English & Urdu Text : Khalid IqbalPresentation : Shoaib Sobani

Saleem was a part and parcel of the “lucky thirteen” who joined Dow batch of ‘79with a delay due to their mind-numbing admission process. Shershah, Mirza Azhar,Wajahat, Gohar, Sarfraz, Akbar etc were the prime members of this elite group.Shershah recalls those tiring and capricious days and the input provided bySaleem. His Mazda and Sarfraz’s Toyota solved the logistic issues. The ‘Luckythirteen’ made a wild card entry to Dow but all shined in their future endeavorswith prolific carriers.

Saleem was a little robust, and his special feature was hair falling on the forehead;every now and then he would give a jerk to his head or manually move them toprevent an infringement into eyes. A soft spoken and lion hearted gentlemanwho had a habit for paying canteen bills of friends as a gesture of benevolence.Saleem struggled to pass professional exams like the tradition set by the Luckythirteen.

Saleem became a prey to be hit by a Cupid’s arrow while in fourth year. Thearchitect of love bug was none else but the classmate Naseema Afghan. She wasan active member of tetra-clan of Ghazala, Iffat and Shireen Brohi. This may bethe reason why Naseema changed the group in clinicals.

Naseema carried the mannerism where softness, politeness and courtesies madeher very different. Naseema had a soprano voice and her rendition of old Indianhits was mesmerizing. She was active in the class affairs and was an integral partof social committee created by the then class representative Rafique.

Both entered the matrimonial knot while doing house job. Iffat once saw Saleemin an exhibition to buy some apparel for Naseema. Thereafter the couple havedisappeared clandestinely .