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Tell anyone that you’re leaving Pakistan, even if it is for a year, and you’re mostly met with

looks of envy and deep sighs. 

But for the students and executives who choose to work abroad, the expat life may be fun for a

while, but one tends to miss the idiosyncrasies that make Pakistan such a unique place to live in.

Desi students trek for miles to find the best biryani and chicken tikka, constantly refresh newswebsites for the latest developments in Pakistan and strike up a friendship with any South Asian

on the street.

The concept of ‘back home’ remains constantly affixed in one’s head, even if one has no plans to

move back. So Pakistanis tend to hang around in supermarket aisles and department stores,

muttering aloud at how tomatoes cost a fraction of the price in Pakistan.

It also makes for delightful surprises to discover that life does not shut down the minute it starts

raining, if there’s an electricity cut it may be your own fault and not another unscheduled power cut courtesy of the Karachi Electric Supply Company or Water and Power Development

Authority.

Speak out 

Foreign graduates talk about what they missed about Pakistan 

Madiha Ahmad, graduate of the London School of Economics

Despite the abundance of desi restaurants in London the food is just not the same as the real

thing in Pakistan. Maybe its the lack of desi oil! I remember really craving Gazebo’s sev puri and

meethi puri, Ghaffar kabab’s double bun kabab and malai chicken that just melts in your mouth.

And Lahori fried fish. All the British fish n chips in the world can’t compete with that.  

Saima Hussain, graduate from Mount Holyoke College

I missed spending Ramadan with family and dressing-up in traditional clothes, particularly on

Eid. Both these events are the biggest celebrations in Pakistan and not spending them at home

wasn’t fun! Long, extended iftar parties, wearing colourful bangles and getting henna tattoos

done on Chand Raat are all things that I took for granted when I was in Pakistan. I only realised

the worth of these festivities when I was in an alien culture. Not being around friends and family

during these occasions was when I missed being away from home the most.

Asad Hashim, student at the School of Oriental and African Studies

I miss Karachi winters. Particularly when you’re trudging to class wrapped in about 17-and-a-

half layers, attempting to keep your footing on an icy pavement, pondering whether, at the end of 

the day, this MA degree is really worth it. And Pakola – life is just emptier without it.

Mehr Saeed, graduate from the University of Toronto

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The best thing about living abroad is the sense of independence which brings maturity and self 

reliance but it can also bring loneliness and perhaps a disconnect, especially if you have a big

family in Pakistan.

Morial Shah, student at the University of Georgetown

Feeling disconcerted by DC’s small and clean suburbs, I found myself craving Karachi’s

crowded streets and Khairpur’s chaos quite often. At first I couldn’t figure out what I was

missing. Was the lack of chaat, falsa juice, kulfi and the good old doodh pati getting to me? It

took me a while to put my finger on it – I missed my family.

College had a lot of things to offer, but there were no annoying brothers to pick a fight with or

bully, parents to nag, aunties and uncles with gifts, or grandmothers to offer advice.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 14th , 2010.