THE moment he glances at different newspapers, he feels that urge in his heart. Dr Shaukat — a grey-haired man, full of vitality — studies news items alone in the morning, soon after he has recited the Holy Quran in the study of his cozy home in the Cavalry Ground, Lahore. It is a horse this time, standing on its rear legs, and playing football. Frozen on the newspaper — the equine beauty, the forceful stroke, makes the item rare. It must be added to the vast collection of more than 200,000 other news clippings that he has kept for long.
A 76-year-old retired major is the collector of all that is unique, exquisite and special. Every day in his room, he collects news cuttings, unique and entertaining. And he is very good at this new postmodern art. The snippets seem very genuine: one shows a man wide-awake for the last 54 years without falling asleep; another portrays a man relishing Kerosene oil for the last 20 years, one shot daily; a couple engaged in a kiss for 130 hours; and a French man eating a metallic bicycle (one wonders why the French are so bad when it comes to certain things).
For the chivalrous Shaukat, it is a passion. He proclaims his mission: “Protecting knowledge, preserving the truth, and restoring the freshness of the wonders accumulated over the last 55 years; my favourite encyclopaedias are being preserved.”
However, there is more to it than meets the eye. People undermine the hardwork of collectors of unique clippings.
One look around his drawing room makes it conspicuous that Shaukat collects to the point of obsession. Stashed inside his closets and beneath the horse paintings that adorn his walls is the paraphernalia that many would fail to understand and appreciate: an ashtray with an engraved horse; 20,000 matchboxes, coins, stamps, and obviously the snippets arranged symmetrically in 36 albums.
“Collecting can’t be explained,” he says, sipping at his tea. “I will collect anything.”
Most of all, Dr Shaukat collects press clippings of interesting, exciting, amazing, astonishing and sensational (and not political) events, a passion that dates back to the first press clipping of his own result when he topped the university exam and his photos were published in English and Urdu dailies of Lahore.
Dr Shaukat does not want anyone underestimating the people who are serious about their collections that are a study in Catholicism. “This is better. See the tallest man? See the pygmies? It is perfect,” he says with great enthusiasm.
After getting early education from the Sindh Madressah Tul Islam at Karachi (the institution where the Quaid-i-Azam also studied) he studied at the Government College Ludhiana and served in the capacity of assistant secretary, Muslim Students Federation -- the very students federation that coloured a train with Muslim League flags in 1946. He took active part in the Pakistan Movement in 1946-47.
He loves recalling how he shook hands with the Quaid at the Ludhiana Railways Station when the former was going for a voting campaign to Peshawar. He takes pride in his accomplishments. He was a colour-holder of tennis and hockey teams. Selected and commissioned in the technical branch of the army, he had an altruistic longing for horses and polo. He retired because of his long sickness. With ample leisure time at hand, he started his hobby of collection, though he calls it more than a hobby — a zeal that animates him.
“You end up gaining knowledge,” he says. His is the simple pleasure of a task well done. “You seek recognition at work. The news clippings of record holders, of unusual happenings, knowledge that is preserved. Diseases, treatments, scientific discoveries, a large collection of Muslim architecture and of historical places of the world, are all a honey dew on which intellect is fed. I compare my work to Britannica. Look at what I have done. Should one not get recognition for this?”
His hobbies have turned into a treasure that makes him to a world record holder without any doubt. The patriot that he is, he is proud of being a Pakistani — one who has achieved such intellectual and artistic feats that he challenges anyone to come even close to him. It will only motivate him further, he believes.
A documentary film on Dr Shaukat’s unique effort is aired often on STN TV Network, entitled Amazing Pakistan. His craze for collections has made him the only person in the world to have the largest number of news clippings, each interesting and unique in its own way. He is undoubtedly the only person in the world to have this honour. It is not far when we would see his name in the Guinness Book of World Records, because he truly deserves it.
He remembers how he would worry when some of his clippings would get misplaced. And then the joy that he would experience after finding them and arranging them accordingly. Each clipping opens a world of its own.
Dr Shaukat still has the discipline of a military man. Every morning after prayers, he puts his tea on the table and looks for the amusing prisms of knowledge — colourful, vibrant, and full of intensity. For every album he completes, he assigns it a number. He clearly enjoys the excitement of his pursuit. More than anything else, he is in it for the intellectual challenge. “It is like a big game of concentration.” Having said all that, Dr Shaukat does not get any positive response from the philistines. “Most of the people don’t care what I do. People have altogether shunned the habit of reading news papers.”
There is something deeper in his work: the thrill of the pursuit in life, which is worth recognition and appreciation. Only a few reach these heights and it is true of Dr Shaukat who has made Pakistan proud by being the only person in the world to have engaged himself in this hobby. He is the world’s greatest clipping collector at the moment.
THE moment he glances at different newspapers, he feels that urge in his heart. Dr Shaukat — a grey-haired man, full of vitality — studies news items alone in the morning, soon after he has recited the Holy Quran in the study of his cozy home in the Cavalry Ground, Lahore. It is a horse this time, standing on its rear legs, and playing football. Frozen on the newspaper — the equine beauty, the forceful stroke, makes the item rare. It must be added to the vast collection of more than 200,000 other news clippings that he has kept for long.
