It was back in 2009 when I started thinking seriously about moving back to Pakistan. At that point, I had a very good job and was getting two to three job offers every week. My small family, wife and daughter were doing great in Madison, Wisconsin. However, the mind was stuck back in Pakistan.
In the meantime, whenever I had a chance to talk to older Pakistani Americans, who have lived in that country for a long time, with their kids grown up, college bound or married, they also thought of going back to Pakistan. I was surprised because they were doing so great financially and socially that I couldn't imagine how they would adjust in our culture anymore. Some of them even talked about participating in the general elections to bring change in our culture. This was quite surprising.
In the U.S., our folks do things like running a gas station, may be establish an IT outsourcing company, jobs, desi grocery stores, etc. Their kids would yearn to become doctors or lawyers to become prominent in the community. For me, I am an engineer. I know my field is specialized and not everybody can do the job I can do. So professionally, I felt pretty secured and it was a matter of choice of working in the U.S. But at times, it made me feel that there is so much more that I can do in life which I may not be able to accomplish if I stayed in the U.S. I know U.S. is a great country and provides opportunities to people who wouldn't get the kind of opportunities in their homelands. I thought that I have a professional ceiling which I wouldn't be able to cross. Secondly, I am an agrarian and I may not be able to make a good businessman and be able to run a gas station or a grocery store if I chose to leave my job.
Life is like a plant seed. Once it is sown and left in one place, it grows with deep rooted roots, strong trunk, branches and leaves and it gets to become a very strong tree as the time passes. If it is uprooted and moved to a different place, the process starts all over. That is exactly what happened to me in Pakistan. Even though I was son of the soil, I had to go through the process of acclimatizing in this culture. Pakistan is one of the best places to live. But it still requires the effort and sacrifice to adjust.
To be continued....
In the meantime, whenever I had a chance to talk to older Pakistani Americans, who have lived in that country for a long time, with their kids grown up, college bound or married, they also thought of going back to Pakistan. I was surprised because they were doing so great financially and socially that I couldn't imagine how they would adjust in our culture anymore. Some of them even talked about participating in the general elections to bring change in our culture. This was quite surprising.
In the U.S., our folks do things like running a gas station, may be establish an IT outsourcing company, jobs, desi grocery stores, etc. Their kids would yearn to become doctors or lawyers to become prominent in the community. For me, I am an engineer. I know my field is specialized and not everybody can do the job I can do. So professionally, I felt pretty secured and it was a matter of choice of working in the U.S. But at times, it made me feel that there is so much more that I can do in life which I may not be able to accomplish if I stayed in the U.S. I know U.S. is a great country and provides opportunities to people who wouldn't get the kind of opportunities in their homelands. I thought that I have a professional ceiling which I wouldn't be able to cross. Secondly, I am an agrarian and I may not be able to make a good businessman and be able to run a gas station or a grocery store if I chose to leave my job.
Life is like a plant seed. Once it is sown and left in one place, it grows with deep rooted roots, strong trunk, branches and leaves and it gets to become a very strong tree as the time passes. If it is uprooted and moved to a different place, the process starts all over. That is exactly what happened to me in Pakistan. Even though I was son of the soil, I had to go through the process of acclimatizing in this culture. Pakistan is one of the best places to live. But it still requires the effort and sacrifice to adjust.
To be continued....
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