It is a heart touching column written by famous columnist Javed Chaudhry in Urdu newspaper. Here we are presenting its English version also for the English readers. With greater thanks to Javed Chaudhry who wrote it and to Bilal Ahmed who conveyed it to us.

“Sir what’s my fault, Why Me sir” He hid his face with his hands and started weeping bitterly, the atmosphere of the room became so melancholic, I kept silent, his story had grief and pain, He was the native of Muzaffarabad and financially he had a very strong background for the last three generations, his father was a fabric trader, they were three sisters and four brothers, In the earthquake that occurred in 8th October, He lost his whole family, his parents, sisters, brothers, nephews and nieces all died, shops are houses became the heaps of moraine, only he was alive, he had been staying in the rescue camp for the last two months, he told me his story and wept bitterly, he was saying, “Sir what’s my fault, Why Me”.

I said to him, “Bakht Zaman, have you ever heard the name of Arthur Ashe”, he wiped his eyes and moved his head negatively. “Arthur Ashe once was the best Tennis player of the world, He born in the Virginia’s famous town Richmond, he was African-American pioneer, both of his parents was Negroes, in his childhood he tried to be an Athlete but could not succeed due to his physical weakness, at the age of six his mother died and left him alone. To kill his loneliness he decided to do something that had never been done by any Negro previously. He started to play Tennis, when he entered the court of Tennis, he did the best, In 1963 he was the biggest and best player of USA. The government added him in the team of Davis Cup, he was the first Negro player of American National Team of Tennis, He won the Davis Cup, it was a surprising success. In the 60’s all the newspapers, radio and TV channels gave him so much coverage that in 1969 he was the most popular person in America”.

I paused for some moments. He (Bakht Zaman) wiped his face with tissue paper and commented excitedly, “Well done sir its very interesting story”. I smiled and said, “No, next will be coming the real story”, he nodded his head and I continued my story again, “In 1969, there was a tennis match in South Africa, Ashe applied for the visa for South Africa but his application had been refused, at that time The British were ruling South Africa and they did not issue visa to any Negro. It was the 2nd biggest challenge for Arthur Ashe. He left Tennis and started the campaign for the rights of Negroes in America. He was a famous person and Media and Public were supporting him. He made his fans, his defenders even that America and the Alien forces had to admit the rights of Negroes. South African embassy issued him the visa and it was the greater success for him”, I paused for a moment, the young man (Bakht Zaman) smiled slightly and spoke to me in a very excited way, “Sir, it’s amazing, He was a very great man”, I said laughingly, “No the real story is still about to come”. He was attentive again. I continued my story, “When he came out with a visa to South Africa, some one said, Ashe got visa but he will not be able to play tennis as he has been not playing tennis for many years and it will be not an easy task for that person to be the National Champion again, He was right but when Ashe entered the court, he started playing and in 1975 he won the biggest prize in the world of Tennis (Wimbledon Cup), When he came out with that cup, he was the World Star”, I stopped for a while and looked at him, He restlessly moved and said to me in a balanced voice, “Well done sir, He was a great man”. I smiled and said, “No the real story is coming next”. He was fully attentive. “In 1980, he got heart attack, He had been taken to the hospital for Heart Surgery and He had been donated blood, that blood had HIV. When he came out of the hospital, he had become the patient of AIDS. Hero had become Zero. He kept fighting and struggling against that disease for the full 13 years till 1993. The 34 business organizations, 55 best hospitals and the 4 thousand doctors of the world tried to save his life but that World Super-Star said good bye to this world at 6th February, 1996”, I became silent, the young man again was gloomy.

I said, “You thought the story ends here but the real story is yet to be come, When Arthur Ashe was taking his last breath in hospital, one of his fans wrote him a letter. He asked a strange question from Ashe. He asked, “Presently there are 5 Billion people in the world. Why God selected you for this life-sucking disease from these 5 Billion people? Why You? Arthur replied this “Why You” in the best way, its reply is a full fledge philosophy and whenever I get hopeless, I consider myself unfortunate, I read those few lines from Ashe and believe me I again feel courage in myself and I start to consider myself the luckiest person of the world. Arthur Ashe replied, “Every year 50 crore children started to play tennis round the world, Only 5 crore are derived to be a player, from these 5 crore players, only 5 lakh young men become Professional Tennis Players, from these 5 lakh young men only 50 thousand enter in the circuit of game and from these 50 thousand, only 5 thousand reach to the Grand Slam of table tennis and from these 5 thousand players only 50 players come to play Wimbledon Cup, from these 50 players only 4 have the luck to reach Semi-Final and from these 4 only 2 play the Final and from these two only 1 player wins the Wimbledon Cup and I am the single person out of these 5 Billion people of the world who got the honour of winning Wimbledon Cup. I am single person out of the 50 crore people who started to play tennis and got access to Wimbledon Cup. I got 800 biggest titles of the world of Tennis and it’s a record. Whenever I went to get any trophy, cup or award, I never asked my God, “Oh God! You selected me for this title from the whole world, Why Me”. Today I am suffering and when I feel pain and I wish to ask God, “Why Me”, I suddenly recall my all the titles and I start to think that if at my achievements I never asked God, “God, Why Me” then I have no right to ask this question at the time of suffering. I never thanked God for my achievements then I should not complain at my failure or pain today”, I became silent for a moment. The Youngman (Bakht Zaman) had a new hope in his eyes. He said, “Sir really it’s a new angle of life and I never realized the life from this angle”. I laughed and said, “No the real story is still yet to come, before a few moments of his death, Arthur Ashe said, “Oh! The people of the world! Never try to tell your God that how bigger is your problem, you tell your problem that how greatest is your God, you will get relief from pain and grief”.

 

you can visit this site for the biography of Arthur Ashe 

http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/arthurashe.html