My dear Akbar, you must be wondering as to what each one of us were doing after we had settled down in Pakistan. Here is the brief story of our vocations and how we faced the problems which were sometimes very tough.
First and foremost all of us had realized that we had burnt our boats when we entered the new country and we had to be bold enough to tackle any difficult situation and all of us had implicit faith in God Almighty.
After Doctor Sab returned from States he had his job in Karachi city as I told you before, but he had no easy time with his superiors due to prejudice which he handled through his hard work and merit. On the domestic front he could not find proper accommodation and changed to more than half a dozen houses. This disturbed the education of his children to a great extent.
Besides his office work, he used to practice in his spare time. He was doing this not for any monetary gains but to keep himself abreast with the medical field because his office work was mostly administrative in the health department. He did not take money from his relatives or from poor people.
He was a family doctor to many well to do families who would never go to any other doctor in the city for treatment.
One of his singular habits was that he never refused to go for calls even during the nights. Initially Bi Bhawaj felt annoyed at this kind of disturbance at odd hours, but gradually she got used to it.
He would believe anyone who said he needed help and offered him substantially. Let me give you one or two instances. One day when his car had broken down he came home in a Rickshaw from the city. During the journey the driver is believed to have recounted the miserable condition of his family. When he got down from the Rickshaw he gave him Rs. 50/= (about $125 in today's money) when the hire was not even Rs. 5/= (about $12 in today's money). Rs. 50/= in those days was a big amount.
Another time one moulvi came to him from up country and asked for donation for an orphanage which he said was being organized in his town. Without second thought he paid him Rs. 6000/= (about $15,000 in today's money) after dinner in his house. When I pointed out to him that contributions towards charity is good but it should be made after ascertaining the factual position. This was true because many fake organizations were going about for donations. Doctor Sab's answer was that he made the donation in good faith and if the other person cheats he shall be answerable to God. Such cases with Doctor Sab were innumerable.
Another aspect of his generosity was that he helped quite a few families regularly both with medical treatment and monthly contributions of financial help. This I know he was doing both in India as well as in Pakistan. Perhaps I have no knowledge of many whom he was assisting.
One of his big achievements is that while he was serving the WHO in S. Korea he is believed to have helped quite a few Korean Muslims in performing their due rights of Islam in a proper manner. He is also said to have converted a few of them to the Muslim faith. He organized the Mosque properly and while he was there he made sure that prayers were conducted regularly and in Ramzan also.
I believe he learnt after a number of years that the Muslim Faith is prospering and the number of persons attending the Mosque has increased substantially. He is still remembered for what he contributed while he was in Korea.
In conclusion I would say that he is great, noble and generous. In fact he helped in organizing quite a few health institutions in Karachi and keeps in touch with them without availing any fees.
His book on Community Medicine is popular not only in Pakistan but in quite a few other countries.
Like all human beings Dr. Sab also had his weaknesses and he made mistakes and used to be bitter with his own family members sometimes. But in his innermost heart he was magnanimous.
One of his weaknesses (if it can be termed as weakness) was his craze for playing Bridge. Nobody could distract him from this, not even his dear wife. I know he spent considerable amount of foreign exchange in his quest to establish Contract Bridge League in Karachi which has now assumed a great status in the Bridge playing World. He devoted lot of his time in organizing this game from a scratch to what it is today. He is himself a very accomplished player and was president of Pakistan Bridge Association for quite sometime.
Like they say a good Bridge player is one who makes lesser mistakes than an average player. Dr. Sab one can say made lesser mistakes in his life span so far.