Ali, my father’s legend

When Michael Jackson died, the world mourned his death. When Princes Diana was laid to rest, everyone sobbed for her. When Mother Teresa was buried, every soul cried for her. Today, on June 4, 2016, another towering icon said goodbye to the world.

The current young generation of Pakistanis only remembers Ali because of his legacy. No one had seen him rumble in the jungle or pack punches in the ‘fight of the century’. But the generation before us, that of my father’s, remembers him as a man who was the catalyst of change in his time.

Early in the morning, as my father came home for his usual lunch break, he turned on the television to check the news. Every screen flashed the demise of the legend. My father sat back in the sofa, sighed once or maybe twice, and said, “chalo, ek aur acha insan gaya” (well, another good man left us).

The sadness in his words was alien to me. For me, Ali was the best sporting figure of the century but I still couldn’t connect to his death — however, my father could. The reason being I never saw him in action live. My father didn’t see his fights either but the charisma his name carried was enough for the technologically less advanced generation before us.

Ali, for us, the younger generation of Pakistanis, might not mean much but for the people who lived in his time, he was a symbol of astute diligence. He was a man who gave up the greatest achievement of his life, his world title, because he believed in a cause; he believed in peace and love for all.

Today, we are inspired by the words that he had said because they had a witty flavour attached to them. However, for my father and his friends Ali was an icon they followed. Newspaper cuttings of the three-time world champion and magazine photographs were the most prized possessions for the people who lived through Ali’s fighting era.

Today, Ali left us, and soon will many other legends but the lessons they have preached — of humanity, peace and love for all, of humbleness even in greatness-will and should always remain in our hearts in the times to come.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2016.