Life moves in two directions for many of us, unless we do not take a pause at all to think in which direction life moves.

To me, the two directions are: the general causation — the cause and effect — which may be called karma in certain religious traditions.

The second one is spiritual — that mysterious world of predisposed genetic order or disorder.

The second one is hard to comprehend; it takes ages to answer the unanswered questions of self:
the questions of meaning,
the quest of purpose,
the search of truth,
the unfilled vacuum,
the hollowness of soul,
and looking into the stars to find nothing.

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If someone doesn’t feel the need to, or the compulsion of exploring the second direction, he/she must be lucky in this 21st century of technological advancement and revolution.

Trust me, readers, I never intended to put that unanswered philosophy of the second direction in a one-dimensional mind.

To my understanding, causation gives a healthy sense of living and thriving.

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But since, in my story, I had to take both directions simultaneously and move on in both directions, it was not even a choice.

The second direction is never a choice, though…

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With that way of sailing in two boats, I started exploring options to leave the job and find the purpose that couldn’t be identified yet, while working there in Orient since one year.

All the endeavours to learn — a bit of law school, the ICMA, the tuitions, the classes in House of Knowledge (an academy in a supermarket) for the civil services exam — the more I tried to learn from all these faculties, the less I felt capable of absorbing, or maybe I could never be good in academia.

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In the last episode, I talked about the agency’s business engine at that time as the media department, and how the outcome of that engine went to the billing department for the final revenue generation part.

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The billing department was headed by Mr. SBQ (Sabeeh Qamar Qureshi).

The most remarkable quality I saw in him was his wit — wit like Dr. Watson of Sherlock Holmes’s stories.

In one word, with an expression and eye movement, he would express humour, to be understood only by people with certain faculties of apprehending satire.

This is my tribute to his extraordinary skill.

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I was not that experienced about my work to understand the professional skills of people in various departments, although I had started appreciating the design work of artists.

That appreciation of art might be easier, as it comes out of general aesthetics that everyone holds.

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Between the two leading departments, there was a tall, slim, and always happy “nice guy,” Shakeel, who would always make sure that the show must go on, no matter what.

Such positive and supportive people are always somewhere, at every place.

Sometimes we never know who runs the real show.

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Besides my unhappiness because of disciplinary restrictions, my JD made me interact with every single department in the office, from admin to the highest level of the executive office.

This multidimensional interaction, in any case, taught me a lot.

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Interaction in those years meant going desk to desk; it was not like the online and virtual interactions of the present time.

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In my recollection, 1993 had passed, and on the face of it, I was a stronger person now and my position had been strengthened.
My immediate boss, the manager, assigned me to manage some clients independently.

Yet my soul was searching for unknown destinations.

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My motorcycle, Honda 125, was being used extensively for my job and personal wandering, and a bike mechanic in Rawalpindi became a friend and was kind enough to give me credit on every fixing.

It was needed frequently, and I couldn’t afford to buy a new one.

My determination to keep the bike up and running worked well for long.

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After one year of working, I started meeting some celebrities of that time.

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The experience of visiting the U.S. Embassy offices on the 5th floor (probably) of Marriott during that time was lifetime learning at that age.

Once, I was so happy and I told my boss that a tall blonde girl in the embassy was smiling a lot while looking at me and talking to me about work.

The boss said, “Americans are true diplomats. Even if they have to kill someone in the evening, they’ll take him to lunch like he is the closest friend.”

Besides what my boss told me, the lesson learned was: “One must smile.”

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The story goes on…

This journey continues. The next chapter follows.