As the plane rolled to a holt, an orchestra of seatbelts coming undone and human chatter began as though suddenly tired of their two and a half hour journey from Dubai. They simultaneously reached for their belongings in the overhead compartments and piled out of the plane somewhat like an instinctive wildebeest migration. Well I guess for some of us, it has been almost a 30-hour ride! It was 3.30 in the morning. I had landed in Lahore, Pakistan.

On the road, lorries that were excessively decorated in all the possible primary colours hooted past, their blaring musical horns trailed behind them. People applied their own rules on the roads. Rickshaws, cars, bicycyles, motorbikes, people, cris-crossed away through intersections. "Fortunately they had horns..." was all I thought. We went through three police checkpoints accompanied by some interrogating glares. I was glad at this point that I had a local with me.

The name Pakistan is derived from the Urdu words Pak (meaning pure) and Stan (meaning country). Pakistan was part of India before it was partitioned along religious lines in 1947, now known officially as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Simply put, Pakistan was created to preserve the purity of the Islamic faith within the region. A strange alchemy of past superiority and future insecurity shaped the dream of a separate Muslim State in India. Henceforth, Muslims fled to Pakistan while Hindus and Sikhs to India.

It is a country bordered by Afghanistan and Iran to the West, India to the East and the Arabian Sea on the South. Culturally, it is a diverse melting pot of Pujabis, Sindhis and Kashmiris in the East; Muhajirs and Makrani in the South; Baloch and Pashtun in the West; and Dardic, Wakhi and Burusho in the North. These have been greatly influenced by many of its surrounding countries such as the Turkic people, Persian, Afghan, and Indians of South Asia, Central Asia and Middle East.

Finally, I was home, greeted by a warm though sleepy smile, a Pakistani chai full of spices and a comfortable bed. I was tired, yet aroused, as my senses for all that was unique to this country was awaken. I was here to prove that there is normality amidst the chaos that was all I knew of this country and I couldn't wait to begin.