Grief comes in various forms, and we grieve in our own special ways. For the last few days I have been grappling with my feelings at the loss of Nadeem Mumtaz. To be honest the intensity of the grief has taken me by surprise. As I said in an earlier post, it actually seems as if a part of me is gone. I have tried to process why I have gone through such intense emotions, when to be honest, over the years I have become quite a-emotional? It’s only now that I realise the answer to the question does not lie in what I have been feeling, but in why I have been feeling so.
Nadeem has made me realise that true greatness does not lie in doing great things, but in doing simple day to day things selflessly and without any expectation of return. He did not aspire to be a great man, he never aspired to be anything. What he was all about was basic human decency. He made everyone feel special because each one of us were special to him. I remember visiting the late Ijaz Batalvi sahib decades ago with a few friends of mine. All of us wanted to ‘do’ something for the country and wanted his advice on how to go about it. One of us said to him, ‘sir mein tu Mar gaya houn kuch karna chata houn’ Batalvi sahib in his peculiar way said ‘tum kuch nahin karna chatay, tum drama karna chatay ho.’ Nadeem knew that to make a difference did not require any drama but just touching lives in ways that mattered. The outpouring of grief on his passing is a testament to how he touched the lives of so many, without any drama or even the slightest indication of expecting anything in return.
It’s a strange passing away where one does not even know who to console with. It is a loss for all of us. One can’t even begin to express what his immediate family is going through but if there has ever been a man who was a father brother son to so many it was Nadeem. We all have lost a father/brother/son in him. He touched all of us in his very unique way.
I have always been erratic in taking my medicines and he would keep telling me I had to be regular with them especially my BP meds. He would call me out of the blue and ask me ‘aaj dawai khai.’ On occasions, when I fell ill he accompanied me to the hospital and stayed with me. Last year I went through a surgical procedure and he stayed there till it was complete. People have said he was an angel I’d say he was far bigger than that, he was a human being par excellence. It’s easier to be an angel but it takes true greatness to be the best human being one has ever come across.
Nadeem has taught me that true greatness is within the grasp of us all. It does not require any ‘dramas’, grand gestures or designs. We just need to get in touch with our inner human being. He was the best amongst all of us. If we can aspire to be even a hundredth of what he was, believe you me the world would be a far better place. We don’t need grand heroes or idols to make it a better world we just need to aspire to be Nadeem. What can be a greater tribute to a man, than that he has inspired all of us to live upto what he was.
Mirza Mahmood Ahmad
Lahore
