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What
Happened on 31st Dec. 1998?
I reached college in time. The weather was very beautiful, cold & foggy. Cold wind was blowing with a little bit of rain also. Wajahat (House Captain) along with Bilal (Senior Prefect) & Hassan (College Vice Captain) came to me & said, ”Nauman! The weather is very beautiful, its also our first day in our college after December tests, its also Friday so its half day, its also the last day of this year & the strength of the college is also low. So, we should utilize this day in the best possible manner.” After a long decision, all appointment holders decided that the college should be shown some movie. The problem arose which movie? A few were good movies but they were not suitable for showing in gatherings & few were suitable but they were not at all related to studies or any information. So, which movie? At last, we decided to watch “Brave Heart”. We all went to the Principal’s office & requested him to do so. We told him the importance of that day & all the facts & figures about that day. After some conversation, he allowed us watching the movie but he suggested some movies, which were based on plays of William Shakespeare. Now this was unbearable for us. Fortunately, he hadn’t seen “Brave Heart”. So, we requested him to show us “Brave Heart” & we pretended that it was very good movie plus educational plus informative. Our Principal is so kindhearted person that he accepted our request & allowed us to watch “Brave Heart”. We were very happy but there were still many problems to come that we didn’t know…
Bilal
& I got the responsibility of bringing the movie & the other two started
preparing place for watching the movie. It was 9:00 am in the morning & it
was the month of Ramzan. We went to Video City (A video cassette shop at the
distance of 3 Kms from our college) on my motorbike. It started raining then.
Video City was closed. Then we went to Aamir Video (Another video cassettes shop
near Video City). However, it was also closed. Then we went to the Imran’s
house (the owner of Aamir Video). He was sleeping. We woke him up & asked
him about the movie but he replied that the movie was out. Somebody had already
rented it. Then we all (Imran, Bilal & I) went to Al-Masquat Video (Another
video cassettes shop at a distance of half km from there) on a single motorbike.
It was also closed. Then we went to find any shop of video films in a near
colony named as “Basti Khuda Dad” but we didn’t find any. We again came
back to Al-Masquat Video but it was still close. Then we went to a general store
next to Video City & asked him about the address of the owner of Video City.
After taking the address, we left Bilal there & I along with Imran went to
his house. A small boy came out of his house & said, “ He is sleeping
& he can’t come” The time was shot. I had to reach college with the
movie as everyone was waiting for me. I was pretty much confused but Imran
came up with an idea. He asked the boy, “We r from tax office. Go! And call
him.” Therefore, the owner of that video shop came out. We apologized to him,
told him the story & asked him for the movie. He gave us the keys of the
shop. We came back to the shop & unlocked it. Bilal was waiting for us
there. The movie was there. We picked it & again locked the shop & went
to Aamir Video again for editing the movie. Nevertheless, when we inserted the
movie in the V.C.R., the electricity went off. There was no time left to wait
for the electricity so we opened the V.C.R & brought the movie out with a
great difficulty. Then we returned to the college. Everyone was waiting for us.
We went in the hall where the arrangements were made for the movie. When we
switched the TV on, we got to know that there was no electricity. We waited
for the electricity for the next 1 & a half-hour but it didn’t come, &
so after all that struggle & difficulty, we were still unable to watch the
movie.
We
can say that, “Man is not the
architecture of his own destiny”
Written
by Nauman Khan, 8/1/2000
Corrected
by Sir Shahzad Qamer
