ROORKEE: “It was one of the best days of my life. The organisers of the program called me the “great son of Roorkee”. The compliment was followed by a long applause,” said noted Pakistani author and broadcaster Raza Ali Abidi while recalling a 1992 event held in Roorkee's town hall. The felicitation event was organised by noted Urdu poet Afzal Manglori in Abidi's honour.
Born in Roorkee in 1936, Abidi says the memories of his childhood days and the rented accommodation he grew up in Roorkee are still fresh. He studied in Roorkee's government-run inter college till Class IX before his family migrated to Karachi (Pakistan) in 1950. “Our rented property in Roorkee is an integral part of my memories associated with the city. My family lived there between 1934 and 1950. The memories of Roorkee run in my veins like blood,” said the 86-year-old former director of BBC Urdu Service.
