A Successful Student Remembers the Difference His Teachers Made
By C. Naseer Ahmad
Teachers can have a big impact on their students’ later years in life. Because teachers command a lot of power over students in the classroom, they can inspire confidence in their students which results in successful lives or sap their confidence which can lead to failures and misery.
If an octogenarian male, especially a Pakistani immigrant can stroll every morning in dhoti in his driveway every morning and evening for exercise, one can deduce a couple of things. The first is that he is blessed with good health and the second that he possesses certain amount of cultural pride and self-confidence to be unconcerned about what others might think.
Chaudhry Allah Bakhsh is a retired social worker, who served in several executive positions both in US as well as in Pakistan. He lives in Chantilly, Virginia - home to many high technology firms and where many important federal governmental agencies operate.
Those who know him while he was working find him to be the same person with most agreeable temperament and a ready smile on his face. While he has a comfortable retired life in Fairfax County, which is one of the most affluent counties in the country, he does not display wealth as there is no expensive watch on his wrist or a flashy ring on his fingers. The richness is in his wholesome personality that does not flaunt his worldly possessions. This might be a reason why he’s most comfortable in strolling in a dhoti - called tehmat or tamba in Punjabi.
‘When I was preparing for the matriculation examination, my teacher asked about my birthdate,’ recalls Chaudhry Sahib. ‘I didn’t know so I asked my mother about my birthdate when I went home. She was an illiterate and made some guesses according to crop seasons. So, I informed my teacher accordingly,’ Chaudhry Sahib continued.
Before entering Chaudhry Sahib’s birthdate on the form, his teacher thought aloud: ‘We have to consider that you will need 6 years to finish your MA and then I want to leave room so that you have enough time for the three possible attempts to pass you Civil Service entrance examinations.’ The only son of a farmer, Chaudhry Sahib had not set such goals. His world then just revolved around a village called ‘Chak Number 76.’
Nowadays there would hardly be a person who doesn’t know his/her birthdate because it is a fundamental part of one’s identity and requires information for medical care and governmental as well as educational institutional identification cards. Chaudhry Sahib’s high school teacher was just trying to help his students with sincerity, though it might both be illegal and not permissible these days.
With his work ethic, Chaudhry Sahib excelled in education earning ‘first division’ all the way to his MA at Punjab University. In fact, he received a Gold Medal with his MA degree in Social Work. He remembers a very special ceremony during which HRH Prince Sadr-ud-din Agha Khan gave him a gold medal for his academic achievements; the other distinguished guests at the ceremony were the late Pakistani President Ayub Khan and Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser. During his Punjab University education, Chaudhry Sahib was one of the favorite students of Social Work Head of Department, Begum Qamar Ata Ullah, wife of Col Mohammad Ata Ullah, for his diligent work. She supported his academic pursuits in many ways.
Chaudhry Sahib’s first job was with the Al-Falah Bank. Soon after he was hired by Dr Hafeez Toosi, then an advisor to Nawab Kalabagh, Governor of West Pakistan, for a special provincial civil service job. Later in his professional career in Pakistan, he served in several executive positions with the Pakistan Family Planning governmental organization.
In the mid-1970s, Chaudhry Sahib emigrated to the United States with his wife and four young daughters. Like many immigrants he had to start a new life from quite humble beginnings. Because his degrees were not certified and recognized by the professional organization in his field, Chaudhry Sahib worked as a security guard at the World Bank in Washington, DC while his wife who also had prior professional executive experience in Pakistan worked as an assistant with the House of Ruth, a Washington-based non-profit organization to support women and children who had been victims of abuse or were homeless.
Chaudhry Sahib remembers attending the annual conference of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) in downtown Washington DC in his World Bank security guard uniform along with his wife. During one of the breakout discussions groups, the group leader – who headed the Catholic University’s Social Work Department - recognized him because Dr Jane Mullaney was one of the instructors at Punjab University. This was a consequential meeting because she recommended him to Cardinal Hickey for appointment as Executive Director Anchor Mental Health Association of Washington. With Dr Mullaney’s help in expediting the certification of their professional qualifications, his wife Mrs Asghari Chaudhry also got an executive position with the House of Ruth, where she was employed at a lower level before.
Mrs Asghari Chaudhry has her own story of both remarkable professional accomplishments. She later worked with the Fairfax County until her retirement. As a matter of personal courage and tenacity, she has faced several struggles with cancers of different nature since the 1960s. But when you meet her, she is just as cheerful as Chaudhry Sahib.
After his retirement from Anchor Mental Health Association, Chaudhry Sahib worked for the Government of the District of Columbia as an executive of one of its agencies. His work brought him in touch with another distinguished public server of Pakistan origin Dr Muhammad Akhtar, who served as the Health Commissioner for the DC Government. Chaudhry Sahib remembers Dr Akhtar always addressing him as ‘meray veer’ – meaning brother in Punjabi.
Chaudhry Sahib maintains a close connection with his family in Chak 76, which was once a village 11 miles from the Clock Tower in downtown Faisalabad but now a part of the city. The culture and the values which were part of his early years are still with him. When you meet him, you will find inner peace and the confidence of a person who has lived a very meaningful life.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to Pakistanlink Homepage
