A Maverick I know

I met him the first time when I was in fifth class. His mother-in-law had passed away. My female family members wanted to visit their place for condolences. Every able man in my family was busy to accompany them. So they took me along with them for this visit. I guess at that age, you don’t have any choice.

Once we got there, I paid my condolences to a close relative for passing away of their family member. As we were waiting for my family members, we were informed about ‘his’ arrival. I was taken to meet with him. When I was introduced to him about who I was, I remember his words. He said, “I know him.” I was stunned. I thought to myself, how could he possibly know me? I have met him the first time in my life and I am hardly ten years old. Anyways, after spending a few more minutes with him, we departed their place.

The next time I met him was on my wedding day. In fact, I was marrying his daughter. As mentioned above, we had only one meeting in my life. But he still took this bold decision to trust his instincts. And this time when someone asked him, “have you known him before?” He said, “Yes. I know him quite well.” 

He is no other than Makhdoom Javed Hashmi. To begin with, we both are Qureshi Hashmi, so we are both connected there. But more recently, there have been very close marriages between our families. But in our culture, people do take keen interest in people and families where their daughters are getting married. Like all his daring political decisions and moves, and practically living on the edge, he didn’t even try to do his ‘research’. Now that I have known him for a while, I know for sure that he couldn’t have researched even if anybody would have asked him to conduct one. Once he makes up his mind, he does not go back on his words, no matter what. 

Second, he is a very straight-faced and forward person. He does not mince his words to put a rosy picture. He will tell you in direct words to make you aware of the situation. I remember that when I was thinking of moving back to Pakistan, I thought of discussing with him too. He told me that the decision would not be an easy one. I would have to make some sacrifices. May be life would not be exactly like the U.S. There will be a few difficulties on the way too. And your lifestyle graph will be zero, maybe negative, before you get somewhere. But once you make that leap and come out of the adjustment period, you will come out of that cycle with flying colors. 

And so far things have been exactly how he predicted. There were many individuals who told me otherwise and showed me gloomy and depressing picture that nothing works in Pakistan and all is bad here.

I don’t write politically-motivated articles in my blogs, and this one is no different. But I am guilty by association this time. And Makhdoom sahab has joined Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaaf officially recently. So more on this in the coming days. Stay tuned.

Job Opportunities in Pakistan

Life in Pakistan is pretty laid back. I am sure the situation various from person to person and profession to profession. But overall, I think once the things get to normal, life is put on ‘cruise’. For a working individual in the Pakistan, things start early in the morning. This includes but not limited to before work rituals. Also getting to work and how to avoid the rush traffic is kept in mind.

Once at work, the usual skimming the newspaper, emails, checking any ‘Urgent’ write-ups etc. before any ‘real’ work is done. So basically, if someone ever wondered if working in Pakistan would be any different than working in any other country; I think things don’t change much. However, I do think the work environment changes from floor to floor. The work pressure also varies.

For the most part, people take pride in what they do here. Considering the job situation and general environment, all the employees feel privileged and honored to be working for the government. The best part is government job is ‘permanent’. At least, that’s what it is termed as. There are also ‘temps’ or ‘contractual’ employees. The ‘permanent’ employees are entitled for all the benefits of the department like promotion, medical, pension etc. The contractual employees are only offered relatively higher salaries without any benefits.

The private sector is also thriving in Pakistan. They offer much better salary packages and benefits. But as mentioned earlier, the work pressure is exponential. The competition is cut-throat and it is result oriented. If the defined goals are not met in the given time, this could mean disaster for an individual. Also, in case the company does not meet its financial goals, this could also result in few lay-offs. On the contrary in the government or the public sector, no matter how the department performs, meets its financial goals or not, meets its objectives or not, the employees are not laid off. The department gets government’s help in one way or another.  We have a few very good examples of performing and non-performing departments in our country.

These government departments do have annual performance evaluation. One has to meet the requirements of these evaluations for promotions.

My responsibilities are quite similar to what I was doing in the U.S. I think there are many learning opportunities here. There is enormous amount of work which needs to be completed. Also, there is a quite a bit of government and private sector interactions with our department on regular basis. This also shows the importance of work that we perform here. That is why we all take great pride in what we do for the people of Pakistan. I think there are many learning opportunities here. There is enormous amount of work which needs to be finished. We get to see all kinds of varieties of work in my field. Also, we have a quite a bit of interaction with people from both government and private sectors. This also shows the importance of work that we perform in this department for the people of Pakistan. That is why we all take great pride in what we do.

I think there are many learning opportunities here. There is enormous amount of work which needs to be finished. We get to see all kinds of varieties of work in my field. Also, we have a quite a bit of interaction with people from both government and private sectors. This also shows the importance of work that we perform in this department for the people of Pakistan. That is why we all take great pride in what we do.

Aitchison Days - Junior School (vi)

I have been tied up with ‘other’ activities of life. That is why I wasn’t able to add another one of my gems on my blog. However, I ‘think’ that I am back now and I would try to keep scribbling down my blogs in routine. So here goes the continuation of Aitchison Days…

In 1988, I was in K-3-A. The boys in this section along with K-3-B and C are sent upstairs in Green Wing. Green Wing was mostly for K-4 boys. But the first three sections of K-3 resided with K-4 boys. I think one of the positives of moving our sections with the upper classmen taught us a few good things from them. We learned how to maintain our composures with them and the things which we would have learned in K-4 the next year, we learned them a year earlier just by living with those guys. On the other hand, there were a few negatives in this too. One of them was that we somehow lost touch with our class fellows of K-3 in normal routine. It has been a while I have been back in Gwyn House. So I am not sure that practice is still in place or has been changed for any reason. 

Our class mistress in K-3-A was pretty laid back. However, she was stickler as far as discipline is concerned. She did not tolerate any of the loose talk or careless attitude in the classroom. She demanded the best from her students. 

K-4-A was also pretty exciting. It was a good feeling to be getting to the second highest upper classman in Junior School. It made us feel much more matured, learned and experienced as I moved along in these classes. As we moved along, the competition in all areas got stiff. Athletics was most favored by boarders. And competitions like recitations (English and Urdu), readings (English and Urdu), writing (English and Urdu) etc were excelled by day boys. They also received top academic positions in the classrooms. Boarders competed with them in these areas but were quite outnumbered. 

Riding, the trade mark of Aitchison College, also started in K-4. Many of us signed up for riding. There is a certain uniform for riding the horses. There were britches, a riding hard hat, riding shoes accompanied by a blue blazer. So this sport was quite suitably looked very English. I also signed up for this sport and learned how to mount, dismount, jump and few other tricks of the trade. 

There was also a singing club present there. Ms. Abid conducted this club. This club had introduced many upcoming and talented students in the public. Students learned to recite Naats, Qawwalis, individual and group performances and many other aspects of singing here.

There was also a Scouting group. We learned how the scouts live off the land and live in tents. These were pretty exciting outdoor activities for us in those earlier years of our lives. All of these activities seemed pretty novel to us. At the end of the scouting year, we had a ‘Fire Camp’ where we performed our scouting activities and also showed our singing talent here. 

To Be Continued....

Mother– The most loving and caring human being

Some kids, when they are young, sometimes ask their parents if they loved him/her? And if they did, how much? These are fairly simple questions. However, it is difficult to quantify for parents how much they love their kids. You can’t put a number to parents’ love. So, for a kid, it is difficult to know how much love he/she is getting. However, parents do remind their kids to wait for this answer until they have their own kids. That is when; they would really know the answer to their questions.

This had happened to me too. You would think that you have stumped your parents with these questions. But once you become a parent, the whole ball game changes. That is when you find out what your parents have been through to raise you and showered you with their love, care and affection. 

When I became a parent, I tried to do my part as a father. It is a painstaking work. But when I compare my work with a mother’s, I think they beat us on all fronts, fair and square. The kind of patience and love which they have been gifted, nobody can come close that. Sometimes, it just leaves me with awe. When God wanted His people to know how much He loves them, He compared His love to a mother’s love. He said that He loves His people 70 times more than their mothers’ love them. He could have compared His affection and care for His people to a father’s love too. 

Mothers are also big institutions for learning for their kids. I remember when I was very young and used to leave me village for my education, I hardly remember my mother showing any sadness or weakness. Now, as a parent, I can understand what she would be going through at the time of my departure. But she did not show her feelings to make me weak. Now, I can understand how much she loves me and cared for me that she held her tears for me to get my education, and become a decent human being. She knew that she may not be able to see her six year old child for next three months at a stretch. 

Presently, I have heard mothers telling their husbands that they would not want to put themselves through like my mother did for me. These mothers don’t care whether their kids are educated from the best or the mediocre schools. They just don’t want to send their kids away for such a long time. I can understand what they mean. It really takes so much courage and strong heart to bare such an extended separation from the young kids. That is why I salute to my mother for her sacrifice. She could have also demanded my father to put me in a school close to home. But she wanted the best for her child.

Aitchison days - Junior School (v)

In K-1, our movement was closely watched as we were new to the school. It was also to keep us away from older boys. In K-2, there was more independence compared to K-1. We could come to the classes and go back to the boarding house without any supervision. However, there was still a limitation. We were not allowed to leave the Junior School premises in any circumstances. 

Again, the days were full of activities. I enjoyed my classes. Some boys had already developed friendships from K-1 and some were still making friends. Most boys were mischievous in nature. Some were pretty calm and cool. 

The evenings were filled with even more activities including evening games. As mentioned earlier, I enjoyed my stay in Aitchison due to availability of spacious grounds and people to play with. Some days, it was Cricket, some with Hockey and some we just hung out and did nothing. It was that care-free time.

There is a big swimming pool behind Gwyn House for Junior School. We had swimming time allocated during summer. Aitchison College is famous for its horses and riding club. But the riding does not start till class K-4. There is also Junior School canteen next to the swimming pool. It has a fruits’ section and bakery section. There is also a tailor shop adjacent to the canteen for the boys. Our clothes were normally tailored in that shop. There is a full ground for swings and slides for the kids in the Junior School. 

I think we had three full months of summer vacations in those days. The winter break was for a month in December. In those days, we were only off on Fridays. Tuesdays were the visiting days. The last weekend of the month was a long weekend and the parents were allowed to take their kids on Thursday evening to spend ore quality time with them. Then we had our spring break for a week in March right after the Founder’s Day. Plus there were some days off for Eids and other religious occasions. 

I had my boarding roommates from all over Pakistan. Some even came from abroad to study in Aitchison College. There were so many kids from Sindh, Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and Kashmir. There was nobody from my hometown. But there were plenty of kids from Multan and D.G.Khan area. The day boys were from Lahore. They belonged to all kinds of family background. There were kids of businessmen, politicians, army men, bureaucrats, landlords etc. All kinds of families were represented too like Qureshi, Gardezi, Jamali, Khosa, Bhayo, Khakwani, Sukhera, Durrani, Wattoo, Chaudry, Malik, Shirani, Sindhu, etc. 

I think many of these kids were born with silver spoon and were very privileged kids. Their parents wanted the best for them in this world. No wonder they were sent to Aitchison College in their early days for studies. However, I do believe the environment in Aitchison neither promote nor discriminate on the basis of family background. A kid has to prove his talent and must work hard for it. The high ethical standards have been set decades ago. So we were all judged based on the earlier standards. 

Over my years at Aitchison, I have seen all kinds of examples like kids were being expelled for cheating, unsportsman like conduct, plagiarism, bad behavior etc. So we were all aware of these things and tried our best to be on the right side of the history. Nobody wanted to leave Aitchison for bad reasons. That’s why I think Aitchison sets itself apart from other institutions for its  high moral and ethical standards. 

To be continued....

The Learning Curve

When I was graduating in spring 2003 (May 2003), I was hoping to get an offer from my company. I got in touch with my department and other related people to seek their opinions in that regard. The internet boom was over at this time. There weren’t many jobs available and many energy related companies like Enron and other telecommunication companies had gone bankrupt. So the previous corporate enthusiasm had evaporated. Young people like me were caught in the middle and had to make suffer. I was only able to get pat on the back from my company but no offer. 

I think I was fortunate to not get any job offer or employment at this time. During my last semester, I went ahead started looking for a graduate school for my post graduate studies. I took GRE and gathered all the materials required and sent in my applications to all the perspective universities.  Finally, I decided on the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for my M.S. Electrical Engineering.

This is a great school for anybody who is interested in living and studying in one of most progressive cities and state on the east coast. Charlotte has a lot to offer for its residents. And North Carolina is a beautiful state to be in. I enjoyed every minute of my stay in this city. I was able to make great friends and developed life-long associations. Duke Energy’s headquarter is located in Charlotte too. When I was getting ready to graduate from my M.S. and looking for a job, I was able to land an interview with Duke Energy too. I thought I almost landed myself a job in this company. However, for some reasons, which I still have to discover, I couldn’t. Then again, I was contacted by my previous company who was interested in hiring me at this time. And finally, I entered into the corporate world. 

So the crux of the matter is that don’t get frustrated and beat yourself up for any failure in life. Things happen for reasons. I am glad I couldn’t get myself a job right after my graduation. If that would have happened, I may not have had a chance to get my M.S. Now, I feel more accomplished with having a job and M.S. Otherwise, I would have always said to myself that, ‘Man, I could have gone for my masters.”  

Since then, fortunately, I have been very successful in finding the jobs. Whenever I had to go for a job hunting, I have been able to receive great opportunities and offers. At times I have had so many offers that I had to decline some very lucrative opportunities. 

I know people find jobs for various reasons. But this is one thing around which our lives are revolving. We spend a lot of time on work. So an individual should always work in a job that involves passion and knowledge. When these two items are combined, the work becomes lifelong passion. That way, a person enjoys the work with all the energy for a lifetime.  

On the Job Training

I started my ‘Co-op’ in January 2001 working for a Fortune500 Power company based in Richmond, Virginia. I was working in transmission line engineering department. Evidently, my hiring manager was my department manager. ‘Co-op’ is a short of Cooperative Education. It is a little different from internship in terms of duration of work. Internship lasts only a semester or the summer vacation. Cooperative education lasts at least three semesters. Some Cooperative Education students ‘co-ops’ even stretch it to five semesters. Sometimes, it depends on how eager one is finishing the degree or working for a company a few extra semesters. 

Frankly, I was pretty nervous in the beginning. Having no previous work background at all, the corporate world was a whole new ball game for me. On the first day, I was introduced to the engineers and staff working in my department and other closely associated departments. I was provided a cubicle, a desktop, a phone and other necessary items needed for the job. Next, I was introduced to my mentor whom I was supposed to be working with. He is a very kind and hard-working gentleman. I think I could not have a better mentor. At that time, the department was going through digitizing their documentation and my mentor was working to get that work done in the quickest and most efficient way. I started working with him and at times, during his absence, I was responsible to work on it independently.

There were other co-ops from various institutions in the U.S. like Penn State, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and many more. The company made sure to provide us the time for interaction with each other to learn and share our experience. There were also many instances when there were exciting events planned. We also had interactions with the executives of the company. The power industry lagged in hiring and most of the employees working for the power industry were getting ready to retire. So the company wanted to keep us engaged in work and other work-related activities so we could build a strong association with the company and decide to come back after our graduations. 

I worked through my Spring semester and Summer vacations of that year. I learned a lot during my time about transmission engineering. This experience also proved to be critical in determining my future endeavors. When I went back to college after my first co-op term, I changed my major to Electrical Engineering from Computer Engineering. I also focused on studying power engineering in Electrical Engineering. The internet boom was at its peak in 2001. So I was considered a traditional, scared of new technology and lacking the motivation to learn new things in Electrical Engineering by my class fellows. However, the time has proved them wrong. The power industry jobs are the most stable and lasting. On the other hand, the computer related jobs are short-lived. And the trend for computers fluctuates. Since all the electronics need electricity to recharge and operate, therefore, the demand for power and power-related jobs is continuously growing. 

I would also encourage my blog readers to motivate the upcoming undergraduates to look for the opportunities during their undergrad education. This will help them to broaden their horizon. This will also help to decide better for their future path whether they are interested in pursuing their particular field for the rest of their lives.