Syed Ausaf Hussain Marhoom: On 18th January, 2012, Ausaf Bhai left for his heavenly abode. A wrangler in the true sense and a man of high principles. With the way he carried himself, no one could gauge his true age. I remember sharing an anecdote with us that he once visited a Hakeem. Hakeem sb as per practice took the pulse and asked what was Ausaf Bhai age. Ausaf Bhai replied either 72 or 79, I cannot remember. Hakeem sb got furious and told him not to joke and that Ausaf bhai must be in 50’s. A solid person upon whom you could rely in times of need. Irfan, Sara, and Khurram can dwell more on Ausaf bhai personality. May Allah grant Jannah to Ausaf bhai and buland his darajats. Ameen
In the words of Ammi Jan (Huzabra Ahsan Hyder) he was internally very deeply religious which was not typically visible from the outside. His apparent strictness emanated from a very strong adherence to the principles of honesty, commitment to the given word, punctuality, integrity, legal process, and prompt action. He would get angry when we would be late, not adhere to the stated plan, or procrastinate. He would say out what is in his heart and would call a spade a spade irrespective of whether people will like it or not. His maintenance of records of financial transactions was meticulous. All receivables, payable, receipts, and payments records with every party were maintained in an immaculate manner going back decades. It was a very hard struggle for survival battle that he waged every day after the death of his father. It took him around 20 years to rise from the ranks to the officer level in airforce in 1970, a feat that was achieved only by him in his batch. For this, he had to excel in not only operations but also to distinguish himself as a marksman, an expert in handheld arms and hand combat, judo and as a commando. His insistence on making everyone understand and remember each and every instruction by repeated reminders are exemplary. This struggle for excellence defined his personality. After retirement, he excelled in everything he did. Whether in learning the protocol duties, security business. He had over 100 items published in various newspapers on home security, individual security, organizational safety, and security issues. He became a member of an international safety and security association and used to subscribe to its monthly magazine which he would read diligently from end to end and apply in various companies. He was among the early adopters of technology. He professionally started using his email freelance_ausaf@hotmail.com much before others. He was using PowerPoint in the late 1990s. He had a blackberry and was using group SMS. I learned how to use SMS for eid baqra-eid messages. He had a functional website much before I made one….
His was a tough life.
At Aligarh at Taya Ashfaque’s residence with annex building in which Pir Pagara’s young son was being brought up by an English governess. The two used to go out for hunting of birds. The incident where a young dhobi got injured.
Death of his father around partition.
Mother and two boys.
One of them excelled in the studies.
Did what appeared to him to be right. Could not take the attitude of his guardians and went and got enlisted as an airman thinking that people would appreciate him for being so responsible to take care of his mother and brother. However, he did not know what was it meant to be enlisting as an airman. People in army and bureaucracy offered him to leave the enlisting but he could not muster the courage to accept his predicament.
Everyone in the family was in the officers ranks except him. This hurt him too much.
Proud of his upbringing never went to meet the Pir of Pagara when he met him once at the airport and recognized him.
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