26/03/2026
My Father, My Lifelong Teacher: Retd. Prof Abdul Rashid Memon; May his soul rest in heaven. My Teacher and His legacy will live on forever. Rising from zero, he taught, inspired, and shaped thousands of leaders, including myself, with honesty, discipline, strength, dignity, bravery, and integrity.
He was a former Professor of Civil Engineering, Director of the Institute of Environmental Engineering & Management, Registrar, Controller of Examinations, Head of Department, Chairman, Board Member, and Environmental Monitoring Specialist, having served across Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Ziauddin University, Newport’s Institute of Communications and Economics, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Sindh Irrigation & Drainage Authority. He graduated from Newcastle University, , and NED University.
Today, I write with eyes
that feel they have run out of tears.
This is the hardest post,
the hardest tribute,
the hardest set of words
I have ever had to carry.
He was not only a father to me,
but a light of learning,
a man of knowledge,
a man of books,
a man whose words carried weight,
and whose character carried truth.
I was only a child
when I sat in his class for fifteen minutes.
Just fifteen minutes.
Yet that was enough
to shape the direction of my life.
In that short moment,
I saw dignity, wisdom, and presence,
and I knew, without knowing how,
that academia would become my path.
All the CPD I gained later in life
felt secondary to that one lesson,
that one impression,
that one living example.
He called me a wise man.
He told me to guard
my deep thoughts carefully.
Even now, I hear those words
as if they were spoken yesterday.
He loved books.
He wrote daily diaries in English.
His vocabulary was powerful,
but deeper than words
was the depth of his mind.
Through his love of books,
he made me fall in love with reading,
with encyclopaedias,
and with the endless search for knowledge.
Even today, I remain like a child,
still hungry for books,
still hungry to read.
A great teacher never truly leaves.
He remains in the minds he shaped,
the lives he lifted,
the hearts he disciplined,
and the generations he inspired.
My father, my lifelong teacher,
your voice is still with me,
your lessons are still with me,
and by the mercy of God,
your legacy will remain
far beyond time.
