THE DEMISE OF A COMPANION |
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Events in the human path cannot be altered and we must take this in that spirit as the will of God |
This is not the usual column which I have written almost for the last 10 years or so, in fact it had to be such.
I just had a major shock in my life (and in my second career as a writer) with the demise of my sustainer and helper of 55 years. My wife breathed her last on the eve of Eid on January 29, 1998. And of sure we had no Eid, instead we had a long session of mourning and wailing. This session is still continuing.
When I retired from the army in 1974, and being simple man, I could neither find a job, nor could carve one. I decided with the advise of my wife to wield my pen rather than any other dubious expertise, and I have not regretted this counsel. I have been able to contribute on the rather arcane topic of defence in a number of newspapers and journals, including the revamped Defence Journal which is now being published under the able guidance of Mr. Ikram-ul -Majeed Sehgal.
This new career has never been easy and to carve a niche amongst the galaxy of journalists was only made possible mainly due to the sustenance and companionship of my wife. The massive stroke which gave me no more than a couple of minutes reaction time on the evening (eve of Eid) has apparently robbed once for all the warm assistance and companionship which I had enjoyed for over 50 years.
I am not quite sure whether I shall be able to get back in the 'business' soon enough, but one cannot ever fight with the destiny and human ordainment. Events in the human path cannot be altered and we must take this in that spirit as the will of God.
It was lucky that she was here in the village, where in fact her and my roots are, and there were all the relatives and sympathizers who saw to it that she got the most gracious treatment when she left this world.
I had a great predicament, as most of my 'clan' was at Karachi and they had to fly into Lahore on the eve of Eid (January 29, 1998) almost impromptu. We had to face immense difficulty in arranging the air passage and then the transportation from Lahore Airport to Lalamusa on Eid day.
By and large my phone is always reliable, but it is strange that on the fateful evening it conked off between critical period for a couple of hours. I was lucky that some relatives came to my rescue and handled all the vital communication problems most efficiently and the near relatives had reached home well in time for the last rites.
I think it is good to be living in a village, where there is still some fellow feeling, and I shudder to look at the conditions in large towns where even the very near neighbours remain strangers.
I think my wife had some sort of a calling and she decided to come down to the village after having spent a fortnight or so in Lahore.
I am not quite sure, but knowing the average life expectancy in the country, she had lived a full life. She has not left any liabilities, instead she has left a number of 'assets'. Her sudden disappearance has created a gap, but then a protracted state of illness would have had serious implications, both for her and us.
Finally, notwithstanding my personal grief and loss I must thank the well-wishers and sympathizers who completely took all administrative load off my shoulders and made excellent arrangements for the soyem of the pious lady who never missed the recitation of Koran or prayers or the holding of Majalis-Aza for the Martyr of Kerbala in her whole life. She personally cleaned the cite of the Majalis.
It is paradoxical that we had a holiday of nearly five full days and during the festivity of impending Eid, all administrative public machinery is frozen. It is almost impossible to communicate to people who usually leave their place of work and cannot be easily located. The officers, banks and even newspapers have a holiday.
Under these adverse conditions it was no less a miracle that we managed to inform the blood relations in time (and also some other near friends too) . I was deeply consoled to find the sitting MNA - Alsyed Manzoor Hussain Shah of Kullewal Syedan, his brother Syed Noorul Hasan Shah.ex MNA, Ch Haji Asghar Kaira, Sh Nasimul Ghani, ex Chairman MC and many others coming down to my place and share my grief.
I am deeply thankful to these and many others who have sustained me in my extreme grief. Most of the credit for taking on all the administrative burden was taken over - and almost ungrudgingly by Sayed Tallat Hussain Shah, another well known social worker and oil magnet of Lalamusa. I am extremely thankful to him for his help and cooperation, and sustained sympathy.
Courtesy: The Nation
