Saturday, April 18, 2015

EMPTY VESSELS MAKE MUCH NOISE .

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19.                       EMPTY VESSELS MAKE MUCH NOISE .
My dear Rao Ashraf sahib,
Before Partition , the children were taught good behavior . Those included to respect
1.          their parents
2.          The people older to you
3.          Others ( relatives ,neighbours and even servants )
4.          Not challenge elders even if they were wrong .
5.          Not to humiliate who those  were inferior to them.
6.          They were taught the different modes of salutations   while writing letters  viz. father , mother , grandparents , uncles and aunts , the principal/ headmaster , to the teacher .The details are found in Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi’s  priceless book ’Behishati Zaivar’ . With the country’s   economic development , the values which we cherished for centuries  ,have  eroded . This is the price we are paying .

However , a few belonging to the old school remain . I am an old fashioned man . I like old fashioned things and ideas .  However ,by virtue of being in the service of Pakistan and dealing with different people with their idiosyncrasies and suffering from illness for the long time tempered me .  Fortunately I am not alone . A few days ago , Masud Hasan , in his weekly column  ‘RSVP’ narrated an incident involving he and  his late older brother , Khalid Hasan , the cricketer and himself  a noted columnist , settled in the USA . Masud sent the family an electronic Christmas Card . His brother did not  like it a bit . Khalid told Masud to  choose a card ,buy it and send it .   
His spiritual guide  told  Hazrat Data Ganj Baksh , the real ruler of Lahore , to beg for a year . When the year finished , he was told to beg for another year to ensure pride was eliminated in the person of the latter . My advice to all Pakistanis to undergo the same exercise for at least one year .  We beg the donor countries/agencies  shamelessly for loans , foreign trips from anyone who is in the

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position to oblige , foreign postings  etc . but behave arrogantly in front of our own people . 

 Sheikh (late) Ikram Ali , the father of my childhood friend , Tariq Ikram ,a mentor and a very noble man, once told yours truly that knowledge is a vast ocean and he had just stepped in . If a gentleman at the age 70 plus can say that with his vast knowledge and experience of the world , I am still struggling to learn . I am 69 and  learning . I learn daily  from my children and grandchildren , I learn what others  had written  or what their experiences were .  

Once I attended a memorial service to honour a late Professor of Gordon College , Rawalpindi in the Jubilee Hall of the College .  His children , a boy , Pervez Samuel Dean , and a girl , Ms Nilofer Dean , were with me when I was doing my Masters in English Literature . They  were my  fast friends . On entering the Hall , I at once felt very small : the hall was full of grey heads sitting . If someone was a double Masters , a gentleman sitting behind  me  was a triple PhD . I remember a man who was once a demonstrator in the Chemistry Laboratory .  Well , he did his PhD from MIT and became the Dean of the Chemistry Department at the same College .  There was one thing common in that august assembly – humility . That characteristic which Islam emphasizes but it is uncommon in the adherents of Islam .  The Grey Heads , the Professors , were easily accessible during the College hours which was not the case with most of the Muslim Professors/Teachers . They  were so vain . Even a  person with moderate education is vain . His behavior is overbearing and outrageous .
You will  remember our sitting with Revered  (Late) Francis Xavier in 1985 at his house located on Gordon College campus . Well , he migrated to the USA where he did qualify for a second PhD in Theology , the first he did was on Christopher Marlowe ( I believe a rarity in Pakistan ) here, a contemporary of Shakespeare ,  bought a church and became a reverend .  At College , Reverend Xavier was very friendly . I borrowed his bicycle daily ( a fortune then ) to enjoy a trip to the Rawalpindi Cantonment and back to join his class . I now realized what a fool I had been . But Mr. Xavier  was never  angry  with   me over  this  .
I remember the day , when I went to see the Principal , the late Dr. V.K. Mall to be admitted to the Masters class although I was two months late . He told me to go and join the class without much ado .  When I mentioned the Admission Form , he told it  would follow . That  day I got it . 
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There are numerous eminent and  learned persons  in the past  , present and will be in the future . Each day when I open the daily newspaper and I read the names of the writers who write columns for the newspaper , I learn that they  had  finished their PhDs from a renowned/ domestic universities or are studying abroad or at home  , I feel very small in front of them regardless of my qualifications .   I am pigmy  compared to them . Remember Steven Hawking , the paralyzed world renowned scientist . He is a genius despite his handicap . Or many people who won the Noble Prize in various disciplines the world over. Also my article ‘An Eye Opener’ in which I emphasized ‘Education ‘ for all Pakistanis , in particular , and all Muslims , in general . In it , I compared the number of Nobel Prizes won by the Jews ( 188 ) and the Muslims ( only three ) . I had drawn a table showing the universities in the western world and in Pakistan . USA leads the list  with 8000 plus as compared to Pakistan (150 ) . This essay was followed by another ‘A Wake up Call’  and a few others on education. As a matter of fact , one of my articles ‘Good Night , Sweet Prince ‘ – a tribute to my deceased son , Mustafa Mahfooz , is still found on his attendant physician’s website .
However ,I don’t need any kind of a certificate to establish my credentials .

With love and best wishes
Yours sincerely
Mahfooz ur Rahman
Islamabad
July 18, 2013


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