D85 DIGITAL MAGAZINE JULY 2015

D85

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HANEEF HAJI

EDITED BY SALEEM A KHANANI SAMEENA KHAN

CONGRATULATIONS

ZAHID JAMAL

SALMAN ADIL

ON BECOMING PROFESSORS

HANEEF HAJI

OUR FIRST CLASS REPRESENTATIVE Dr Haneef Siddiq currently lives in the city of Preston in the United Kingdom with his

wife Dr. Rubina Japanwala, also a Dow alumni. He works as a stroke physician at the

Salford Royal Hospital. Our bhabhi is an Orthogeriatric consultant at the Royal Preston

Hospital. They have three children; their eldest is Omar who works as a consultant

chemical engineer in Glasgow. Of their two daughters, Afnan has recently completed a

degree in law from the University of Manchester and Razaan is a 3rd year medical

student at the University of Manchester.

A TRIBUTE BY HIS BETTER HALF Haneef has always been a driven individual, and he was enthusiastically active in the

social and political aspects of college life and that quality has continued to this day.

He was the CR in the first year of the 1985 batch and he was very much commended

in his role. Additionally, he was heavily involved in fundraising for the Patient Welfare

Association. Whilst at DOW, he was a founding member of the United Memon

Medicos Association (UMMA) and consequently became its Chairman

I was in my third year of DOW when Haneef was just about to graduate. We hadnt

known each other through our college years but Haneef tells me he had always had

his eye on me. As these things go, his family approached mine and we got married in

1987. After a couple of years of working in Karachi, we moved to Saudi Arabia in 1989

and worked in Makkah for nearly 15 years. After an almost blissful experience in

Makkah, we decided to move to the United Kingdom.

Haneef still enjoys tending to his love for the social and political aspects of life; he

regularly plays sports on the weekends with his friends and also participated in

advocating for the Labour party in the recent UK General Elections. Haneef has always

had a vivacious personality, and that wonderful quality is paired with his rare kindness

and caring nature. I dont think many wives could boast that they have a husband

who truly emulates the role of a partner who is equal in all aspects, but that is what I

have been blessed with. He helps me cook and look after our household as well as

playing the role of a traditional husband and father to our children. His loving

personality has been a source of joy for my children and me.

SOME FAMILY PHOTOS

Haneef Haji: My friend I Zahid Asgher

It was 1973 and in the 9th grade that I landed at the children's academy school after arriving from the then East Pakistan (Bangladesh). I had no friends and no one to know. One day one at school a nice young and stylish boy with long brown hair, sitting in the tony row bench offered me to come and sit next to him. What a little d gesture it was! I felt like a million dollar boy as I badly needed friends. That was Haneef Haji Surmawalla. Haji not only gave me a seat but also all his neatly done homework and past papers. That was the binning of an ever-lasting friendship through thick and thin. We studied together, played together and went through high school pre-med and medical college together. We travelled to the northern parts of Pakistan and even India in those days. Haji is a sincere and generous Memon. Sounds strange right? But I can tell you that haji is one of a kind person always willing to help and stand for you. I can recount umpteenth examples of his generosity but would just tell that once I needed a shirt (days of no money) for a wedding and haji gave me his shirt and tie. We did all good, bad and ugly things together. For years we studied at his home rooftop room and celebrated Baqra Eid dinners cook outs there. Haji is a romantic fellow who had multiple crushes from the word go till he got married. There are so many names storming my head right now but it will be unfair to write them in this forum. Despite coming from the Shipowners college Haji got elected as the CR in the first year at DMC as he had a deep political sense. Haji stayed in Saudi Arabia for years and relocated to UK about ten years or so ago. Since then we have travelled to many places in the world including UK, Netherlands France and Spain as our G2 clinical group meets once a year somewhere in the world without families. It is always a sense of comradely love, respect, friendship and belonging that keep us all linked to each other. Haji my dearest friend I am at complete loss of words to express my friendship with you in words. Be blessed!

HANEEF HAJI AS I KNOW HIM

FAYYAZ AHMED SHAIKH

Its a pleasure to write about Hanif whom I have known since 1979 when we first

met in the first year of MBBS. Since then we have been very close to each other

right to this day. I had a terrible time in the first year as my father was terminally

ill and I was in desperate need of a shoulder to cry on. A lot of my very close

friends from DJ didnt get to the medical college and hence I lacked a group of my

own. I was in need of new friends and found Hanif very welcoming to his group of

nice people like Musa, Zahid, Irfan, Shuaib and Ehtisham. They all lived in

Nazimabad which was another reason for the close bonding. Hanif was probably

the most proactive in adding me as a new member of the group in spite of some

reservations by others.

He confided me to be the acting CR when he was away for a month. He also

welcomed me in his house for combined study and I still remember the roof top

room in his house where we spent a lot of time together preparing for the first

professional MBBS. He used to like my salty tea that I used to bring from home

and treated me with some of the best Memon dishes cooked in his house. Later in

the MBBS he joined us in Hostel 3 for preparation of rest of the exams albeit for

shorter period. At the very end of MBBS he was more inclined towards his Memon

friends than us and we had a brief period of distancing after graduation. I visited

him in Makkah on our first Umrah in 1993 following which he visited us in London

in 1995 and we were more or less reunited forever.

Hanif has a likeable personality and was the key player in the bonding we had as

a group. He used to play the role of a judge in sorting out our differences. In spite

of many criticisms that other friends had for Hanif, they all resorted to him for help

and assistance in many difficult times. He has a happy family and has raised his

children to a very high standard. His wife Rubina was one of my favourite students

in Medical Unit 1 when I was a PG.

One of the very few common things I had with Haji was falling in love with a girl

every year as the newcomers joined the DMC. The love was in the air and only in

our conversation when we got bored studying for the exam. However, unlike me

who was the BHAI of every girl in DMC, many girls had a crush on him for his

modern looks and English linguistic ability. Many of you wouldnt know that Hanif

was called by many names in our group and to name someGanges, Uncle

Sargam, German push and hajiani were the most popular.

We grew old together and are still meeting as a group every few months in addition

to the class reunions. Not because we are best friends and brothers, but because

our wives get on well with each other!!!!!

.

let down

technically

And now

Then

A REUNION: SYED KHALID ANWER

FIVE YEARS TO FIFTY!! It truly was a memorable evening!

To catch up with friends with old memories sake, for the laughter, for the shared

experience, for the joys, for the intrigue, for the bewilderment of the passage of

time and so many delightful and precious memories.

It stretches back to 1970 and encompasses all the innocence, all the easy, lazy,

carefree time. Encapsulating the rapture of the shared time, a shared experience

of the vagaries of life. There are so many things to talk about, to reminisce, laugh

about and wonder about. As if moments can be compressed, vivid memories

brought about as if if they happened five minutes ago, not 45 years ago. Fresh,

fragrant,,exuberant and alive.

to capture the flavour and indeed poetry is if not a true compressed authentic

flavour of life(my own definition of poetry!)

Beautiful poetry recited by all, Arif,Umar, Waquar,Jaffar and best of all Razi.

Bring alive the evening with exquisite rendition of rhyme, rhythm, cadences,

semantics, syntax, meaning and pure joy.

An evening to remember!!

https://www.facebook.com/umar.d.khan.7https://www.facebook.com/waquar.yusuf.5https://www.facebook.com/syedrazimuhammad

POETRY BY DOWITES

CHANGE OUR HEARTS !!!

(A poem written on the occasion of Lailutul Qadr , the night of power ) by Waqar Siddiqui

Someone may be having a worst day

For many it is just a soap opera on play

Thousands lost everything in an explosion

And for some it is just a ,"shock and awe

"exhibitiion

Someone complaining about food being not

tasty

And thousands go to bed everyday;hungry !

For some , rain is cool and romantic

And for many ;deadly and calamatic

Two drops of water similar in creation

But how different may be their fate

One may become a pearl inside a shell in

the ocean

And other fall as rain and turn into waste

For some fasting is followed by food blast

Many have nothing to break their fast

For some ,holidays bring fun and cheers

For many ;shedding of blood and tears

For some , life is a living fantasy

And means of joy and ecstasy

For many , it is a living nightmare

And nothing more than a quagmire

Tonight may be the night of power

When the Book was sent down by the

Creator

I Ask You Lord! with utmost sincerity

Have Mercy O God Almighty

Please relieve this suffering humanity

And change our hearts and mentality

Remove the doubts from the minds

And make us fair to people of all kinds

Pervade our lives with love and never

ending unity

Make us sincere to our brother and sister

And clean our hearts from any rancor

Forgive us and help us forgive others

Bring an end to wars and famine

And allow everyone to imagine

A world of peace and brotherhood

Where there is no place for evil and

falsehood

Where the truth prevails and all is good

Let us strive to achieve these goals

Change our hearts

And purify our souls

Ameen

A simple critique of Waqar Siddiqui's poem

"Change Our Hearts": Syed Khalid Anwer

A wonderful poem indeed and written on the great occasion of ' The night of the Power'

it makes you think and reflect, and be thankful of all the blessings of the small mercy, of the

innumerable pleasures, of peace and solitude, of simple joys, of being with the family, with

friends and the loved ones.

In our busy lives, we ignore and marginalise the ordinary, to our peril.It is the ordinary which

is so extraordinary, so meaningful, so profound and so eclectic. The morning light of the

dawn comes, a bird sings, a baby opens its mouth, the gentle breeze blows, the blue sky

opens, the re is a patch of crooked light on the floor, a hissing and singing of the kettle.....

Things can change in an instant, become calamitous, out of control, emotions can dwindle,

despair, destitution can be around the corner. There are examples all around us and news

anchors are adept to highlight them. Hurricanes, tornados, Tsunamis, flash floods, earth

quakes and numerous others happen as the earth shakes and the tide turns and lightening

strikes and the seas rise.

Humanity is at crossroads. There are those who promote harmony, friendship peace, a

message of coexistence and those who abhor these values and trying to unravel what is best

and altruistic and kind in the human kind.

The poem phenomenally highlights the situations humans find themselves in. The situations

one encounters, hears about and sees. The second part is the sincere prayer, especially on

the night of the power, that we may be able to cleanse our hearts, lift our souls. For the wars

to end, for the peace and harmony to extend, truth to prevail and purity to enrich all.

There is a nice music, rhyme and rhythm and an incantatory effect of end rhymes, near

rhymes and half rhymes and the use of powerful and evocative words.

Day and play, explosion and exhibition, romantic and calamatic, creation and ocean, waste

and blast, cheers and tears, fantasy and ecstasy, nightmare and quagmire, humanity and

mentality, minds and kinds, famine and imagine, sister and rancor, brotherhood and

falsehood, goals and souls.

I loved the juxtapositions of 'romantic and calamtic, cheers and tear, nightmare and

quagmire' how the opposites profoundly highlight and bring into focus the sharp

contradictions. Wonderful!

Yes we should all strive to achieve the goals and as individuals we all play our part.

It is innate. All humanity has basic ingredients to be kind and be human kind to one another,

and to all we come into contact with.

It is in our power and it is how we excercise this tremendous potential to mould our hearts, to

lift the spirits, to enrich the souls.

We are all capable to transcend and touch the sublime!!

https://www.facebook.com/waqar.siddiqui.77

Iqbal Hashmani

Aisha Idris

I found my heart through heartache, An innate betrayal , which can't be fake!

Allowed it to shatter me in haste, Then finding strength to not to break!

Another life lurks in the wake!!

The Golden years, the monsoons Emotions, feelings and seasons Pass by like a movie in motion Every grief and every elation

Living brings so many wise lessons!!

Words of wisdom

REQUEST FOR DUA

Please make dua for the son in law of Haji Salim and his wife Zakia who was

injured seriously.

From Tafseer Tibyan ul Quran

Ghulam Rasool Saeedi

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