Memories of a Friend

Asghar Qadir

I have been pondering the matter of my memories of Arif, and most of them would be lost in translation. For example, something I heard about him, though I did not see it happen (but I could imagine in vivid detail) was the story of his reversing the car further and further back towards a wall till there was a loud bang as it hit the wall. Then he got out of the car and said:

اوہ مارا

“Oh, maara”

“Ah, a hit.”

There was also so much that depended on his mannerisms and way of talking, and his frankness in not understanding something that he was lecturing on. None of these can be recounted. He would stand in front of the board and say:

یار، یہ مجھے سمجھ میں نہیں آیا۔

"yaar, yeh mujhe samajh mai.n nahii.n aayaa!"

“Friend, I did not understand this!”, or:

یار، یہ مجھے پتا نہیں لگا کہ وہ کیسے اس پہ آیا۔

"yaar, yeh mujhe pata nahii.n lagaa keh voh kaise is pe aayaa!"

Friend, I could not figure out how he reached this”, or something similar.

There is one thing that I can recount. When, after a long time, the University decided to announce that posts of Professor of Physics would be advertised and there was stiff competition between Kamal, Murtaza and Razmi, he did not apply. I asked him why, and his response was, "They are all better than me."

Nobody else was looking at the worth of the others, but only themselves. Even Faheem applied, but not Arif. They would say that it was for the authorities to decide, but they would apply, even if they felt that the other was better. I repeated that argument to him. His response was, "But I know that they are better. Only after they have been appointed will I apply." I felt this was the only ethically correct way to act and have followed it ever since.

At the early stage of my career, I had a paper with Kamal and him on Regge Theory. It was fun working with him. It was fun being in Trieste with him. He would go from one bar to the next and I would often be with him, though I did not drink. As we went, he would hold forth on all sorts of topics like Urdu, Persian and German poetry, on History and on Philosophy.

As I say, most of these memories will not mean much to others, only to me.