Arif-uz-Zaman - Memories

Fayyazuddin

Arif uz Zaman and I had an overlap of about a year at Imperial College. He joined at the end of 1961 while I left late in 1962. During the year we became good friends and enjoyed each other’s company.

During his stay at Imperial, Arif developed a close friendship with John Strathdee. They both sat near each other in a room for graduate students. John worked with Professor Abdus Salam and was a main collaborator in research.

Occasionally on the weekend evenings we would go to a pub where Arif enjoyed a keg or two while I kept to soft drinks. One distinguishing feature as Arif dived into the drinks was the increasingly cultured and refined language he used. It was a pleasure to listen to his expressions on diverse topics in his blissful state of mind.

Arif had a remarkable quality that I personally benefited from. If you are in distress, say someone dear to you is suffering from an ailment or you are mourning a loss, Arif was always there to console in a manner unique to him.

After completing his Ph.D. Arif took up a position at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara (Turkey). Next we met at Islamabad, when I, Faheem Hussain, Sarwar Razmi and Arif uz Zaman joined the Institute of Physics (IOP) at the newly established University of Islamabad at about the same time. Faheem I had known since my days (1966-67) at the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago. When Riazuddin - who was the founding director of IOP - came to visit me in Chicago, he met Faheem and offered him the position of Associate Professor.

The faculty at the Institute of Physics was relatively young (in the thirties), of good caliber, who with idealism of youth worked hard to maintain high standards, both in teaching and research. The effort continued till 1971. The institute lost some faculty, from the then East Pakistan at the senior level and by the end of the year the circumstances changed with the creation of Bangladesh. Starting in 1972, the structure of the University of Islamabad was completely altered.

Some of my memories relate to summers we spent together at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (AS-ICTP). Both I and Riazuddin enjoyed the company of Arif uz Zaman.

On the weekends, people in Trieste throng the Viale Venti Settembre ( named for 20 September 1870, when Rome was annexed to the then Kingdom of Italy) a pedestrian artery stretching over a kilometer. There are bars, pizzerias, gelato, coffee shops and much more all around. Arif enjoyed the place and we went along with him from bar to bar where he had his fill of drinks and we of his knowledge. We listened in awe and were impressed by his vast knowledge of history and art. Specifically poetry and his command of Persian poetry.There were times when we had to take him to his residence.

Among all the days we spent in Trieste, the summer of 1972 stands out for two reasons. First was the birth of our daughter while I was at Trieste. Second a Symposium to honor Professor P. A. M. Dirac was arranged at the AS-ICTP on his seventieth birthday. A large number of physicists from all over the world participated. Professor Abdus Salam invited Riaz, who was at the time at Daresbury Laboratories near Manchester, England. I stopped in Trieste to attend the Symposium on the way to avail a sabbatical year at the Rutherford Laboratories. My family joined me in Abingdon, near Oxford that September.

Arif was also at Trieste during that summer. Professor Dirac’s party was well attended and well catered. There was no shortage of food and drink - and many folks including a number of famous physicists went overboard with the drinks. Arif used to recall that party often and narrated incidents which I had long forgotten.

Upon hearing of the birth of a sister to our two sons he said, “now, your family is complete”. Arif was one of three brothers and the absence of a sister was felt.

After retiring from Quaid-i-Azam University in 1989, Arif and his family moved to Karachi Both he and his wife missed Islamabad and whenever an opportunity arose he availed it. One such occasion arose sometime in 1997. A gathering was arranged at the campus residence of A. H. Nayyar, joined by current and former faculty and their spouses. We picked Arif from the F-7 sector where his sister-in-law lived. That coming together was enjoyed by every participant. Faheem brought in some hard drinks courtesy of his Italian wife. It was interesting to see some enjoy the drinks in the presence of their wives, while others did not dare to do so. The party lasted till the early hours and we safely dropped Arif back.

Next we met in the spring of the year 2000 when an international conference was organized at the National Centre for Physics, Islamabad. The purpose was to provide an opportunity to the young folks to interact with international and local senior physicists. Such contacts are essential for the development of higher learning and research. For the not so young it was also an occasion to renew contacts with former colleagues and break out of isolation. Arif was invited to participate and he was indeed happy to attend and bring back memories.

The last time I met Arif uz Zaman was in December 2000 on the occasion of his nephew’s wedding reception. It was nice of him to have invited me and Masooda. His elder brother, Rafe uz Zaman had worked in Pakistan Television for some time. Though he had passed away in January 2000, a lot of media folks were among the guests. One of them was the late Laeeq Ahmed Khan, a well known TV host. We had known each other since our days at the Punjab University, where he had completed an M.Sc. in Physics.

Laeeq Ahmed had an interesting episode to narrate, regarding the institution of a special prize by Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman (at the time the chairman of the Higher Education Commission). Initially the prize was to be awarded to a scientist with the highest number of research publications. The expectation, according to Laeeq, was that the prize would go to Atta-ur-Rehman. However, much to his dismay the highest number belonged to Riazuddin, followed by Hameed Ahmad Khan and my name was at the third notch. Accordingly the criterion was changed to include only those publications that originated in Pakistan; defying the salient feature of science that it has no boundaries. Not to mention that it is the quality of research publications that matter more than the quantity.

In early February, 2001 we travelled to the USA to be with our daughter - born during the summer of 1972 - living in Detroit, Michigan. While there we came to know of his passage and were deeply saddened.

Arif uz Zaman had fine human qualities that are so rare. I miss him for his civility, decency, dignity, humility, humor and wit.