Celebrating Omar's B'day

Week 49

December 1, 2014

December 7, 2014

1.     Preamble:

This is second issue of the week: 49 and is exclusively reserved for celebrating the birthday of our dear second son Omar Iqbal. We will sketch here his complete profile from childhood to the current adulthood within the limits of available space. This, in our opinion is the best way to celebrate his birthday. The farmhouse diary will in the meantime remain on hold as there still are birthdays in the family to be celebrated. Next week we will celebrate the birthdays of Zainub (second daughter of Taha and Shaema), Hamza and Eemaan. Following that our usual blog on 'News From Farmhouse' will resume.

2.     Celebrating Family Event(s):
2.1.  Omar's Birthday (Born: Dec 7, 1973):

When we talk about Omar, we must also speak about Hasan, for the difference in their ages is not that much. After Hasan, Omar is our second son. He was born in Hyderabad Sind, where we had our parent's home. I was informed of his birth in Rawalpindi, where we had our own residence (335-D Satellite Town). I was then serving at the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology (PINSTECH). Hasan was then just over a year and a half old. He surely must have been excited to have a brother to play with. Our first floor apartment was on the 5th Road and both the brothers could be seen playing in the  balcony overlooking the road. In winter the sun was directly opposite the balcony and they mostly spent their entire day there. They would run their respective walkers helter-skelter all along the length of balcony on seeing me returning from office. We then didn't have a car of our own and almost immediately without wasting any time Anjum and I would take them out for our evening stroll around the commercial area with Hasan on his pram. Both the kids used to wait for this outing the whole day long, for this perhaps was the only recreation then in their lives. This sort of life which makes me overly nostalgic continued with subtle differences a lot longer at several places, including Hyderabad, Sudbury (Canada) and Islamabad until our finally shifting to Hawkes Bay, Karachi but there too it didn't finish abruptly and their childhood together lingered on. Here, however we will allow ourselves looking at certain specific episodes of growing up only of Omar and return to Hasan's in April, when we celebrate his exclusive birthday too insha Allah.

As it happens so often with growing children, Omar had a different personality of his own, which showed up vividly later in his life. He followed Hasan for a while before discovering his own path ways, equally interesting and scenic. If we follow the lives of both the brothers, of which we will try to have glimpses in this very brief write up, it would gradually become obvious but not necessarily in individual stories of theirs. I shall try to recount and reminisce about, a few of  them from here on.

In 1975, I was awarded a one year fellowship to work as a visiting research scientist at the Danish Atomic Energy Research Establishment, RISO. Anjum and the two kids spent part of this period in Hyderabad and part in Sudbury (Canada). I went to see them in Sudbury when they were there. Omar was growing up. He could babble sufficiently well to sing:     

    ساین با با ایا میٹھے جاول لايا

with index fingers of both the hands pointing  skywards. He, then could also  toddle well enough to dance simultaneously on one foot. It used to  be exceedingly hilarious.  He used to perform the act when ever some  one asked him.  We took  special  pleasure in watching him doing that funny schtick. I had no idea where he picked  it from but  Anjum remembers it to be from a TV serial for children.

Hasan started going to school (Federal Government Intermediate Girls College in F-6) when we started living in Islamabad (No. 34, St:5, F-8/3). This was after my return from Denmark. A school bus used to take him to the school and bring him back. A country boy living in our servant's quarter with his father had the responsibility of taking him to the street corner to board the bus. One day Anjum discovered all of a sudden that Omar was missing and was no where to be seen in the house, which had an upper story in addition to the ground floor. He could not be found anywhere around the house either. A great calamity befell when she discovered from the boy that Omar too boarded the bus along with Hasan. It used to be an afternoon shift and there was no way for Anjum to go by herself to the school, some ten or so kilometres away. She therefore patiently but quite agonisingly waited for my return from the office when we together used to drive to the school to pick Hasan. That day as I descended from my own office bus at the same street corner, I quite unexpectantly found Anjum waiting bewildered with anxiety written large on her face. Together, we drove to the school, where we found Omar playing by himself in the school yard with Hasan still in his class. When school bell rang ultimately and Hasan came out of his class, he told us in his halting Urdu how anxious he was about Omar during the four hours Omar was not with him. But Omar quite oblivious of the concern of his elder brother remained apparently involved and preoccupied with what ever of his interest outside.

In the year 1980, I was transferred to Karachi Nuclear Power Plant and I was allotted residence at the KANUPP colony in Hawks Bay. Both Hasan and Omar were admitted to the nearby Federal Board Intermediate College at Masroor Air Base. Omar did his matriculation from that school in first division and got admitted to the Adamjee Science College where from he did his HSC in sufficiently high grades to get admission to the Dow Medical College in Karachi. In 1999, I was posted as the Director of Institute of Nuclear Power in Islamabad. By that time both Hasan and Omar had completed MBA and MBBS respectively. Soon after, Omar joined Pak Army as a doctor (radiologist) with the rank of Captain. He did his preliminary training in Abbotabad on completion of which he served at several places such as Guwadar, Sheikhupura and Gilgit Baltistan. His most cherished high profile posting was at Siachin Glashier, which alone might require an exclusive write up. He was promoted to the rank of Major in due course. His services were transferred later to the PAF and he initially served at the Rafiqui Airbase at Shorekot.

Omar was married on 16 February 2001 to Sadaf. They have masha Allah four children, two sons (Hamza and Yahya) and two daughters (Hiba and Rehma). Omar is now posted as Squadron Leader at the PAF Base Faisal, Karachi. 

Omar is gentle and a very humble son of ours. He is religious and possesses down to earth qualities. He is endowed with the habit of keeping and arranging his personal effects in right order at all times. I remember right from the very young age, he would himself make his bed after getting up in the morning, press and hang his clothes and shine his shoes. These self inculcated traits must have come handy to him in his life with armed forces. Omar is a duty conscious and hardworking officer. He is a loving father and caring husband. He is sensitive but understanding at the same time too. Omar likes to enjoy outdoors and like his father, he also has a green thumb. Omar is a star gazer but not an astronomer. He follows stars movement across the sky as a hobby. He is the source of happiness in our home. His birthday is the time when we get a wonderful chance to show our limitless love for him, though he quite knows our feelings for him.

Happy birthday Omar! We wish you will always have good health, a great career as our armed forces officer and a highly competent specialist radiologist insha Allah!  We all love you and wish you will always take very good care of yourself. This life profile of yourself will tell you and your kids:

The little boy you were,
The special man you are now,
And the precious son you will always be

So long!