“I was born in Joharabad in the Khushab district. My father enrolled me in the local school, but I was very bad at my studies. When I was in the fourth grade, my teacher beat me up really bad after which, I never went back to school because I was afraid.

When I was 15, my father sent me to a tinsmith’s workshop to learn and I ran away during the first year because I found the work difficult. Six months after I left work, I realised that I had to learn a trade in order to earn a living and I went back to the tinsmith.

I stayed at that workshop for four years and then I started working in different workshops in various localities. I spent eight years working in a workshop in Mitha Tuwana and then six years in Shah Pur after which I moved to Khata Sidran near Sargodha for four years and then on to other places.

I eventually moved back to Rawalpindi 12 years ago and I started my own workshop.

I am the second of six brothers and sisters. I got married in 1990 and have four children, two daughters and two sons, all of whom are going to school and are doing well. I tell them they should not make the mistakes I made and that they need to get an education in order to live a respectable life. I have spent a hard life, and my parents were the only ones to help me out, both financially and emotionally.”

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2016