When God cannot be everywhere, she created Mothers

Since the day I started writing professionally somewhere in August 2008 and my short stories, travelogues, critiques on books and films were not just published but appreciated by a varying international audience on the Internet, it had remained a dream that I should write something on my celebrated mother but since she has been such a towering personality, it was always so difficult to write about her. Usually, I take about three days to write an article but this one has taken more than three months to complete with so much thought and feelings that go along with it. Thus, I had been contemplating as to how I should go about it when suddenly it dawned upon me that I should ask her to help me write a short autobiography of herself. So here I am trying to paint a canvass of her glorious life in her own sweet words. Here we go Mom! Please do forgive me for any Faux Pas that I may commit along the way. This is what she has to say: I was born in a small state in Gujrat, Palanpur, India on Tuesday 10th September, 1935. A state governed by the Nawab Tallae Muhammed Khan Bahadur (Late). Palanpur; a princely state was famous for Kewda a kind of flower shaped like maize but has a very strong fragrance. As the train approaches the station of Palanpur; the passengers could smell the fragrance from a long distance.

The Map of the City of Palanpur https://www.google.com.pk/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=0&oq=Gujrat%2C+Palanpur&ie=UTF -&rlz=1T4RNQN_enPK489PK490&q=gujrat+palanpur&gs_upl=0l0l0l11950lllllllllll0&aqi=g4&pbx=1

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My father i.e. Abdul Qadeer Khan was the Aide-De-Camp (ADC) of the Nawab and was also a commander of the cavalry which was trained to give guard of honor to the Viceroy and other dignitaries who visited the princely state off & on. Since I was the only offspring of my parents, I was given a lot of love and care. I was brought up like a Tom Boy. I used to dress up like a boy, play all kinds of monkey tricks, games and sports played by the boys, so much so that I even used to climb trees like a boy my age which was so unusual for a girl to attempt. I used to ride a pony every evening and would ride bicycles around the house. I loved to accept all kinds of challenges; this gave me great confidence. My life was somehow full of challenges. I got my early education in a small school which imparted education in the Gujrati language while the second language taught was English. This was the reason I was deprived of my mother tongue which was Urdu. After the retirement of my father, I had to shift to Jodhpur where my grandfather lived with all my uncles and aunts. Jodhpur is a very beautiful place situated in Rajasthan, India, a great house of culture of the Rajput; a great race and name in the history of India. This blending of culture of Gujrat and Rajasthan gave me a chance to learn about the people of both the states and their colorful culture and religions. This was the 1 st phase of my education. I took a great interest in the various activities, learnt a lot about the language, music, dances and religious ritual. It was all so interesting, colorful and enchanting for a young Muslim girl of my age. I keenly participated in their religious festivals too. In Jodhpur, my educational environment was totally different. I was admitted in a very famous Convent school managed by the Nuns, like most of the Convents in other parts of India. This school i.e. Saint Patrick was the only school where all the elite of the society, including the girls of the royal family came to learn. This gave me a chance to mingle with the Rajput girls and make friends with them. One of the daughters of the cousin of the Maharaja of Jodhpur i.e. Umaid Singh became a close friend of mine. This gave me an access to visit the famous palace of Jodhpur which was known for its grandeur namely the Chittar Palace which also became a tourist attraction after the partition of India.

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Umaid Bhavan or Chittar Palace, Jodhpur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umaid_Bhawan_Palace In India, the ratio of Muslim girls was very low in school as compared to the Hindu girls. Very few Muslim families allowed their children to attend schools, besides the St. Patrick School was rather expensive so very few girls were admitted. This school gave me a wonderful chance to promote the artistic capabilities in me. I extensively participated in stage plays, group dancing, tableaus and English chorus songs etc. After completing my High School, I was admitted in a famous college. The only girls college in Jodhpur at that time was known as the Rajmahal College which seemed to be an old building of the Maharajas; a huge building which looked like a great temple with a beautiful Baoli, a small lake like ditch on one side where our library was situated. There were only four Muslim girls in the college. They all observed Purdah and were quite timid to come forward and participate in any activity. Having Rajput blood flowing in my veins, I was the only girl who was bold enough to come forward and participate in all kinds of activities, including their religious dramas and dances. I even choreographed some group dances and did some caricature of our teachers which they all enjoyed. During this period we saw many ups and downs when the war of independence was fought. Life became rather insecure. Many Punjabis from the Punjab province entered Jodhpur after the assassination of their ruling Maharaja who was not allowing the migrating people from Sindh and Punjab to enter Jodhpur. We lived like fugitives and shifted from one place to another, I dressing up like Hindu girls.

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The Minar-e-Pakistan, the symbol of Pakistans independence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan Ultimately, in 1952; we migrated to Pakistan. This was a very crucial time for the Muslims in India. There had been a massacre in many parts of India. With great difficulty, I reached Hyderabad, Sindh with my mother. My father had already migrated to Pakistan in 1946 when the turmoil started. As most of my uncles were government servants, they all insisted my father to purchase a property in Pakistan so that if worse comes to worse, all the womenfolk could migrate to Pakistan in times of danger. So he was already residing in Hyderabad since 1946.

The City of Hyderabad, Sindh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad,_Sindh

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Initially, I had also come with him to Pakistan along with my mother but the climate of Sindh did not suit me. I got sick and went back to Jodhpur with my mother after six months, completed my Matric which I earlier left in between due to the upheaval. I continued my studies from 1947 to 1950 in Jodhpur. After doing my Inter Arts from Raj Mahal College, I could not do my B.A because there was no girls college for graduation. It was from the university that students did their Bachelor where it was co-education and the Muslim girls were not allowed to join. My two precious years were wasted thus. Before coming to Pakistan, I got a chance to visit Bombay. Though I had already visited Bombay two times but then I was quite young at that time. This time around it gave me a chance to visit Bombay when I was quite grown up. My mother and I were invited by the Chotee Begum (Youngest wife of the Maharaja) of Palanpur who was the sister in law of the late Nawab of Palanpur who was living in Bombay after partition when Vallabhbhai Patel (One of the founding fathers of India) annexed all the states to the government and most of the states were given a kind of pension, the Nawab of Palanpur and all his relatives left Palanpur and shifted to Bombay. This trip to Bombay was yet another adventure of my life. We were living in Bandra, a famous place where people from the film industry lived. Here I got a chance to visit the film industry.

The City of Bombay, India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay

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When I was in college, I started writing stories and poems in Hindi as Hindi was the main language of India then. So I thought that I could give my stories to the distributors of Kardar and Mahboob Khan, the famous director of Indian films then. The distributor was our next door neighbor in Bandra and he promised to help me in contacting Kardar and Mahboob. I was also offered a film as I was a good singer and performer. But I knew that I will not be allowed to do any such thing since during those days good families looked down upon the people associated with the film industry and this episode came to an end but I did get a chance to see the famous film actor Dilip Kumar, his sister and other film actors in Bombay. From Bombay we had planned to come to Pakistan via ship but our passports were not ready so we had to drop the idea. We returned to Jodhpur while breaking our journey at Palanpur to visit some old friends. For the first time when I travelled to Pakistan in 1946 along with my father, we were given all the facilities because some of our relatives were working in the railways. They helped us to shift our entire luggage through train safely but the next time when I migrated to Pakistan in 1953, it was a tough journey. People had to cross half their journey by buses escorted by Indian police and the remaining journey through the Tharparkar desert which was very tiresome.

The great Tharparkar Desert http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thar_Desert After getting down from the bus, we had to cross the desert by camels but unfortunately there was a strike and there were no camels to carry us across the desert. We had to complete our journey on foot. Since it was very hot in the day time thus we had to carry on our journey in the evening. The caravan walked throughout the evening and rested during the night. Travelling during the nights was very risky since there was a fear of attack from the villages. The male
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members used to keep a watch during the night. After crossing Munabao and Barmer in Rajasthan, we were expecting some trains from Pakistan which were to carry us to Mirpurkhas. But as luck would have it, there was no sign of any train. We had to wait for the train at the railway station for the entire night and when the train arrived, we were flabbergasted. It was a Maal-gari (read goods train) and not a passenger train. We were all loaded into it like cattle with dry grass under our feet on which we had to sit for hours together before we reached our destination. This is how we were welcomed to Pakistan, the land of the pure. This incident shook me completely because it was the bitterest experience of my life. Imagine a child who was brought up amongst the royalty in Palanpur and Jodhpur was made to travel like cattle in a goods train to Pakistan. It could not get any worse than that and our egos were blemished but we had to endure all this with patience in the name of our new country, Pakistan. It took me quite some time to overcome this shock. My father was facing a lot of financial problems so I had to work to survive in this new land. I joined Saint Marys school, Hyderabad as a school teacher. As I had a lot of experience of being with the Nuns in India, this gave me an opportunity to work with them here in Hyderabad. I worked with them from 1952 to 1960. In 1955, a girls college was floated by the same order of the Nuns named Nazareth College for girls in Hyderabad. I joined the college to complete my BA honors in English. This was the most glorious period of my life. We had different clubs in our college for students activities like debate, music, drama and dance etc. I was the in-charge of the Dance club for I had good knowledge of the Kathak dance which I learnt when I was in Jodhpur. There was a ruined palace, one of the portions of a fortress where a school was run by some famous masters. It was called Kalamandir. I learnt Kathak dance and Sitar at this school.

Sitting on extreme left, English play School for scandal, Nazareth College, 1.09.1953
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I could not continue my classes here since we had to suddenly migrate to Pakistan and thus my course remained incomplete. Anyhow, whatever I learnt; I taught my friends in the Nazareth College. The club organized annual functions where we presented folk dances, tableaus, dance, drama etc. I often used to perform during these functions and all the teachers liked it so much since majority of them were foreigners who belonged to the same Order of Nuns but were from different countries like USA, UK, Germany, Italy and France. They loved and enjoyed our cultural activities.

Standing 3rd from left with Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan and the drama cast 30.11.1953 Once, it so happened that when I participated in a music competition, I secured 1st position and my name was published in the local newspapers. One day I received a letter. It was a big surprise for me since the letter was written by an old friend i.e. Ms. Anita Ghulam Ali who was my class mate in Class IX when I came for the first time to Pakistan. I joined St. Marys convent for a few months before returning to India. It was almost after six years that she discovered me and this reunion took place between other students also who studied with me during that period. It was something like a good dream and we are still good friends. As I was an all-rounder, I was very popular among the college students and the teachers alike. When our college organized the annual sports day, I participated almost in every event be it high jump, broad jump, hurdle race, relay race, lemon spoon race, three legged race, flat race and my favorite bicycle race which I always won. Basketball was one of the games in which we played at the Inter College level and we often came to Karachi to play against St. Joseph College; another famous Convent college managed and run by the Nuns those days. I did not miss a chance to play other games like baseball, throw ball, tennis, table tennis and badminton.

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I enjoyed every moment of the sports day. I won many certificates and trophies in sports, games & music competitions. After the partition of India, when Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan became Prime Minister of Pakistan, his wife Begum Rana Liaquat Ali played an active part for the uplift of the women in Pakistan. She formed an organization called All Pakistan Womens Association (APWA) which was more like a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) which helped the down trodden women and helped them. It participated in all kinds of social service. It also had a branch called National guard in which many college girls were enlisted. Our college also became its member. Every year, we were invited by Begum Sahiba to participate in the National Guard parade on 14th August to celebrate the Independence Day. It was so exciting to be a part of this ceremony. We were made to live in a hostel for two days and were given the best treatment by the first lady in the Prime Ministers house. We all felt so proud and were enthralled by this gesture. Every year, when the session concluded, the best students were awarded with trophies and certificates for their achievements.

Standing with Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan Trophy for best student @ Nazareth College, Hyderabad, Sindh 20.03.1955 The students of Saint Mary and Nazareth College had formed an association of both the institutions. I used to organize an alumni function where majority of the old and new students were invited. Some of them even came from abroad who had left Pakistan after their education. All the old teachers were also invited and we had great fun. Everyone looked
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forward to this day. The function would remain incomplete if I did not perform my songs at the end. When it was my final year at the College, I was also awarded a special trophy for the best student of the year and a social service trophy for the year by the first lady. She was the Ambassador in Hague for Pakistan during those days. When our college sent her this report, she wrote a letter of congratulations to me in appreciation of my achievements. This was the greatest reward for me besides all the rewards I won. My passion to excel in life did not end here. I took a chance to move forward and tried some other avenues too.

Receiving trophy from Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan, Nazareth College, Hyderabad, Sindh 20.03.1955 Radio Pakistan in Hyderabad, Sindh became another center of attraction for me after leaving the college. I was selected in the audition for acting and was given a chance to take part in the weekly plays where I became very popular. Since the people of Hyderabad were still very conservative, so I did not disclose my original name and was known by the pen name of A. S. Naz. The people around me were very educated and respectable so I was encouraged to continue. Initially, I only participated as a drama artist but slowly when some music directors supported me, I began to give performances in music, singing Urdu ghazals, songs and Sindhi folk songs.

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Receiving 1st Prize at the Music competition @ Law College, Hyderabad, 1956 Once there was a drama festival at Radio Pakistan, Hyderabad where different writers participated. I already had some short stories which I had written in India. I tried to make an attempt to enter the competition. As lady luck would have it, my play was selected for the festival but the credit goes to Mr. Ilyas Ishaque who had done his MA in Hindi and Sanskrit besides Urdu. He acted as my God father throughout my career as an artist at Radio station, Hyderabad. He translated my play in Urdu as all my literary work was in Hindi and much of it was laying waste because so far there was no one who could help me out in translating my wok in Urdu. Thus, my play for the drama festival was selected and was very much appreciated by the listeners. It was a story of two twin sisters from Bangladesh and it was called Saharey. After the festival got over, there was a discussion panel comprising of some Professors and writers. I was also invited to take part in it. I received a great appreciation from them and received many letters from the listeners. After this success, I was asked to write some musical play for Hindu festivals by Mr. Ilyas Ishaque who helped me in translating my religious plays like Deep Mala, Janam Ashtme, Dashera, Deepa Wali etc. These plays were broadcast from Hyderabad and Karachi Radio Pakistan simultaneously.

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Standing in Black Sari with Drama artists and Director Radio Pakistan, Hyderabad, 27.07.1956 The Hindu minority living in Pakistan was very glad to hear these musical plays and many of them became great fans of mine. The religious songs & Bhajans in the plays were also written by me. This gave me a great scope in the literary field. I was encouraged to write Urdu ghazals and was assisted by some famous poets like Mr. Zia Mohyeddin and Mr. Himayat Ali Shair who was also a co-actor with me in my plays which were broadcast from the Radio Pakistan. He was a great help to me and taught me a lot about Urdu poetry and corrected my poems. I now started taking part in Mushairas as well and many of my ghazals and songs were published in local magazines. I became a member of the Writers Guild and was one of the famous members of the guild. I was only a student and was a little nervous to join the company of the literary stalwarts but I got the highest regard from all the members. So much so that one of my Hindi songs written about Saat Sur (Sargam) was very much appreciated by a great poet of Pakistan i.e. Mr. Jamiluddin Aali who was also writing Doha (Couplets) based on Hindi writers pattern. I was getting so many programs that once there was an objection from the Audit Department of the Radio Pakistan but I never bothered since I was working for free for the organization.

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Pak-Hind Mushaira, Sukkur, 25.05.1957 One day I got a letter from the Head of the Department of English at my College that I was wasting too much time at Radio Pakistan so no programs should be given to me before his prior permission. As I had high regards for my Professor thus I could not defy him. Mr. Iftikhar wanted that I should pass my Final exams with good grades and should concentrate more on my studies rather than on my literary pursuits. Once the noted stage performer, Zia Mohy-Ud-Din visited Hyderabad. He was invited by the Director of Radio to participate in some program. I got a chance to perform with him in one of the plays. Since he was an expert in his field, I learnt a lot from him. During those days, I was studying at the University of Sindh and was reading my MA in English. My Professors took keen interest in my progress. I was the only girl student in my department at that time. I also got elected as the Vice President of the society of the English Department.

Old Sindh University building, Hyderabad http://www.panoramio.com/photo/41783045

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The history department was arranging some function for a delegation which came from Asian countries. I extended my help to organize some dances and Tableau to entertain the delegates. I choreographed a Deepak dance performed by a male student and a tableau with the help of the program producer of Radio Pakistan, Mr. Qayum who also arranged for the music and stage decoration. This gave me an opportunity to mix with the other departments and their teachers. The program was a great success and I was awarded for my efforts. Another interesting incident took place in my student career. When I had to appear for my viva voce, Professor Mazhar Ali; Head of the English department of the University of Peshawar came to conduct our viva as an external examiner. My Professor i.e. Mr. Iftikhar introduced me as a poetess to the visiting Professor and recited one of my ghazal couplets from my poem. I was so embarrassed and I had to recite one of my poems before I gave my viva. I think this was something very unusual thing which would happen to a student during her viva although I felt very nervous but I faced the situation bravely while the recitation did leave an impression on the visiting Professor. Once a friend of my brother in law visited Pakistan from India. I invited him over for tea. As he was a writer, he took keen interest in my Hindi poetry. I recited a religious Bhajan written in Hindi and few words of Sanskrit. He was enthralled to hear the Bhajan since it was written in praise of Lord Krishna, the Hindu deity. He never imagined that a Muslim woman could write such a devoted Hindu religious song. After getting my M. A. Degree from the University of Sindh, I was promoted as Lecturer at the Saint Marys convent school where I was already teaching and was transferred to Saint Nazareth College from where I had also done my B. A. Honors degree. During the same year, some positions were announced in the English Department in the University of Sindh. I also appeared for the interview and luckily I was selected. It was a very good opportunity for me and for my professional career but I do not remember why I did not accept the offer which was one of the greatest mistakes I could have made. There was an evening college for boys where they needed a lady teacher. Since it was a boys college, no lady was ready to join. One Christian lady was already teaching there but ultimately she also left. My Professor who was also my mentor encouraged me so I joined the college as a part time lecturer. I also joined the department of Comparative Religion to do an M. A. but after clearing the first year I developed some health issues so I had to discontinue. I also tried to do a PhD in English from University of Cambridge but I got a little late in applying so could not get the admission in that particular year and was enlisted for the next year but due to some financial constraints could not join that either.

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In 1959, I got married to Mr. Muhammed Ishaque Shaikh; the son of a noted doctor of Hyderabad Sindh, and a very famous poet (Taj Ush Shura-e-Sindh) i.e. Mr. Shaikh Muhammed Ibrahim Khalil and had to shift to Karachi with my husband who got a job in ICI, a British multinational. Naturally, I had to leave my College job in Hyderabad and find a new job in Karachi. A new college was recently founded by Mr. Adamjee a great name in the business community of Karachi. The Vice Chancellor of Sindh University Prof. A. L. Shaikh who had retired was appointed as the first Principal of the college. He knew me very well and had taken my interview in the University of Sindh for English (which I had earlier declined) called me and offered me the position of Head of the English Department in the newly established college. I had other offers also in some colleges in Karachi but I preferred to join the Adamjee Science College for the reason that the Principal was known to me and secondly it was another challenge for me. This college again was purely a boys college and all the faculty of the college were males while I was the only female specie of this institution. Thank God that my career in this college was a great success. Being the only lady teacher, I was given great respect by the students and my fellow colleagues. So much so, that after almost 20 years of serving here, I was transferred to another reputed college for girls when all the colleges were nationalized by Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto the then Prime Minister of Pakistan.

With Mohtarma Begum Nusrat Bhutto, Adamjee Science College Auditorium, 1970 Due to my abrupt transfer, the students of Adamjee Science College went on strike and closed the Principals office. All the Professors had to retire from their offices because they had all crossed their retirement period in the government since they had reached their super annuation age of 60. The whole setup of the College was changed. My case was put up to the Director of Education. When he saw my case, he called me and directed me to teach in both the colleges simultaneously i.e. two days in Adamjee Science College and three days in PECHS College for women.
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Addressing students at Sindh Medical College, Annual Debate, Karachi, 1975 This was my punishment for being so popular among my students. After the term was over, I was appointed as full Professor at the PECHS womens college. I had become very much attached with all my students in both the colleges because I was involved in their extracurricular activities.

Musical chairs for teachers, PECHS College, Karachi, 1980

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In the early eighties, the Saudi government was in need of lady teachers in different subjects so a delegation had come to Pakistan to hire such teachers. Quite a number of faculty were selected from Pakistan since the Saudi government preferred Muslim teachers and thus only two counties got the preference i.e. Egypt and Pakistan. God was too gracious to me for I was given three years deputation to serve in Saudi Arabia from 1983 to 1985. As the women were not allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia alone, my husband had to accompany me as Mehram (escort). My husband was working with the Dawn group those days and he had to resign since he could not get a leave for three long years. So I, along with my husband i.e. Mr. Muhammed Ishaque Shaikh and my only son i.e. Shaikh Muhammed Ali who had just passed his Inter Science from the same Adamjee Science College left for Saudi Arabia in August 1982. I was provided four 1st class return tickets for my family every year to travel to Pakistan during vacations and was given a handsome salary as I was directly appointed as a full Professor. As soon as we landed in Saudi Arabia, the next month was Hajj and immediately we planned to perform Hajj, an honor from God right away. During my three years of stay in Saudi Arabia, my family and I performed several Umrah, Masha Allah. By the grace of God almighty, my husband and I got a lucky chance to perform Haj-e-Akbar (Haj which falls on a Friday) the very next year. My two daughters could not perform Haj because of their studies and thus could not visit Saudi Arabia during the Haj season. I think my family was one of the chosen ones for getting the opportunity to perform Haj and Umrah and visit the holy shrines of Medina Munawarra many a times.

Pilgrims performing the Umrah during 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umrah

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The first two years at the Kulyat-ul-Binnat at Dammam in Saudi Arabia went on very smoothly but during the third year, we Pakistanis had to face an ordeal. As the Egyptians were our teaching rivals, they objected that the M. A. Degree of the Pakistani contingent was not recognized and the entire Pakistani faculty should thus be demoted by one grade. As there had been some problem for the Asian countries in this context, so a notification was issued by the Saudi government that all the teachers from Pakistan will be considered as having a Bachelors degree and their salaries were slashed by SR 7,000. This was a very serious insult for us and we planned to appeal to both the governments of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to reconsider our case or else we will resign. Unfortunately, our case became weak since rather than waiting for a reply from the government, nine out of twelve teachers accepted the demotion and the low salary except for the three of us who were full Professors who blatantly refused to accept the order. Two of these teachers were from Colleges in Riyadh and Jeddah while I was from Dammam who had refused to continue under such circumstances. One delegation went to Riyadh to the Pakistan Embassy for help in this matter. Thank God that our prayers were heard and the government agreed to withdraw the orders, after the intervention of the then President of Pakistan; for those teachers who were on deputation for three years and thus sanity prevailed. Ultimately, the struggles of us three teachers gave all the benefits to the entire Pakistani contingent. I hope God will give us the reward for the struggle which helped the Pakistani teachers to get their due share. After returning from Saudi Arabia, I joined the same college i.e. PECHS College for women as there was no teacher at that time to teach English Literature classes but soon after as my promotion was due in the 20th Grade, I had to accept the Principal ship of Khatoon-e-Pakistan College. During that time, this college was in a very bad shape. I had to make many changes in it.

NCC, Prize Distribution, Khatoon-e-Pakistan College, Karachi, 1989

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Being a government college, it was very difficult to bring about any changes but being a woman who likes perfection, I could not tolerate the irregularities that were abounded. I had to put my foot down and did all I could for the betterment of the students and the faculty members. I separated the Science from the Arts Department, announced a reward for those teachers who had been working in the college for around 25 years, promoted different activities for the students and awarded the best students and organized many functions.

Posing as Principal Khatoon-e-Pakistan College, Karachi, 1988-90 When I was in the PECHS College, there also I organized many functions along with other teachers and students because it was in my nature to keep myself attached in all sort of student activities. In December 1990, I retired from the government job having more than 38 years of continuous service in schools and colleges. I was also nominated by my son for the Star women of the year award somewhere in 1992 which I won and was presented by my old friend Anita Ghulam Ali who was a Director in the Education Department. During my tenure, I got many a chance to attend conferences, paper setting for colleges and universities and monitoring visits to examination centers. After retiring from government job in 1990, I was approached by a family friend i.e. Mrs. Maroof who was the in-charge of a private school in Karachi i.e. Karachi Public school which was owned and managed by the Bohra community. They had different branches in Karachi and many retired professors from different colleges had also joined their various branches. Initially, it was a bit difficult for me because there was a stark difference in the O & A level system and the Matric & Intermediate system taught in local colleges. I being a teacher of purely English literature found the teaching of English language a little boring and dry but slowly and gradually I picked up the method of teaching and also attended a few workshops arranged by the British Council. Since all the Professors were quite senior and experienced, the school teachers gave us great regards and even the Principal showed us great
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respect. We ultimately proved to be an asset for the institution where the atmosphere was very friendly and cordial. After teaching for 15 years in this School, I left teaching on 30th December, 2005 because the journey from my house to the new campus which was too far away had become very tiresome. I was given a very warm and respectful farewell by the Principal, my fellow teachers and the students. Thus, ended my long journey of teaching whereby I completed almost 54 year without any break. Besides being a Muslim, I inherited many virtuous qualities from my parents. As my mother was of Rajput origin and my father a Khan, both these races had some very strong beliefs. Rajputs were true to their word while Khans would give their life for honor. I also staunchly believed in these qualities from my childhood. Brought up under the guidance of disciplined Nuns in childhood, I believed in many virtues and honesty and to date I uphold these virtues in my daily life. This, I believe; is the only reason my children are honest to the core. None of my three off springs believe in wrong doings. My older daughter Novera Humayun is married to a pilot Mr. Humayun Wahid Shaikh here in Karachi and has three children. My younger daughter Dr. Noreen Hamid who is a Gynecologist is married to an Anesthesiologist Mr. Syed Hamid Ali also here in Karachi and has three children too while my only son is married and works for the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and is based in Islamabad and surprisingly has three children too. Thank God my children are leading an honest and content life particularly in this age when there is so much corruption around but I am so lucky that none of my children or my husband is influenced by this evil.

All my nine grandchildren in Karachi on 8.09.2011

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Sometimes, I regret for not learning Urdu because due to this I was deprived of reading the Tafseer (Interpretation) and the Translation of the Holy Quran written by some famous Ulema. This I always regretted. But some enlightenment came to me at the age of seventy five when a lady having Islamic knowledge became my tenant at one of my apartments in 2002. For a whole 1.5 years, she read out the Tafseer of the Holy Quran daily to me. This was the greatest blessing for me. All the darkness and doubts were removed from my mind. I started taking interest in knowing more about Islamic knowledge. I started collecting religious books written in English and started to read them. I got a chance to read many hadith from Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim and other authentic Hadith books. I also thought of reading the Quran with correct pronunciation from a good Qari so I engaged a Qari and read the Holy Quran for almost two years with his help. Somehow or the other, I felt that during the days when we were taught to read the Quran in our childhood by a female teacher, we were not aware of the many things and read the Quran like a parrot besides my Urdu was also not good. I read the Quran purely on the Arabic phonetics. So I was now satisfied after reading it correctly. There was a family friend who presented a copy of the Quran to my husband in the early eighties which was translated in English by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, a very renowned scholar. The best thing I liked about him was that when he wrote the Tafseer (Interpretation) of each Ayah, he traced the background of the Hebrew Testament, the original Injeel (Bible) and the historical background of the situation. It helped me to get a clear picture of the situation and the context of that particular Ayah and things become very clear. Had I not read the translation of the Quran, my knowledge of Islam would have remained incomplete? Though, I had enough knowledge of the Hindu mythology and Christianity since I had read a lot about their history and that was the reason I was doing my M.A in the comparative study of religion which I could not complete. But due to this I did get some knowledge of Buddhism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism and Jainism along with other known and famous religions of the world. I had also read a lot of world history to add to my knowledge. I still utilize my time in reading the Tafseer of the Quran along with the recitation which gives a great solace to my heart and mind. Recently, I have started writing the synopsis of each Juz (Chapter) of the Quran in English to keep myself aware of the facts mentioned in each chapter and revise them now and then. I hope that God almighty will forgive me for all my sin and provides me the strength and the courage to remain steadfast in prayer and stay on the righteous path till I am alive, Ameen! I hope Mom that I have done justice with this article and have given the due respect that it deserves. You have indeed been a great source of inspiration for me throughout my life and
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today whatever I am and wherever I am is solely because of you. May you and Dad live long with health and happiness, Amen!

With my husband, children & grandchildren @ Sajjad Restaurant, Sea View, Karachi, 31.08.2011

The Wandering Dervish

Shaikh Muhammed Ali

E-mail: dushkashaikh@gmail.com Cell: +00-92-321-5072996 22nd August 2012, 3:51 p.m. (PST)

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