I? You are a Pakistani at heart just like counteless pakistanis who are more indian at heart than indians themselves.
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:48 PM by BigMouth

Re: Who am I?

Can you read and write urdu?

If you can, then you are from Indo-Pak sub-continent

Who do you want to win a cricket game if Pakistan is playing with any other country? If your answer is Pakistan then you are Pakistani by heart.

Not to mention, many born pakistanies who are living in that country are not pakistani by heart.

What is your pick? You want to be like them or do you want to be what you are?

Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 03:51 PM by AQ AQ is offline

Re: Who am I?

you are plain nasty

I didn't kill the bird, mamooli did and then conveniently sent its budrooh my way

In my case I feel a detachment cos of having lived in more than just two/three countries. I would identify myself as a Pakistani but thats as far as it goes, I don't think I would like to go back there or anything of the sort. Maybe your family kept alive the pakistani culture even in Kenya which is why u identify with Pakistan more. Was there a lot of diveristy in Kenya or did you feel like outsiders? Maybe in Pakistan you don't feel like an outsider and that is why you feel more Pakistani. Whatever the reason, Pakistan Zindabad

Hope you gathered all my pearls of wisdom

Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 04:45 PM by Femme Fatale Femme Fatale is offline

	Re: Who am I? wow ehsan bhai/uncle ..can u speak urdu?
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 05:48 PM by evilmastermind

Re: Who am I?

femme, mereh birdie ko badnaam mat karo. :cry:

ehsan sahib, did you or your grandparents preserve their language, dress, customs such as on weddings and Eid etc.,everywhere they went? maybe those practices that your folks retained and valued, regardless of which country you went to, influenced how strongly you identified yourself with pakistan, even more so than the country of your residence?

Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 05:49 PM by Ma Mooli

	Re: Who am I? FF, Mamooli, yes my grandparents and my parents kept the traditions alive. Whether it was Kenya or UK we speak punjabi at home, even my kids do who are now the fourth generation to be born outside Pakistan. EMM, yes I speak both urdu and punjabi. AQ yes I can read and write Urdu. I always support Pakistan in any sport and especially cricket.
	Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 06:17 PM by ehsan

Re: Who am I?

:hinna: I was born and raised in the Bronx NY and my parents kept paki culture alive and other than the clothign adn the food, i hated every little bit of it. But i never felt like NOT being paki.. i dunno its confuzzling (Please noone call me a ABCD :bummer: ) theres a lot of things I dont like abt pakis, abt the culture, but when it comes to goray/nondesis, ill defend my country/culture/religion. And i will never marry a non-paki, i wanna raise my kids speaking urdu and in paki culture.. OMG maybe i am a abcd.. :sara:

Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 07:34 PM by Sara516

Re: Who am I?

Ehsan Bhai

you feel that just soemtimes? I have a very similar background to yours, born in UK, grew up in Uk, saudi and Pak, 2 year stint in Karachi, and more than half my life in US.. west to east to midwest etc.

I think of myself as a citizen of this planet, identify with some aspects on one culture and some aspects of another culture, while aspects of the same cultures can be very alien to me.

In the end, we are all gypsies from heaven trying to find our way back, anything in between is just a temporary camp

Posted Jun 21st, 2006 at 11:24 PM by Mr Fraudia Mr Fraudia is offline

	Re: Who am I? looks like all the crowd is here...making comments..
	Posted Jun 22nd, 2006 at 07:44 AM by victorygirl

	Re: Who am I? i think i will agree with fraudz chacha here... resident of this planet... Allah ki bandi :~)
	Posted Jun 22nd, 2006 at 10:01 AM by nia_khan

Re: Who am I?

Salam,

You were born in Kenya, so you are Kenyan...
There was no Pakistan in 1920, that was India, so your forefamily is Indian,
You visted and lived in so many countries so you are Ibne-e-Batoota...
Since you moved finaly (so far) to UK, sorry that does not make u UKian, ...
At the end of the day You are just as Ibne-e-Batoota (Passenger )... whos roots are growing nowhere

yep, so much moving makes life USAnian (dispossible)...

Posted Jun 22nd, 2006 at 10:40 AM by Dada Abbaa Dada Abbaa is offline

	Re: Who am I? Pir jee said it, :k:
	Posted Jun 24th, 2006 at 07:43 PM by danial shah

	Re: Who am I? [B][COLOR=darkred]:waves: .........OMG u were here in saudi arabia...........which city may i ask............:hugz:[/COLOR][/B]
	Posted Jul 4th, 2006 at 05:40 PM by sara_87

	Re: Who am I? Sara, I was in Riyadh.
	Posted Jul 6th, 2006 at 06:19 PM by ehsan

	Re: Who am I? [COLOR=DarkGreen]Wow....you are from Addam's family than...[/COLOR]
	Posted Jul 16th, 2006 at 08:00 PM by OMG