Boy genius: How an orphan beat all odds to shine out

Khurshid Hassan clinched the top position in HSSC Part-II exams in Mirpur

MUZAFFARABAD:

Perhaps grief and adversity have their advantages too.

Khurshid Hassan, who clinched the top position in the Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) Part-II under the Mirpur Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (MBISE) with 94 per cent marks, says that God and teachers’ help, his late mother and maternal uncle’s support and his own hard work were behind his success, despite the odds that he had to face after his father died when he was only two-year-old.

Hassan, who was a student at Read Foundation College in Samani, a town in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Bhimbher district, says that Allama Iqbal’s poetry and philosophy impresses him, causing a ripple of interest and excitement in his life.



“Iqbal’s philosophy is full of vision and his poetry is close to my heart. Poetry is my love and passion which is the best way to express one’s thoughts,” says Hassan, a resident of Sarsala Minamohra, Samhani tehsil, some 210-kilometre from Muzaffarabad. He says that the credit for his success also goes to his late mother, maternal uncle and teachers, who always remained supportive during his studies.

“I was confident of success as my teachers and the college administration were always forthcoming and helped me academically and financially. But above all, it was the love and support of my mamoo (maternal uncle) since my childhood that made all this possible,” says Hassan, whose father, a schoolteacher, died in 1998. His mother died in 2004.

“Nothing is impossible in this world and a person who has faith in God is always blessed with success,” says Hassan, who wants to become a doctor, despite his inclination towards literature and poetry, as according to him, his father died after failing to get proper medication.

Hassan says that the sooner he heard the news about his result, tears started rolling down his cheek, as he missed his late parents on the occasion.

“My father was a primary school teacher who died due to a protracted illness at the age of 42 and the death of my father was unbearable to my mother who also lost her life in 2004,” says Hassan, who lives with his maternal uncle since 2004. “I dedicate this grand success to my maternal uncle who not only guided me but also loved me more than his own children.”

Hassan says that he did not believe in taking extra tuition classes and instead depended on punctuality, hard work and focus.

He says that he loves to read books, especially literary works. He also writes for local publications on issues of public importance.

Hassan’s maternal uncle Mudasar Yousaf Pasha, who is a teacher at a government primary school in Samhani, says that the credit for his nephew’s success goes to the college management, which has charged him a single penny since he was enrolled. “This success was not only a cheerful and memorable moment for me and my family but also a moment of pride for the people of Bhimbher district.”

Pasha says that although Hassan has shown talent as good poet, writer and a debater, they want him to become a doctor.

College Principal Muhammad Sidiq said that it was a moment of pride and honour for them that a child from their college who has lived much of his life without his parents went on to achieve great things.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2014.