Zubair Qureshi
The inspiring life story of Rawalpindi’s Arya Mohalla-born Ali Akbar has lessons for the struggling youths who are facing mounting challenges and have daily bouts with depression and anxiety. Back in the 1970s Ali Akbar faced similar challenges when as the eldest of seven brothers and two sisters and with little education he had to do odd jobs to feed his family. Then he got a chance to leave the country. He without hesitation availed himself of that. While talking to Pakistan Observer, Ali Akbar said he has penned down his life-story into a book “Je Fais Rire Le Monde Mais Le Monde Me Fait Pleurer (I Make the World Laugh, but the World Makes me Cry). The book originally written in French has been translated into English, Greek and Korean languages.
Currently, Ali is looking for someone who could translate the book into Urdu. “I want the world to know my story: how a boy, the eldest of two sisters and seven brothers after doing odd jobs in Rawalpindi like selling corn, carrots and sweet potatoes and working at petrol pumps, printing press etc had the chance to leave the country and find a life of his own.
The beginning was tough and quite challenging but that boy didn’t lose heart and even worked on ships and risked his life in the cold numbness of Europe. But his goal was to help his family back in Pakistan and start his life anew. Ali Akbar is the lone and perhaps the last of the newspaper hawkers on Paris streets selling Le Monde for the last 50 years in Paris’ posh areas St Germain and Latin Quarters.
For his humorous and friendly nature, he is a darling of Parisians who encounter him almost every day carrying copies of Le Monde and yelling funny headlines to attract their attention. It is a temptation hardly anyone can resist. His funny headlines and humorous outbursts make people laugh. One such headline that became utterly hilarious was: Monica is pregnant with twins from Bill Clinton! Different filmmakers have made documentaries on him. He has been invited to TV shows and gatherings of scholars.
Ali is in Rawalpindi these days primarily to attend to his 90 plus years old mother, to look after her health, to visit his father’s grave and to release birds from their roadside captives. It costs heavily on my pocket but I can’t help it, said Ali while explaining the last of the three reasons he is in the garrison city. Ali’s five sons after education at top institutions of France have already started their professional life.
