Small World Prompts.

I don't know how many times it is now that I've started a post with the intention of reviving this blog but then lost heart somewhere right around here...

Part of the problem is that so much, literally so much has happened since, we were young? and blogs were this secret escape where no one knew who you really were so us introverts could pour our hearts out and like minded people would come up and leave nice comments and then we'd feel a little brave and go comment on their blog. 

I was so alone, back then. I really was. In a way, aren't we always alone? But then in my house job I made this friend and they really opened up my world. And then life happened and we stopped being friends for a while and then postgraduation started happening and I (is there a dark theme for blogger? all this white screeness is killing me) threw myself into it and then accidentally made another friend who put up with me for three whole years before I managed to ruin that superbly once and for all. 

Two years from today I had my Nikkah. For which neither me or the wife were physically present. Yes, happened in London. Begum looked so out of this world, I said yes on the rishta picture alone. Cousin of a close family friend. Ticked most of the boxes. Heard her voice for the first time in an interview documentary voice over she had been in. We got married in February. It was all a blur. I moved out of the hostel that had been home for the past eight years. Found a nice place right on the canal bank smack in the middle of Lahore that had belonged to a relative abroad, got it cleaned up, fresh paint, furniture, appliances, carpets, internet, we moved in by March.

Begum really wanted to meet this Elder in London, we had an opportunity, flew to London and then Turkey on the way back. Went to the sea shore for the first time in Portsmouth, got lost in Central London, got our Windsor castle and Buckingham Palace tickets stamped so we could visit again for free within a year, got drenched in the rain in Istanbul, rode the ferry over the Bosphor, climbed Galata, met a cute Pakistani couple on the tram who were very helpful. Didn't see the Hagia Sophia because it was too expensive. Only had shish taouk to eat for two days.

Finished the toughest and last year of residency fighting with the supervisor over my research work, operated on a 102 years old guy's cancerous mandible, got suspended when he nearly hit the bucket because of the professor's mistake, got reinstated, fought clawed my way till end of January to somehow finish my training on time and give the dreaded exam in February. Failed said exam. Landed in the middle of a pandemic. 

Hazu arrived May 7th. Listened to jokes about whether she was going to be British or Turkish. Did not sleep at all for the first two months. Bought six months worth of diapers from the sale at alfatah. Cot, diaper bag, rocker, rash cream, did I forget the nasal spray for fishing out boogers?

Cut to present time with our little angel beginning to smile back at us while we blabber out all sorts of nonsense at her innocent face, and then cry with her when she's having her fussy moments when nothing and no one on this earth can possibly console her. 6 hour shifts at the clinic resume after five months of sitting at home doing nothing, the lack of patients driving you nuts, the exam looming closer again with each passing day, hey didn't this post start out on a cheery note?!

We miss London so much. The quaint little house that we stayed in for 10 days. Melrose road. The sidewalks. The button you pushed before going on the zebra crossings. Copying the lady from the underground announcements. All the malls that begum insisted on going to yet we'd only end up buying from Primark and the pound shop. That absolutely rubbish pizza place in Fulham Broadway. How the clouds just seemed to be hanging around closer to you all the time. 

The fact that all the signboards all over London and beyond had the same design and font. 

My girls are tired out and fast asleep. I've told my story. 

Peace.