Mentor’s magic: in memory of Shaikh Aziz

Agha Riaz, Senior Editor

We all need help sometime in our lives because no one is completely self-made. After parents, a mentor, as happens many a time, comes into your life who fundamentally changes your direction.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever go into journalism. The details are a story for another day, because 18 years ago, I actually become a journalist because of my mentor, Shaikh Aziz.

It was four years ago I learnt through leading Pakistani newspaper Dawn’s website onlined from Karachi — Dawn.com — that Aziz had passed on. The headline announcing his death shocked me when I read that “Veteran journalist Shaikh Aziz passes away.”

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While tears in my eyes I read the story, while doing my job here in Gulf Today as Senior Sub-Editor and Reporter. The realisation slowly dawned on me that journalist and scholar Shaikh Aziz had passed away in Karachi at the age of 79. And that I would no longer be able to reach out to him for comforting words and wise guidance.

My mentor, who had given me the help I needed to achieve success, had suffered a heart attack, and had been taken to Hyderabad, a major city in Sindh, Pakistan. But as misfortune would have it, adequate facilities were not found there.

Shaikh Aziz

His family transported him to Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, where an angioplasty was done. But it was of no avail.

I clearly remember that was on a Sunday that I read the story; it was a black Sunday in my life.

I had worked with him in Dawn, where he was shift-in-charge of news pages. He was thorough gentleman, great human being, and a down to earth personality.

The “news sense” or the nose for news he carried was immense — it fit Dawn, the largest circulated English newspaper in Pakistan.

Shaikh Aziz told me once, when I was trainee journalist, to complete my graduation as soon as possible, since that degree and newspaper experience would help me achieve many goals in life.

I followed what he said and made good. Today, I am really happy to have made it so far: I am even happier I also made my folks happy.

I had learnt the necessary skills that made me a good journalist; but somewhere in that journey, I lost track of my mentor, since I joined another newspaper.

Though sometimes I have had a difficulties translating skills into professional life, in my darkest moments, I used to remember my mentor’s words that “one-day you will get success in life, though after hardship”. The words still give me strength.

For the last 15 years I have been working in Gulf Today, Sharjah. I have faced many ups and downs, but can proudly say that I have achieved what my mentor had in mind for me.

Shaikh Aziz was very calculative in terms of time management. To meet the early morning deadline, he was always punctual to a fault. He used to send the final copy of Dawn’s Front and Back pages at around 1:45am to the CTP (Computer-To-Plate) section.

Exactly after 10 minutes, he would call the CTP department with these words in Urdu: “Jorre complete hoa, hum log jain?” meaning, “Did you get all the pages, shall we go?”

But the climax was kept for later. After the CTP call, came Aziz’s call to his wife at around 2am (still early hours) in chaste Sindhi: “Maan hanne office maan nikran thu”, meaning “I am taking leave from my office.”

Now it looks like he meant more than what he said. I will never forget you, my mentor, Shaikh Aziz.