Tyres touched the ground with a gentle thud and the plane landed🛬 smoothly. It continued its move on the runway. “Pakistan agaaaya!”, Yelled a little girl 👧🏻from the back of the plane just as it came to a halt and we could see the Jinnah International airport from our windows. Hot tears rolled down my cheeks and lips in a state of mixed emotions unable to decide between a wide grin😁 and stiffling a cry.😭 So what if landing in Karachi was like landing in a barren land🏜️ unlike the greenery 🏞️that we saw at our transit in Srilanka. My patriotism rode high and the tune of Pak sar zameeen hummed thru my mind.🎶 Its My Karachi, My Pakistan! Wanted to jump out off the plane like anything rather waited patiently🙄 for all the passengers to take out all their bags💼🎒👛👝 and then slowly 🐌 move out of the plane. “Ayubowan” 🙏🏼heard the airhostess say as i stepped out of the craft, to which i smiled politely. Crossed the tunnel. “Assalam u alaikum”!!🤝🏼😇🤩 Greeted the Pakistani official. Pakistani faces, speaking in Urdu!
WALIKUM SALAM!! 😅My eyes got so teary and my smile became so wide i am sure it was reaching from ear to ear. 😂😁Even confused the poor official for a minute.🤪 Gathered our luggage and off to the gate. Headed to the taxi🚖 stand. Oh yes, we hadn’t inform any body.😋😎🤭 Surprises are fun, no? The driver thought we were visiting Karachi after many years…so tried to tell his Karachi stories. 🧐I got lost in the view out of the car window. Big big roads, two way traffic,🛵🚖🏍🚘🚍🏍 flyovers, honking crazy cars, big hoardings, big buildings,🏙️ polluted sky… so typical Karachi….yet i viewed everything with such a dazed look.😃

Last few days had been quite hectic.😟 Packing stuff along with the daily chores. But most heavy on the heart💓 and mind🧠 was to keep our arrival a secret 🤐from our families. We didnt want to lie 🤥yet wanted to keep the date of arrival a surprise. Hence dodged questions right and left 😒and beated about the bush a couple of times.😱
Had been up since Fajr. 🌅😴Took a ferry to the airport. Velana international airport’s arrival area is quite small. However the departure area is bigger. The usual duty free shops,💸💵🗑 souvenir shops🎁🛍 and the food court encircle the floor. The food court offered a great view of the runway and the planes parking lot. A good time spent while taking pictures 📱📸of everything i could capture. 😜
When i had arrived in Maldives it was night time. And i was unable to witness that sight which is often shown as signature for Maldives🤦. But since our 💑flight was in the day time now, i was completely ecstatic.💖 As the plane took off the airport island became tiny. And the view that we saw next was spectacular. So many islands🌎🗾🗺️ in the middle of the deep blue ocean, each surrounded by small area of turquoise water. Could even make out a few water villas. 🏝️The flight to Srilanka 🐘🐘was a short one like about one and a half hours. And the transit there was shorter about fifty minutes. But landing at Srilanka was a green experience. As soon as we had entered in Srilanka, greenery 🛣 🌲 🌲 🌲 surrounded us and it had continued for good three to four minutes. It looked as if the airport too had been built in a field.🤩😍 Srilankan airport in quite big and very nicely made. A mixed cultural👵🧔🏽🧕🏼🤵🏿👩🏼‍🌾👩🏼🧓🏾 environment was seen photographing the big buddha🛐 statue in the middle of the airport. The transit was so short otherwise would have loved to explore more🕵️. Finding a toilet with a muslim shower 🚽took a lot of time🤦. Sigggh…why dont they…arrrggggh! Deeep breath, deeep breath …we are going home…its okay. Calmed myself down.💆
Then the flight to Karachi finally started. Srilankan airlines people were very courteous and the food👌🍛🍲 too was good. Still the three and a half hours journey felt quite long. 🤷
The taxi 🚕screeched to a halt 🚩bringing me back to my senses🔄…and viola we are home!💒
What followed next due to our surprise arrival is an another level story altogether 🌅🎢⛲♨️full star plus kind: a mixture of emotions, suspense and drama where every other scene is repeated thrice….⏪▶️⏪▶️⏪▶️
Why do i sound like an advertisement for an upcoming film🤣… Perhaps after effects of coming back to home.
Karachi, Pakistan.

#Alhamdulilah 😊
#expatsinMaldives🌅🇲🇻
#Pakistanzindabad🌄🇵🇰
#KarachiKarachihai🌃#proudPakistani🇵🇰