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In Memory of Nawaz
By Adil Baloch, 7993/Ayub
How many of you remembered the first person from
your entry who you met on your first day at
Petaro? And how many of you ended up being close
to each other instantly? If there are some of you
who can recall, then you probably will understand
the meaning behind each and every word that I am
about to write.
Back in the summer of 1979, my dear friend
Muhammad Nawaz 7909/Ayub was the one – with all
his knowledge and experience from Shahbaz House –
waiting to help me understand the rules and
regulations of a place that seemed a little
strange at first.
Time passed and we left Petaro. Then one day when
Dr. Naseem came to my place in Karachi and told me
how Nawaz hit an electrical pole while travelling
on a train and left us for good. Since then his
baby face from that summer afternoon of 1979 has
hovered in my inner eye always.
In that very first hour at Petaro, after taking
possession over my new world which consisted of a
bed with linen, a table, a chair, a shoe rack and
a closet, I met this baby face of a gem of a
person, who made my life so rich ever since. I
remember him coming over and asking, "Do you
know that you must clean all the dust from all the
assets you now own to the extent of wiping the
bottom of your shoes?" “No, I didn’t know”,
was obviously my answer. His response was
something to the effect “Ok no problem, I will
have to do the same, so we'll do the chores
together." There was a lot more of "small
talk" that took place between those two kids that
day, but I soon realized that he was an introvert
and seemed to have a stammering problem,
occasionally. To my amazement, I discovered he
stammered only when he was truly excited. It was
an immense feeling of gratitude and encouragement
that my immediate neighbour was unconditionally
excited to have me as his new neighbour.
In 8th class, sections were initially
assigned based on kit numbers. Thus, Nawaz was in
section A, while I ended up somewhere in Section
C? Pretty soon examinations came around and
sections were reshuffled based on positions. Nawaz
stayed on in Section "A" while I stayed on in
section "C".
When it came to sports though, he seemed to have a
different philosophy. He would hit the hockey
stick vertically straight on the ground, would
hold his hands straight out in the opponent's face
in soccer and would tell you dirty jokes if you
ended up being a wicket keeper while he pretended
he was batting. Of all the greatest and shortest
sportsmen I have met, he truly demonstrated the
meaning of "having fun" while playing any game or
sport. He knew where to put his attention and
focus. He would have clearly beaten me to be part
of the spelling bee team, but never even bothered
to show up for the trials. That was our Nawaz. He
never sought the limelight, but always stayed
focused on the prize.
Now that I think back, Nawaz and Zubair
(79149/Qasim) were very close in appearance when
it came to their uniforms. They both were the
Einsteins of their time in our class.
As soon as we moved on to 9th class, it
was time for all of us to demonstrate that we had
grown up by changing our colours, personalities,
habits, voices and what not like every other kid
in the world. We were no longer the junior most
class. That was the time when I saw a totally
different Nawaz, who seemed like he was ready to
take on the world.
Stammer! What stammer?
Introvert! Who was an introvert?
Nothing of that sort any more. We had a future Air
Force pilot ready to roll!
When he got through every single exam to join PAF
during our final year at Petaro, he proved that
all that he did in any hockey, cricket and soccer
field was out of his shear objective of fun and
had nothing to do with his competitive side. I
would like to, therefore, call him a "Humble
Competitor" today to hopefully give you an idea on
how highly this brother of mine should be thought
of.
He joined the Pakistan Air Force and soon became a
Flying Officer, but not for long.
His departure from this world at such a young age
was indeed shocking and sad. I wish I had never
lived to hear of this saddest of incidents in my
life.
Making peace with the fact that he is no more in
this world is not easy, but knowing he is where we
will all eventually end up some day draws a little
sigh of comfort.
As my eyes well up, I just thought of another
quote from Gibran that I would like to dedicate to
my brother Nawaz today: “Good friends are like
stars.... You don't always see them, but you know
they are always there”.
May Allah give Nawaz the choicest place in
Jannat-ul-Firdaus, Aameen AND may he read these
few lines I wrote from the Heavens above saying,
"I wish there was a better writer to do me justice
down there".
Nawaz, I love you dearly and I miss you profusely!
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