To leave comforts of ones abode for a land strange is no ordinary task. After spending eight years in Pakistan since we returned after a long routine in the USA, I again came to a cross road of decision making—to bid good bye to Pakistan or stick it out here. We chose to move out but only after considerable pondering, reflecting and analyzing the pros and cons. About three years ago in these pages I wrote an article, "Go fella go.." where I advised young professionals to get out of Pakistan and try their luck elsewhere. I received a hailstorm of negative comments on my advice, some even calling it a treason to the country. I left Pakistan when I was 19; I returned about two decades later to settle down and struggled for eight years and did overcome the reasons given by novices as to why should I not live in Pakistan. I made compromises with the fact that there is never going to be any water supply to my house, there are going to be long power breakdowns in sweltering summer months, there are going to be occasional armed holdups, we will loose cars on gun-points (and we did), the roads will continue to look like they have been recently bombed, the politicians will continue to nepotistic, the feudal lords will forever control the countrys destiny, the poor shall get poorer and the rich, richer; the buying power of salaried-class shall erode exponentially (like mine), the drinking water will continue to spread newer diseases every day, the value of rupee shall continue to erode, the drug barons will continue to live in Defence, The Transparency International shall continue to rate Pakistan as the worlds most corrupt country, the law enforcers shall continue to take law into their hands; there shall be strikes that will continue to cost a billion a day without any concern to anyone, the literacy rate shall continue to decline, the promises for a better tomorrow by the leader shall continue to be larger, but despite all this, the sun shall continue to rise in the East. Nothing bothered me to a point where I would reconsider emigrating out of Pakistan—after all this is my country. But then came considerations much beyond the mundane—beyond what I thought it was possible to put up with. I began to think what would this place be like in 10 years when my eldest son will graduate? What kind of a person would he turn out to be and for that matter his two siblings. The thought sent a cold shiver down my spine; its gonna be a jungle out here. Their morality would have suffered great many challenges and I could not guarantee that they would have a sense of what is right. They have already begun to say "sab chalta hai." And in 10 years from now when they would face the realities of life in Pakistan, they would, I conjectured, find it difficult to the standards of morality my father tried to beat into us. The decision to get out of Pakistan was easy; or was it?

Pakistan is a great country; good land, good people, good culture, and I am going to forever miss it. Having spent most of my early adulthood in the USA, coming back to Pakistan was refreshing, exciting and lonely. When I arrived in Pakistan, I had no friends and not being a favourite of relatives, had few places to visit. Eight years later I can count my good acquaintances into over a hundred and believe it nor not, good friends, whom I know I can trust, into double digit. It was indeed the most exciting time of my life but then I am running out of things I can call mine; the nuptial vows I took 22 years ago have produced the reasons to sacrifice and sacrifice I did upon leaving Pakistan.