Personal Diary © Burhan Rasool

Finally, he resigned. All his colleagues must be very happy; especially those who were jealous of his motorbike and leather jacket. They had been lobbying against him as far as I can remember. “Why is no one stopping him from running his so called social welfare organization?” They used to ask.

Would this be jealousy? I am not sure, but a feeling of being unhappy or angry, yes. It must be very difficult for his colleagues to digest the fact that he had started living a relatively better life while it becomes more and more difficult each day for them to make both ends meet. I personally know a few of them who reach out to senior Faculty, successful Alumni & well-off students for financial help either for themselves or their relatives. I see nothing wrong in it. The one thing that these security guys do wrong these days is that on the pretext of security threats they blackmail students who are managing events, to entertain more guards then needed and also charge them commercial rates (plus mufta).

Would running a social welfare organization be a crime in any part of the globe? I fail to understand, what is wrong in getting donations from philanthropists and distributing them to the needy.  Why would people continue to support a person whom they do not trust? These things do not last long if you are not dedicated, sincere & honest.

I asked him personally about the motorbike and leather jacket. He clarified that reaching out to different people to convince them and/or to collect funds from them on a bicycle used to be a tiring job, especially after you’ve bicycled your way from home to University and then from University to home. It becomes much more tiring during the summers. With the motorbike, I can reach more people in the same time and put my energies more on other important aspects of the organization. During the winters, it is very difficult to travel on the motorbike without proper covering, so I bought myself a leather jacket and that too from the Organization’s funds. Everything is documented in the organization’s accounts and I hide it from no one.

One of my friends & Batch mates, Ahmed Khurram Jehangir, is the General Secretary of his welfare organization and he told me that this guy is way too dedicated to this social work that he does. He does everything himself including reaching out to people both to convince them and to collect funds from them. He personally does all the paper work & maintenance of accounts. All I have to do is just review and sign some documents. I feel more of a Chairman than a General Secretary.

Today he forcefully resigned after almost 12 years of service. Instead of appreciating the guy and feeling proud that we have an employee who is doing social welfare after his duty hours, and encouraging him and supporting him, the authorities thought it wise to kick him out. He was called in by the Admin Manager and informed about a case that has been prepared against him signed by all concerned authorities to fire him. Hence it would be wise for him to tender his resignation and quit honorable. The poor man had no choice but to opt for an honorable exit.

It has been a long time that I have stopped expressing my thoughts on my blog because people had actually started reading it, especially my colleagues at workplace. It’s like exposing yourself to the wild and being vulnerable. But then, I feel great sense of accomplishment when I write and share some of my learning experiences.

The other day I was thinking that getting married was the best thing that ever happened to me. Perhaps, it has given me a greater sense of accomplishment and the reason why I have stopped writing. Today, when I woke up, writing a blog post was the first thing that came to my mind. You know why? My wife has gone to  her Mother’s place for a few days