Aman

Aman, on the day you arrived, the world was a busy, noisy, slightly ridiculous place, and you were about to be claimed by two cities at once. Somewhere between the Margalla Hills and the Dubai skyline, a story began that would come with two homes, two sets of grandparents' opinions, and a lifelong excuse to complain about airport queues. It was a Tuesday in late March 2016. Nobody had told the universe a future reader, performer and artist was on the way. It carried on anyway.

On the world stage, Nawaz Sharif was Prime Minister of Pakistan, and in the UAE Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed was President while Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid ran Dubai with his usual love of building things taller than anyone thought sensible. Barack Obama was in his final year in the White House, and America was in the middle of a famously loud election season. On your actual birthday, an EgyptAir flight was hijacked and diverted to Cyprus by a man with a fake explosive belt, reportedly over a matter involving his ex-wife. Everyone was released safely, and the internet spent the afternoon baffled. Meanwhile, for a girl who would grow up loving science, the timing was perfect. Just six weeks earlier, scientists at LIGO had announced they had detected gravitational waves for the first time, ripples in spacetime from two black holes colliding over a billion years ago. Einstein had predicted it a century before. The universe was literally humming as you showed up.

Pop culture was in full swing. Rihanna's "Work" sat at the top of the American charts, with lyrics that most people sang along to confidently and understood loosely. In cinemas, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had just opened to enormous crowds and fierce arguments, mostly about whether two grown men really needed to fight over their mothers' names. Theatre fans everywhere were obsessed with Hamilton, a hip-hop musical about American founding fathers that had just won a Grammy, proof that the performing arts could still make the whole world sing along. Apple had unveiled the iPhone SE a week earlier, a smaller phone for people with smaller pockets, and Pokémon Go was still months away from sending millions of adults wandering into lampposts. Book lovers were counting down to July, when Harry Potter and the Cursed Child would finally arrive on shelves and stages.

Snapshot facts are AI-generated and may occasionally contain inaccuracies.

Sport had already given your two cities a gift. In February, the very first Pakistan Super League final was played in Dubai, and Islamabad United lifted the trophy after beating Quetta Gladiators by six wickets. It was a final that belonged to both your homes before you were even here. The World Twenty20 was underway in India, though Pakistan's campaign had ended a few days before. Islamabad was enjoying spring, with mild days and blooming trees, while Dubai was easing toward its long summer. And on the horizon, Dubai was busy building IMG Worlds of Adventure and Dubai Parks and Resorts, both opening later that year, as if the city knew a future roller-coaster enthusiast had just landed.

Looking back, it was a world of collisions: black holes in space, superheroes on screen, cultures in a single cricket final, and two cities meeting in one small girl. Things that seemed enormous that week have faded, but the good stuff stuck around: the curiosity, the music, the stories waiting to be read and the stages waiting to be stepped on. You arrived in a year when the universe announced it had been quietly making music all along. Fitting, really. You have been adding your own ever since.