26th Dec 2010 - Sunday
Time : 06:30 DST (GMT + 4)
My phone starts ringing , i thought it was just the alarm as i had the same ringtone . so its office time... oh wait.. its a call ? call from Abbas bhai (my brother-in-law) from Pakistan .. *did the kids dialed it accidently? * . I waited for couple of more seconds... then OK lets just pick it up...
Abbas Bhai : Murtaza are you awake?
Me : yea was just abt to get up for office
Abbas Bhai : Murtaza ur father's health isn't well. We are in Agha Khan and they've take him for angioplasty. wait aunty wants to talk.
Mom : *in a low voice* Murtaza .. ya papa wasn't feeling well so we are here. we woke u up right? ok talk to Abbas bhai
Me : errr okkay.
Abbas bhai : Murtaza, its better that you come back to Pakistan as earliest as possible. Conditions is little critical plus ajao toh acha hai . I'm about to call ur elder bro (Abbas) aswell.
Me : *thinking that i have no idea wat is angioplasty still this is critical. They would have never asked me to come back even though they know its my business trip and its a working day and i have arround 15 more days work left*
Abbas bhai : If you can change your ticket then it would b great else get a new one ok?
Me : ok
*call finished*
*moving from here to there, thinking what to do? Pack my luggage? Call Project manager that I need to go back? How to get a new ticket? Will my current will get converted? Do I have enough money to get a new one? Ok I’ll start dumping my luggage*
I knew my family was alone in khi so who could help them? Give support ? be my substitute? My friends J just them I smsed my friends (Umair , MIT , Zeeshan) the people who can arrange a car and reach there asap and inform other close friends :)
Called Khuzeema bhai to ask him how he used to deal in such situation while working at Avanza, then called Shoaib (Admin Avanza-ME) then called my current Project manager and told him the entire scenario and that I have to leave.
*2nd CALL from Pakistan*
Abbas Bhai: Murtaza, did u get the ticket?
Me: Trying to get all the things lined up but I’ll get it somehow.
Abbas bhai: ok get it soon as doctor is taking him for surgery as they can’t do angioplasty at this stage.
Around 8 DST, when almost everyone had woke up, everyone was trying to help me to book the tickets. Thanks a million to Sajid Bhai who kept making calls and at last got me to a conclusion that thought my visa was EMIRATES only but since I have an emergency and there are no tickets available, I can leave from PIA but need to send my visa copy to emirates after reaching Pakistan. I can still remember how I rushed to PIA’s office and booked my ticket. Was dying to get the ticket and didn’t care about anything. And I finally had my ticket in hand at 11am DST.
By 11:30/12:00 am my Project manager came to the apartment to get the updated code which I was supposed to deliver on 26th at the client’s end. Recharged my mobile balance and spend 2 hours thinking WHAT TO DO NOW… ALL PACKED.. FLIGHT IS AT 2:30. HOW WILL BE DAD?
Called Karachi that I have my ticket with me and I’ll be reaching around 5:30 PST.
Time: 1 pm
*Umair’s call from Karachi*: hey murti. How’s uncle? I just woke up cuz of Sunday
Me: np bro. but the last time I talked, they were taking him for the operation.. bro handle things there ok? I’m reaching at 5:30.
Umair: don’t worry bro, we’ll reach asap. And we will pick u up from airport aswell. No need for taxi
Me: alright. Keep me updated.
I don’t know how I passed those 2 hours at the airport and the entire flight. Stupid PIA people were only showing the DISTANCE and time left on the screen and those small kids shouting errrr I wanted to SHOUT idher tension hai tum logo ko shor suja howa hai :@
*Karachi Airport*
Finally reached Karachi airport and my friends took me first for the dinner (as per my mom’s order) then to the hospital where we stayed for 2 weeks. Dad had a open heart surgery and was still critical (mashallah sey fine now). I guess I can discuss the hospital stories in some other post. I am thankful to have my gr8 friends with me; Faizan , Arsalan , Mehdi , Maria , Umair , Zeeshan who were there at that time. And thnx to those who also donated some blood. And Mohammed Ali and Shahrukh who couldn’t reach but did call :) And not to forget Sajid bhai
