He had always dreamt of completing his graduation from a well-known college in the city and he could not find a better abode than the city of lights — Karachi. It was a city which Ali had only seen while collecting famous monuments' pictures for his scrapbook. It seemed as though his scrapbook had come alive now, magnified to a lively painting of divine colours.

With the help of a friend, he found a place to live. Ali enrolled himself in a renowned college. The first sight of the spacious building left him spellbound.

Later, in the classroom, he settled himself in the front row, the way he and his friends used to do in the high school in his village. But unlike before, no one sat beside him. Perhaps, they found Ali's hair-cut too outdated, his English accent too 'desi' or the watch in his hand too old-fashioned. He simply didn't 'fit-in'.

Ali was also worried about his financial position as the living expenses in the city were very high. What had begun as a 100-mile journey to the city of his dreams had now become a full-fledged need to earn a living. Ali skimmed through pages of job advertisements in the newspapers.

“If there are plenty of job opportunities here, then why is everybody complaining of unemployment?” Ali chuckled to himself, as he browsed through dozens of matchbox-sized columns. But to his utter disappointment, he either didn't match the qualifications required or the timings were too cumbersome to manage. Hopes began to extinguish

Just then his neighbour, Mr Ashraf, came to offer the crackers his wife had made. A clumsy man with a round face and glossy hairs which looked as though he trimmed it using a slide rule; he somewhat resembled Goofey if Walt Disney had made his cartoon character a lot more annoying!

“Looking for a job?” he began looking at Ali's sad expressions and the job advertisement page in his hands. The link was obvious. Ali shook his head.

“Well, I run a small ice-cream firm and we are hiring few boys to go to different areas and sell our ice-creams. The job is simple; we'll lend you a bicycle with a box of ice-creams and you just need to sell them and earn us some profit. The big siren on your bicycle will attract a lot of kids, making your job much easier!” he offered. “And yes, we'll pay you enough to have pizzas twice a week. But you should know our company's policy; you can't have the ice-cream for free!” Mr Ashraf's hearty laugh resonated in the room.

The first day at work was pretty adventurous, but at the same time tiring too. Going from street to street in search of young customers and riding a bicycle as if he was in a marathon. The job was tough.

The next day, in college, he saw the timetable for the final exams on the notice board. The trial to prove his worth was drawing closer. A fortnight had passed but Ali hardly left his study table. He studied as if there was no tomorrow. His passion deepened with each passing day, filling him with nothing but invincible strength.

It was the first day of exams, Ali was determined and ready. The clock struck 9am and the question papers were handed out. A quick flash of his months' hard work flashed in his mind, which acted as a catalyst. Within a course of three weeks, Ali's exams were over. By the end of the third week, Ali had blotted eyes, dark circles and rough hairs spread over his forehead, clear indications that he had been oblivious to his health since a long time.

Days swiftly passed and the results were finally out. Ali had excelled far beyond his expectations. He got a distinction in his college, being a top-scorer in mathematics. Now he could apply for the jobs he had seen in the newspapers and he did. He soon got an interview call and as the interviewer took a look at his file, a delightful look filled his face. He seemed pretty impressed with his academic achievement. He lapsed into a thoughtful silence and then began, “You're selected!”

These couple of words made Ali ecstatic more than he had ever felt before. He had not let anything come in his way to success — the time he spent working as a hawker, the nights he studied under a candle light when there was power breakdown, the days when he tirelessly waited for the bus to arrive when his colleagues travelled in lavish cars, the evenings when he read tattered second-hand books whose pages ripped every now and then.

Savouring the happiness of success that swept over him, Ali typed his amazing experiences on his blog for his family and friends to read. He wrote at the end, “My efforts have eventually paid off.”