Heart Trails by Aatika Riaz (13, Pakistan)

​Go to the northern side of Pakistan. There's a valley over there; Neelum Valley. Go to the Army Cantt in Neelum Valley, and now sit quietly outside your room on the stairs. Do you feel the nature breathing? As the chilly wind blows around you, do you wonder what it carries within it? Maybe incomplete love stories from the border to a lonely home. Do you feel at peace as this wind kisses your cheek and you know that the one you have been waiting for will be back soon? Do you feel the autumn leaves slowly falling to the ground beneath you, one foot down and this leave will crunch, it will die completely as the sound of its last futile breath makes you feel alive from the inside? Do you listen to the river flowing through the dark nights, do you hear it gushing and roaring? Every roar of this river is a threat to some people and a breath to you. And above you, do you see the infinite stars shining and glistening at you?

---

You blink once, and their number increases. They fall and they rise and always manage to keep shining, yet you decide to stop living this beautiful life even if you're stressed for once. Even if the troubles are small. Do you feel complete as you sip on this warm mixture of natural foundings created by God himself? This warm mixture that is important to you, that has become a part of you and your culture. "Chai.." You breathe out in the air. So I ask you, for once. Let this cold wind whisk away all you sorrows and troubles, let yourself crunch these problems under your feet like they don't matter, because they don't matter, not more than life does. Let yourself flow within these waves that are a threat to the villagers as well as everything that tries to destroy the contentment in your life. Let your true self glisten and shine at this world like the stars and let yourself complete others like this simple drink completes you. So that when you finally lay down to rest, you assure yourself that you spent this life without regrets, without sorrows, without wasting it and waiting for miracles that never arrive. These thoughts bring me back to this familiar place that I described, a world of contentment where my heart is at ease. So when someone asks me, where does your heart lead you to? I'll say. Go to the northern side of Pakistan. There's a valley over there; Neelum Valley...