Blog #34 – People No More……
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The caller was Riaz
Ahmed……
Abbott had a small
office in Bank Square area in Lahore. Hoechst had its Pharma distribution and
office on Napier road; quite near. The distribution officer was Riaz Ahmed, who
became known to me through my colleague and friend in Abbott, Shabbir Shah.
I joined Abbott in
Bahawalpur. My DFM was based in Multan and was also responsible for Faisalabad
and Sargodha. Shabbir Hussain Shah was based at Sargodha as med rep. SHS was of
medium height and build but kept a big moustache. And it looked very nice on him.
He had somewhat unhappy childhood which made him high-strung and intense. He
lost his younger brother due to chronic, progressive liver disease. He loved
his brother and mourned deeply. He would become over-sensitive on some
not-so-important things and would keep brooding. But he was refined and
cultured and had good aesthetics. It was just a matter of time that we would
become friends, which we did. SHS and I got promoted as DFM at the same time.
He came to Faisalabad and I came to Lahore. We were in the same region and
reported to the same manager.
SHS and I would have
long talks whenever he came to Lahore for meetings. We talked about Abbott,
immediate issues, our future in Abbott. I told SHS I was not Abbott stuff and I
would leave. He said he would never leave Abbott, unless they threw him out.
SHS later became
Sales Manager, was transferred to Rawalpindi and then Lahore. Finally, he left Abbott
(without being thrown out) and joined Pharmagen/Beximco as NSM. SHS did the
basic work for launching of Bangladesh company, Beximco, but he could not launch
it.
Riaz Ahmed was an
old buddy of SHS. Three of us met many times and for long times. We smoked
heavily, drank a lot of tea and held strong views about too many things.
RA later joined
Hoechst as med rep at Sargodha, was then promoted as Distribution Officer and
transferred to Lahore.
One day Riaz called
me to inform that Shabbir passed away due to liver failure. He had been hospitalized
for a few days. My memories about him are vivid and sad. People like Shabbir
are the joy of life and their early departure deeply hurts.
Riaz was transferred
to Rawalpindi later. We met whenever we could and always talked about Shabbir.
Few years later,
Riaz called me in the morning and said it was long time we didn’t talk, and he
just wanted to say hello. We talked a little and reiterated to meet as soon as
possible. Around noon, my phone rang again showing his number. This time, it
was his younger brother who informed that Riaz had cardiac arrest and died on
the spot hours ago.
Riaz had a son from
an unhappy marriage, who was the focus of his life. He lived poorly to provide
for his son with the best of everything. He sent him to Australia for higher
studies. When Riaz passed away, his son had almost completed his studies.
This is extreme focus of life. May I dare say that it does not even
allow to die before getting there?
One of my greatest
losses is that of Saleem Afzal Bhutta, who passed away several years ago. SAB
was introduced to me by Farhat Jamil. Soon, three of us met every day. FJ and I
would go to his house and sat there even if he had not come back. His wife was
extremely kind to us and we eternally owe her innumerable cups of tea, served with
invaluable affection. This kept on for a long time. SAB was working for Fisons
but later joined Beecham. Saleem also died of cardiac arrest, in a minute or
less. I feel hurt and sad when I talk about him and it is still difficult to write
much on him.
I also wish to
mention Jalil Malik who was med rep in Abbott when I started in Hoechst. JM had
previously worked for Parke-Davis. Many years and changes later, he was working
as Head of Marketing & Sales in Star Laboratories Lahore. I got a call from
him in the morning. He wanted to refer someone for some office job and we
talked a bit. Two hours later, I again got a call from his number, but someone
else was speaking. He told me that Jalil Malik had cardiac arrest and died in
his office. The guy looked through his cell phone and was calling everyone on
the contacts.
Frailty of life hits us hard and straight on these occasions. We kneel
down, talk little, mourn more, and move on. We must keep moving anyway……
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