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Thus began a series of several splendid poetical evenings with select friends in attendance. I conveyed that the visa would be ready the day after Faraz Sahib comes for a dinner at my home. I had hardly started finding my feet in my duties and inventing РІР‚Вmy own wheelРІР‚в„ў in cultivating a circle of Pakistani friends that the incident of Babri Mosque on sixth December totally transformed the atmospherics of Indo-Pak Relations.Р”Р„s far Ahmed Faraz, some interaction emerged in March РІР‚вЂњ April РІР‚в„ў93Р’В in the wake of his visit to India to participate in a MushaРІР‚в„ўra. I had walked across to him, РІР‚ВFaraz Sahib!РІР‚В¦Main sifart-e- Hind mein Naya Naib Safir hunРІР‚в„ў without a momentРІР‚в„ўs hesitation,Р’В he embrace me, saying, РІР‚Вaap se tou bahut baaten aur mulakaaten honi chahiye !РІР‚в„ў And a friendship forever was forged.

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It was a chance РІР‚Вpoetic encounterРІР‚в„ў in Islamabad club with Ahmed Faraz which made my two year plus posting a memorable & rewarding experience of enduring friendship.

The local press had taken an immediate notice of my arrival covering reception hosted by High commissioner to introduce me. It was, however, intriguing that most of Pakistani Friends seemed sympathising with me for posting to their country and a few Indian friends even asked me why a gentle person like me was being punished by posting to Pakistan !Р”Р„nd lo, it was less than half an hour flight from Delhi on 6 th September, 1992, allowing hardly a hurriedly served tea, preceded by recorded Quaranic prayer, that we touched the legendary Lahore. I was completing my tenure of posting in Saudi Arabia, where I had ample opportunities to interact with Pakistanis of different backgrounds, and my interest in Urdu Poetry enabling me to win friends among them. The opportunity to serve in Pakistan came my way in 1992 when I had least expected it. The dominant deeper thought-impulse was to undergo the intimate experience of the special circumstances of being among the people who became РІР‚ВForeignersРІР‚в„ў for Indians by an unprecedented man-made tsunami of human history. AHMED FARAZ РІР‚вЂњ AN РІР‚ВUN-PARTITIONEDРІР‚в„ў POET -BY BAL ANAND (IFS),A FORMER AMBASSADORР”Р„fter joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1971 and allotment of Persian as the language to be learnt РІР‚вЂњ and there by learning Urdu by proxy РІР‚вЂњ during training period, I had been keenly entertaining hope to be posted to Pakistan at an early or middle stage of my career.

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