Dear Reshman,
I am suffering from typhoid and there is nobody to help me around in the hospital. My mother is herself laid up with fever. Could you come for a few days or send somebody?
Yours sincerely,
Kamal.
Dear Bhatti,
You are right. My parents have decided to marry me off with you provided your parents or willing. And that is why I have invited you to my marriage. Would March 20 suit you.
Yours,
Sarfraz.
Dear Saqib,
You know my daughter will be soon completing three years. She is almost of the same age as your son, Pervaiz. Where should I send her for schooling? Where are you sending Pervaiz. It will be nice if both of them could go to the same public school. Please advice.
Yours sincerely,
Manzoor.
Dear Jamal,
We intend to visit Karachi next March and stay there for a couple of weeks. Would it be possible for you to arrange some suitable accommodation, not very costly, of course. One small room in a hotel near your house would suffice.
Yours sincerely,
Javaid Arif.
Dear Sohail,
Would it be possible for you to give a loan of a few hundred rupees to my friend, Sajid, who is experiencing some financial difficulty in meeting the current orders for Government supplies payment for which is expected in April next? He is a good man, a reliable businessman, and a beat friend. I guarantee repayment of the loan by him.
Yours very sincerely,
Shahid Khan.
90, K.M. Park Colony,
Bahawalpur.
January 11, 1994.
Dear Madam,
I cannot believe that such good mother can have such a bad child. Pepper cannot grow on a rose bush. Something is wrong somewhere. You have got to understand the child and let the child understand you. Do you admonish the child too often? Well, than won’t work. The more you admonish him, the worse he will become. Do you beat Sajid very often! Well, nothing could do more damage. Do you call the boy thief? If you do thief he shall become. You say your child steals sweets and money? What does he do with sweets and money? Does he hoard money or buy more sweets with money? Does he convert sweets into money or money into sweets? If he eats sweets, he is no thief. Do not call him thief. Rather get him sweets till his longing is well satisfied. When he has eaten sweets to his fill, I think he will steal neither sweets nor money. I remember that last time you told you told me that me that he distributes sweets among other people. That makes him a charitable man, a philanthropist! He is no thief. All charity is in the long run a thievery. We give free what we have stolen free. If oil people earn their living by the sweat of their brow, they would have little to give away. And what ever they give away tastes sweet like elixir and manna. You said your child beats other children and animals, birds and bees. Why does he do so! Think he needs exercise for his limbs, an outlet for his surplus energy. Why not send him to learn boxing from somebody? His energy will become a useful asset. He will learn to defend himself and others instead of becoming a thief. He will become a strong pillar of the family. You say he uses the foulest language in the neighbourhood. I think he is trying to become a great parliamentary critic. Why don’t you teach him public speaking? He may become an orator, a politician, a minister or may be a premier. You are not doing justice to Sajid. He is not completely bad. He is basically good. He will be a great leader. Give him the right training. Remember that Robert Clive, the builder of British Empire in India because he was too bad to be a good citizen of England. And here he carved a golden empire for them. So do not make gloomy pictures of your sajid’s future. Look forward with confidence and sampathy. Give him the right guidance.
6/36 Parliament Street,
Islamabad,
January 11, 1994.
Dear Murshid,
My child, Azhar, has become a problem. He picks quarrels everywhere and uses foul language inside and outside the house. He pays no attention to his studies. He beats children, steals money and sweets, lames dogs and other animals, kills birds and bees for nothing. He is a great nuisance. My life is a hell. What should I do?
Yours devoutly,
Surayya.
Kashana-i-Komal,
Samanabad,
January 9, 1994.
Dear Sadia,
If Nazia’s heart is in dance and music and flowers and paint box, why do you try to divert it to geography and history, arithmetic and geometry? Is not music more melodious and mathematics? Is not dance more dainty and domestic arithmetic? Is not paint box better than history and geography? Let Nazia follow her instincts and you must help her to bring out the best in her. That is real education. You seem to have a bit morbid ideas about her passing the Matriculation Examination. You seem to be afraid of what the people will think if your daughter is not a matriculate even. But what is a matriculate? He is master of none. He is not even a jack of any trade. Let your daughter follow her inner instinct, and she will become something in the world. If you suppress her instinct, she will just rot. Take her away from school and educate her at home. Help her yourself, engage a tutor if you can, or send her to some art school which teaches music, dancing and painting. If nothing better can be done, let her follow her own education herself. You buy her such book as she needs. In the long analysis a child is its own best teacher. All knowledge comes from the people to books and goes from books to the people. Let your child be her own guide and ustad. You just wait and watch. When we throw a seed in the soil, it grows to be a study paint. Earth, Sunlight, water and air, bring the paint out and make it grow. Let them be Nazia’s teachers.
Yours lovingly,
Rifat.
76, Neelum Park,
Gujranwala.
January 8, 1994.
Dear Rifat,
Nazia, my second is very intelligent at home, but at school she does not seem to have her heart in books. Her heart seems to be only in dance and music, paintbox and flowers. What should I do, I do not know?
Yours Lovingly,
Sadia.
Rose Villa.
Quetta,
January 7,1994.
Dear Pirzada,
Spare the rod and do not spoil the child. Do not think the ancients were always right. I do not mean to say that the ancients were always wrong. Their sayings were conditioned by their circumstances. Let us not forget the modern circumstances demand new approach. Let us learn who is best in all the ages. Our maxim should be. “Gather ye the wisdom of East and West.” In modern times more children are spoiled by using the rod than by spraying it. If you want to bring up a child well you must treat him as your equal. You must not beat him for everything. Rather beat everything into his head. You must win him over to your ideas. You must convince him about the rightness or wrongness of an action. It will be more fruitful than mere violence. You can force a child to follow you, but you cannot make him your follower by force. Only when he is convinced of the rightness of your advice will he do as you tell him. Logic alone than love. You must always appeal to his heart rather than to his head. To appeal to the long stick in education is to destroy education. It is like burning the house to drive out to rat. Maybe, the house is burnt and yet the rat is not driven out. He sleeps snugly in a hole below the floor and at last burrows his way out of the ashes. So use your head rather than your stick in dealing with a child. Verily, he is more afraid of your tongue than your rod. Even more than the stick, a good tongue can succeed. A gentle understanding eye does ever better than a talkative tongue. A sympathetic silence is the real part of education. An ounce of example, as they say, is worth of ton of precept. Think! Think! Think! Help the child to think and bring out his best.
Yours sincerely,
Mofiz.