Our first anniversary!! To think we have come all this way. I know for most people this may not be something extraordinary but for me, I think this is one thing in my life that I can be proud of. Not comparing it to the creation of Pakistan and how my grandparents often reminisced about the struggle for Pakistan…I think I kind of know now what it feels likes to become a part of a dream….nurture it and then see it blossoming into something concrete and vital.

And yes! I do think Talat Hussain is the reason we are the organization that we are. I have my differences with him but I would be lying if I didn’t say that I think he is the most competent professional I have come across so far in my life. Islamabad bureau won’t be the same without him. Aaj television won’t be the same without him.

I know for most of us…working is a day in and day out activity. In all honesty…that is what I view work in my daily grind as well. But sitting calmly and realizing in this moment of leisure…I know that I have been a part of something that made a positive impact on people’s lives. I just watched this testimonial of a man from malkot who acknowledged that it was Aaj Television’s coverage of his village’s devastation due to the earthquake that literally a stream of volunteer relief workers flooded his village and pulled out his family from under the rubble, in a place where no help had come for days.

I know that if I were probably working in some bank or financial institution, I would never have had the time nor the inclination to travel to the earthquake hit areas or visit hospitals. This job gave me my first glimpse of how truly fragile human life is and yet how compassionate humans are.

I don’t know how long I will continue working with Aaj…maybe another month, maybe a few more years…but I do hope that Aaj continues to grow and establishes itself as the best channel in Pakistan.

On that sentimental note…let’s turn to what really matters…me!

For some reason boss decided to host the live show for the Islamabad Bureau celebrations of our first anniversary and guess who was the co-host?

Yawn!

I was given only a few hours notice… and only an hour to go home and find myself a dress… so no shopping for a dress to dazzle and look stunning so instead I went for the stunned look.

And since I didn’t know any of the luminaries I was supposed to introduce I pretended to be their biggest fan showering them with platitudes. Never again will they want to be in a kilometers radius with me. Except maybe for Nargis Rasheed who made it a point to tell my CEO how vast my vocabulary was!!

Yet another tasteless encounter with my ex’s grandfather.

I finished up the recording around 11 at night…ate some and yawned some and had my picture taken with the Aaj Television staff, with boss standing right behind me and the four inch heels didn’t help.

More teasing on my scarf and boss’s shalwar qameez that resulted in my inviting moi to his second marriage whenever and with whomever it will be.

As I left the hall, I ran into uncle Mohsin from PIDE. His daughter Saba was a classmate who is MashaAllah married and settled in Chicago now. Saba’s younger sister just got married and it was her Mehndi that was taking place at the same hotel. So I made my token appearance there and wished Nida well.

I got home around midnight and was too tired to actually sleep. So I cleaned my room, washed my clothes and finally went to sleep around 2 a.m. and this woke up late for prayers.

I spent the day at office in between meetings& editing sessions and left an hour early…I desperately wanted to take a nap and somehow managed to sleep for some thirty odd minutes. Woke up and scrambled to get ready. Saddy picked me up and we went to Sana’s place…and from there we went to Pizza hut and then onto GA.

This is probably the most boring blog I have ever written. I blame it on what the old radio men called ‘a short between the earphones.

Yawn!