THE JOURNEY IS THE REWARD

[Real People, Real Sentiments] The Journey Is the Reward- My experience with the Azadi March by Zarlasht Faisal One of my all time favorite Steve Jobs quotes, I never really knew what it meant till the 14th of August 2014. Having fit into the quintessential "burger" category all my life, the journey that I embarked upon has left me a different person forever.Here is what I saw... Sitting in Karachi, mind in Islamabad, my experience there was life changing, and I want to be back in the middle of it all. Its really really good to open your eyes to a world outside the bubble; from beginning my journey at 7 am on the 14th morning, waiting 9 hours at karachi airport, arriving in lahore and following the caravan from mall road, to having my social media friends (Imran Ghazali) leave the caravan to come and say hi to us meeting like old friends, to standing on top of a fire truck at shaadra with massive crowds around us, to road tripping to Islamabad with my cousin Ali Chaudhry Miraj and super aunt Shabnam Miraj who stood for four days despite numerous health issues, to standing soaking wet in the rain, sharing umbrellas with random people listening to Imran Khan's speech at Fajr, to meeting some amazing people from PTI youth wing (Umber Sheraz Khan) who have become good friends today ,to getting stuck in a mob because we ended up right behind IK entering and youth wing boys forming a chain around us to protect us, to dancing with mobs of people on the road in Pakistan and not feeling threatened for a second, to emailing Asad Umar about issues at the dharna and having him reply listening to you, to having pashtuns from kp (Saleem Khan) come and bandage up your aunts bleeding foot and show you their blistered feet because they walked with their MNA from kp, to meeting an amazing writer from france (Alix Philippon) whose writing a book on PTI and already has two books about Pakistan under her belt, to meeting amazing friends from khi youth wing (Arsalan Taj Ghumman) who came with all their female counterparts (Special mention to Rabia and Hafsa-Students and entrepreneurs) driving all the way from karachi, to meeting my dad (Faisal Sherjan) there... a Geo man who came to see for himself along with our cook from lahore, to telling all our friends there he was a Geo man and then pointing and laughing at him along with them everytime Shakeel Ur Rehman was mentioned by IK..light moments, to having them then go and offer him tea and sitting down to eat daal and naan with everyone, to seeing the fire in the crowd as IK said we will not be marching to the red zone that day, to seeing youth wing boys run to throw mud on a man dousing himself with petrol to burn himself, to hearing the civil disobedience announcement and then sitting and analysing what it meant on the drive back to lahore, to finally decipher on the car ride to Lahore with people contributing on whatsapp what a smart move it was from an international perspective, to getting to lahore and finding out about the NA resignations, to cancelling flight back to khi and driving back to Islamabad with a new bunch of friends (Amir Rashid and Attiya Noon) in a van full of people, finding yourself sitting next to Moin Khan - A Different Agenda, to walking on to 7th avenue as the national anthem began, to seeing the containers removed, to everyone walking peacefully, to determination in peoples eyes, to standing for a break and just seeing an endless sea of people walking past and bumping into your French friend again and giving her the biggest hug in the world knowing that you are witnessing unique moments in our country's history,to finally hitting constitution avenue at about 2:15 am at night, first site of the secretariat lit up, the flag mounted high, sitting and chilling on the island divider and watching khan pointing with determination to the crowd... Allah Hu in the background, leaving Islamabad as the sun almost came up, contemplating thinking in a car mixed with friends and strangers.... to getting to lahore and getting on to a flight back and finally letting the tears flow because you know what you experienced has changed you forever, to wanting more around you to have the will to go and see it at least once for themselves, to leaving with more conviction than ever that these were our people... to acknowledging the Pakistan outside the bubble, to acknowledging a journey full of hope.What bothers me the most is that when I was there, amidst that massive crowd...I felt hopeful. The minute I stepped out, and came back to the bubble, media, negativity, cynicism negates that hope. Thinking back, I would not have missed it for the world. I laugh at those that laugh at me supporting this cause...at least I believe in something. What do you believe in? The writer is a hopeful Pakistani, and an entrepreneur trying to make her place in the world.