I recently talked to someone I have know for a while and realized I knew very little about their story. We spend so much time partying and hanging out but rarely do you have time to say so what is your story. I am going to share my abridged version hitting some highlights my hope is that for those of my friends that read the post that they will perhaps post their own story on their own blogs or in the comments. Anyways here goes.
I was born in Dubai, U.A.E. on February 10th 1979. We actually lived in Dubai for seven years. My memories of this time in my life are few. Of course there is the fact that my brother Ammar was born a couple of years after me. The companionship of a brother in a foreign land meant that we were instantly forced to spend most of our time with each other. The most vivid images of that part of my life are of Ammar doing silly things he was the family comedian and of us fighting about everything and anything. I have images in my mind of Family friends that used to live their and of my uncle and his wife who lived in Sharjah. I have memories of toys lots of them that my dad would buy on his many trips out of the country. I have memories of a calendar that was on the wall that my brother would make my mom x daily counting down the days until my dad would return. I have been told that I was a shy kid, a quiet kid. (I know I know what happened) We left Dubai and moved to Pakistan.
Pakistan is where I have lots of memories. My dad was in Africa working on Business ventures and we spend the year with my mom. Initially we lived in a room at my dad's brothers house. Those were fun times, I learned to play cricket our cousins were almost our age so making friends and getting in trouble was easy to do. Ubaid bhai was a couple of years older then me and Zubair was my younger brother's age. Even though we were there for a whole year I remember it taking a while before I felt home. One of my fondest memory is of my mom and aunt sending Ubaid bhai and I to the local restaurant to get tandoori roti and having to always order extra cause we would inevitably eat a couple of the warm pieces of bread on the way home. I remember Ammar disappearing for a day and my mom frantically trying to find him only to find out that one of our uncles, he is the comedian in my dads family, decided that it was crazy that Ammar had never ridden an elephant so he just took him to the zoo. Of course Maria my sister was born while we were in Pakistan. I remember that we moved into an apartment of our own about six months after moving there. All in all this was childhood at its best. Next we moved to Taiwan.
Taipei was a great city and I actually remember a lot more from this part of my life. I experienced death for the first time in Taiwan. One of my friends passed away from a brain tumor and I remember feeling lost. In Taipei I again had a feeling of not having a home. I learned the language fluently even though we were there for about a year. I remember feeling alone. I actually even ran away at a point. I disappeared for a day and roamed the city. Taipei was great and beautiful the people were amazing and sweet. I would have to say that as siblings Ammar was a part of many memories in Dubai and Karachi. Taipei was Maria's city she ate anything and everything she spoke better Chinese then Urdu or English and she was adored by all, friends, family, and even complete strangers. I remember these two Chinese girls they must have been in their early twenties who thought Maria was cute they took pictures with her. They actually came to the park for the next four weeks in a row on the same day and time hoping we would be there to give us duplicate copies. All in all Taiwan was wonderful. Next we moved to Thailand.
Bangkok was full of life. I would have to say Taipei had a certain quaint feeling about it not so for Bangkok it was buzzing at all times. The lonely feeling I had in Taipei was gone. We spend hours on our bikes and although I had no real friends in school, we were like a gang of kids. There was Tra and Rak who were literally the same age as me and my brother. Pramote a few years older then us was our fearless leader. We got cuts, scrapes, played hours of soccer, blew up firecrackers and reaked havoc in our neighborhood. Bangkok was a time of prosperity for our family and we enjoyed it to the fullest. Leaving Thailand was tough for Ammar and me. I remember complaining to my parents that this was the first time in my life that I had friends and they were taking that away from me. Next stop Houston, TX.
If you are going to move to the United States from out of the country I would reccomend not moving to Texas. Having said that I am glad we did. My aunt, my mom's sister lived in Houston and we moved in to a house about a block from where they lived. If it weren't for Irfan and Faizan our cousins I don't know how we would have adjusted to the new environment. I learned Basketball and Football sports I had never played before. I also read a lot in Houston. Although I read throughout my life I think in Houston the things I read in Houston shaped me in different ways. I read almost any titles I could get my hands on by William Slater and Gary Paulsen. Although at school I was the butt of almost all jokes at school,life at home with the cousins was great. We are all within five years of each other and there were memorable outings, late night sleep overs, and of course action packed fights. I will take the liberty to share a funny story here that might give some insight to the often silly behavior of my father. My dad took all of us that is my cousins and Ammar and I out to a restaurant. This was not for lunch or dinner it was a late afternoon snack. We ordered Chicken Pakoras and devoured the first plate, my dad kept ordering more and we kept eating them. To make a long story short we ended up eating ninety dollars worth of pakoras. I don't have to tell you that my mom and aunt were livid with my dad went we got home. After Houston we moved to Los Angeles.
I went to Artesia High School where I somehow transformed from a shy quiet kid to the loud obnoxious person you guys know today. I was involved in MUN, went to NCCJ training, learned to Rock climb, participated in debates, was involved in ASB and was an all out social butterfly. I attended college at UCLA and majored in Political Science. At Artesia most of my friends were Asian at UCLA that changed to South Asians. I can only describe LA with one word, Home. Sorry for the long post I hope some of you enjoy it...