Today is the birthday of Mazhar Nawaz (@maaz_nawaz) and he is the one of the reasons behind my continuing on this site for such a long time period despite several reasons propping up every now and then for quitting. And I am sure, that must be the case with several other MSians like me who are continuing because of Mazhar Bhai only.
I joined MS on 05.12.2009 and started writing on 03.02.2010. Very shortly Mazhar Bhai noticed me and started encouraging me by rating my reviews as VU and posting nice, admiring comments. It was his relentless support only that made me so prolific in writing that very shortly I reached the silver jubilee of my reviews here (and even more quickly landed to the golden jubilee thereafter). Since the past 3 years, if there is an inspiration behind me to write more and more, its name is Mazhar Nawaz only.
In April 2010, after reading my review of Farooq Sheikh-Deepti Naval starrer Hindi movie - Saath-Saath, Mazhar Bhai asked me to write the review of another Farooq-Deepti starrer Katha and I felt that it's an urge I could not afford to ignore. Quite naturally, the review of Katha came from my pen within a couple of days only.
Soon I gave Mazhar Bhai my telephone number and took his. Talks started over phone and in June 2010, Mazhar Bhai invited me to visit Bengaluru on the occasion of the celebration of wedding anniversary of R.S. Dev Saheb (@sage1947). I wanted to go but could not manage. But that inability rendered so much guilt-complex to me that the next month I decided to visit Bengaluru and meet Mazhar Bhai. I reached Nahar Heritage Resort as per his guidance in the morning of 31.07.2010 and stayed there for two days. There I happened to meet first Mazhar Bhai and through him, Deepak Ji (@deepak27) and Umesh Ji (@derebail2008) also. And then I realized that this man was not nice just in the virtual world, he was even nicer in the real world.
On 01.08.2010, I visited Chinnaswamy stadium with him and met international Cricketer - Mohammed Kaif there. Before that, I happened to meet another international Cricketer - Hrishikesh Kanitkar in the morning at Nahar Heritage Resort itself. In the Chinnaswamy stadium, I got the rare opportunity to bowl at nets to the practicing budding Cricketers. The memories of bowling to the real Cricketers with the real Cricket ball for around half an hour in the stadium of that stature on that day are still with me and going to stay with me forever, courtesy Mazhar Bhai. His hospitality is amazing.
In the Winter of 2010, my family decided to celebrate the arrival of the new year (2011) at Bengaluru and I finalized the programme with the guidance of Mazhar Bhai. We reached there (Nahar Heritage Resort itself) on 29.12.2010 and stayed there upto 02.01.2011. In between we visited Coorg and enjoyed like anything. Mazhar Bhai helped us in every issue and in every manner. My children still relish the memories of that period. I again met Umesh Ji and Deepak Ji during that tour. We celebrated the new year eve with Mazhar Bhai and his family in the resort itself. With a lot of hesitation, I gifted the DVD of an old movie - Rajnigandha to Mazhar Bhai before taking leave from him on 02.01.2011. And he wrote its review after watching it.
Since then the communication is regular and the relationship has got strengthened only. I visited Bengaluru thereafter in May 2012 and met him again. Taking proper care of my pocket, he arranged my stay in a different hotel (Nandini) this time and visited the hotel specially to meet me. Whenever there is a gap in communication, I get his phone call. That's how relationships are built and maintained. The personality of Mazhar Bhai is a textbook in this regard. He is a true humanist and completely secular in his approach. I remember his joyful reaction when MS gave me the star status in September 2010.
Due to the troubles on MS, several esteeemed members have left and several others have reduced their visits and activity level to the minimum. However if people like me are still here, coming and contributing non-stop, then it is because of Mazhar Nawaz only. He is the cement of this site if we give it the analogy of a building, the high quality cement that has been keeping different bricks properly in their places, joined tightly with one another as well as with the building as a whole. Here's Mazhar Nawaz for you, the Cement of MS Bhawan.
May Lord always bless him. I congratulate him on his birthday on behalf of all the MSians.
