For past 2 months, just like the rest of my life, my kind has been influencing my life in all the ways. When I say my kind it definitely means “Humans”. Influencing my life like never before.

Some filling all the empty space in my apartment and my heart with all the happiness of the world. My sister’s wedding and then my wife and my son coming to US with me, those were probably the happiest days of my life.

Then there were some bringing lot of Fun and Joy, just a weekend but full of fun. Naeem and Family travelling 12 hours from Boston to Gaithersburg, just to have fun, that was really great:) Those 3 days are also a memory, a happy one.

And then, there are humans who leave us. Us, who are dearest to them. Never want to leave, never ready to go, Yet they leave us crying. Nothing they can do, and nothing we can. On Tuesday, they talk to us for hours. On Thursday, my brother calls me telling me that he is no more. All of a sudden, My Father-in-law left us crying in most desperate moments of life. Daughter still not able to believe that he is gone. Just after a month when she left home to come to this foreign land. She is broken and I am trying in vain to save her from tears and sadness. We both, knowing that we will not be able to be their ON TIME, were trying to figure out the fastest way of reaching back. I hate the distance between US and Pakistan and it has never been that far far away. I never felt so helpless in my entire life. Oh Allah, why do humans leave? Why the dearest ones? Why so early and why so suddenly? Why when we are so far away?

Among the ones bringing happiness and the ones being the tears in our eyes, there are humans of another kind. The ones who are there and we don’t feel how important they are.
Ones like my CEO Nandan, Who says me to do just as I want to. He knows that his product is going to suffer if I leave suddenly for Pakistan. But he also understands the gravity of the tragedy and the loss of my family.
My friend and colleague Mukta who, without spending a minute, came with me to my home after hearing the news. Who took care of my child when I managed to break this tragic news to my wife. Arranging the travel agent to facilitate us with the same night travel arrangements and then leaving us at airport in evening, she was everywhere supporting us.

And then there is Nitin. My friend, ex apartment mate and colleague. Saving money for his car, moving to his apartment in 2 weeks, and when he knows about tragedy, he offers me his everything. If it was not him, I could not even think about arranging the tickets for that night. Without waiting for a single word, without saying a single word, offering all of his savings, He proved himself to be more human than many around. I might be able to repay his money in few months but can I ever repay rightfully for what he did?

These two months made me realized many things in a much better details. I know the value of moments. Value of smiles and burden of tears, I’ve never understood better before. I don’t know how much life I have. But being a human, I don’t want to leave like humans do and I don’t want any one else around me to leave me. But I know I have no control over what’s nature and what’s written. But whatever time is left, I want to live it happily, with my Family, my friends and with humans.

Finally, after almost 4 months in US, I moved into my own apartment. Rented this apartment for its good shape, very good community and its walking distance from office.

Moving in was fun Daily spending hours and hours on craigslist, watching for garage sales, cheap furniture, electronics, etc…. Then emailing all the good offers and then knowing that everything that you want is sold and every time you are the lazy one…, seriously that was fun. I mean you just read a post, you email them and you know that you are few minutes late

Khair, I managed to finalize a dining table some how. Bed I finalized to get from my old place from Office. Crib and beddings for my baby I finalized to buy from my CEO. The worst and the most time consuming was TV. I could not find a single TV which was reasonably cheap and for which i was not late and still it was in a good working condition.

Got keys on Thursday and moved the Baby Furniture and Dining Set on the same day using my CTO’s truck. Actually he was helping me a lot in all the movement. That dining table, damn! it was HEAVY. I had to bring it up from basement alone and uffff, It was a pain. Once it was up, me and Nandan (my CTO and company owner) managed to fit it in the truck with all 6 chairs and a uniquely designed comfort chair. This chair was in for free and I like it too much.

Major part of shifting was due on Saturday. Decided to use a UHaul truck to move the bed and my luggage. My friends were there to help me. I took the electric instruments of Jan from the office to disassemble the bed. Took a toolkit from Hemant to finish it up. Nitin was there to help me disassemble and carry things out. And last, but not the least, was Mukta.

This wonderful girl has a wonderful car. Just like her, her civic is also small(looks so) but has a lot of potential which you don’t imagine in the first look. The way we managed to fit complete bed and two side tables in car, I never expected that before. Mukta advised me not to use the UHaul and try the cars instead. This saved me another 50+ bucks

Last trip included Hemant’s car as well and we could move the luggage with a heavy Futon Mattress.

After just putting it all at apartment, we left for lunch. Then had some other things to do. It was almost 9 PM when we got back. Muks and Nitin looked tired so I let them go and my self had another task in front of me.

I decided to do everything within that night. I assembled the best, then that heavy dining table. Then I had to disassemble the crib to move it in bed room and them assemble it back. After all was done I had dinner and slept (around 2 AM).

Woke up around 6 AM. After prayer, started with unpacking the luggage and arrange all the small things. By 10, I was done with everything. Apartment looked good with some furniture in it. Small, clean, spacious and organized… I like it.

Rest of the day was laundry. Afternoon, the couple with TV and DVD player reached. In 80 bucks, I had 1 mint condition Toshiba 20” FST CRT TV with a mint condition Panasonic DVD Player. Still, no cable.

Now the last thing for now is cable and internet. Comcast guy is coming in Morning

Almost 6 weeks since my last blog. Life was busy and a lot was happening. This week, however, something very big happened. Something that shook me completely on one hand but strengthened my faith on the other hand. I really thank Allah for guiding me and keeping me safe.

Vision systems group was the company that sponsored my visa. I knew that it was a consulting company and they place people on projects and they earn money from other companies and give a portion of that money as salary to their employee. When I joined them, I had few situations that turned me over and within my second week here, I was thinking about leaving them and making my own way. Among all other things that turned me over, the major factor was lie. They wanted me to modify my resume so that they can sell me better. They wanted me to include fake projects and fake durations. As a result, I had a 6.5 yrs of on resume experience comparing to my actual 4.5 years only.

Why would I do that? I am here to make a healthy yet honest living. Should I start it with a lie? I couldn’t handle it and tried a couple of things on my own. By the kindness and grace of Allah, within a week I was able to get my H1 transferred to an actual software company which hired me for whatever I am. It is true that I am getting a very low salary as compared to many of my friends, but I am happy that its an honest living and there are no lies involved.

And after 3 months, what happens? That company is under investigations for frauds and scams revolving around H1B visas and employments. More details are here: http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0902/090212desmoines.htm 

It is true that I am safe. It is true that this company might be getting what it actually deserves. But is that all? What about 1000s of consultants who work for that company? Are they still on payroll? What about 20s of consultants on bench (without pay)? Are they going to get a project? What about the people working on corp-to-corp contracts? If VSG goes down, are contracts valid? What about people who have their green cards in final stages? what about people who just got an apartment and were planning to bring family? what about people whose families just got their visa approved and were ready to join in?

Who is responsible for all these sufferings? ICE, who never took an action in all those years? VSG, who was doing this for so many years without any fear? Or my friends who were not lucky enough to get out of the bloody traps of the bastard parasites?

I hate these body shoppers and I really pray for all the people who are trapped by them. I disliked VSG when it was about me. Now I hate VSG when I see my friends upset just because of they are kind of trapped in to this situation that still has no clear ending.

~*~Carry Forward~*~
phir saal ki akhri sham hui
phir waqt ki dor mein girha lagi

lo waqt hua phir gin-ne ka
gaye saal ki khushyon k lamhey
aur gayee ruton k sab aansoo
aur waqt ki kaali aandhi mein
hamen raah dikhatey sab jugnu

aur bhooley kaun sitaron ko
un naye puraney yaaron ko
jo her mushkil mein saath rahey
jo sab rahon per sath chaley

Aur iss ginti mein shamil hein
jo jaag k kaatin raaten sab
jo sajni se kin baaten sab
jo maan ney sunaayee woh lori
aur saari duaen behna ki
aur apney des se doori bhi
jo hijr bani, majboori bhi

ger tumko lagey k yeh sab kuchh
gaye saal k saath na reh jaye
to yeh sab kuchh
tum gin-na apni ungliyon pe
phir muthi ko bund ker lena
aur pehli subha naye saal ki ho
to khol k apni muthi ko
in sab ko bhi sath hi le chalna

Tags: new year, Poetry

After Eid, It was same for couple of days. Days were busy in work but, when everybody goes home, I used to miss Pakistan and my home. And this was not only me. Every body, even ppl who are here for 10/20 years, cannot escape the memories of Pakistan and home on eid.

Khair, every spell is to break and every time is to end. It took a couple of days but finally I was back to normal.

Coming to what else has been happening around me, The most enjoyable one was my trip to Philadelphia on last weekend. I wanted to blog about that right away but thanx to DELL, I could not Will tell this DELL story later.

Trip to Philly

A very good person and my old friend, old only because of age , invited me to visit him at his home. He is a very nice and very well educated person, definitely no match for an ignorant like me

So, Professor Joseph M. Scandura, who was inviting me to visit him since my first day in US,  finally made me agree on a weekend with him. This was the first time we were meeting so we were both very excited. I left from Gaithersburg at 0630 in morning. Reached chinatown of Philly around 1030. called him and he was there to pick me up in 15 minutes.

Philly is really an historical place but I did not have enough time to visit the places. He took the special route towards home to show me park and museum and whatever possible during that time. When we reached to his home, It was really good. That location and such a good house on top of a hill. It felt really good.

Alice, Joe’s wife, was there to welcome us. She looks much younger than Professor and is a pretty women. She was so like a typical mom worrying about what to cook for me and how was my travel and all that. She must be a very good mom, I can imagine that.

Having a butter cake with blue berries was nice. But the slice was too big to finish. And yes, It was heavy I enjoyed how much was possible for me. Alice told me that she’ll be cooking some veggie special Italian food just for me. I am not very good at trying new cuisines but could not say no to her.

When she left for some shopping at super store, Me an Joe had lot of chit chat. Including his research, world economy and situation of Pakistan, we discussed so many things. I also helped him setting up his scanner.

Then we decided to go out and walk around the streets. When we went out, Professor showed me his bike and I could not help myself from trying it. I was on a  bike after 10/11 years and it felt so good. So we both decided to take a hike on bike. He is very healthy for his age. There were places where I could not climb on bike but it was too easy for him.

It was almost freezing and surroundings were clean and beautiful. I enjoyed that bike ride tooo much. If I didn’t have to come back, I could spend a lot more time biking. It was mostly a hill station kind place in suburbs of Philly so perhaps you can imagine the enjoyment.

When we came back, It was almost 1600. Alice had the lunch kum dinnner ready for us And then the moment came. Toughest for me, trying a new cuisine, I finally choked. I could not eat that, It was too different to handle for me. I felt really embarrassed when I had to say it. She put a lot of effort in it and I kinda wasted it. I am really a bad kid

But then I had tuna fish Fried tuna fish, out of a cane, with black pepper sprinkled on top was tasty for me. So, I managed to kill some of my appetite.

They insisted a lot to make me stay over night but I had some promises with some friends for next day so I had to come back. He dropped me near bus at 1700 and rest of the trip was usual till I reached DC.

Some moments from my weekend at Philadelphia:

Thank you professor for such a good time.

On my way back to Gaithersburg, when I was to wait for RedLine metro at Gallery Place Station at china town DC, I visited the AT&T store there. I had some doubts in mind due to my short stay in US and not enough credit history, but still I asked them if I could get an IPhone 3G. To my surprise, they agreed to give me one

So, finally, I have an IPhone 3G and my own number now. Will think about writing some details about this gadget later.

Tags: Bikes, Biking, Chinese Busses, Maryland, Philadelphia, Photos, US

~*~Pardesi Eid~*~

Yeh apney des ki Eid nahin
yeh begani si lagti hai
aankhon mein andherey hein dil mein
kuchh veerani si lagti hai

na maan ne uthaya aaj subha
na bhai sey larey nahaney per
na behna ne eidi maangi hai
masjid se wapas aaney per

na galey mila koi hamsaya
na phone pe baaten yaaron se
na gosht bana aur na baanta
na miley hein rishtey daron se

jo sajni hum se sajti thi
usey sajney ka ehsaas nahin
hai jaan hamari door buhut
aur jaan ki jaan bhi paas nahin

din eid ka hoga khushyon ka
par unka jo apnon ke sath rahen
hum pardesi kya eid karen
jahan aik se din aur raat rahen

majboor, akeley Eid ke din
haye aag lage majboori ko
jo Eid ke maani badal gayee
Rub door karey iss doori ko

Tags: Eid, Poetry

First SMS I got was from my brother, about 9/10 hours before the actual 4th December here in US. He was quick enough to wish me according to Pakistan time. And, he was the first one. Thank you Umar

10 minutes before 0000, I was chatting to my family and getting birthday wishes and prayers. This was a very good start of the day. Thank you Ammi, Apa, Asmara and Armaghan Love u all.

All night, I was almost awake. Talking to family on phone or net in intervals. Morning was, as usual, cold but still was feeling good. I got order of the day from family to use all their gifts today. So, I unpacked my new dress, shoes, cologne and wallet. When I was ready for Office, And was chatting with my family for the last time before leaving for office, that’s when I missed them the most. Not only them but I missed being in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, my birthdays used to be a lot of fun. Not only family but celebration with friends and treats and small surprises and lot of fun, that was the all that I was missing. I was thinking about how this day will be in US.

Entering the office, I shook all that off my head and decided to make the maximum out of the day using whatever is available. So, first thing I did was testing the timer function of my new Nikon P50 and taking my own pictures.

At that moment I did not know that there is more to this day waiting for me. Every one at office knew about my birthday, from office record maybe, and wished me. This wishing and thanks stuff was going for the initial part of day. Also, got a lot of wishes from friends all around the world on Orkut, Facebook and email. Thanks to all:)

Rest was a normal working day at office. Till 1600 at least

At 1600 in evening, Nitin asked to have a look on the bug. I was going to his room but he kept going further. I thought, maybe I have to look at some other dev machine. But when he passed the last dev room, I could smell that something else was cooking.

And there they were. Everybody from office with smiling faces, waiting for me, with a cake and candles on it. So this was surprise of the day and this was really a good one. Nothing that I was expecting at all. So then there was this formal candle blow, cake cutting and all that cheering and wishing. Not to forget the birthday card signed by every one.

Cake was really good. Normally I don’t eat cake but this was an exception. I tried a small piece and it was too good. Everybody enjoyed it. Time for some more photos

And finally, thanks to Christina’s tripod, there was this group photo.

Thank you all for making this day a memory

Tags: Birthday, Events, Office, Photos

My New Camera

OK, as it is shipped now, I can tell you about my thanksgiving shopping. I bought a $179 camera in $99 from CircuitCity including a free photo printer. Its a Nikon Coolpix P50. Prooof of purchase… Here it is:

After leaving my D50 at home and having this old, small camera with me, I was not very much into photography anymore. Now I have this till I get my D50 back from home. I hope this improves some things.

So, After getting it out of box, I did what I was supposed to do. Took a couple of photos in Office. Uploaded photos on Flickr, Couple of shots here:

Our Kitchen Sink

We came back from office and it was not easy to stay in kitchen. All that water in sink and that smell…. Nitin tried very hard to make it go away and guess what I did. I took a photo

 Silver Spoon

And then we decide to have our favourite aaloo paratha once more. Destination was usual, The Silver Spoon. I like this place. Its almost a month since I started eating there almost regularly. This time, having camera with me, I could take some shots on the inside. Couple of shots are below, rest on Flickr.

Tags: Camera, Nikon, Photos, Thanksgiving, US

Wednesday was much different from normal mid-weeks. It felt like Friday… No, It felt better than Friday. And I left the office before 1800

Everybody is either leaving for somewhere or expecting someone to come. All you can hear is planning the thanksgiving and weekend. Even in our desi team, Nitin is already gone and Muks leaving in morning. While leaving the office, had a small conversation with Christina and as expected, she’s also leaving. She asked me about my plans and then I realized that I still have no plans finalized… Wow, what a preparation for 4 days:)

Its Wednesday evening and me still thinking to finalizing something. Then time shifted my focus when I realized that I have to make something for dinner. Hmmmm, back to cooking and its time for “more” experiments. Lets try cooking the rice traditional way… but hey, no onions at home… OK, lets try without onions. Took almost an hour, but it was fine. After eating the dinner, browsing the Internet, I saw something of my interest. I didn’t know that Thanksgiving comes with a season of sales and bargains…. And some of them are tooo good. I also decided to spend some of my hard-earned cash What I purchased??? Will blog about that later, after I get the item.

Its around midnight. Thursday is coming and I have no plans and still can’t sleep. Again, lets try something more with cooking. Go downstairs, cross the street, get to Giant and bring onion and potatoes. That’s what I did. Cuz If I have these two things, I can try a lot It was almost morning when I was making “chakli aaloo”. And it was also very tasty.

Talked to my wife in morning, then made aaloo andey and finally managed to sleep around 0900. And then I was sleeping till evening:)

Its Thursday evening and I suddenly say, WTF, I have to get out. I can’t stay like this for 4 days. Called Akif and Kamran. Finalized the plan and I am all set for coming day.

Friday, after Friday prayer, went to silver spoon (my closest and favorite eating place), had a delicious aaloo paratha and packed one for coming time. Had 57 to Shady Grove, RedLine to Washington DC, Chinese Bus to NY, NJT to Edison NJ and finally a taxi to guest house. At 2130, I was at the guest house.

After a tiresome journey, Night was calm and fun. Had some discussions with Akif and Abdul. Some chit chat with other mates too. It looks like almost every body has an idea about my current status. There were no clear discussions though.

Saturday morning was a pleasant one. I walked for more than an hour on streets around guest house only because it felt so good. Some how, That place feels like home. After all, I’ve spent two very good weeks there and found the best of people at that place.

As per plan, Kamran was there finally and me, him, Akif and Abdul went for lunch. It was a party from my side for my current status. It was also the first transaction on my credit card in US

Me and Akif had to leave for Maryland. Akif actually decided to accompany me till Baltimore on same bus as he also had to visit relatives. We had to rush towards Jersey to be on PATH for 33rd street.

Before getting on PATH, in Jersey City, We offered our Asar prayer. There was a Masjid and we rushed to join the prayer. I don’t know the reason but this prayer felt real good. I felt very calm and satisfied after the prayer.

Getting on PATH, getting out at 33rd street and then walk (or I should say run?) towards Penn Station was all a rush. It was really hard to catch that chinese bus but we did it. Finally we left on the bus from famous Fashin Street of New York for Maryland.

Saturday Night was not a very good start on the roads. NJ TurnPike and 95 were all jam packed. Initially we expected that after Delaware, it may lighten up a little but It remained the same till Baltimore when we reached there around 2200. After that, roads were not that much crowded.

Every time I travel with these chinese buses, especially on way back to Maryland, something “not good” is to happen. This time, After all the traffic, when we finally reached DC, Driver lost his way to get out of DC. For some time, He was going in circles. Once he figured out, how to actually set for Rockville, there was one more thing. Another chinese guy was kind enough to tell that he has missed his DC stop. And then, driver was kind enough to go back to DC to drop him. A couple also dropped there out of frustration caused by this whole scenario. And when we reached Rockville, it was almost 0000.

Sunday, I slept all day and then could not sleep at night. I knew that its a call on early morning but still could not sleep till 0400.

Monday morning: Just finished the call and this long story of long weekend is also complete. Posting it right away.

Tags: Chinese Busses, cooking, Maryland, new Jersey, New York, Thanksgiving, US