The Famous Dow Canteen

The Dow Canteen
The famous Dow Medical College Canteen 1997.
Note student party office on the ground floor with the Pakistan Post Office next to it. The Post Office issued National ID cards when they were first introduced. The canteen is no longer there replaced by the Dow University Building in 2008.  Only it’s memories linger in the minds of Dow Alumni who learnt many things therein other than Medicine, while the boring Anatomy and Physiology lectures were in progress…!!
A popular waiter in the canteen was Mohammed Sharif.

Regards
Amin H. Karim MD
Here is a great piece on the Dow Canteen by Dowite Dr. Shariq Ali.

“I am sure you still remember me. I do! I am your college canteen corner. Long time no see. I thought sending you this email is not a bad idea.

As you are aware, I have always enjoyed all sorts of student’s activities including student’s union elections. I am a great fan of democratic spirit and the sense of enthusiastic celebrations attached to it. But you know, I have never voted for anyone. Never did and will never do so. Unconditional acceptance of everyone and anyone who come to me is my freedom. For the same reason, I have friends like you from all sorts of backgrounds, colour, race, religion and creed. This unconditional acceptance of everyone has given me the feeling as if I am a garden. And you all are the flowers of different colours, shapes and fragrance.

My mind has always been wide open for the enthusiasm of friendship and have accepted the diversity of opinions, beliefs, viewpoints and at times, displaced sense of humour and an awful fashion taste of even the 70s and 80s. On the benches of my heart, everyone was welcome and will always be.

Be it a warm sunny day or a pleasant drizzly afternoon. With their cups of teas and juices and GARAM SAMOSAS in their hands, they sometime had long discourse and rhetoric. At times, they sang along and chanted slogans in favour of their views and in the excitement of their newly discovered truth. I also sang along loud with them, with all of them without discrimination, with a smile on my face, as I knew that one day, they will grow up and discover the naivety of their present conclusions and will discover even newer truths and will be creating new songs and melodies.

Though it was not usual but at times, in the heat of the moment and under the influence of their single-mindedness, they used to transiently ignore the decency of their humanness and became abusive and aggressive to each other. I felt the pain for a short while when such an event happened, though occasionally. But I never lost hope on the power of our friendship. And I was right, very soon they used to realize the over-riding commonality of their purpose over the apparent difference of their opinion.

Main auditorium of our campus was telling me that day, that our old friends are grown ups now (at least some of them are!), economically no longer threatened, professionally successful, living in different parts of the world and intellectually independent. Many of them are in their second inning of life when after accomplishing the worldly success, they have now realized that the major source of happiness is no longer worldly achievement but the human relationship in the form of family and friends. This news gave me a sense of pride and joy and I shared it with the Sports Arena the same day over a cup of tea.

Although I am still populated and busy as usual with the warmth of new comers every day, but sometime I miss you all, my old friends. I have little doubt that you all are now mature enough, wherever you are, to celebrate the diversity and uniqueness of our existence.

I hope that you have still not forgotten to sing along the melody of our common purpose of human love, quest for justice and friendship. I would like to send you all my very best wishes and love!

Kindest regards.

Your College Canteen Corner __._,_.___”

Dr. Salim Chowdhrey wrote on facebook in July 2015:
“ AHK Is nothing sacred anymore? Though I haven’t been there in 40+ years, I felt a pang of pain. Many memories were buried under its rubble.The meeting and decision to invite ZAB to Dow against Ayub Khan’s forbiddance, was around a coffee table in this place.”
To see other comments please visit the DowList group on facebook.