Getting passport and getting NOC (No objection certificate from Pak. Govt) and then making sure you would have enough funds to help settle down in the foreign country took all my efforts for over a year or two of planning, going from office to office and pleading my case to all kinds of officers, police, medical department, education etc.
So when all was done and procured and I pocketed some 50.00 pounds from the bank in Karachi I was ready to fly and my flight was due to leave in less than 15 hours. It was that close.
I spent time recording (reel to reel tape-recorder) some fav. songs of those days, thinking I 'll have no music to listen to except the English for which my auditory system was not tuned. It was as if I was going away for good (I did not know, it did turn out that way) There were no halal foods or desi music available in those days. On the paper I was supposed to join some class but instead I was looking for and applying for house job in some hospital. That was the way it was. It took me two months to land a junior surgical house job and I finally said goodbye to the "digs" as they called it
All I had was one large suit case, one bag and one tennis racket and just last 30 pounds left (I had exhausted all my funds, spending about 35 pounds a month or so)
It was a big relief ,the centrally heated hospital quarters.
One of the landlady's place I was given two blankets and thin bedcover with sheets to spend the night. I was given two hours of an electric heater (one rod about 12 inches long) which had a dim glow to it but heat it could not produce. After two hours the other "lodger" had his turn.
I covered myself with all the warm clothing I possessed including my overcoat etc. and then curl up under the thin and cool blankets. waited for the morning so I could defreeze myself in a hot tub bath which was restricted later, so I had to find another "landlady".
Hospital quarters and a warm bed was like jannat.
Jari hay.
So when all was done and procured and I pocketed some 50.00 pounds from the bank in Karachi I was ready to fly and my flight was due to leave in less than 15 hours. It was that close.
I spent time recording (reel to reel tape-recorder) some fav. songs of those days, thinking I 'll have no music to listen to except the English for which my auditory system was not tuned. It was as if I was going away for good (I did not know, it did turn out that way) There were no halal foods or desi music available in those days. On the paper I was supposed to join some class but instead I was looking for and applying for house job in some hospital. That was the way it was. It took me two months to land a junior surgical house job and I finally said goodbye to the "digs" as they called it
All I had was one large suit case, one bag and one tennis racket and just last 30 pounds left (I had exhausted all my funds, spending about 35 pounds a month or so)
It was a big relief ,the centrally heated hospital quarters.
One of the landlady's place I was given two blankets and thin bedcover with sheets to spend the night. I was given two hours of an electric heater (one rod about 12 inches long) which had a dim glow to it but heat it could not produce. After two hours the other "lodger" had his turn.
I covered myself with all the warm clothing I possessed including my overcoat etc. and then curl up under the thin and cool blankets. waited for the morning so I could defreeze myself in a hot tub bath which was restricted later, so I had to find another "landlady".
Hospital quarters and a warm bed was like jannat.
Jari hay.
2 comments:
i m tuned....
Mystic you are a faithful visitor. I would like to meet with you some time, IA.
Jab Allah ko manzoor hoga
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