Little may be known about Mr. Ahmad Jawad publicly, and on Internet, as he always remain behind the curtains personality – still supporting many around his – throughout his life – and supporting in ways – that we can’t find similar examples around us.
He is certainly one of the best person around us, he is certainly one of the best engineering mind around us, and he is certainly one of the best father but he never made it known to the world. May be for the greatnesses he was bestowed, he is tested with very hard problems – he had the courage and strength to fight with these problems – and still he can smile the best of us.
But, today may not be time for him to remain unknown. He is in critical-care condition due to covid-19 and needs our prayers.
He never talked, wrote or claimed what he did for others. The percentage of time of his life he spent in giving knowledge to others, helping others, giving advice to others – there may not be an example to match this in this world in recent times. We definitely may not find many examples like him in this world.
His doctors may not know about their patient. He may be treated like ordinary patients. Doesn’t different people need to be treated differently? Why can’t God bless him differently in this situation when he remained different all his life.
The first instance of my contact with Ahmad Jawad was in 1997, in computer science class in IIUI. He entered the class room very late – probably class was about to finish – and this made everyone laugh at him by entering this late in the class.
All class laughed at him – but we never knew – he didn’t need to attend all these lectures. He was different and he needed to be taught differently, teachers need to have extraordinary knowledge to teach different people – but most of the teachers in the university didn’t meet this standard.
He was a different student but was being treated like ordinary students like us. Same is happening to him in the hospital today. Isn’t different people need to be treated differently.
In our class, most of the students were new to Computer Science subjects – lectures and teaching material was allien for most of us. Most of the class students were clueless in their studies and what was being taught to them.
Mr. Ahmad Jawad had a new role. He became Master Jee – a title usually associated with a teacher in the school. His own class attendance remained below minimum attendance requirement – but he started teaching most of the classmates about what they could never understand in the class. After the university, classmates formed groups and he used to spend hours and hours teaching his class fellows. As one group leaves – another group arrives for guidance and he has the energy to repeat for next few hours to one single class fellow. The story remained the same for first year – where in initial semesters most of the work was theoretical.
In later semesters, the more practical work started. As usual, most of the class remain clueless. The teacher’s quality remained the poor. Now Mr. Ahmad Jawad responsibility changed. Most of the class fellows learned their programming from him, when they’re stuck in assignments, they used to hand over our assignments to him. He was doing assignments and class projects for many. Many of us got grades in class for the work had done without any of our efforts.
Many of the class fellows completed their degrees by learning from Ahmad Jawad or by getting assignments done by him. Still – he never said this to anyone nor asked any favor from anyone. He was very different from us.
He was not my friend nor did I know anything about him in first year of university. Then in the final semester, I moved into the same hostel where Jawad was and started interacting with him.
His room in the hostel was the center of all the activity. Everyone can enter at any time in his room,ask for help, for learning, for support, for food, for tea, for everything. I remember him working hours and hours on other people projects leaving his work behind. The network and community he supported widened. The university students enrolled in business studies, law, economics all started getting learning support from him.
I never saw anyone helping so many student fellows in my life. He was different from us. We don’t see such examples around us.
Then the final semester started, where students had to work on their final year projects. Again most of us were stuck. And again Jawad was the helping hand. A university with millions of budget, teachers getting hefty salaries, the dean getting applause-all of them were of little help and guidance. The only person who was helping the students in the final project was Mr. Ahmad Jawad. He was different from us.
Then a new moment started in the final year of the hostel life. Once, he went back to his home in Multan, and got back with the car that his father gave to him. I doubt anyone in the hostel or our lives have a personal car or think of a car in those times. Now his car turned into everyone’s car. Our hostel was in the corner of the city – that didn’t have access to transport facilities in odd times. Now, if someone wants to eat ice-cream, and wants to have soup, all of us can use his car. Many of us never got any fuel filled in the car and we used his car and his fuel for all our needs. Every outing that we did in the hostel was attributed to his car, his fuel money. I learned driving from his car and so many others.
He was different from us. He made his things available to us. Unfortunately, when he didn’t have a car in his life, the same group of people started avoiding Jawad – so that he didn’t ask them for the car facility. He was different and none of us could be like him.
Computer science was in demand in the early century. Still, people need to get prepared for the job interviews. University didn’t have a career development cell. The dean, heads of the university weren’t available for support. Then again Mr. Ahmad Jawad provided career counselling, interview preparation to many. And almost everyone of us got jobs. Some people got jobs for being with Ahmad Jawad.
Many of the class fellows got better CGPA than him – it was all attributed to him. Still, we’re selfish. We never attributed our success to him. He was different than all of us. He never told anyone for the favours and support he provided during all these times.
Then the practical life started. His first job was in Comsats Internet Services. He again was different. His bosses got to know his talent and skills. Alongside his work he was the first trainer, coach to other team members. This is what he did all his life – he helped hundreds of software engineers start their careers that many of us couldn’t do in our lives.
In the early 20th century, a lot of computer science people were applying to the US on an H1 visa. One of the people working in Comsats Internet Services applied for a job in the US and got selected for the interview. Again, as an example of a poor education system, the person wasn’t capable enough to pass the interview. He asked Ahmad Jawad to appear for the interview on his behalf. The interview was done on the phone – and Mr. Ahmad Jawad gave two hours of technical interview on someone else’s behalf ( He had been into the job for only three months). He used to tell us about the interview questions and other discussions – and we didn’t have any clue about the questions or answers to these questions. But he was a master (a best software engineer ) and he passed the interview for someone else. The person got a job in the US – a US dream that he let others enjoy. We used to joke that the person for which he appeared for an interview, even didn’t thank him.
But he was different from others and didn’t . He made opportunities possible for others and he did it all his life.
He was fond of gadgets, good office chairs and can buy good shoes. He bought a palm in the early days. As we never could’ve such devices in those days, but we can use his palm more than him. Later in life, we have more advanced gadgets access than him but we never made an offer to him to use our devices.
He was different and different than many of us today. We could never be like him nor have I seen such examples around.
In a few months, Comsats Internet Services decided to reduce their staff. The senior management knew the capabilities of Mr. Ahmad Jawad and offered him more salary by reducing team size. They knew Mr. Ahmad Jawad can handle all of the work single handedly. But Ahmad Jawad knew that some of his team members are needy and have to support their families and finding jobs for them may not be easy. He refused management offers multiple times, and himself resigned for the job but didn’t let his team members lose the job. That was his last working day for any other.
He was different, he sacrificed a higher salary, his job for others. I have never seen such people in my life who can make such sacrifices.
Then the new phase of life started. We founded this company called Cogilent Solutions. There were seven founders – a recipe for disaster with so many founders. But he was a gluing force between all the founders. The initial days were hard – the other founders didn’t have the same courage as Ahmad Jawad had and left after some time.
The second part of Ahmad Jawad’s life is more supporting for others than the first one and I’m gathering courage to write them..
The story continues and will update more…..
Ahmad Jawad had covid-19 positive result on 21st November, 2020 and is in critical condition in Holy family Hospital, Rawalpindi. A person who always helped others in is life, needs our prayers.
We are trying to set up as maximum possible support for him that we’ll update here.
