Friday Journal : 31st July 98 |
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Articles in this issue |
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LUCKNOW: A village in Jaunpur on Wednesday was rooting for a Pakistani citizen. As news spread that Sayyid Adibul Hasan Rizvi is one of the recipients of this years Magsaysay Award, the villagers rejoiced at the association Dr. Rizvi has had with the village Kalanpur 35 km. from Jaunpur. The Pakistani Urologist has been given the award for providing modern medical facilities free to the poor.
Dr. Rizvi was born in this village some 55 years ago, recall villagers, in the family of Sayyid Mohammed Hasan, an engineer, and attended a primary school in the village itself. He moved to Varanasi and attended a high school there. He then migrated to Karachi where his elder brother had settled and where he passed out from the DOW Medical College. Trained as a Urologist he studied and worked in the U.K. for 9 years before returning to Pakistan.
Ajjan bhai, as villagers remember him fondly, return every year to his ancestral house at Kalanpur, named significantly "Rahat Manzil" (a home for comfort) every year during the ten days of Moharrum. Even here, hundreds of villagers flock to his `Kothi' from surrounding areas to receive medicines free from the doctor who arranges for a regular supply from Varanasi and Jaunpur. "Even this year Ajjan bhai spent ten days in the village, treating the people here", a relative pointed out.
Those who have met him speak eloquently of his affable nature. "Although he is now an internationally known and successful Urologist it does not stop him from accepting invitations from humble villager here with whom he mixes easily and freely, sharing with them fresh juice of sugar cane and roasted cereals", said an acquaintance of the doctor. "It is as though he is re-living his childhood: He even plays drums in Moharrum along with other young men of the village", said his nephew Jafar Raza.
The Sunday Times, July 19, 1998 page 9
