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Professor of English and Senior House Master (1960-1971)
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Sqn.Ldr.(R)
A.A. Shaikh
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By Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui
Sqn.Ldr.(R) Abbas Akhtar Shaikh
(popularly known as A.A. Shaikh) joined
the college in 1960. He retired from the college
in 1971.
He was professor of English and
Senior House Master.
He was born on
2 December 1916 and was married to Mrs. Surayya
Abbas on 11 October 1948. They have three children.
One of his daughters Mrs. Shahida Zaheer was
married to (late) Maj.Gen.(R) Z.I. Abbasi
who was the
fifth adjutant of the college from 1966-1969. |
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Sqn. Ldr. A.A. Shaikh - may Allah have mercy on his soul
- died of tongue cancer back in 1986.
Shaikh
Sahib was the Senior House Master of the College, and was next
in rank only to the Vice Principal Mr. S.S. Azim. He also
used to teach us English.
Shaikh
Sahib left Petaro rather early - in 1971. After leaving
Petaro, he became Controller of Examinations at Karachi
University, a post he held until his last days.
Shaikh
Sahib was one of the most unique of all our teachers. He had a
great sense of humour in a very serious style. Therefore the
students would enjoy his class very much. Let me give you one
incident. Shaikh Sahib used to laugh very loudly - just like
he spoke very loudly. Many a time, his jokes would not be
understood by the students, but the students would make it a
point to laugh as loudly as Shaikh Sahib did. Once we were in
class and Shaikh Sahib cracked a joke, and the entire class
guffawed in the loudest of laughs. Azim Sahib (the Vice
Principal) was on his regular rounds to check the classes.
Hearing this loud noise, he immediately walked in and in and
in 5 seconds expressed his disgust in the fastest speech ever
(he used to speak so fast that many times we wouldn’t
understand what he said). Then as Azim Sahib walked out,
Shaikh Sahib laughed aloud, and all the class laughed in
chorus with an even louder laugh. Azim Sahib didn’t bother to
come back.
When
Shaikh Sahib spoke, he always had an "a" after every phrase
while he thought of what to say next. So for example, he
would say "You...aa...... what are you.....aa ..... doing?"
etc. Because of these aaaaa's, he was referred to as
Shaikhaaaa the mighty.
Despite
all these laughs, Shaikh Sahib was one of the most upright and
disciplined of our teachers and officers. He used to exercise
every morning rigorously, and emphasized discipline.
In this
autograph, Shaikh Sahib wrote about a malaise that had already
stricken Pakistani society at that time in the 1960s. We had
already demonstrated that as a nation we did not have the
character that is required to become a great people. We were
devoid of honesty, and corruption had entered our homes at
different levels.
Little
did Shaikh Sahib know that rather than moving in the right
direction, we would continue to build on this lack of
character, and make the hillock of corruption into mountains
of corruption. Every successive generation and leader seemed
to try and exceed the limits reached by the previous one in
corruption.
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