BY USAMA KHALID
“Take care of her,” he said on a cold December evening, “even if you have to go out of your way to do so.” I was startled by this strange request from a lecturer, who had just delivered his maiden lecture in our class. Why would you call one of the boys out of the class and tell him to take care of another one of the students, whom he had just met?
Bewildered in my thoughts, I tried to look composed. But Tariq sb caught my eye, smiled at me, and pulled me closer to him. With the most amiable voice, he said, “She isn’t a Muslim, Usama. And we may pretend otherwise, but as a society, we do make lives any easier for non Muslims. In all my maiden lectures, in all the semesters, I try to stay on toes to help these young minds prosper as much as possible because I know, life is harder for them in Pakistan than you and me.” I noded and he went away.
This was the first I had ever seen any teacher show such remarkable kindness of seeing people as people, without branding them as “our people” or “them vs us”.
In all my years of education, I have always found lecturers subliminally inviting students of other religions to Islam. But I was amazed to see a man who saw them as students, regardless of their colour, creed, or class.
Most knew Tariq Mehmood Malik Sb as a reporter. Some knew him as their teacher. Very few close friends knew his character. His untimely passing away has made numerous feel orphaned because that is what he truly was, fatherly figure for anyone and everyone in distress.
When you meet new people, they try to boast about the big guns they know or pretend to know. People talk about their acquaintances with celebrities and pseudo-celebrities like it is something to be proud of. And they do win admiration for that, too. But Malik Sb never spoke of any connection or acquaintance. He was humble to his core. His mentorship, his kindness, his craft aside; he was always full of surprises.
On twitter, he would keep tweeting and talking about new anchors doing political talk shows. But never would he mention on twitter or in class that the people he would motivate on twitter were his students becoming anchors and reaching the top.
A year later, it was a cold December evening again, when his status read “Tariq sb is no more with us.”
Little do people know, Sir Tariq has never left us. His love, his affection, his mentorship are living on in us. He is the light that lit the light within us, the light that we aspire to bequeath ahead.
On his passing away anniversary, I wish to tell his sons and his brothers and all of his friends, he is all the more with us, in spirit and in arms, with all his lively charms. He has never left us. And he will live on in us and the generations to come.
Stephen Crane’s Little Blade of Grass comes to mind, whenever I think about Sir Tariq:
In Heaven,
Some little blades of grass
Stood before God.
“What did you do?”
Then all save one of the little blades
Began eagerly to relate
The merits of their lives.
This one stayed a small way behind
Ashamed.
Presently God said:
“And what did you do?”
The little blade answered: “Oh, my lord,
“Memory is bitter to me
“For if I did good deeds
“I know not of them.”
Then God in all His splendor
Arose from His throne.
“Oh, best little blade of grass,” He said.
Sir Tariq, indeed, you are the best blade of grass I have ever seen in my life.
(Usama Khalid is Masters in English. He is a Lecturer and a student of media studies. He is writes columns and blogs. He is fond of writing Urdu Poetry. His first book in publication phase. He can be reached at kham.qalam@gmail.com)
