17/12/2022
Dr. Hasan Bashir Basra
(1973-2022)
“BHAIJAN AAP ISS KO KAISAY DEKHTEY HEIN”
(Dear Brother; How do you see it)
This is how we’ll start. Hasan puts up a query, and I give my opinion like Aristotle to a keen listener. We talked on a variety of topics: politics, sports, family, organization, persons, friends – very little arguments, we agreed on most, but where I thought I convinced him, he’ll always have his way later. It was pure fun, one of the best times I had with a friend, brother and a professional colleague who was far more composed, social and patient than me.
Come 2016, sitting in a GP clinic in Toronto, the Dr asks Hasan for a routine ultrasound.
“I don’t need it, all other labs are fine, no symptoms, so no need”
Somehow the Dr convinces him, the report stating a 6 cm mass right adrenal. Instantly report is forwarded to me
“BHAIJAN AAP ISS KO KAISAY DEKHTEY HEIN”
This was probably the day when my romance with this sentence ended.
Quite worrisome by the size of the lesion, we embarked on various scans. Reports not bad, but removal was inevitable. All doctors are 99% confident it is benign. Surgery was done in Canada, come the biopsy, instantly forwarded
“BHAIJAN AAP ISS KO KAISAY DEKHTEY HEIN”
Some cells seen which shouldn’t have to be there.
Why it should happen in a fit guy in 40’s, Hasan undergoes a series of tests only to discover he carries a rare gene mutation
“BHAIJAN AAP ISS KO KAISAY DEKHTEY HEIN”
And this dialogue was my nemesis from now on. Wait, as this was not enough, came another one. He laughingly remarked
“Asad bhai, your teeth are my responsibility, lifetime guarantee, and you have to take care of my medical issues”
‘I’m sorry sir, that’s not fair’
It wasn’t a smooth ride. We kept discussing, concerned but always remained optimistic. Deep inside somewhere in his heart Hasan was aware of the storm brewing.
He shuttled between Toronto and Gujranwala, managed his clinic, took care of the family, and the birds, and the social work. Such was his charm, my daughter decided in favor of dentistry rather than medicine, a victory he always boasted.
Nowhere in the world the dental job is subsidized, but Hasan thought otherwise. He wanted to help people, and he did this. From an NGO to the PDA (Pakistan Dental Association) house to a state of art Dental Disease Complex, he desperately wanted this and the speed which he worked last 6 months was unbelievable. He defied the odds, convinced a diverse community on a thorny issue, garnered philanthropy support, and set on realizing his dream.
“Bhaijan, I’ve my routine cancer surveillance appointment in Canada” (mid-November)
‘Well, you must go and get the scans done’
“Ok, but I want you to find out if anything is wrong, here”
‘Why, what’s the hurry, you are entitled, free scans in the best centers of the world’
“You know, let the explosion take place in Pakistan rather in Canada”
‘Oh, shut up, I’m not expecting a bomb exploding as everything was fine in July’
He had sensed something. We got the results in Pakistan, knew there was a problem, and again
“BHAIJAN AAP ISS KO KAISAY DEKHTEY HEIN”
‘Get it sorted out in Canada’
“No. I’ll be back in 10 days, and we get it sorted out here in Pakistan”
‘Care is far better there Hasan’
“It’s very lonely and depressing, I want to be with my family and friends. If something has to happen, let it happen here”
Ah friends: and he has loads of them. They never moved from the hospital as he battled in the ICU. Most of them, I met for the first time, and everyone had a story to tell. A true friend, a gentle soul, a man of his word, a fighter, an Ashiq-e-Rasool, a larger-than-life Hasan.
My last communication being on the day of surgery at 5.15 am, I rang
“Tell Asad bhai, I’m coming back in a few hours”
The surgery done, the surgeon confidant, we waited for 6 days but he decided to take the much-needed rest after doing a good 80 years' work at 49.
He said goodbye to all on Wednesday 14th December.
What happened, why it happened, how it happened, where we went wrong; these questions will haunt me for the rest of my life.
As the family and friends were returning his body to the soil, I was looking up into the skies and Hasan (my brother from another mother) smiling
“BHAIJAN AAP ISS KO KAISAY DEKHTEY HEIN”
May Allah bless him with the highest honors in Jannah and give all of us the strength to carry on as he always wanted us to do.
Written by,
Dr. Asad Chaudhry
