My life has taken a tangential turn since I last posted on Steemit. A break that was supposed to last a short while, turned into something even I had not anticipated. I guess this is what happens when responsibilities shift. Both my elder brothers got married and one of them emigrated to the UK. The other, obviously is starting a new chapter in his life. In essence, I feel like I am the head of this family now. My dad's old. Got two younger brothers to take care of. Their education, marriage and other stuff. In short, life took a turn but I have reached stability now. Even if I haven't, I'd like to think I have, because it's what your mind believes is who you truly are.

The reason of mentioning all this? I'm posting after a very very long time and I believe it's my responsibility to atleast let my readers know what has been going on in my life. I'll make different posts about the milestones I have achieved in this time period. It's a long ride ahead, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Just a teaser: I have graduated and now own a dental clinic of my own as well :)))

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My brother and sister in law just came back from England to attend our brother's wedding. It was after a whole year, our family was together and after probably a couple of years that we went out for a family picnic. So in this post, I'll be writing about our travel to the beach that's situated on an island right outside our city.

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MANORA BEACH

^location

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Located a few hundred kilometers outside Karachi (the largest city of Pakistan) Manora beach was quite
recently acquired by the naval forces of Pakistan. It's a good thing honestly, the beach was wayyyy more cleaner than the other public beaches of Pakistan, it had a better management and quite clean gazebos as well.

We departed from our house at 8 am and our first stop was at a roadside dhaba, (cafe) from where we got our breakfast. The breakfast consisted of a cup of tea for everyone and an omelette rolled inside a paratha(bread)

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^{this is what 99% of dhaabas look like in pakistan.}

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We reached Manora in a couple of hours. Upon entering the Manora land, we had to cross a couple of checkpoints where the armed personnels went through our national identity cards and a few routine questions such as What are your intentions of visiting Manora? Do you have any weapons in the car and few "orders" such as do not take any videos and pictures of this place untill you reach the designated beach area.

The entrance to the beach had a ticket on it and you had to prebook a gazebo as well. The cost for each ticket and gazebo was:

Item	PKR	Steem
Ticket	50 rs	0.58
Gazebo	500 rs	5.78
VIP Gazebo	1500 rs	18

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Quite reasonable charges if you ask me. The beach was well maintained, atleast better than the other beaches here. I know a lot of you are going to find this beach as substandard and I understand. I belong to a poor developing country and this is what a 'good beach' is to us.

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^{This is what our gazebo looked like}

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Before moving down to the shore, let me show you the work that the management has done for the families. Trust me when I tell you that these facilities that I am about to show you are a luxury for us at beaches.

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A few food carts, a few remote control cars for the children and safe and sound benches for people to sit on. What more could we ask for 🥲

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_{I had no idea my brother was capturing this moment and that too with perfect alignment, I must be dreaming. But what was I really thinking while standing there in solitude? Tbh, I was breathing. Just exhaling the amount of stress I have been building inside me since the past couple of years. This moght sound a bit cliche to a lot of you but I guess this is a part of growing up. I looked at the ocean, the gushing waves and the endless possibilities lying right in front of me. What could go wrong? Will I be able to achieve what I really want? Am I strong enough to carry the burden of my responsibilities? Will I be a good person? The empty ocean in front of me mirrored the scenarios where I could go wrong....or right. Feeling of hopelessness and hopefulness stirred inside me as I promised myself right in that moment that no matter what, I'll be honest with myself.}

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MY LOVE FOR HORSES

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"Baba can we pleaseeee get a horse?" This is what I remember everytime I visit a beach and look at all those majestic creations of God galloping in front of me. I have loved horses as long as I can remember but could never get one for myself. Partially because my dad couldn't afford it, majorly because we live in a metropolitan with concrete houses and that is not a place for a horse to live.

Anyway, every time I visit the beach, I make sure I spend a fair share of my time with horses. My family members are not so fond of animals.

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Just so you know, I had a horse riding race with my sister in law (she knows how to ride horses) and I WONNN. Hahaha, it was a very amazing experience to ride a horse on my own and those moments spent with my sister in law.

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Far off from where we were, I saw a group of horses sitting together with something very tiny in between. My curiosity got the better of and I walked towards them to check it out. Turned out it WAS A CUTEE LITTLE PONY. I'm not so well aware of horse ages so I'll leave the guesses to someone's who's expert in these things.

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How cute is this pictureeee. I'm in absolutely love. Also, I saw the young guy sun bathing, couldn't capture that moment because I was absolutely mesmerized.

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HORSE-THETICS

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A few aesthetic pictures that I took of horses.

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FAMILY TIME

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My eldest brother is leaving back for England this weekend. Only last week, I was sitting with a couple of my friends and they dared me to call my brother and tell him "I love you." I couldn't do it. I just couldn't gather enough courage inside me to do it. I have never said this stuff to anyone.

But I feel empty inside. He came back only for a month and will now again leave for an year or two. The family feels sort of empty without him but that's just life. You know I'm not a big fan of beaches but I made sure I visit the beach with my family because I have no idea when will I again have this oppurtunity to spend quality time with them.

Anyway, we did a lot of fun activities together, such as play cricket, played cards, sat together, and just enjoyed the warm air of the sea.

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This is it for today. I'll try to be more active from now on.

In case anyone was wondering about the caption, "homecoming," it's a really close-to-my-heart title. I wrote it after a lot of contemplating. Why so? I'm returning back home. Steemit was my home and home is where you come back to. My brother came back home only for a few weeks and this weekend he'll return back to his new home. Life is strange. It teaches you something new everyday. Sometimes the hard way....

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^{all pictures are mine unless stated otherwise}