GAMMA and the GIRLS
By Naghmi Shirin
Dr Ghulam Rasool popularly known as GAMA was our Asst.Prof. of Anatomy. I am sure most of you are very familiar with this interesting personality of our first two years. When we entered KE, we found all our teachers were quite liberal though the atmosphere was a bit reserved. Then we came across MR.GAMA!! I do not know who gave him this nickname, but it caught on like wild fire.
He was a perfect example of hypocrisy. At that time Gen. Zia ul Haque had taken over and the country had started drifting towards fundamentalism. He had ordered all the girls to wear dupatta on their heads in his classroom. We used to cover our heads as we went in the class and removed it as soon as we came out [he knew that]. Our parents had taught us to dress modestly and never forced us to fully cover ourselves like 'burqa' etc. Therefore, we considered it an intrusion on our privacy, and a religious show off.
The sub stages taken by him were hilarious. He would often ask recipes of different dishes. Once he gave top most marks to the student, who told the recipe of 'Pulao'. If he fancied some girl student, he would ask very easy questions. If he was not in a good mood, he would simply say that they should be thankful to God that they were becoming doctors, otherwise some very beautiful girls were becoming nurses. For some it was a nightmare to appear before him. He was particularly tough on girls who always covered their heads. [This, I could never understand] However, he was not vindictive. If he failed someone in one exam, he definitely passed her in supplee.
Whenever I think of him, I cannot help smiling and... But DR Sahib is no longer with us so we should forgive whatever grievances we had at his hands.He died last year of cancer. May God rest his soul in peace. Amin!
my lasting memory of GAMA is when i appeared before him in a substage. As soon as I sat down a peon who he had asked to get a drink for him came back and refused to get it. He got angry and started swearing at him and carried on for a good five minutes. When he finished you can imagine my state, he asked me one question and said go away. Of course i failed and that was the only substage I ever failed. Afterwards he said in front of the class :menoo patta se anu aunda se me ung he fail kar deta:
ReplyDeleteshahid bashir
Ok guys and gals: exciting story coming up very soon titled:
ReplyDeleteHad GAMA found out we would have been dead!....
i am afraid i will have keep this one anonymous
GAMA, the departed soul was a special character and it is difficult to describe him Anyway I am grateful to him as he passed me in a stage easily. I have long hairs. He asked a simple question. (Talking to Faqeer Hussain) Faqeer, tainoon pata aey, eih monda hero lagda aey tay rehnda chak 13 which. Chal puttar Baal kata kay aa tay stage pass. Of course I ran and got my hair as short as possible to please him. I passed the stage with good marks although he did not ask me a single question. Then he advised me that we should not run after the girls. I took a sigh of relief and ran out of office before he changes his mind. But he was our teacher whatever may be and I respect him. May God forgive all our sins and give him the best place in Jannah. Aamen
ReplyDelete“Has GAMA found out we would have been dead…”
ReplyDeleteThe story begins on a day when stage viva was being conducted by Mr. GAMA. I came out unhappy because I knew GAMA had flunked me. I was upset not because he asked difficult question but because none were asked (Neither did he ask any cooking recipes).
“We are going to fix this”, my daring buddy told me. “And what is that supposed to mean?”, I inquired. He whispered for a minute in my ear and I felt chill run down my spine; I knew he wasn’t kidding. For fear of being called a coward I couldn’t utter the words “no, I cant do this”. As we stood in front the dissection hall I saw GAMA step out of his office and enter the dissection hall. “Watch for GAMA and cough loud if he comes out” said my daring buddy and before I could blink he leaped inside GAMA’s office door. Moments later he reappeared with a smile on his face. He had rushed inside the office and unlocked the ‘kundi’ on the door that connected GAMA’s office directly to the dissection hall (normally this door was kept locked). We went to the canteen for a cup of ‘chai’ to celebrate this initial victory. Later that day we unlocked one of the windows in the back of the dissection hall.
Around one o’clock at night, wearing appropriate attire for the occasion, we arrived at the back side of the dissection hall. The previously unlocked back window was opened and in we jumped. We were welcomed by the familiar dissection hall aroma. Inside of the hall was deathly quiet and dimly lit. All I could hear was my own heartbeat. As we walked across towards GAMA’s office, I could feel half dissected dead bodies looking at me asking ‘what are you doing here at this time?’.
It was a sigh of relief to realize the door connecting the hall to GAMA’s office was still unlocked; I guess GAMA had not noticed the open ‘kindi’. As soon as we entered the door my friend walked over to GAMA’s desk, opened the drawer and pulled out a white piece of paper. (His keen observatory eyes had it all figured out during his own viva). Not only that he knew where to find the piece of paper with the results of the stage, but had also noted all documentation made by GAMA were with a pencil! We pulled out pencil and eraser we had brought with us and got to work. All necessary 'corrections' to the result sheet were made and the paper was slided back into the drawer. The job was done and breathing outside air again few minutes later was very refreshing....AND JUSTICE WAS SERVED!