METU 1968-1973, BS Physics

Born 18 January 1950, Married 1 January 1973

Wife : Şenel, Children: Danish, Salim, Yasmin

Owner and CEO of Time and Tune, Islamabad

Died: 14 January 2016 at Rawalpindi due to asthma and bronchitis

Ejaz – the Metupaki Godfather

By Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui

I just opened my email and got the shock of my life.  I just can’t believe it that Ejaz has left us. Ejaz was the life of Metupakis in Islamabad. He was the one who held us together. He was our Metupaki “godfather”. He embraced all of us, and he was always there for all of us. He would ensure that he would host any Metupaki that visited this city and would call all of us to get us on board. 

Ejaz was not only our godfather, but he was also our Islamabad guru. I can rarely recall a gathering here in Islamabad where he was not present, or he was not the real leader or host.

His personality towered over all of us put together indeed. His love, care and inevitable friendship cannot be surpassed by anyone of us. He was selfless, humble and he welcomed everyone.

He was always positive and cheerful, and his jokes were the best. He knew how to tickle us and make us all laugh and get down to earth.  He would crack jokes about himself without any inhibitions. 

What a great man indeed.  

We had so many gatherings here that it is even difficult to remember or recount them. Many times, we would gather at his Time and Tune office in the Blue Area, particularly when it would be a small gathering. Or he would host us at the Islamabad Club. There were a few instances when we gathered at his home in Rawalpindi too. I can recall at least a couple of instances when we gathered at the Rawalpindi Golf Club.

Every winter, Sikander Memon, Khalid Zaki and Quddoos Khan (sometimes) would converge on to Rawalpindi to spend 3-4 weeks together with Ejaz and Irfan Burney to relive METU. Mir also came once. And I was fortunate to have been invited to at least one meal with them every year.

Ejaz would ensure that our colleagues from that period would join us, including Malik Aslam, Janjua, Tanweer Aizad, Asad Zaidi, and myself. At times we would also get the company of Vaqar Zakaria (very rare), Javed Muttaqi (whenever he was visiting), Mustafa Kemal Pasha, Malik Asad (rare), Munawar Jamal (sometimes), Mian Imtiazuddin (sometimes) and some of the juniors like Hammad, Kamran Jafri and others. Javed Baqai never joined us unfortunately.

Among the visitors, we have had so many that it is difficult to even list them out. Among the most regular of visitors was Mohammed Ali Khan Pakistanli bhai without a doubt.

Ejaz was a key to our visit to Ankara during June 2006 at the 50th anniversary of METU. 

Ejaz also had a very close link with the Turkish embassy in Islamabad. He was close to every Turkish ambassador. The embassy does send invitations to Metupakis in the twin cities on every national holiday and celebration. And Ejaz and Şenel would be at those functions invariably. I attended a few and could see how highly Ejaz was respected and regarded within the Turkish community here.

As Arshad Jamil bhai pointed out, Ejaz was the key person who funded and ran the Mohalla Training Centers (MTC). Funds came in through other Metupakis too. But he provided the infrastructure and management and also computers and other equipment while I assisted him. He had established three of these centers as follows:

·         At a Madrassah in Sadiq Akbar High School, Gulistan Colony, Rawalpindi where they taught English language improvement, computer basics and Autocad courses. There were 35 students (including 15 from the madrassah). The teachers were paid monthly salary of Rs. 4,000.

·         At Burn Hall Cadet School, Joura near Lalamusa.  This was a training center for girls to teach them stitching clothes. We provided 10 sewing machines and the required furniture to this MTC. The teacher was paid Rs. 5000 per month. Fourteen girls were registered.

·         At a school in Shah Bagh near Rewat (not far from Rawalpindi on GT Road). This MTC offered English language and computer courses with the intention to also start other skill courses (like electrician, carpenter, etc). Five computers and requisite furniture was provided for this MTC. There were 18 girls learning English and 30 students registered in the computer course.

In addition to teaching English or other skills, the MTC also taught these students public and interpersonal dealings, cleanliness, and awareness on one’s surroundings. This had an impact on the mannerisms of the students and their approach to education.

Six more MTCs had been planned at Rawalpindi, Hattian Hazro, Shamsabad, Dhoke Kashmirian, Dhoke Kala Khan and Mardan with different programs.

A full-time coordinator was also hired, and he was given a motorbike to be able to visit each MTC and supervise the activities.

While Ejaz was the clear leader in this whole venture, his son Danish played a very important role in building and supervising the activities.  I had a minor role in all of it – the guy who talks mostly.

Unfortunately, the MTC project could not be sustained due to financial constraints. But hats off to Ejaz for all that he did for this project. He was a founder member of the MetuPak Foundation (MPF) and played a key role in keeping it going.

When the METU Rector and other staff visited us in Islamabad on 3-4 occasions, Ejaz was the one who took the lead in organizing the events.

But going back to where I started, Ejaz was at the forefront of the social scene. He was the beginning and the end. Whenever we would have a METUPAKI visitor in town, either he would call me, or I would call him to see how to organize a get together. More often than not, he would be the initiator. And we would try to share between us to call the people over.

The twin cities have lost their real leader indeed. I don’t know who can replace him if ever.

I just can’t imagine how we will be without him.  Indeed, to Allah we belong and to Him we will return. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun. 

I pray to Allah for his maghfirat and that may Allah grant him the best place in jannatul firdaus, and overlook anything He may have disliked about him.  Few are souls like him who served Allah through service to His creation.  

May Allah also grant patience and perseverance to Şenel, Danish, Salim and Yasmin. 

Ejaz, we will miss you sorely.  I just can’t get over it. I know we will all miss him very much. But I will definitely miss him immensely.

With immeasurable grief, 

Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui

Ejaz Lives - In my heart and memories

By Arshad Jamil

Time flies, but memories are faster. These memories come flashing back to cherish and savor.

I know Ejaz who like me is a METU alumni, first as Time & Tune, and for the occasional cheering emails on the MetuPaki alumni group mail, to uplift the spirits. Oh, those were real nice messages and timely to break the grind of routine and the fast pace of life. Sometime later, came the Golden Jubilee of our university, and the METU Alumni Pakistani group decided to participate. All told, there were about forty of us ready to go to Ankara, and we started planning for the trip. One of the issues was logistics, as most of the international flights from overseas were to Istanbul and not to Ankara. Ejaz offered to solve it for us, by arranging to have train bookings and tickets ready to be delivered to us for travel from Istanbul to Ankara. It worked out fine. Upon our arrival at Istanbul from different places, we converged at Istanbul’s Haydarpaşa train station in the evening, and there, for sure, was someone ready with our train tickets and reservations, as promised by Ejaz. I was impressed with the seamless and hassle-free arrangement. There was no waiting or any apprehension. We boarded the night sleeper train, where all of us had our sleeper berths reserved, and arrived in Ankara the next morning. That way, our get-together started right on board the train for a good ride with all laughter and recollections of good old days at METU. This arrangement got repeated the next evening for another batch of arrivals, which included Ejaz.  It was, then in Ankara, on the METU Golden Jubilee day in June 2006 that I met Ejaz for the first time. The Pakistani alumni of METU group was in Ankara for few days, participated in the Golden Jubilee celebrations and all of us had a great time together. The METU campus was green, nicely manicured hedges on the roadsides, and the whole campus bedecked with flags, posters and colorful bantings.

My second meeting with Ejaz occurred in Islamabad. I was travelling from New Jersey via Karachi and was to take an early morning flight from Karachi to Islamabad for a morning meeting with HEC officials.  Somehow, I got bumped of that Air Blue flight due to some ticketing issue but managed to get a standby seat on a PIA flight, leaving an hour later. I was worried about missing the meeting, but Ejaz whisked me on arrival at Islamabad airport straight to HEC offices in Islamabad, just in time for the meeting. The meeting went smooth and formed basis for my future interactions with HEC. 

I stayed in Islamabad for few days, and saw Ejaz a couple of times to formalize the formation of METUPak organization (MPF). The aims of this organization were based on volunteer work and philanthropy in Pakistan in the field of education, and Ejaz, offered his unconditional support without any hesitation or asking a single question. There was some running about required to be done in Islamabad, and Ejaz facilitated all those tasks. During the visit, Ejaz also took me to his home for a great dinner prepared by his wife. The house is on a hill, beautiful design, nice landscape and winding stairs. Another unique pleasant feature of this house design is that they have left a large rock, intact and incorporated it within the architecture of the house. As I entered, I noticed that Ejaz had integrated Turkish culture of removing shoes and using house slippers inside the house. That is a great tradition that I wish is adopted in all Pakistani households. There, at his home, we sat late in the evening, conversing and enjoying the meal, including some Turkish dishes. Being a gentleman of the finest order, Ejaz had me picked from my hotel, and dropped me back, making the excuse, that he did not want me to get lost.

The organization, which we had formed was not moving, and I being in New Jersey, was feeling helpless, when Ejaz came to our rescue by getting his family involved. All family members got involved in calling out, running about, and convincing others to get our first MTC (Mohalla Training center) established in Rawalpindi. It was a big achievement that only Ejaz could have pulled off. A few more were established like one in Lalamusa, all due to efforts by Ejaz and his family. There were many who benefited from these down to earth institutions, and I am sure, all had feelings of reverence.

I made more trips to Islamabad, and Ejaz was always there to assist our organization. One of those trips was a long two weeks. I had planned to sit and work at HEC offices to give final shape to the project development planning of a new technical university in Pakistan, and Ejaz had his daughter, then a student, to help in the tedious work of scores of excel worksheets. Ejaz would also come by for meetings with HEC officials. Occasionally, we would go to the staff canteen for lunch to enjoy freshly baked hot oven breads with lintels curry.

During one of those trips to Islamabad, I came to know the ‘Time & Tune’ offices. Once, Ejaz took me in the morning and the elevator was not working, which meant, that we had to take a flight of stairs to get to the office. Ejaz made it up the stairs for me, but it meant that he had to rest for another fifteen minutes to catch his breath. For friends coming to see him in the office, he offered more than traditional tea. He would also get some delicious fresh sweets and samosas from a shop on the ground floor of his office building.

Memories live, so does Ejaz. We celebrate the life of Ejaz that he lived, full of vitality, hard work, compassion, balance, and humor.

Arshad Jamil, Piscataway, Jan. 16, 2016

Mir Arshad Ali Khan writes:

It is with extreme shock and grief that I learnt this morning (Toronto time) of the passing away of my dear friend Ejaz. Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajeoon. May his soul rest in peace and Allah give all of you strength to bear this great loss. Aameen. I will call and speak to Şenel later.

Ejaz was not only my friend since 1968 but he was also my batch mate at METU, my classmate in the Physics department, my apartment mate along with Irfan Burney and the late Leader, the most gracious host whenever I visited Islamabad and much much more.

We last spoke on the phone when I visited Pakistan last December and unfortunately I did not have enough time to go and visit him in Islamabad.

MIR ARSHAD ALI KHAN and YASMEEN

Mohammed Aslam writes:

Our interactions with each other, generally, can be divided in three 'eras'. METU-era, when we were there. Post- METU without internet and the final being internet era. If friends are in the same city, the second era hasn't been bad. Otherwise, with friends living somewhere else, the separation when you left METU was like having lost them.

During METU days of 1969-75, we had some close friends and everyone else was also a friend. Ejaz for me was an 'also' friend but more friendly than most. He was one year senior so we 'juniors' could not get much chummy with seniors. I was at dorms, he lived in the city. There were people you met every day. Others you didn't.

He was one of those you saw at the cafeteria, library or walking from department to these places on the main walkway. I can recall his brown overcoat, round glasses, a pleasant expression and always a sharp verbal exchange when we met on the way, using 'ga--", 'bho--' or 'ch--' words, endearing everybody to everybody. These exchanges were the ultimate tension relievers. He was the pharmacy dishing out fun pills.

Then we visited apartments for finesses and other reasons. I visited his home but I don't remember who else lived there nor do I recall who else accompanied me. May be Tariq. Şenel was there. He was busy and in motion coming in and out of his room during which we exchanged 'proper' pleasantries. He and Şenel were also engaged in an on and off conversation concerning some issue. I don't remember what was being said but it was 'tota-maina' conversation. 

The After-METU era has been a long one, forty years now. Pre-internet, we updated whereabouts of 'lost' friends through visiting traveling friends we met and sometimes via hand-written letters. Everyone knew Ejaz was at Time & Tune. Once staying at nearby Hotel Flashman in Pindi, I walked to the shop in Saddar, Pindi and he was not there. It was so disappointing. I had the feeling of a 'loss' of not having met him. Though his brother did everything to entertain me.

The first time I met him in Pakistan was in mid-eighties perhaps when his office was in Hotel Shalimar Building and I was staying at Inter-Continental for conducting a training program on 'thinking'.  This time he was in his office. When I met him it was as if we had never separated. That is true with other friends too. We exchanged stories. He was always so engaging. There was an unusual sign on the wall which meant 'no-bullshitting'. This he said was there as lots of people who came here did exactly that. I told him about the my course, and he said he will attend the next time I conducted it in Pindi.

The next time was may be in early nineties. This was at the Marriott, and I was staying there. He attended the first day and asked me to 'check-out' of the hotel and stay with him, emphasizing his offer with 'chutiye' at the end. He made sure that I had packed my suitcase and checked-out at lunch time. A winding road takes you to his home in an elevated area. Şenel was there and so were his three children. Children too were engaging. The curious thing about them was their switching language between English, Urdu, Gujrati, Turkish and also Punjabi. That was amazing. My family is also multi-lingual, but amongst themselves they never spoke any language other than Sindhi. Now in Canada, they switch between English and Sindhi.

The second day after finishing the course he had me dropped at the airport. He enjoyed my course immensely and later we would joke about some of the outrageous 'thinking' exercises we did.

Unfortunately, all together I might have met him around ten times only (in forty long years). A few times at get-togethers, a few times visiting his office or home or him visiting me at the hotel. Once at PC Pindi, he came with a bottle and left it after we had our session.

The reunion in 2006 was the grand occasion where we met so many people in the 'original' setting. He didn't attend all gatherings due to his health. He was staying at Hotel Tunali with Javed Hassan as his roommate. But every day he would come to the dorms we were staying and lay there in one of the bunker beds with his oxygen nearby.

The last time I met him was a few years ago after his illness episode when he fought and got the ticket to Hereafter cancelled. Along with Tanvir Aizad and/or Kazi ZulKader, I went to his home. One of the discussions was ichki, and Şenel complained. He was telling us about the ways he hood-winked her. I have been unable to hood-wink Rukhsana but to drink or not to drink is my own moral question too.

I had all the intensions of visiting him during holidays of December 25-28th when I was in Pakistan. But one of the clients booked my offdays too. It is too bad that my lalchi self lost your last deedar in the teen-patti of life my friend. I promise you a game of teen patti that I have never played and, a bottle of Chivas. It is not far away, two decades at the most. That too because of some 'chimtu' ones here who will refuse to leave. Else, some of us are ready to join the fun you must be having. You will arrange an over-night stay at a mountain-top hotel for re-incarnated friends. We are deeply wounded by your departure, and we need it.

aslamche75

Mazhar Husain writes:

I have so many fond memories of Ejaz but three of these stand out.

1) In 1968, I was taking Math with Mir and Ejaz from a very tough and known teacher Dr. Bedri Suer. Everyone was scared from this teacher since he failed 90% of the class and if anyone was late in class for more than 5 minutes, Bedri bey expelled them and did not allow the late comers to enter. So latecomers used to hide outside and secretly enter when Bedri bey was writing on the blackboard. I was such a coward that I always arrived earlier and took a seat where I could keep an eye who is coming late. Ejaz was always late once a week only. On other days he was in time. I wondered and finally I found out. In those days, lunch in Cafeteria was terrible, people literally hated the food but had no choice. Once a week, the food was good, very tasty chicken, it would be finished by the time we came out of Bedri bey’s lecture. Ejaz would go first to the chicken lunch and then come to Math class even when it was so risky. He was a brave man from the beginning.

2) In 1977, I returned from USA and joined Pakistan Institute of Management (PIM) Karachi along with Mir. We went to Lahore to teach a course. On the weekend, we went to Pindi and stayed with Ejaz and Şenel. Ejaz’s son Salim was around 6 months old. At night, we went to meet Pasha in Islamabad to play flash. Every morning, I could see from the window that Ejaz would be shouting at the fruit vendor outside. I asked Ejaz, “What is the problem with this fruit vendor?” Ejaz told me “Is Bhan .. Mad... se main ne bhang mangai hai tum longon ke liye, ye gan.. la kar hi nahin de raha, ab tum log kal ja rahe ho.” Ejaz was yaaron ka yaar always.

3) In 2006, we met in Turkey. Mir, Ejaz and I went to listen the music in a folklore casino and Ejaz requested the singer to sing Dağlar, Dağlar of Baris Manço. The singer made an announcement that some old “Pakistanlilar Türkçe bilenler”. Everyone stood up and Ejaz sang the song along with the singer, and all the audience sang with Ejaz. We had such fun. Ejaz was in bad health those days and it took him a long time to walk down one floor of Casino. Ejaz insisted of us to go down and wait. While waiting for Ejaz outside the Casino in the beautiful Ankara moonlit night, Mir and I sang “Dağlar, Dağlar - Kurban olam - Yakin dan gorem”.

Those were the days, My Friend and they will never come back.

Rahmetli Ejaz, Enjoy your time in Paradise.

Arif Zahir Khan writes:

Ejaz was a friend indeed, last time I met him was in 2006 at METU 50th anniversary.  He was full of life and vigor.  I am shocked to receive the sad news. Ejaz would always be missed. He was a wonderful person and would be remembered for his love and affections for his friends from Metu.

May fond memories of Ejaz bring the comfort during this hard time in our lives. Look back on all the good memories we were able to have and smile at the fact that we were able to share these before he passed away. Our hearts and prayers go out for him.

Waseem Siddiqi writes:

Decades ago, it was Lala who informed me of the arrival of a Bori Kaka in the new batch from Pindi, who went by the name Sulemanji. In the earlier days Lala had assumed I was a Gujrati speaking, like himself. I had known many Bohris in Karachi who somehow reminded me of Parsis, very mild, often sticking with their own and the least offensive in their behavior. Ejaz too went about minding his own business. Pun intended.

His extreme generosity seemed easy for exploitation. Seemingly, he could easily be lured by the machinations of others. It was assumed. At the right moment, his "business sense" kicked in. He would proceed to cut his losses. Though I had never had any business deals with him but he seemed to be an astute successful businessman. He knew well when and where to loosen the grip on his purse. 

He was at home in Karachi, Pindi, Ankara and Antep or wherever he was, keeping his urbane outlook towards life. It was always very easy to be with him but can one really fathom his being? We are defining him like the elephant in the tale, just a very limited part of his persona. Like most of us there were many more layers to his personality, than we can get a grip on.

He was very caring never ignoring the familial obligations, to his progeny and spouse. Always protective.

He will be sourly missed by his near and dear ones. He leaves behind a huge vacuum, difficult to fulfil. 

Anjum Bilgrami writes:

Ajeeb waqt hai, kiya daen tasalliyon ka payam.....A strangely difficult time to extend simple sympathies on such a huge change to your family the loss of a father, husband; who embodied a whole world of such generosities that we will keep hearing about, from all of us who had the good fortune to know and meet him.

I first thought I would wait for my turn after those who wanted to express their condolences. But ran out of patience and stamina at the ongoing flood that continues, as each person recalls and expresses their anguish.

I am asking one of the METU alumni to  start collating the comments by each and all, and make a tribute for the great colleague who decided to leave for a better existence. The best person would be you.

I am going to recall and send to you my memories about our very short but enriching relationship. With all our good faith love and prayers for all of you in this sad phase,

Samaa, Ali, Nino and Anjum A. Bilgrami

Mohammed Ali Khan (Pakistanli) writes:

This is a very hard news for me and many others as well. It is difficult to sink in that Ejaz, that I just saw a couple of months ago, full of life as usual, is no more.

My mind is so full of memories, thoughts, etc that I do not know where to start. So, let me use Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui as crutch and start with where Kazi coined the term “MetuPaki Godfather” for Ejaz. I think it is 100% befitting term for one of many aspects of Ejaz.

I have been visiting Pakistan since 1977 (38 yrs) about once a year. Every time I go, I find Ejaz calling others and arranging dinner or lunch for me or any other MetuPaki visiting either from another city in Pakistan or from foreign lands, or some Turkish University/school delegation or for that matter any other delegation or occasion. Not only would he find time to call and collect everybody at a restaurant or his home, but invariably always would pay the bill, no matter how many people were in the party. It is same story, he is the one almost always arranging and paying. Now I always thought to myself, if I did that kind of hospitality I’ll be thrown out of my home.

He took upon himself the role of “MetuPaki Godfather” and he rolled out red-carpet for of each and every MetuPaki, each and every time they came to Pindi/Islamabad. His home in Rawalpindi, his Time and Tune office in Islamabad or any restaurant in Islamabad were his staging areas, no matter what day or what time of the day it would be.

And as far as I know, he never came to any of us to “cash back his finises”.

I remember one night he arranged a dinner for a regular Karachi - Islamabad MetuPaki traveler, Khalid Zaki in a restaurant near his Time and Tune. By the time Khalid Zaki came and we got to a Chinese restaurant it was close to midnight. Khalid, travelling from Karachi had a very long day. All of a sudden Khalid slumped over and became unconscious. We drove him to Shifa. Luckily doctor on duty checked him and said, everything was OK.

During all these get togethers that he arranged/paid, he made it look like a very simple affair. He never took center stage, or at the focal point of each photo, or became the master of ceremony or imposed himself…he just let everybody have fun and enjoyed just being one of us…it was incredible all those years. We’ll have hard time to find another one of us, befitting those descriptions.

So yes, I whole heartedly second the motion coined by Kazi that “Ejaz is the MetuPaki Godfather”.

So not only was Ejaz is the “MetuPaki Godfather”, he also conveyed his principles to his family. They fully supported their dad’s role in that capacity. I remember, Salim always making sure I had a ride, even if it meant going out of his way. And on the rides he made sure to play music of my liking, which is Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

I remember once Danish, though feverishly busy with finishing is PhD dissertation, came to meet and spend time with me in Istanbul….ah those were the days!

Coming to Arshad Jamil’s comments that “Ejaz Lives, In My Heart and Memories”, so true, so true!

Many of us, if we reflect back, would come to the same conclusion, “Ejaz Lives, In Our Heart and Memories”. Arshad Bey sorry for hijacking your term, but that is how I feel as well, and I am sure many of us feel the same.

Most of us are engineers, which means we can calculate simple 2+2 equals for 4, but we cannot easily comprehend some very simple basic values, memories, actions, reactions and all of that. When we studied engineering that section of brain got wiped out to make room for some more differential equations and algorithms…that’s why I have to use Arshad’s term, instead of coming up my own write up to express my feelings.

I would like to dedicate “Neredesin Sen” by Selda Bagcan to Ejaz’s memories:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1294u3_selda-bagcan-neredesin-sen-mp4_music

or

https://www.facebook.com/SeldaFan/videos/173689419332732/

I am so glad to have known Ejaz and family,

Mohammed Ali Khan (Pakistanli)