Grace under pressure
When The Man of Steel was first brought to Lahore’s Services Hospital in a panic, given his sharply declining platelets count, and general ill health, various blood tests were ordered. Having given his blood specimens, The Man of Steel waited for the results to come in. A few of his closest comrades were in his hospital room, as were police officers, and his doctor of course. The Man turned to the doctor on duty and asked if his blood test results had come in. The doctor said they were expected at “2.30 am” in the early hours of next morning. The Man of Steel smiled and said, “Dr Sahab, mein elections results di gal naheen kar reya. Blood test results di gal kar reya aan” (I am not talking about elections results but blood test results). Everyone laughed but the doctor had tears in his eyes; he apologized to The Man for all the troubles he had been caused and asked for his forgiveness. Once again, The Man smiled and said, “Kamal kar day o, Dr Sahab. Tuhada ki qusoor aye?” (Please don’t apologise. It’s no fault of yours). Again and again, The Man of Steel demonstrates extraordinary grace under pressure.
Everyone and his aunt
When the phrase “everyone and his aunt” is deployed, it means virtually the whole world. And in The Man of Steel’s case, it was literally true. His entire family has been asked to plead with him to leave Pakistan for medical treatment, including his children’s aunts. We all know that his only sister, Kausar, was asked to plead with him to leave along with his mother, known to all as Apiji. But one lady who has not yet been identified as another of the Pleaders, was his late and beloved wife Kulsum’s sister. The Man of Steel was close to his in-laws and regarded his wife’s brethren as his own siblings. When the ladies of the family kept up their insistence that he take the reprieve that was being offered him, he turned to his sister-in-law and said, “Awam kay huqooq ki jid-o-johd mein Sindh say kitnay taboot niklay hai, Balochistan aur Sarhad say kitnay naklay hain. Agar iss maqsad ko panay kay liye aik taboot Punjab say bhi niklay to mujhe fakhr ho ga”. (Many coffins have been lifted from Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in this struggle for the people’s rights. If a coffin is lifted from the Punjab, it would make me a proud man.”