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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
70
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 .
71
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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