December

December is an important month in my life. I got married on December 1 and got engaged in the same month as well. But a long time ago, I was born in the same month on Pearl Harbor Day at 11:15am Pakistan Standard Time (1:15am Eastern Time or 6:15am UTC/GMT) in Wah Cantt, Pakistan, a town about 25 miles (40km) from the capital Islamabad. I turn 33 today.

Munira, Mom, Fowzi, Dad, me in Wah Me in Rawalpindi Munira, me, Fowzi
Munira, Fowzi, me Munira, me, Mom, Fowzi, Grandpa in England Fowzi, Munira, me in England
Munira, me, Fowzi in Germany Fowzi, Munira, me in Germany Munira, Mom, Fowzi, me in Libya
Me, Dad, Fowzi, Mom, Munira in Libya Munira, me, Fowzi in Libya Munira, a relative & his wife, Fowzi, Mom, me in Libya
Fowzi, me, Munira in Libya Fowzi, me, Munira, a neighbor kid in Libya Munira, me, Fowzi in Libya
Fowzi, Dad, Mom, Munira, me in Libya Fowzi, me, Munira in Libya Fowzi, me, Munira, Mom
Dad, Munira, Mom, me in Murree Munira, Fowzi, me in Rawalpindi Me with high school friends
Me in Khanpur Me with college friends Me in Kaghan
Me and Amber at our wedding reception Me at Satpara Lake My first car
MS commencement Skiing in Vermont Redwood National Park
Amber & me at Grand Canyon Me hiking the Appalachian trail Ocoee river, TN

Sorry, I am too lazy to caption these photos. Hope you can recognize me in all the pictures. [UPDATE: Captions added; hover your mouse pointer over the thumbnails to see.]

Special thanks to my sister Munira for scanning most of the photographs of the younger me.

I celebrated with a dinner with a few friends at Sal Grosso, a Brazilian steakhouse. A somewhat expensive restaurant, but excellent food and the concept is great as well. I think it’s called a “rodizio” where waiters wander around the room and serve you with different meats when you turn the token on your table to green. I want to go there again soon.

By Zack

Dad, gadget guy, bookworm, political animal, global nomad, cyclist, hiker, tennis player, photographer

21 comments

  2. Anon: I would say it varies. Education in Pakistan at the K-12 level is in either Urdu or English (I think also in Sindhi in Sindh). English language and literature is taught in Urdu-medium schools starting from grade 6. University and professional education is mostly in English. So most educated Pakistanis do know English. Their skill with the language varies quite a bit depending on usage etc.

    About my background, I have studied in schools where the medium of instruction was English but in practice the teachers used both English and Urdu in their lectures. Also, I have been in the US now for 6 years.

  6. Happy birthday, Zack, and may you have many more years worth of birthdays, good health, and happiness. =)

    p.s. Love the photographs. The childhood ones are absolutely adorable. And I started laughing at the Redwood National Park photo in which the tree has an explanatory “BIG TREE” sign placed in front of it.

  8. Did you attend public schools?

    No, I went to private schools.

    Are there parts of Pakistan that have decent public schools?

    Public education is Pakistan generally is in bad shape. However, there are good public schools also. It depends on the town/city and the school staff.

    Brian, TD, yasmine, bilal: Thanks.

    the tree has an explanatory “BIG TREE” sign placed in front of it.

    For some odd reason that was the name of the tree. I guess someone named it when they has a creative block. There was also a Stout grove and a Tall trees grove there.

  12. Pearl Harbor Day

    Is it Pearl Harbor Day today? Or is it my birthday? I turn 34 right around this time (11:15am Pakistan Standard Time). Instead of posting photos of me as a toddler, I’ll use my birthday as an excuse to post…

  13. Bruised Pakistanis

    I was just minding my own business and making plans to go home to Jersey for the long weekend when I heard Pakistanis were under suspicion. The US Department of Homeland Security has alerted six major airports in the United…

  14. Brazilian Steakhouse

    Last week, Amber and I went to Fogo de Chão for dinner. It is a Brazilian steakhouse tradition known as “Churrasco.” According to the restaurant website: Churrasco (shoo – rás – ko) has been a culinary tradition for more than…

  15. سالگرہ مبارک

    جس طرح دسمبر میری زندگی میں اہم نہینہ ہے (میری پیدائش، منگنی اور شادی سم اسی مہینے میں ہوئیں) اسی طرح اگست کا مہینہ بھی خاص ہے۔ میری بیٹی اگست میں پیدا ہوئی اور میرے والدین بھی۔ میری امی کی……

  16. سالگرہ مبارک

    جس طرح دسمبر میری زندگی میں اہم مہینہ ہے (میری پیدائش، منگنی اور شادی سب اسی مہینے میں ہوئیں) اسی طرح اگست کا مہینہ بھی خاص ہے۔ میری بیٹی اگست میں پیدا ہوئی اور میرے والدین بھی۔ میری امی کی……

  17. Bruised Pakistanis

    I was just minding my own business and making plans to go home to Jersey for the long weekend when I heard Pakistanis were under suspicion. The US Department of Homeland Security has alerted six major airports in the United…

  18. Pearl Harbor Day

    Is it Pearl Harbor Day today? Or is it my birthday? I turn 34 right around this time (11:15am Pakistan Standard Time). Instead of posting photos of me as a toddler, I’ll use my birthday as an excuse to post…

  19. میری سالگرہ

    آج میں ۳۵ سال کا ہو گیا ہوں۔ میں ۷ دسمبر ۱۹۷۰ کو پاکستانی وقت کے مطابق صبح سوا گیارہ بجے پی‌او‌ایف ہسپتال واہ کینٹ میں پیدا ہوا۔

  20. i was searching for pictures of libyan and suddenlly i see a picture of my town ( JOddaem forest )

    i am from Joddeam …. 3 km after that forest

    nice family 🙂

    my regardes

  21. Hesham: Thanks for your comment.

    How did you figure out it was Joddeam forest? I don’t remember where it was. I guess I’ll have to ask my Dad.

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