Musings: Saber Khan revisited

Saber Khan revisited
By Prakash Subbarao
27^th March 2004

I was scheduled to pick up Zaheer Ulla Khan (a visiting Pakistani doctor and a friend I had made on the Internet) (let's call him ZUK) from the Ramada Continental Hotel, where he was staying, at 2.30 pm. I was there on the dot only to find that he was slightly delayed in checking out and saying his goodbyes to his seminar colleagues. I took that opportunity to do some pending work and was back by 3 pm.

I had told ZUK that I would park the car in front of the hotel entrance and so there I was, awaiting him, when the phone rang. “Where are you? I cannot see you?” asked ZUK. I looked to my right and saw him looking for me while I was sitting four feet in front of him! “I am directly in front of you” I replied and he saw me and our first contact was established. We were soon chatting like old friends.

I gathered that he is from a small city (Population: 100,000). He told me its name but, being unfamiliar with Pakistani cities and districts, I soon forgot. Was is in Rahim Yar Khan district? I remember him telling me it was near Bahawalpur. I did not connect the name at that time but Bahawalpur is the place where General Zia Ul Huq of Pakistan died in an air crash.

ZUK has his own polyclinic there. He was born, brought up, educated in that small town. His parents own vast tracts of land and the family is essentially agrarian. However, his father had ambitions of his son becoming a doctor and at age three ZUK was made to promise that he would become a doctor and his words were taped! He followed his father’s wishes and did become a doctor. His wife and he live above the polyclinic whilst his parents live on the farm 8 kilometers away.

ZUK is basically a general practitioner with a great interest in ultrasound. It was to attend an ultrasound seminar that ZUK had come to Dubai.

The journey to the giant dunes on the way to Hatta did not appear to take that long as we were chatting about this and that.

There are two dunes. One is on the left of the road and is the larger dune. Western expats have affectionately named this dune “George”. The smaller one on the other side of the road is affectionately named “Bertha”.

4x4’s were crawling all over George while Bertha was being troubled by quad bikes zooming all over her.

It was as we were crossing the road to meet George that ZUK let out a little cry of alarm. He had forgotten his passport and his visa the hotel and had not claimed them at the time of check out! I reassured ZUK that there was no harm done as this is a very safe country. A call to directory enquiry got him the hotel number. A call to the hotel reassured him that all was well and that he could collect the passport at any time convenient to him.

A well adorned and colorful camel sits on the side of the road to take children for a ride. It has apparently given birth because a young camel was frolicking around and was the attention of all the tourists. I got a couple of photographs of ZUK with the small camel (and he got one of it “kissing” me!) and then we moved on to the sand.

Whilst standing in the desert about 100 meters from the road I told ZUK about Milena’s dream of having someone stand in the sand and think hard about her. (Milena is our common "Dubai Discussions" groups member and she lives in Italy. She fantasizes about the sand dunes of the UAE. She feels that if someone stands barefeet on the dunes and thinks very hard about her, her spirit will materialise there).

ZUK did that but we saw no apparition of Milena and after a while we moved on. I now realize that I forgot to tell ZUK to take off his shoes. Milena has specifically indicated that one must be barefoot. That’s probably why Milena's spirit did not appear. What a pity!

The next halt was the Hatta Heritage Village where we stopped long enough to check the timings. It closed at 8.30 pm. That gave us enough time to hunt for Saber Khan.

It had been quite some time since I had been down these roads and Hatta had changed a lot. Guided by my instincts and heading in the general direction that I thought was the correct one, we managed to reach the dirt track that leads into the mountains of Oman and on which Saber Khan’s farm is located.

The “road” is a dirt track barely wide enough for two cars. Though is it a rough dirt track, there are several signs indicating turnoffs to this village and that. The road leads to Hatta Pools where, people say, there is a large pool of water fed by the rains in the hills. Locals swear that the pool dried up years ago. But still people do go to take a chance that there is water and to have a picnic.

Saber Khan was “discovered” on this road around two years ago. My family and I had a very pleasant encounter with him and it had been a long standing desire that I re-visit Saber Khan to see how we was doing. I never went.............until today when ZUK and I were trying to locate him.

The road is very rough and gravel filled. After traveling several kilometers down the road we started encountering very steep gorges and at times the road dipped 45 degrees. Many a time we just about made it, having followed ZUK’s advice of approaching the incline after a sharp acceleration.

“I don’t remember these sharp drops from my previous visit” I told ZUK. “Let’s go back and search for him afresh”. So we turned back. Or rather, I attempted to turn the car around without checking whether any other vehicle approaching. In fact, an open topped jeep driven by an attractive blonde *was* approaching. They braked sharply while I turned the car. ZUK appeared slightly rattled by this close shave though such encounters are very common in the UAE and left me unperturbed.

As we retraced our path, I saw a flash of green off the road to our left. “That could be his farm” I told ZUK. Sure enough there was a track leading off to the left and we soon came to the farm house where I had last seen Saber Khan.

We got out of the car not knowing what to expect.

I peered through the gate and there he was! Saber Khan himself!

He had put on some flesh from what I last remembered of him. He remembered me and we hugged in Islamic style. I introduced ZUK to him. I asked him to bring us up to date and he told us that his employer had made some payments to him which enabled him to visit Pakistan and see his family. He brought a brother back with him to the UAE and so he now had company (even though the brother worked in far away Fujairah). He now had a mobile phone and kept in touch with his family by phone often.

He took us around his farm and showed us what he was growing. “What is that small plant spaced so far apart “? ZUK asked him. “That’s melon” he replied. “And they are spaced so far apart because the plant becomes very dense and unwieldy” Saber Khan replied.

“What’s that large leafed plant over there” one of us asks him. “That’s tobacco” Saber Khan replies. He tells us that there is a large demand from the resident Pakistani population for chewing tobacco and this prompted him to bring seeds back with him from Pakistan. He estimated that he would earn Dh. 4000 from the smallish tobacco crop in a few month’s time!

After a cup of tea with Saber Khan (on the same elevated platform that I described earlier) and a photo session with Saber Khan, ZUK and I left for Dubai.

ZUK flashed the message about our successfully having tracked Saber Khan to Ana in far away Poland. (Ana is another of the "Dubai Discussions" Group members). While we will inside Omani territory, negotiating that rough trail back, Ana’s excited SMS reply came back to us.

Saber Khan had faced difficulties that would have put a lesser man into a mental institution and had emerged with a fortitude that was remarkable. Something we all need to think about and be inspired by.

I dropped ZUK back at the hotel a little after 8 pm and thus ended the saga of Saber Khan.