the Speech I was Supposed to Give- Free Choice

Hi Ahad!

 

Kind of nervous giving this “speech” but I’d like to welcome the rising star of Pakistan and hamlet of Shakespeare literary world. Welcome to calgary! It’s great to have you back, but heartbreaking to see you leave so soon. Thank you for taking an opportunity to visit our school. I’m sorry for potentially scaring you the day I first met you, outside the theatre room on the day of your first performance of Hamlet at Vertigo Theatre. I only realized afterwards how overwhelmed you may have felt when a crazy mob of girls who pushed their way through the thick crowd screaming in excitement.

 

I remember being at one of your shows, maybe when I was in grade 7 or 8. We were sitting on one of the top balconies watching, “The West Side Story” play at the University of Calgary. Me and my friends looked down at you from the top, talking about how this one guy looks like he’s “desi” or from a South Asian country. After a year or so, I began watching a new drama with my mom. We had been hearing all about this drama from our relatives in Pakistan and all of the aunties at parties obsessed over it. The drama’s name was, “Yakeen Ka Safar”, faithful journey. When I began to watch it, one of the main characters looked a lot like that guy I saw in the West Side Story play. That instant, I froze and I went on my phone to check the cast list of the play. I stumbled across a desi name; Ahad Raza Mir. I clicked on his wikipedia, and I sat there shook. For a second I could not believe that this handsome Pakistani actor I’m watching on T.V. right now, was the one acting in the play right in front of me. That had left me in utter silence of excitement and I anticipated the next time I would see you live. Eventually I did, and I was more excited than ever. I did not realize I’d be so excited that I would startle you with my excitement.

 

I’ve always thought about why one screams when they see someone they’ve been so inspired by but in that moment I didn’t realize why I had started squealing either. I’ve always thought “Faryal, you’re not the crazy type of fan, you’d be the subtle and calm one”, but I guess the human condition just consists of concealed craziness of which for some comes out as a squeal, but some are able to hide it away within themselves and act calm. I’m so happy for the success you’ve made as a rising star. You are known across the world especially by the Pakistanis that watch your dramas (that includes me) and also by the Canadian audience, more specifically the Calgarian audience (which also includes me) that gets to see you live at theatre plays. You are one of those people that are outshining other popular industries such as Hollywood and Bollywood. The U.S. has always been Canada’s competitor, especially at the top with Hollywood, but with actors like you rising in Canada will begin to promote Canadian culture in no time! Same thing goes for Bollywood. There used to be this time when people would gather and they’d say, “Let’s go watch Salman Khan’s new movie” in Pakistan, but now amazing actors such as you are coming out, acting in outstanding dramas with stunning role, will eventually gain the same amount of praise in the Lollywood industry as in Bollywood, in fact this praise has already started. This inspires each individual in both countries, and gives them something to be proud about. Canadians can proudly say, “yes! Ahad Raza Mir has made a huge influence as an actor in our country” and Pakistanis can proudly say, “yes! Ahad had made Pakistan shine.” These little things can often help one feel pride for their nations for amazing people like you who originate out of these lesser known industries in hope to be internationally recognized one day. Great job Mr. Mir! Your work has inspired us all, especially me.

 

I hope this public speech that I was supposed to give you when you came to our school but wasn’t able to, reaches to you somehow. I can’t wait to watch your upcoming drama Aangan, and anticipating all those in the future! I wish you the best in your life and career.

 

Sincerely,

 

Faryal Syed

 

4 comments

  1. zain13 · May 5, 2019 at 10:51 pm ·

    Dear Faryal,

    First of all, I would like to appreciate the fact that you took it upon yourself to write about how Ahad inspires you. Also, you made some very relatable points such as realizing that Ahad was the actor from “Yakeen Ka Safar” because I had also realized that later when I saw him. Furthermore, the emotion in the piece is genuine which strengthens the effectiveness of the piece.

    Something to improve would be to increase the sentence variety. I struggle with this as well, but most of your sentences in the second paragraph were structured like “I…and…”. Just a quick reread to fix that would make your piece that much better. Again, something that I can also work on.

    It was a pleasure to read your piece and I look forward to what you write next.

    Sincerely,
    Zain

    • blissfullyunaware · May 6, 2019 at 4:23 am ·

      Hey Zain,
      Thank you so much for reading my piece. I’m glad there was something in my piece that you were able to connect to as well. Also, yes, I will definitely revise it to alter the repetitive sentence structures!
      – Faryal

  2. asd23 · June 12, 2019 at 7:34 pm ·

    Dear Faryal,

    I would like to start by saying how thoughtful and comedic this piece was. I’m not sure it was meant to be as funny as it was but it sure did a good laugh out of me. Also, I appreciate how relatable the vocabulary is, such as when you used “desi”. This small touch had immersed me into your writing as it intrigued me. The amount of information you knew about him and how detailed you had been was also a very nice touch and really represented the genuity of your love for him.

    I though I saw some spelling errors and some commas were missing. So I think you should just go over what you wrote and speak it aloud to really hear the difference instead of just your head which isn’t always right.

    Other than that I loved your writing and would love for you to write more pieces like this.

    Sincerly,
    Amit

    • blissfullyunaware · June 15, 2019 at 2:54 am ·

      Dear Amit,

      Thank you for your constructive feedback. I will definitely revisit this piece soon to make readjustments to it such as the basic spelling and grammatical errors. I’m glad you enjoyed my piece.

      Sincerely,
      Faryal