The Notorious Nine Years Old

Mohammed Ammar Bin Yaser

He wants to bowl like Shoiab Akhtar, fight like The Undertaker and look like Shahrukh Khan when he grows up. Meet nine years old Abdur Rahman, a student of standard 3 at a privately-run school based in a residential bungalow somewhere in Gulsitan-e-Johar, Karachi. Rahman is notorious in his apartment compound for shouting obscenities at random people, so most mothers of the neighborhood are wary of their kids mingling with him. But he can’t care less.

Clad in a dirty t-shirt and Bermuda-shorts, and larger-than-his’s-size flip-flops, Rahman demanded 20 rupees when I told him I’ve something important to discuss with him.

I relented.

“I am just waiting to grow up, the day I grow up, I will show them all” he furiously remarked about a group of kids, who ditched him moments before he sat with me for the interview, while teaming up for a cricket match.

“They are scared of me, they are phattos, they know I can bowl them all out in one ball, so they don’t take me.”

On any given day, Rahman looks as if he has just gotten out of an old dirty cellar. His front teeth are rotting, credit goes to his love for chaliya. His hair, though cut to skin, always carry some sort of dirt, like, when I interviewed him, I could see shreds of cobweb on his head, just waiting to be shaken off .

He is restless. Minutes after he sat with me, it was obvious he agreed to lend me his time just to take home the money I promised. Not a single question I asked was duly answered.

What do you want to be in life? I asked.

“A cricketer, I am very talented” he says, then after a few minutes he retracts his statement and wants to join WWE like The Undertaker. Out of the 15 minutes he allotted me out of his precious time, he got up twice to chase a cat that was loitering around.

“Who is your favorite actor?” I squeezed in the question.

“Shahrukh khan” he almost shouts, and scours the ground with his eyes in search of stone that he intended to pelt at the cat.

“hogaya? (done?)” he asked.

I said ”No”

He sighed and madly began to scratch his head with both his hands, the shreds of cobweb fell in the process.

One of the greatest tragedies in Abdur Rahman’s life is the fact that his father works for KESC and somehow the neighborhood boys found that out. They pitilessly use it against him, blaming him for the daily sins of KESC . To cover this utter embarrassment, he claims his father has left the job and is now sitting at home. But the damage is done, nobody listens.

One of the classic incidents that made rounds in the neighborhood and actually piqued my interest in him was his idea of making some short money.

One day, while returning from school, Abdul Rahman saw a group of young school kids play Patty (table soccer/fuse ball). He was out of cash. He took off his shirt, put it in his bag, hid his bag at a corner and literally started begging for money from the passersby.

He was caught in the act by his father who took him home and beat him with the metal-end of his belt. In two hours time, he was back in the apartment compound complaining about his father’s mercilessness to the world.

When I asked him about the story he looked at me with a smirk and said “hota hai! (Happens!)” and run away with the 20 bucks in his pocket.