Throughout my middle school years, I had to take Home Economics, a subject that taught students creative and practical skills. Since it’s main focus was non-academic and I lacked the skills, I questioned the importance of it. I asked myself, Why do I have to learn how to cook traditional Pakistani dishes, stitch, sew, create decorative pieces from scrap, make stain glass paintings etc.? Of course, it reflected my inabilities and my singular drive towards only studying hard-core sciences like Chemistry, Physics, and Math. The first time I sat in the class, I could barely follow the instructions of my teacher. Everyone was diligently stitching with thimbles fixed on their fingers and sewing kits filled with tools I couldn’t even name. I could hardly put a thread through the eye of the needle. It seemed so complicated and despite the fact that I have tiny fingers, I maneuvered them as if they were dead logs. My projects were a mess, with unequal distancing and crooked directions of the stitches. Soon I realized that I had to be more scrupulous. Three years later, on the day of our practical exam, I finished stitching the required patterns before anyone in class. After my teacher graded it, she gave it back with a wink. When I got home, I gave that piece of cloth to my youngest sister, who had started talking for a few months then. With her green eyes bulging, I am sure this is what she was thinking, but had no idea how to say: “Do you seriously think I need this?”

Success in Home Economics came after many failed attempts in my beginning days, so when I completed the three-year program, my house was littered with projects and supplies that I accumulated. I had created so many art pieces, from stitched handkerchiefs to beautiful Italian dough flowers. Today they are hanging somewhere on the other side of the globe. My parents framed everything and left it in our hometown. I just hope they survive through the sand storms that come every so often in our semi-desert village, where houses are open spaces with four mud walls.