It is the saddest of days. I feel so numb and sad. Till yesterday, I was enjoying the rain and celebrating my freedom from my job. But all that seems so meaningless. We heard there was a plane crash somewhere in the morning.
Later, this colleague came up to me that Ali (my friend who ran his digital company) was on that flight. I was shocked, couldn't believe. Asked him if this is a confirmed news. Then confirmed again about survivors. I didn't finish asking....and he tells me this other guy Naveed (my senior at SZABIST and the planner for Nokia) was also on that flight.
I came down and called up Ali on all the numbers he gave me. I checked online the news about the Airblue bloody crash in Margalla hills, which all said it was due to bad weather and low visibility that the plane crashed. Then there was news for 5 survivors. I kept asking my friends in media for names hoping my friends would be alive. Checked again a passengers boarding list...just to discover two more people whom I knew were on the same flight. One of them was my batch mate at SZABIST, very nice, handsome dude, president of the youth parliament.
And people kept on chatting and putting facebook status, praying and hoping. And it was all useless. No body on that plane has survived. All 152 people are dead they are saying. People kept messaging and calling each other. People are affected big time. Bodies can't even be identified.
It's so weird to know people you meet and talk to are suddenly dead. I was particularly very close to Ali. He was a very good friend of mine. A friend who actually cared for me a lot and would call me up whenever he even felt I was worried a bit. I saw his profile and his status last night was "Out of Order". I checked his status over the weekend and it said "Hope the Saturday never ends." He had a son just a while ago. I always dread the fact that people who are left behind after somebody dies suffer a lot. We have seen it. We say it till this day if papa would have been alive, life would be better. And now I see Ali's kid wouldn't really see him as he would grow up. It's a sad sickening feeling to see it happening. I met him a few weeks ago, and he was saying it took us 6 months to meet up now when do we meet next...:(:(
This other guy Naveed, just had 6 days old daughter and now he is gone too. Another guy from media was going to meet his parents and met this tragedy. Hassan, after college I got to know about him today, that he is dead.
And what more, last night was the holy night when people pray for forgiveness. When God writes down your destiny for the coming year. When He writes who will live and who will die. And the very next morning He reminds us that He can do anything and that we are just mortals.
I really do hope all the families who have lost their loved ones will have the courage to go through this. RIP Hassan Javed and Naveed Ilyas.
ALI - I will really, truly miss you a lot! I have lost a very good friend today :( :( :(
