MERRY MEADOWS - Chapter 12 - Impetus to write

JJ, Jamil Janjua, my friend and mentor in many ways, has provided me with valuable food for thought on the first ten chapters that I have reeled out and published on the blog. My friend and IBA mate Asif Mayat has also provided an invaluable critique both on the blog and on the telephone, in a half hour long transcontinental conversation that happened after many years. But the connection with Asif was instantaneous, and we were back in the old days, reliving life, and ticking off with great satisfaction our successes in the greater scheme of things.

Farrukh Hasan, Shahid Shafiq and Akbar Khan, all IBA-ites, have chipped in with encouragement over the email and on the blog, with Farrukh in full support of JJ’s feedback, and Akbar joining me in demonizing Prof. A.G. Saeed! Shahid offered very tongue-in-cheek feedback, but it was evident that he was enjoying the read.

JJ has posed for me the following questions. “Who are you writing the book for?  Who do you imagine reading what you write...when you write? What is the feeling you wish for your reader to experience in your writing? What is the purpose you have set out to accomplish in this venture? I ask the above because I get the feeling so far you are trying to prove something to somebody in your writings which, if I am correct, will limit the number of readers and people interested to read your story. I am sure you have a wider audience in mind and will tailor your story to appeal to a wider audience with a greater purpose. I am only saying what has come to my mind after reading the first 10 chapters (which I thoroughly enjoyed reading) , so please don't fault me for being upfront.”

To respond to JJ’s first question, who am I writing this book for, well, if the truth be told, I am writing it for myself. It’s a jumbled up weight that I have carried through life, and in the past few years I have made much sense of that weight, and it has lightened considerably. Writing about it is helping me let go of it completely, and walk on air, as it were.

Writing this book is an extremely pleasant and cost-effective form of therapy; having said that, I am writing for everybody who is English literate and interested in a good read. Here I am taking the liberty of assuming that my life’s story will make for a good read. While this assumption may not exactly be a sure thing, it’s not much of a gamble either! 

In either case, I am hugely enjoying the enterprise, and that, my friends, could be the key that unlocks the door to fame and fortune! For I have heard it mentioned, on many an occasion, that a passion driven pursuit is infectious in the extreme, and, on the off chance that I get carried away with my moaning and groaning, or an excessive thumping of the chest, there will be a professional, no nonsense editor who will view the final manuscript with a market oriented critical eye.

Top Drawer File

That, I think, takes care of JJ’s questions. Aside from personal therapy, there are two other purposes that drive this venture – my contract with TCS to produce a book on it, and the felt need within me, also part of the therapy, to present some part of the Adil Family’s side of the story that has gone unreported all these years.

Right through life I have carried with me a file in the top drawer of my filing cabinet, that contains the charge sheet given to my Uncle, the late and greatly lamented Akbar Adil, by Yahya Khan’s martial law regime, and my Uncle’s detailed rebuttal of it which got him exoneration in my eyes at least, as also in the eyes of those who knew him and the family to which he belonged.

His real exoneration, however, would lie in the conduct of his progeny that he nurtured at the joint family house on Kashmir Road. I am happy to report that all of us cousins, fellow housemates of Adil House, have done well in life, with five generations flourishing by the grace of Allah, may He rest my elders in peace, ameen. While my cousins and two sisters will tell their own tales if they’re so inclined, here’s my story that I hope and pray will meet with the approval of my parents and uncles who have gone on to the Hereafter, and those of us who still reside in the mortal confines of this world.

Best thing in life

In as far as the TCS Book is concerned; my reason for making it a part and parcel of my memoirs is because TCS has constituted the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life. While squash may have given me pride and prestige, TCS has provided for me a steady and meaningful income over an extended period that has enabled me to pursue writing as a fulltime profession. 

In the process TCS has endowed me with authentic authority as breadwinner where my family is concerned. The latter has meant the world to me. The liberty to work freelance has met with my requirement of staying self-employed. The TCS contract has given me the latitude to aggressively engage the social sector in its study and resolution of its many problems, and here the public service profession of my civil servant father has found some expression.

So, no matter how things turn out in the future with TCS, it has already earned my undying gratitude, and by making its story a part of my memoirs I am making a token gesture of my thanks.

From a strategic perspective, my story outlines some part of the operating environment that TCS was born into and grew in, and the chapters that follow will contain in-depth insights of the people at the helm of TCS that drove this burgeoning enterprise in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous hot pot that has been, and continues to be Pakistan; in particular the story of flight engineer turned entrepreneur Khalid Nawaz Awan, known to both friend and foe as KNA, who stands out amongst the very few genuine entrepreneurs that Pakistan has produced.

Any story is about the people in it, and TCS is a people’s enterprise, startling the pace of progress and prosperity in Pakistan by effecting radical paradigm changes in the logistics sector, something it continues to do, starting with the Pakistan Banking Council contract in 1985 that reduced inter-city clearance of financial instruments from three weeks to 72 hours!

The significance has not been lost on me of what TCS does in the overall context of building economic muscle for Pakistan and ridding the country, once and for all, of the begging bowl that has compromised our political sovereignty. In TCS I have found a worthy and formidable warrior to partner with in the quest for a vibrant Pakistan. We have shared objectives and TCS has the clout to achieve them.

Merry Meadows - Memoirs of an entrepreneur