As 12th class results were out recently, a single mother in north Kashmir’s border town Kupwara, forgot her lifelong pain and neglect to celebrate her son’s success. Mudasir Majeed meets Adil Hussain Peer, 2nd position holder who dreams of becoming a doctor.
Their mouths can’t verbalize the extent of gladness, but their eyes have so much to narrate. Each family in this house of Aadil Hussian Peer — the recent class 12th second topper in the Valley, has eyes full of tears. They wallow in this tearful event of joy. What makes them sob, and what makes this ‘boy’s’ triumph so special, there is no other reason, but the struggle of a ‘mother’ who was divorced right after the birth of this child, the mother who didn’t remarry but played mother as well as father to her son.
Few paces away from the entrance of Jamia Masjid Darzipora, Kupwara, falls Ghulam Nabi Wani’s house. Wani is the maternal uncle of Aadil. It’s under his mentorship, says Saja Begum, her son chalked up this feat.
“Aadil was two months old, when I got divorced. There was no hope of life. I was torn to shreds. I came with this child to my parental house. My brothers welcomed me with open arms. Their love, care and concern helped me to pull my shattered-self together. Today whatever my child has achieved, it is chiefly his uncle, Ghulam Nabi’s hard-work,” says Saja.
Aadil believes that when a person is preyed upon by sufferings he should not yield at all but raise a bulwark to save himself from getting overwhelmed by those sufferings. In a sober voice, he says, “Had I given in to victimhood, I would have lost at a very early age. But I never considered surrender an option for the fear that I would be counted with those thousands whose fate was like me but let (they) victimhood converge its bleak shadow on their bright minds and big aims”.
Aadil had science subjects. He secured 490 marks, with just one mark short to share the first position with Faizan Mushtaq and Junaid ul Islam of same district who obtained 491 marks each.
“I hadn’t expected to be the second topper in the entire Valley, but I did surely expect to be behind the toppers by ten or twenty marks”, says Saja’s only son Aadil.
On the result day, Saja says, she was experiencing a kind of trance, unable to respond to anyone, but lost in one single thought that what would be her son’s result. “In the morning Aadil came running and said ‘Boba my result is today at 3 PM’. I told him not to worry least for I believed in him and his hard-work. I went straight into the room, spread the prayer rug and kept praying and crying. When it was 3 PM, his friend called and said he has got second position in the entire valley. I could do nothing but cry and cry, remembering our struggle since his childhood”, she says.
Up to 3rd standard, Aadil studied at Faiz-e-Aam Public School Dudwan. Later he took admission in Govt Boys Middle School Kupwara. With every progressing class, he kept his hold on top position and he would be given scholarship for the top merit in class every year. He did his matriculation from Govt Higher Secondary School Kupwara, securing 459 marks and continued studying in the same school till his recent triumph.
Enumerating the stories of misery and struggle Saja recounts with teary eyes one incident when Aadil was a child, “He was in 3rd standard. Teachers had constantly been asking him to deposit the fee. There was very little income at home at that time, because my brother Ghulam Nabi, who is now a government teacher and mainstay of my son, was himself studying then. I was distressed and helpless. I sold a home-grown hen clandestinely to a neighbor for thirty-five rupees. I took Aadil along to a nearby river, sat on its brink and kept crying, then gave him money and he raced to his school happily”.
I have faith in God, my day will also come – one day, one day, she says with conviction. It was some time ago when Aadil had seen her mother crying on prayer mat and asked her, ‘why do you cry? Don’t. Have faith in God, then in your son. I will become a doctor, heal all your wounds, and take you to Hajj’.
Aadil says, “One should be lucky and I think I am because I am born to such a strong woman who I believe did more than a mother or father could do for their son. I never felt I was a fatherless child. For my success I thank her and my maternal uncles who nurtured and loved me unconditionally.”
Besides his interest in science, Aadil is a great fan of Allama Iqbal. He says Iqbal’s poetry has acted as a source of inspiration and strength for him. “I have to climb a sky-high mountain, to reach my destiny. As Allama has rightly said, Tu Shaheen hai, parvaaz hai kaam tera, Tere samne asmaan aur bhi hai. Life is a struggle for everyone. There is no end. It’s a continuous journey, for me, for everyone. There are so many skies ahead of me”.
