Most people know where Sin City is and what it implies but for those who don’t – it’s Las Vegas. When people hear that I live in Las Vegas their jaw kind of hangs, they automatically assume that the city only encompasses casinos, gambling, wine and women.

Heck, it sure does but there is a whole lot more to it than that. We live in a normal home, in a normal community with normal kids who go to a normal school in a somewhat normal life. That’s a substantial amount of normal to take in one sentence, maybe a cue for the Pakistani community to be introduced to offset the normal.

We have a rather small Pakistani community if one is to compare it to bigger cities like Houston, New York or Chicago, but who’s comparing. We had a Strings concert last year so the numbers can’t be that low — you be the judge. Come every Ramadan we have iftar arrangement at the local Jamia Masjid, every day of the week, but the weekend congregation is the crowd drawer.

It’s usually Pakistani muslims who arrange for iftar on Saturday and Sundays while the rest of the muslim community just shows up, in most cases uninvited. Not that one should complain, but there is only so much food to go around. Expectedly the net result is not that unexpected, lots of people go hungry and complain, yet come next weekend we all show up – ready for the drill.

Come end Ramadan and chand raat, another controversial undertaking. There are several groups and sub-groups who want to host the event, but apparently every Pakistani has to be invited to that evening, hence if one has a private chaad raat party then for the most part there is a guest list and thus the start of controversy. Blame goes both ways for some have an agenda, some don’t. What the agenda is I have yet to decipher, but maybe in time.

And then there is the big cherry on the sundae — the Eid party, luckily no issue about that, a number of private Eid lunches, open houses and dinners are lined up for Eid day and the weekend that follows. Lavish menus, music and of course the Eidi. Since our community children are accustomed to getting Eid presents and not the traditional Eidi cash gift, it unwraps favorably to offset the disappointment that our children feel at Christmas when there aren’t many gifts to go around. Our Pakistani American kids celebrate Eid somewhat the same way I did as a kid back home, of course I grew up in Pakistan with family so the obvious difference is there, but that is all that’s there. They form strong bonds with their peers, and little friends somehow become family.

Ramadan comes and goes, the twenty-nine or thirty days make one feel nostalgic and the magic of the Pakistani Ramadan can never be captured, but having said that I think we do a pretty good job. Every weekend we get together for iftar and every Friday I see myself looking forward to it. Regardless of the little imperfections that go on within the system -- there is a system and it works, and at the end of the day that is what counts. Credit goes where credit is due. Not to negate that in moments of contemplation and conjecture I wish for a festive Pakistani Eid for my family, as most here wish for a white Christmas. Yes, I wish there was stability in Pakistan and I could think about coming back home and giving my children what I had as a kid. Yes, I wish my children could nourish under the love and influence of their grandparents and could do Eid lunch at nana-nani’s house. Yes, I yearn for my children to experience Ramadan and chand raat and mehndi and choorian the way I did. Yes I do I do I do, and then comes the big BUT …. if only wishes were horses ……..