First PakTurk branch in Multan and efforts to turn a ‘ruin’ into a school building

Why was the century-old kite festival banned for 10 years?
September 28, 2021
How did the Pakistani businessmen’s trips to Turkey gain impetus?
September 30, 2021

First PakTurk branch in Multan and efforts to turn a ‘ruin’ into a school building

Educationist Sadullah Bayazit continues to narrate the his ‘friend-in-destiny’ Abdulgani Gülmez’s life in Pakistan. In the eleventh part of the memoirs, Bayazit wrote about the preparations for the first PakTurk branch opened in Multan, in the words of Gülmez. Gülmez conveyed how they had carried out the renovation and refurbishment work in the ruined buildings amidst inconveniencies.

Part Eleven:

In the first year of school in Khairpur Mirs, education continued while the renovation of the other parts of the building were underway. I stayed in Khairpur Mirs during the summer vacation of 2002. Both the continuation of the renovation work and the travel expenses disallowed me from going to Turkey. After the summer vacation in October 2002, the school principals meeting was again in our Khairpur Mirs branch. In that meeting, I learned that a government building had been offered on lease to the PakTurk Schools for opening a school in Multan, and the agreement would be signed around the end of October. I was requested to go to Multan with Mr. Kürşad, who had just arrived in Islamabad, to start the renovations of the school building allocated by the provincial government.

During that period, I would temporarily accompany my newly-arrived colleague, start the renovation works, rent a house there and return to Khairpur Mirs. My colleague would follow the works there later. Two friends, a retired Major, whose name I can’t remember at the moment but whom we always called as ‘Major Sahib’, and an Associate Professor would meet us in Multan. In addition, Director General Mr. Halit had asked me to take a bucket from the wall paints arrived from Turkey to Multan, telling me that the first coat of paint on the new school building should be of the paint donated by the sponsor businessmen.

10-hour ride on a paint bucket

We had to be in Multan in the first week of November. I was to travel there from Khairpur Mirs, and Mr. Kürşad Bey had to come from Islamabad. I took the train from Khairpur Mirs at night on the scheduled date, with a bucket of paint from Turkey in my hand. I had not bought a numbered ticket in advance, hoping to find an empty seat on the train. However, even though we passed a city or two on the journey, I could not find an empty seat or even a suitable place to sit. I travelled for nine or ten hours holding a bucket of paint in my hand. I completed the journey by sitting on the bucket in the carriage, either in front of the WC or between the carriages, constantly changing places. On the good side, I saved the paint bucket from spilling and arrived in Multan early in the morning.

When I got off the train, a 50-55 years old gentleman with grey hair and a slightly bald head approached me and introduced himself. After a short talk, we drove to the Daewoo Bus Terminal to pick up Mr. Kürşad. His bus came after waiting for a short while. Later, we looked for a budget hotel where we could stay for a few days. However, after visiting a few hotels, we learned foreigners could only stay in a three- or four-star hotel for security reasons. What’s more, the prices of those hotels were not suitable for our budget. This situation also surprised Professor Sahib accompanying us. The people who arrived to open a school did not even have money to stay in a hotel. It must have given him the impression, “With what money will they do the renovation!”

Two of the buildings we were to transform into a school were in ruins

He then took us to a hotel in the old quarter of the city and asked to book a room in his name. That room with damp walls had a small ceiling fan and a small double bed. It was impossible for me and Mr. Kürşad to stay in such a place and we requested Professor Sahib if we could look elsewhere. Finally, we settled in the Firdous Hotel, which was close to the downtown. It was slightly better in terms of conditions. At least each of us could sleep at one end of the wider bed. After arranging the hotel, Major Sahib joined us there and we went to Ali Chowk, where our school building was located.

The school building consisted of three blocks, which were not visible from the street, and were built on a somewhat hollow plot surrounded by shops in front. The front two blocks were very old and dilapidated. The building at the back, built much later, looked better than the others. First, we prepared the building we could renovate with the least expenditure. We could make it ready for the new academic year in April with only electrical installation, door and window repairs and paint job. From the other two blocks, the one closer to the entrance gate required a little more spending.

The electricity of the house we rented was cut off after two days

Fortunately, because the school was right in a city market; it was close to both the materials and the place where the workers gathered in the early hours of the morning. Those would not be difficult to obtain. We went with Professor Sahib and arranged the first batch of construction workers. We ordered sand, cement and other construction materials. The renovation was to start the next day. Meanwhile, we visited a few real estate agents Professor Sahib knew and looked for a house on rent at a location close to the school. Unfortunately, we could not find a suitable house even after two or three days of searching. Renovation work started at the school. I had to return again to Khairpur Mirs to oversee the renovation work there. I think I returned to Khairpur Mirs with a promise to come back to Multan a week later, and Mr. Kürşad returned to Islamabad. Meanwhile, Professor Sahib supervised the construction work.

We came back to Multan a week later. We settled in the same hotel. Again, we looked for a house to rent. Unfortunately, there was a tendency against renting houses to singles there. There were also many houses we could not rent due to economic reasons. We finally found a place in Shah Rukn-e Alam Colony, next to Professor Sahib’s house. We had to rent that house even though it was far from the school. It was a little strange we rented it without being questioned by the landlord; later we realized the house had an electrical problem. Just two days after settling in, the electricity to the house was cut off because the occupant before us had not paid the bill. It took a long time to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, we needed to buy beds, furniture and other necessities for the house, but we ran out of money again. We could afford only three beds, locally called as ‘charpoys’. Later I returned to Khairpur Mirs again and Mr. Kürşad went to Islamabad. He went back to Multan with a teacher colleague shortly after and settled there. In January, Mr. Süleyman was appointed from Lahore to Multan as the school principal.

To be continued…

***

Part Ten: Eating chicken after the first Eid al-Adha program in Manghirjee!

Oh hi there 👋 It’s nice to meet you.

If you want to be informed about new content

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

0 Comments

No Comment.