akistan is believed to be on the brink of an economic disaster. In recent years, the cost of living has shot up, and just when you think you’ve sort of made it to a place where you’re comfortable with your spending, there’s another wave of inflation that hits you hard.

I don’t mean to say that the picture is all bleak. I am not in favour of leaving my home country, regardless. After all, the worst has happened, and there aren’t any surprises left for Pakistanis. Are there?

However, let me make it clear that what keeps me grounded is not quite a sense of nationalist pride or my aspirations to contribute to making my country’s future better. In fact, it’s the selfish need for staying close to my family and friends. (Though, many of them have already moved abroad, not me.)

I enjoy the sense of being close to one’s kin — having a mother and a father to stay close to, and a few friends who make you feel at home.

I am past the age when one could start making lifelong connections. The only people who get to know me are actually the ones who’ve seen me evolve over the years. You can’t start watching Keeping up with the Kardashians from its 6^th season and claim to know everything that went before. You need to have seen it from the beginning. Though I don’t claim to have a ‘start’ like the Kardashians do (those who know, will know), I’d rather have people around me who know how much I have struggled to become who I am today. The fights I’ve had with myself to become a better person and achieve everything I have so far. All that makes me feel I belong only here.

I tell you, the winds are changing. Remember the saying that Saudi Arabia will turn green close to the end of time?

This sense of belonging has always been my strongest argument against moving abroad. But just recently, I stumbled upon another thing: the Weather. Here, I’d like to ask every Lahori: Does it feel like June to you? And, earlier, did it feel like Ramazan had come at the start of summer?

I tell you, the winds are changing. Remember the saying that Saudi Arabia will turn green close to the end of time? Turns out that Saudi Arabia is a major reason why the Amazon is green (it has something to do with the dust being carried over the Pacific to the Amazon). Perhaps, it’s time for the Amazon to run dry and Saudi Arabia to become greener.

According to one theory (my favourite), Europe and the Subcontinent will swap their weathers. Well, looks like it so far. Hence, I’d be happy staying in Pakistan, knowing that we’re going to have better weather through the summers in the future. Kind of makes me a sadist, but sure, I want Europe to experience the heat that we and our ancestors have faced through the centuries.

For now, I’m pinning my hopes on anything positive that I can find, even if it’s just the change in weather.

The writer is an ex-serviceman and a freelancer. He can be reached at shaafayzia@gmail.com