Past, Present, Future

Welcome to the Aga Khan Schools Alumni Blog.

Navroz Mubaraki, everyone.

I spoke with Alnoor Samji, last Saturday. Alnoor lives, with his family in Vancouver, BC. I had been given a ginan vara for a majlis during the Navroz celebrations. I was finding it a particularly challenging assignment as I had never been taught this particular ginan, (Navroz na deen Sohamanah). It is a particularly difficult one to sing, requiring proper pacing, breath control and dhub to the level where it would inspire the jamat to join in. Fortunately for me, on his last trip to New York, a few years ago, Alnoor had gifted our family, a full set of ginan tapes that his mother, Daulat Samji had recorded. One of these tapes included the ginan I was trying to learn. Although I had my mother's help, I was relying heavily on Daulatbai's beautiful rendition.

After listening to the ginan a few times, I was moved to call on my mafat, internet VoIP phone line from LINGO. I remembered his telephone number by heart and dialed it and spoke with him for a few minutes. We hadn't spoken to each other in a few years. As usual, after we had exchanged the latest news on the various members of our families, we exchanged what news we had of our mutual friends.

As we talked, I realized that it would be nice to have this blog to encourage our friends to join in and tell us what they and their families are up to. This is how this blog has come into being.

I hope that my friends and fellow Alumni of the Aga Khan Schools, will see this as an opportunity to share in their memories of their experiences whilst they were students and will share their personal life experiences, since. Many have emigrated from their home countries while a few have stayed near to where we were at school. A few of us, I'm thinking, for instance, of Dr. Mahendi Jamal, have actually returned.

Many have married, raised families. Some have even experienced the pain of divorce. In short, we have lived a full and challenging life. So please......

..... send in your pictures, thoughts and rememberances and, of course, any ideas you have, to improve this space for the enjoyment and enlightenment of all who visit.

As they say, in Kiswahili,

Kwa Heri za Kuonana.

Best Wishes,

A l - N o o r J i w a n - H i r j i