Things that make you thankful to be Pakistani?

[Mobius]

Food
Cultural Diversity
God Given Natural Beauty of the Land
The untapped potential

And the Hilarious characters you find in every corner of the country...LOL!

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[Meengla]

Food

Warmer relationships between family and friends than in other parts of the world.
Most Pakistanis are trying to adapt to the modern world, rather than blindly copy the West. This means they are retaining more of their values and identity.
Even the weakest and poorest in society try to help others.

My family in Karachi keeps saying the family and friendship bonds in Pakistan have rapidly broken down. I don't know about the younger generation there much but even from some casual observations, I have seen people come together to help with doctor visits, medical care, shared cooking, youngens staying in hospitals with sick elders...

Here in America--the older generations may have been different--but from looking at Gen X and later--it is an almost totally broken down family system. Daughters staying away from their old, sick moms and fighting for the inheritance with moms. And I thought the strongest bond in humanity was between a mother and her daughter! In my circle of family and friends--and they are all white-- I know only two of my cousins-through-marriage who have a stable family environment. And those two cousins are siblings to each other and their own mom (who was my aunt through marriage) married a decent, successful man. The rest--and I mean the REST--of about a dozen+ friends and family members--are a wreck, especially if they have the kids.

 

[Watandar]

My family in Karachi keeps saying the family and friendship bonds in Pakistan have rapidly broken down. I don't know about the younger generation there much but even from some casual observations, I have seen people come together to help with doctor visits, medical care, shared cooking, youngens staying in hospitals with sick elders...

Here in America--the older generations may have been different--but from looking at Gen X and later--it is an almost totally broken down family system. Daughters staying away from their old, sick moms and fighting for the inheritance with moms. And I thought the strongest bond in humanity was between a mother and her daughter! In my circle of family and friends--and they are all white-- I know only two of my cousins-through-marriage who have a stable family environment. And those two cousins are siblings to each other and their own mom (who was my aunt through marriage) married a decent, successful man. The rest--and I mean the REST--of about a dozen+ friends and family members--are a wreck, especially if they have the kids.

It is true that family and friendship bonds in Pakistan are not what they have been in the past. This is especially the case as our grandparents and great grandparents generation died out, those folks really put an emphasis on family relationships and regular visits.

Another problem is the families simply grew too big and it became too complicated to visit and remember so much extended family. I actually have little interaction with extended family anymore like the descendants of my paternal/maternal grandfathers brothers and sisters.

I try to respond to those relatives who are still interested in talking to me and having a relationship, it reminds me of the good old days!

Jidhar taak Amreeka aur khandani taluqat....in kaa to bohot hee buraa haal hai, since 1960's pure focus is paisa aur mazay aur mazhab aur khandan ko to qurban kiya inn maqasid kai leeyay. Meray to khayal mai sirf 50% logon kai stable shaadi aur khandan hain. Pakistan ka itna bura haal naheen hai.

 

[Meengla]

Jidhar taak Amreeka aur khandani taluqat....in kaa to bohot hee buraa haal hai, since 1960's pure focus is paisa aur mazay aur mazhab aur khandan ko to qurban kiya inn maqasid kai leeyay. Meray to khayal mai sirf 50% logon kai stable shaadi aur khandan hain. Pakistan ka itna bura haal naheen hai.

Some quick personal observations of how broken the family system is here in America; and I know these people quite well through friendships or relations.
1) One widowed aunt in her 80s has two daughters. One daughter had already moved half away across the country years ago and supposedly is 'whoring around' there to make a living. The other daughter, shortly after the husband passed away, moved to another state as the daughter saw what kind of responsibilities coming her way.
2) A young niece, put through worthless 'performing arts' in NYC with no career other than being a barista at a Starbucks, is the only child and barely calls her mom who is breaking down from various diseases with no one around to help but her husband has to commute in shifting shifts 25 miles. Of course the niece decides to live an hour away.
3) A cousin, instead of living close to parents--well, one parent is a step mom--moved a long drive away so not to look after her biological mom (who lives alone) or with her dad--who is breaking down.
4) An uncle has only two daughters. One lives a good hour drive away while the other daughter has moved several states away. The uncle is well into his 80s, a widower, lives alone, and in bad health.
5) A neighbor friend is fighting with his sister over the inheritance and the sister has not spoken with her own mom who is in very bad shape and lives with the guy. Of course the sister lives in some other place but at least in the area. The guy once said if mom passes away then he may not even let his sister know of the loss and just bury the mom!
6) An aunt who didn't even go to her own son's funeral when he died of a heart attack some years ago.

These are just top of my head. I used to hear about how the old people were treated in America but until I personally saw these things, I would not have believed them.

 

[pakistanitarzan]

Jannat mein sab kuch hu laiken Karachi ki biryani is a must!

 

[Sainthood 2.0]

For me it's definitely the food. I had parantas with aloo gosht this morning for breakfast. I thought to myself how lucky we to have such a top cuisine.

Imagine being French and the best you have to offer is a croissant.

Opposite for me
Pakistani food sucks, I very rarely eat it every single day except for a whole roti for breakfast as carbs
Everything else is straight trash especially the culinary delights of extreme ghee and diabetes.

Family dynamics, we adapt to the new age in our own way with confidence
Gulfies want to be American so bad they're easily impressed by the west
Indians are bunch of weak try hards who are rarely confident in their own skin without it becoming super cringe
IDK anywhere but amongst the Indian American it's a HUGE status symbol to be with a random foreigner.
It won't fly with us thank God
We have a lot of self confidence in who we are without it becoming super cringe

Also Pakistani women are better than most others in the world not physically although that can be true too but in a feminine way that brings stability and nurturing feminine energy to a household.

Subtle differences you observe over time
So yes I'm proud of my heritage as pros outweigh the cons imo.

 

[Watandar]

Opposite for me
Pakistani food sucks, I very rarely eat it every single day except for a whole roti for breakfast as carbs
Everything else is straight trash especially the culinary delights of extreme ghee and diabetes.

Family dynamics, we adapt to the new age in our own way with confidence
Gulfies want to be American so bad they're easily impressed by the west
Indians are bunch of weak try hards who are rarely confident in their own skin without it becoming super cringe
IDK anywhere but amongst the Indian American it's a HUGE status symbol to be with a random foreigner.
It won't fly with us thank God
We have a lot of self confidence in who we are without it becoming super cringe

Also Pakistani women are better than most others in the world not physically although that can be true too but in a feminine way that brings stability and nurturing feminine energy to a household.

Subtle differences you observe over time
So yes I'm proud of my heritage as pros outweigh the cons imo.

It is true that Pakistani food has some severe downsides like excess salt, oils, sugar and fats. Combine this with the almost total lack of diet and exercise among people and you get all these huge health problems in later life.