The new decade of the 2nd Millennium A.D has begun, and as I look back all that i've been through this past decade, the choice I made, the mistakes, the triumphs and the losses. I take stock of all that's been and reminisce about the good, the bad and the ugly.
It is often said that one event, one moment can change how history is made, can change people, the very course of their lives, for a very long time I thought that such things are stuff of legends or words from the minds of great writers.
2001 was the year which made me reevaluate how I saw the world, who I was, my goals, my ambitions my aspirations.. me.. it changed my life, all that;s been since then is the result of that one event.
I remember I was in grade 8 summer vacations were at their end, my dad comes and tell me about this essay competition entitled "how can I build a better Pakistan?". I sat and thought about how best to write, what to suggest that would make it different from all the other thousands of entries in my age group, and then as I wrote I changed, I started seeing things differently, through many angles.. and I won in my age category on a national level. My parents sent the letter of winning to my school, I remember being called to Madam Gulzar's office (my high-school principal) and interviewed for nearly 2 hours, my likes my dislikes who I am, my ambitions my goals everything and she became my mentor.
2002 was the year I was thrust into the world of public speaking and hosting, and I don;t know but Madam Gulzar saw something in me that I never knew I had, and made me one of the hosts of the 2002 International Children;s Health day Conference on 7th April on the World Health Day under the direction of Hamdard and World Health organization. Made me more confident, opened up my mind to the possibilities and set me on the path of being part mystic in a strange way.
2 years went in a blaze of participating in various declamation and debating competitions, hosting every event at school, being the commentator of every match, a journey of self discovery, learning the power words exert on people. Further cementing of my ideals of writing and doing things in an unorthodox manner much to the horror of the teachers, but Madam Gulzar always supported me, taught me, guided me, and give me ample opportunities to polish my talents, got my first taste of jealousy was certainly an unsettling and somewhat terrifying experience. But like all things that happen in life, there is a lesson to be learned. I learned the lesson of emotional detachment; controlling one's emotions not the other way around (the practice deals with the negative emotions specifically like anger, hate, despair, envy etc)
Another thing that I leaned over these 2.5 years was that follow your instincts, train them, trust them. After school as many people grappled with the college decisions in summer of 2004, I made my mind to return to Hamdard for college, in the meantime following the motto of never sit idle during vacations, my mom got me to do voice training by a man who was my mother's mentor and became my mentor and trainer in the art of verbal artistry. His firm has been in the recording buissness for nearly 50 years now, he has worked and trained the best of the best of the voice over industry of Pakistan and for me to be able to spend time with him, learn from his experiences, meet so many different people, was a learning experience like no other. I learned, I grew as a person, I absorbed all they taught me in those 3 months, Mirza Sahab, Murtaza Sahab, great people. The voice training was tough, with me often standing in the recording booth for hours if I did not get the pronunciations, style and emotional fluctuation of the text to be read right. All this was in Urdu but the same practices helped me enormously as an English orator as well.
I have often been criticized by my peers on my decision to go back to Hamdard for inter, but I have never regretted that decision among others that I've taken instinctively. College was again a constant stream of various competitions and hosting events.Three events stood out during the college years, first was an event an international book launching ceremony at Karachi University's Chemistry Department. The book was "Essays on Science Felicitation volume in honor of Prof.Wolfgang Voelter". It was a gathering unlike any other I had the honor of hosting, all guests were Mphils and Ph.d and frankly I was a little bit intimidated. Our chief guest was Dr.Richard Earnst Nobel Laureate 1991 in chemistry for his contribution towards the development of "Fourier Transform Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy" which directly led towards the development of MRIs. The night went without hitch and being praised by Dr. Richard and Dr. Wolfgang was what made the night truly memorable. Later in 2005 in April I got to host another International Children's Health Conference this time in Peshawar. Got to visit the land of all Afreedis the khyber agency,, got a VVIP welcome, met with the village elders had lunch with em, pure traditional food at a small village right on the border of Afghanistan; also made a friend Anam; although we have grown a bit distant over the years had a very positive influence over me and was one of the people who helped me break apart the shell of just being a geek. I also visited the northern areas of Pakistan namely Naran Valley just a week before the devastating earthquake in late 2005, the beauty there awakened the poet in me.
2006 college ended time to start travel on a new road in life, I tried NUST didn't quite make it, tried for the forces was not at my physical best so failed, then settled for Bahria, another decision which instinctively felt right (people often chastise me for making this decision to this day) but that decision over the years has made me grow as a person and find friend who I am glad to call my best friends (more about that later). During the four years at the university, I re-discovered my love for sports, learned to basketball and table tennis, not a star athlete but a pretty decent one who could hold his own against most opponents. Became part of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) a global organization. Hosted an international conference IEEE INMIC 2008, was an epic experience meeting with such learned people from around the world. On a side note grew my hair long, sported a beard.. and overall kept changing my style every semester just for the fun of it, till I found the one just right for me :-p.
2009 got to be the Master of Ceremony and Technical session moderator of a national student research seminar, was a wonderful experience, further improved my oratory skills, and truly made me appreciate all that I had learned from Mirza Sahab and Murtaza Sahab back in 2004.
The last 3 years of this decade also marked the loss of my grandparents may Allah rest their souls in peace, the sense of loss further drilled into me the lesson they taught me, specially my grandmother who her entire life was a scholar of Islamic studies and History, she taught me to appreciate what it is to be a Muslim, and how to interpret the scriptures. The most important lesson she taught me was that to be a good human being, kind, just, well mannered and ethical is to be a good Muslim which unfortunately many people have forgotten.
2010 has been one of the best years in many ways, I got to goto Lahore for IEEE week on the university's expense, met so many people of such high intellect, forged friendships still going strong. Attended a leadership workshop, which further strengthen my beliefs of self realization and self responsibility and was a great confidence booster to top that.
Also got to host the 25th Annual IEEEP student Research Seminar, even made a radio appearance to promote the seminar, and met a brilliant engineer from IBM, who i must was absolutely delighted to talk with me much to my surprise at first.
Then came my first Model United Nations, I have to thank IBA and Sidra for setting up this wonderful opportunity for me. Three days of memorable fun and learning and who knew I would meet such wonderful people there that we would become best friends and end up having so much fun at one of our number's wedding.
2010 was a year of triumphs and disappointments and a test of how far my engineering capabilities can be stretched and how much more I need to learn to make my dreams a reality. Also attended ZABMUN 2010 was memorable, met more friends but somethign about MUNIK 2010 sets it apart I guess its the best friends I picked up at that stop on my road trip called life.
But all in all I must a brilliant end to this year as Bk got married and we all had so much fun, such good memories.. (
MUNIK 2010 as I saw it)
I hope to be an eternal student, for life is one big learning experiencing and the day you stop growing is the day you die.
In the end I would just like to say one thing.
"If I could start a million miles away, a different lifetime away, I would keep myself,I would find a way, back to you my sweetest friends...."
Thanks to Allah for all that I've been given and all that is yet I need to be given. The friends who came into my life and changed it for the better.... and of course my mentors specially Madam Gulzar.,,
"See life everyday with the amazement and curiosity of a child, for then you see the world differently and without prejudice"
