73 years of Independence

We, as a nation, have always looked behind to what we have lost

measuring our accomplishments with what we failed at

marking our landmarks of growth with number of lives that went in vain over the years

but to look at it in positive retrospect

it seem like every failure, every setback has, in a way, always provided a stepping stone

for a nation, struggling, like ours,

to keep moving forward

to keep challenging ourselves

a quality so deeply embedded in all of us

to not give up

to never give up

and maybe that’s not such a bad thing

because this love isn’t dying anytime soon

and this hope isn’t coming to an end anytime soon

specially not today

the day I feel most myself

the day that always indefinitely brings the greatest of joys and sorrows both

the day of remembrance

of past landmarks of glory

of memoirs of lives lost

today is the day of appreciating the cost of freedom

of understanding the depth of sacrifices

of acknowledging the years gone by

of realizing the shortcomings

of accepting the failures

of willingness to mend ourselves

of promising to do better in the years coming ahead

because aakhir kuch bhi kehlein

ye mitti apni hi hai

ye watan bhi apna hai

sab pyaar issi keliye hai

jaan se ziada pyar hai iss watan se.

here’s to 73 years of struggling.

Happy Independence day, Pakistan. 💚