The mention of childhood for most people carries them back to a care-free period of their life but this hasn’t been the case for me. Growing up in Bihar in the late 1960s meant I opened my eyes in a world marked by political instability, revolt, and turmoil. It was made only worse when the war of 1971 broke out and East Pakistan separated from the greater West. It also meant that I spent the next 22 months of my life in a relief camp before finally reaching Lahore and subsequently Karachi. I still remember a few things from this period: My father having to tie me up to keep me from running away to my grandmother’s house which was the only safe haven for the 7-year-old me, learning about my stepmother and siblings’ death during the 1971 war, watching two movies per week in a relief camp with all the prisoners which made zero sense to me back then. I still carry the scars and identification marks they used as labels in the camps back then on my right hand.

Life hasn’t been a bed of roses throughout, but it certainly got better when I met my wife. I met her for the first time while struggling to live from a deadly case of typhoid and she helped my family take care of me. During my illness, I caught glimpses of her whenever I was not too feeble to open my eyes and that’s when I knew this was the woman I wanted to marry. While her family remained heavily opposed to the idea of our marriage, with blessings from my father, some savings from my work, and Rs2500 borrowed from my mother, I got married in 1993 and I can still proudly say that I married for love. And looking back, I’d still do it without a doubt. My wife has been by my side ever since and I don’t think I could have done this without her. Come hail or storm, she has stayed by my side and has been my support in every possible way.

I have been a very content person in my life and have learned to be happy in whatever little I have but at this age, I do think about how different life could have been had I been educated. I have witnessed my own family cut off ties from us just because a chance at formal education meant they had better opportunities and prospects in life.