Introducing Malir Stars
By FT correspondent
Malir. A place that incites such fear in people’s heart as a hub of unrest and political divides that generally the other side of the life it supports is overlooked. That flip side of the coin boosts a group of people who are sports enthusiast and very keen to enjoy and progress in life. Among this unnoticed cluster of people is a theatre group who has created a name for itself and is called The Malir Stars. At the center of this is Akbar Ali from Badin who came to Karachi with his family in 1999. He got enrolled in a community based Sindhi medium school where he excelled academically though unfortunately was unable to stick around for long. Financial constraints pushed him into manhood at a young age. He struggled too much while juggling his studies with job at a local cottage industry of embroidery that designed bridal clothes. When it became too much he had to drop out after grade 8 and stick to his job only. Working odd jobs at schools, assisting parking at certain places of the city while returning to embroidery when nothing helped, three years passed..
One day Akbar found Jawed, a close friend,despondent and depressed about his life. Wallowing in self-pity and ruing on the lives of many around him, Jawed remarked onhow dramatic and clichéd their lives are. Nodding absent mindedly. Akbar did a double take and halted his train of thoughts.This was his eureka moment when Akbar acknowledged the true drama their lives were and gathered a group of people to ventureon presenting these diverse but relatable plays. To assert their presence. To remind people of Karachi of its beauty.
Then one day, Qadir Dinoe, Akbar’s cousin, opened a centre in Malir for poor children to support their education and to keep them occupied conductively. The children were to pay a fee of Rs 30 monthly that was enough to give the rent for the place only. He had noticed Akbar, his ceaseless efforts to keep himself and his family afloat and his undying spirit that kept him away from indulging in bad habits. Looking at that he asked Akbar to join his center as a teacher and also to enroll himself for Matric privately. Akbar saw this as a fair bargain since he got to teach in the morning and study at the center at night for his Matriculation. Working with Qadir led him to get on with his education and also work with the many social rehabilitating organizations working in Malir. Eventually Akbar even signed up for Malir’s most reputed and biggest computer course centre at iACT, again with the help of Qadir. Relying on his most trusted companion hard work, Akbar scored the first position there and kept moving forward.
To be continued …
