The Fellow Stranger

This is a recollection of a good deed done to me. My sister wanted her inter certificate from the board office. As I was the only one free in the house the job fell upon my shoulders. Now normally I don’t shy away from errands. But errands like these where one has to interact with public sector officials…well they are not my idea of a holiday. But still respecting my sis’s wishes I agreed to go. Now the Inter Board Office of Karachi is located in some far away wild area of Karachi, far from anywhere I have been in all the years in Karachi. Also it is located in an area which is frequently in the news…for all the wrong reasons. So I prepared my mind to go.

I googled up the address, found which buses go there on http://www.apnapoint.com/  and prepared all the docs I had to take with me. I had to change three buses to go there. On the last bus which would drop me at my destination, a guy came to sit beside me. After greetings he asked if I was going to the board office. Stumped…I looked at him, suddenly wary of him. I nodded and asked how he guessed that i was going to the board office? He said that you have that look. I asked him if he was going there too. He replied in the affirmative. Then we asked each other about their academic activities. Turned out that he was a private candidate in his second year. And apparently this was his eighth round of the board office. Through my discussion he rightly deduced that

>This was my first time at board office (read: that part  of Karachi)

>Government offices were not my thing

>I had no clue where to get the inter certificate

So he offered to help me out with my endeavour. I tried to refuse saying that no I’ll be fine, and that you shouldn’t waste your time, but he played me down.

We disembarked from the bus and went to the gate. Upon setting my eyes at the gate, I was like….wait. Where’s the office?

A road was leading from the gates into wilderness. After looking again I made out a building a good 400 metres down the road. It was a three-storey building which was looked down upon by a second building some 200 metres to the left and a third building which was hidden from view from the road. There were endless lines on several counters in the first building, and a great number of people were going in and out of the doors through the second building. A narrow corridor was leading from the side of the building leading into the third.

The guy I was with asked someone and pointed towards that corridor, telling me to go down the corridor to room 20 and ask for a guy named X. I met Mr X and within 15 minutes he handed me a slip telling me to come on the specified date.

I couldn’t believe it was over! I had come mentally planned for a tedious two hours! If past experiences with my college were any reference. But here, thanks to this guy, I had been saved two hours and a lot of toil. I looked for him on my way back but couldn’t spot him in the mammoth crowd. I wanted to thank him. But the fact is that I couldn’t thank him enough. What this guy had done for me, only ALLAH could reward him. I felt I had a moral obligation now to pass this good deed onwards, for that’s the only way I can truly thank this guy. I didn’t even know in which counter to go for information, and judging by the sizes of the lines on every counter even that would have taken me 20 minutes. I only wish now that wherever he is, may he encounter success on every step!