Hard lesson: Young Pakistani fan of Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan vows to excel in education

Nasir Sultan has surely failed to realise his dream to meet his favourite Indian actor Shahrukh Khan and to star in Bollywood movies, but he learnt an unforgettable lesson: not to run after fantasies but excel in education.

Realising the importance of Pakistan and the freedom he enjoyed here, the teenager resolved not to take wrong steps in future.“I have learnt a lot from the blunder I committed and now have decided to focus on my education,” he said, adding from now on, he would never leave his schoolbag at roadside but keep it close to his heart.

Nasir left for India in school uniform. He misled his parents and threw his bag at the roadside, passing to the rear of his house situated on the bank of Kohistan River in Chuktiatan town of Dir Upper district.

The boy, a 10th grade student in a government high school crossed into India. However, he was arrested as soon as he crossed the border and was put in a juvenile home in Faridkot in Indian Punjab. He was released on Friday last after about a month long campaign by ‘The News’ and some Pakistani NGOs.

The three-month detention in another country brought about drastic changes in his thinking and approach. His craze for Bollywood was changed into a strong desire for education, the most boring and uninteresting practice for him before sneaking into the neighbouring country.

“I want to resume my education by taking admission in an esteemed institute to succeed in the life,” he said. However, like his wish to make it to the Bollywood, his desire for excelling in education also seems to meet the same fate as his father is a poor man, working at a patrol pump and unable to admit his son to a reputable institute.

His father, Sultan Zareen, said he would welcome government, NGOs or philanthropists offers to take the responsibility for his education. The youngster has advised the people to stop their children from wasting time in watching movies that could lead them to start ‘building castles in the air’ like him. “I was lucky to be back after three months in the Indian jail as others have been languishing for years and I had also made up my mind for at least five years,” he said while talking to ‘The News’ in Peshawar where he waited along with his relatives for two days to meet this scribe.

The disillusioned Nasir said ‘Main Hun Na’ was his favourite film among all the movies starred by Shahrukh Khan, but said unlike the film the King Khan did not come to his help and left a fan who crossed into another country to see him, in the lurch.

Asked if he wants to go again to India on visa, he said, “never.”“I will not go to India even if I was offered to study there,” he replied. The boy, however, did not say it out of hatred for people or India for arresting him but because he had realised to have committed a blunder. He remembered the staff of the juvenile facility and other officers who investigated him and were very cooperative and kind to him, thanking the authorities for freeing him.

He said that except two slaps in his face on crossing over to India, he was not treated harsh or subjected to any torture. Showing a couple of medals he won in painting and kabaddi, Nasir said he was given gifts and seen off warmly in India. “Everyone in the facility felicitated me on my release but another child, Sunil, who hails from Pakistani Punjab, was crying,” he recalled. Nasir reunited with his mother who was yearning to meet her son and has also developed mental problems due to his separation.