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Ali Nasir was a brilliant student at Petaro. He
stood first in Board exams both in
Matric and in
Intermediate in the entire Hyderabad Board. As a
result he was given the
Stick of Honour in 1970.
He was also the JUO of Iqbal House in 1969-1970.
He was at the forefront of extracurricular
activities as well. He was the President of the
Funkada Dramatic Society. He was a fine debater
and became the President of the
English Debating
Society as well. He was also the Editor-in-Chief
of The Cadet Magazine in 1970.
He is a man of great qualities. He is the best at
humour, poetry and prose. He is truly a man of
letters and is able to bring satire to its
heights.
Ali and I joined
Petaro together in 1965 - he in 8th class, and I
in 9th class. We were together at the Petaro
entrance exams and medical tests at PNS Shifa in
Karachi. I was suffering from jaundice at that
time and was very sick. But the doctors had no
clue. On that day of our medical tests at PNS
Shifa, we were all given bottles to produce our
urine for test. As each candidate emerged from the
toiled with his bottle, Ali would immediately call
out the name of a drink that could be similar in
colour - lemon juice, Fanta, etc, and everyone
would laugh. When I emerged with my bottle, there
was a big laugh as he said "Coca Cola".
The urine was very dark in colour due to presence of bile in it.
The doctors were horrified. That is when we
discovered that I was suffering from jaundice, and
I was asked to go home to take full rest and come
back after 6 weeks for medical tests again.
After leaving Petaro, Ali moved to Ankara, Turkey
in 1970 to study at the Middle East Technical
University (METU). He obtained his Bachelors
degree in Architecture. In later years, he moved
to the USA and obtained his Masters in Urban
Design with distinction from Harvard University in 1983.
He has been settled down in Boston for over 30
years now. He was an Associate of Skidmore, Owings
and Merrill (SOM) for four years as a Senior
Project Manager. He served in the same capacity as
a Senior Associate with CBT/Childs Bertman
Tseckares Inc. for another four years.
 He is the founding
Principal of Rizvi Architects based in Boston. He
directs the management and design of all
architecture and interior design projects in the
office. He
also provides
specialized training in urban design to selected
assignments. He has been
responsible for design and construction
administration of over 70 major buildings and
interiors projects in the United States and
abroad. His company has obtained many coveted
international awards for its work.
Ali Nasir has always been a great friend. We
joined Petaro together, and that friendship has
endured since 1965. We have always had a great
love and mutual respect for each other. But
somehow or the other, we never got to meet each
other for nearly 4 decades after I left Turkey in
1971 and moved to MIT in USA.
Finally, when I was visiting Boston in May 2010,
we met. I just cannot express how happy I was to
see Ali again. (In the picture on the right, Ali
and I are standing on the footpath in front of the
MIT entrance on Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge,
MA on 15 May 2010).
It has been truly an
honour to have had Ali Nasir as my friend since
1965.
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