It was this day, October 29, 10 years ago when Abdul Hamid Zubairi died. He was loved and respected by his colleagues for his disposition. His ability to perceive or express humour or take a joke was unique. Those who had the privilege of working with him, and the number of them is now few and far between, still smile and laugh while remembering him.
Humour was his forte, of the kind which only a sophisticated man with fine tastes could have. And in this area, he never spared anyone. Even a very serious person like the late Altaf Husain, Dawn's legendary editor, had no choice but to smile when he was at the receiving end of one of Hamid Bhai's jokes.
One of his interesting remarks I can never forget, though its real bite and humour can be gauged only in Urdu and in the way it was said. One of Dawn reporters went to Harvard on a six-month scholarship.
On return when he filed his first report, Hamid Bhai looked at the copy and told him: "Harvard tumhara kutchh bigar na saka." He never ever indulged in what is called any hurtful humour.
A classic case of his popularity was the election of the first president of the Karachi Press Club. Hamid Bhai successfully persuaded the late Mohammad Ashir, the then News Editor of Dawn, to contest the election and then ensured that he was elected uncontested. A few stalwarts of the profession who wanted to contest finally gave in to his pleas and Ashir was elected unanimously.
It was a testimony of the respect and popularity Hamid Bhai commanded in the journalistic fraternity.
He joined the profession in the undivided India and was among those truly trained professionals who migrated to Pakistan and set new traditions for building the profession on sound lines in the new country.
While in India he was first associated with a news agency and later joined Dawn, Delhi, on the subeditorial desk. He had the privilege of attending Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's important press conferences.
He was among those who were there when the Dawn offices in Delhi were attacked by a mob of Hindu extremists, angry over Dawn's headline 'Pakistan Zindabad'.
The staff took refuge, with Hamid Bhai spending nearly a month in Old Fort before finally heading for the world's biggest Muslim state - Pakistan.
With Dawn in Karachi, he was an institution and a source of inspiration for budding journalists, especially in the 50s when I joined Dawn as an apprentice sub-editor along with the late Zamir Niazi, the late Ali Abbas and now retired Ahsan Yahya.
It was Hamid Bhai who trained scores of journalists, including the late Niazi, who later headed the news desk of Business Recorder and became a crusader for press freedom with several books to his credit.
Hamid Bhai treated all the trainees with love and affection. He had never been rude to anyone. The newsroom environment used to warm up because of the charisma that characterised his personality, his hard work and strong sense of humour. He had a nose for news and was to my knowledge perhaps the only person who used to sort out tons of news copies coming from various agencies on teleprinters in no time. He was known for giving smart headlines and always stuck to the printing schedule.
He was known for honesty and integrity and was among those greats in the journalistic fraternity, such as the late Ahmad Ali Khan, the late Mohammad Ashir, the late Zamiruddin Ahmad and K.M. Ehsanullah, now settled in Canada, who upheld journalism's highest standards and never succumbed to threats or temptations. He never borrowed money. The idea was so hateful to him that he did not build a home of his own because that would have entailed a house-building loan.
Hamid Bhai never retired from active service. After his retirement from Dawn as Chief Sub, he joined Business Recorder, founded by M.A. Zuberi, one of the greatest journalists of his time, now enjoying semi-retirement living, as Chief Sub and held this position till his death at the age of 90. I do not know of any other case where a journalist kept working at that age. May his soul rest in peace.
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