1. A bit about yourself?
I’m 17. I’m currently living in London (Wembley). Both of my parents are from a village in Murree (Pakistan). At the moment, I’m on my gap year. Next year, I will be studying Aerospace Engineering at the University of Hertfordshire. And obviously, I’m very passionate about sport.
2. What attracts you to football and then to cricket? And I guess it makes sense to ask you about your interest in Liverpool (sigh). Please elaborate upon that.
As I said, I’m passionate about sport. Cricket sort of comes as part of your heritage if you’re Pakistani. You can say the same with football. If you’re brought up in England then you do tend to develop an interest in football. The thing is that I was born in Pakistan, came to England as a baby and lived here for 9 years before going back to Pakistan for 6 years. Hence I have developed a keen interest in both cricket and football. In cricket, for obvious reasons I support Pakistan and in football I again for obvious reasons support England. And as much of you know I’m a die-hard Liverpool fan. I have supported them since when I came to my senses and as they say, once a Red, always a Red!
3. Who are your favourite players in both cricket and football?
Football: Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Wayne Rooney. Cricket: Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi and Glen McGrath.
4. your thoughts on the role of Captain in cricket.
The captain has a VERY important role in cricket. He is responsible for the team not only on the field but also off it. It is the almost always the captain’s responsibility to shoulder blame. On the field, it is up to the captain to make all tactical decisions and to bring the best out of his team. In my opinion, not everybody has the ability to captain a team. Having leadership qualities don’t come by default. It is also important for the captain to ALWAYS lead by example.
5. Why are you called hitman and who would you like to hit if you had a chance (like who or even What do you hate the most )?
Well, I’m quite big. To be precise at the moment I’m about 6’2” and about 18 stones! Nobody has really ever called my Hitman but I thought I’d use it as my e-ID because I think it sounds pretty cool. If I didn’t think killing somebody was wrong, I’d definitely be one. When it comes to the person who I’d like to hit most, it is a guy I used to go to high school with. He was in our group of friends and still, I have never hated a person more. I just felt like smacking his face every time I saw him. Put it this way, he was a cocky little smart ass. And to make it worse, he beat me to asking out a girl I had a big crush on!
6. Have you had to face racism in high school in England (usage of Pak! etc)? Is it very much there or blown out of proportion a bit? And how do you deal with it.
No, NEVER! I was in Pakistan for 6 years (from the age of 10-15) but in my time in primary school and college here I have never had to face racism. I guess it is because I don’t look Pakistani at all. In fact, most people don’t believe me when I tell them that my parents are Pakistani. My skin colour is VERY fair. But even generally, I haven’t seen much people being victims of racial abuse. I guess this is because of the fact the my area is very ethnically diverse with a large majority of Asians.
7. Is growing up/ living in England and coming from a traditional Pakistani family a big conflict?
Yes, it is. My family is pretty traditional and my father’s side of the family are very strict religiously too. This doesn’t work out well for me as I’m much more liberal person and this results in regular disagreements. My family generally don’t want to adapt to life in England where as I think it is almost mandatory. Good thing I’ll be moving out soon.
8. What do you see as our society's biggest dilemma right now.
This is a big and confusing question for me. For me I think it’s the fact that our older generation (and some of our younger generation too) don’t want to adapt completely to western lifestyle and would like to live their lives without much freedom. To people like that my question is, why did you come to England in the first place? Another thing is religion. Everybody has their own opinion on religion and I think there are way too many different sects.
9. If you could change one thing in the world what would it be?
The million dollar question! I guess, try to eradicate poverty and see to it that imperialists don’t get their way. I am one that believes in equality and justice.
10. If you could bring two people back from the dead who would they be? (One who's hand you would shake, the other who you would hit with a bata chappal)
I’d have loved to have lived in the time that Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) was alive as I believe I’d have been a better Muslim. I’m not sure about who I’d like to beat as I don’t want to speak ill of somebody who is dead. I have no right to judge anybody in that way.
11. Who is ur latest squeeze and more seriously, what 3 things do u look for in a woman(seriousq), i. life partner?
No latest squeeze though I still like a girl I used to go to school with (until a year ago). I wouldn’t mind getting together with her. Three things I’d look for in a woman: She must have a good sense of humour, be good-looking and honest.
12. do you consider yourself as a man of action or one who thinks and thinks and thinks?
I’m one of the thinkers I guess. Not to say that I’m not a man of action but I always think before I act. My view: “You’d be wise to learn from another’s mistake but you’d be a fool not to learn from your own”
13. I note that you have a somewhat serious, contemplative temperament. one that is willing to learn and improve. What inspired that? the existence of women or something better?
You got everything spot on there. I do have a serious and contemplative temperament. And I’m always willing to learn and improve. And yes I think the existence of women has inspired that in my opinion. (I’m being completely honest here) And by the way, this whole thing also reflects me as a cricket player too.
14. what do you believe is your greatest gift and what do you think might prevent it from blossoming? Do you feel our social and familial structure is too rigid and is it our fault as well?
My greatest gift, eh? I think I’m very intelligent and nobody can stop that from blossoming. Another thing, I get on with everybody. I’m that sort of person. This is probably because I’m a great conversationalist. (This also really helps when it comes to women!)
15. do you think people who talk about saving the environment have too much time and not enough worries on their hands?
I think we should all have a general awareness of our environment but it should stay to that. At the most you should just briefly remind other people of their responsibility but still I think that some people do go too far with the whole thing.
16. Any interest you might want to talk about except sports
My greatest interests are sport, the media(TV, internet etc.), women and women. I can tell you my favourite TV programmes, movies and women.
TV: 24, Nip/Tuck, Smallville.
Movies: Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Fightclub, Se7en, The Shawshank Redemption, Pirates of the Caribbean.
Women(Celebs): Kristin Kruek, Monica Belluci, Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet, Aishwariya Rai and Amna Haq.
I’m 17. I’m currently living in London (Wembley). Both of my parents are from a village in Murree (Pakistan). At the moment, I’m on my gap year. Next year, I will be studying Aerospace Engineering at the University of Hertfordshire. And obviously, I’m very passionate about sport.
2. What attracts you to football and then to cricket? And I guess it makes sense to ask you about your interest in Liverpool (sigh). Please elaborate upon that.
As I said, I’m passionate about sport. Cricket sort of comes as part of your heritage if you’re Pakistani. You can say the same with football. If you’re brought up in England then you do tend to develop an interest in football. The thing is that I was born in Pakistan, came to England as a baby and lived here for 9 years before going back to Pakistan for 6 years. Hence I have developed a keen interest in both cricket and football. In cricket, for obvious reasons I support Pakistan and in football I again for obvious reasons support England. And as much of you know I’m a die-hard Liverpool fan. I have supported them since when I came to my senses and as they say, once a Red, always a Red!
3. Who are your favourite players in both cricket and football?
Football: Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Wayne Rooney. Cricket: Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi and Glen McGrath.
4. your thoughts on the role of Captain in cricket.
The captain has a VERY important role in cricket. He is responsible for the team not only on the field but also off it. It is the almost always the captain’s responsibility to shoulder blame. On the field, it is up to the captain to make all tactical decisions and to bring the best out of his team. In my opinion, not everybody has the ability to captain a team. Having leadership qualities don’t come by default. It is also important for the captain to ALWAYS lead by example.
5. Why are you called hitman and who would you like to hit if you had a chance (like who or even What do you hate the most )?
Well, I’m quite big. To be precise at the moment I’m about 6’2” and about 18 stones! Nobody has really ever called my Hitman but I thought I’d use it as my e-ID because I think it sounds pretty cool. If I didn’t think killing somebody was wrong, I’d definitely be one. When it comes to the person who I’d like to hit most, it is a guy I used to go to high school with. He was in our group of friends and still, I have never hated a person more. I just felt like smacking his face every time I saw him. Put it this way, he was a cocky little smart ass. And to make it worse, he beat me to asking out a girl I had a big crush on!
6. Have you had to face racism in high school in England (usage of Pak! etc)? Is it very much there or blown out of proportion a bit? And how do you deal with it.
No, NEVER! I was in Pakistan for 6 years (from the age of 10-15) but in my time in primary school and college here I have never had to face racism. I guess it is because I don’t look Pakistani at all. In fact, most people don’t believe me when I tell them that my parents are Pakistani. My skin colour is VERY fair. But even generally, I haven’t seen much people being victims of racial abuse. I guess this is because of the fact the my area is very ethnically diverse with a large majority of Asians.
7. Is growing up/ living in England and coming from a traditional Pakistani family a big conflict?
Yes, it is. My family is pretty traditional and my father’s side of the family are very strict religiously too. This doesn’t work out well for me as I’m much more liberal person and this results in regular disagreements. My family generally don’t want to adapt to life in England where as I think it is almost mandatory. Good thing I’ll be moving out soon.
8. What do you see as our society's biggest dilemma right now.
This is a big and confusing question for me. For me I think it’s the fact that our older generation (and some of our younger generation too) don’t want to adapt completely to western lifestyle and would like to live their lives without much freedom. To people like that my question is, why did you come to England in the first place? Another thing is religion. Everybody has their own opinion on religion and I think there are way too many different sects.
9. If you could change one thing in the world what would it be?
The million dollar question! I guess, try to eradicate poverty and see to it that imperialists don’t get their way. I am one that believes in equality and justice.
10. If you could bring two people back from the dead who would they be? (One who's hand you would shake, the other who you would hit with a bata chappal)
I’d have loved to have lived in the time that Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) was alive as I believe I’d have been a better Muslim. I’m not sure about who I’d like to beat as I don’t want to speak ill of somebody who is dead. I have no right to judge anybody in that way.
11. Who is ur latest squeeze and more seriously, what 3 things do u look for in a woman(seriousq), i. life partner?
No latest squeeze though I still like a girl I used to go to school with (until a year ago). I wouldn’t mind getting together with her. Three things I’d look for in a woman: She must have a good sense of humour, be good-looking and honest.
12. do you consider yourself as a man of action or one who thinks and thinks and thinks?
I’m one of the thinkers I guess. Not to say that I’m not a man of action but I always think before I act. My view: “You’d be wise to learn from another’s mistake but you’d be a fool not to learn from your own”
13. I note that you have a somewhat serious, contemplative temperament. one that is willing to learn and improve. What inspired that? the existence of women or something better?
You got everything spot on there. I do have a serious and contemplative temperament. And I’m always willing to learn and improve. And yes I think the existence of women has inspired that in my opinion. (I’m being completely honest here) And by the way, this whole thing also reflects me as a cricket player too.
14. what do you believe is your greatest gift and what do you think might prevent it from blossoming? Do you feel our social and familial structure is too rigid and is it our fault as well?
My greatest gift, eh? I think I’m very intelligent and nobody can stop that from blossoming. Another thing, I get on with everybody. I’m that sort of person. This is probably because I’m a great conversationalist. (This also really helps when it comes to women!)
15. do you think people who talk about saving the environment have too much time and not enough worries on their hands?
I think we should all have a general awareness of our environment but it should stay to that. At the most you should just briefly remind other people of their responsibility but still I think that some people do go too far with the whole thing.
16. Any interest you might want to talk about except sports
My greatest interests are sport, the media(TV, internet etc.), women and women. I can tell you my favourite TV programmes, movies and women.
TV: 24, Nip/Tuck, Smallville.
Movies: Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Fightclub, Se7en, The Shawshank Redemption, Pirates of the Caribbean.
Women(Celebs): Kristin Kruek, Monica Belluci, Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet, Aishwariya Rai and Amna Haq.
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