Untold Stories of Unsuccessful Persons - Episode # 1 - Muhammad Aslam

We all read success stories of people who have worked hard in their lives and eventually got successful. Now people like me and you follow them, watch movies based on their life, reading their books and even some try to look like them. 

I want to highlight people who have also worked hard in their lives but due to some reasons (bad luck is one of them) didn't get success in their lives. They also deserve to be appreciated and highlighted by us but yes, the world is cruel. We like, know and want to remember people who we see on media and films. I want to introduce ordinary people to the world and show them how these people worked hard and why they weren't able to achieve their dreams! 

This is the first episode of this series "Untold Stories of Unsuccessful Persons" and it is about a person whose name is Muhammad Aslam. I had a discussion with him for almost an hour and during this, he told me about the ups and downs in his life. Let's see what he had to say about his own life.

 

"I was born in Pakpattan, a small city in Pakistan. My father was a farmer and we had several lands where we used to grow and cultivate crops like wheat, rice etc. My father wanted me to become a "Bara Admi" (Means a successful person with a good job and handsome salary) so he always asked me to study and work hard to achieve this goal. He never allowed me to work with him on his lands as he wanted me to spend time on my studies. 

So I worked hard and as soon as I completed my grade 10, my father's land was captured by some prominent people who were in the government at that time. He filed a case against them but that was the biggest mistake he made in his life. He was killed the very next day and we were then forced to leave Pakpattan and moved to Lahore. 

We were total 8 siblings and I was the elder one, so coming to a new city with  no shelter to live was like a nightmare for my family. We all (Me, my mother and my siblings) slept on streets for almost one month till I was hired as a laborer in a local construction company. Though the money wasn't enough to feed all the members but it created a hope that things will get better. My mother also found a job in a big house and served there as a maid. 

Time kept going and I wanted to do something else, I was tired and looked for jobs. My plan was to get a job as a watchman and then continue my studies as well, yes, I still wanted to become a "Bara Admi". I applied in several companies, both in private and public sector but always rejected. In the government sector, I could have gotten a job if I had Rs 50,000. In our public sector, officers used to take bribe to hire a person, even at the watchman level, so I had no money to give them as a bribe and continued my work as a laborer. 

Meanwhile, I decided to marry with a girl named Shabana, she was also living in the same slum where we had been living for five years. After marrying her, I came to know that all the efforts I wanted to get a good life may be ruined as my expenses increased. After 5 years, we had 3 children and expenses increased at a greater pace, so it was the time to do something else. 

I had some savings, so I decided to do my own business, I might get rich one day if I put the same hard work on my business, I motivated myself. So I bought a wheel-cart and started selling vegetables. My luck wasn't there as well, it was hard to sell vegetables to people here in Pakistan, they don't want to spend and buy from people who sell items on wheel-cart, they bargain even for an item that costs Rs 10 to them and ask me to give the same for Rs 5.

 Time passed quickly and I have now 3 children. One is in Grade 12, the other is in 5 and one little 2 years old daughter. We moved from slum to a backward area and rented a house. Though I am still struggling and know that I wasn't able to fulfill my father's dream but that wasn't my fault, my circumstances didn't allow me to do so. Now I want my 2 sons to get good education and become "Bara Admi". I now work 14 hours a day to meet their education expenses and I will do whatever they need in order to achieve their father's goal!"  

Resteem if you Like his Story! 

@ghulammujtaba