My First Column

My first column was published in the Daily Dawn, the leading newspaper of Pakistan, published from Karachi. It was like I had won a million dollar lottery, because I was just a high school student studying in Dhaka and it was published as the top column in the back page of the Sunday Magazine. The column as titled as “Radio’s Role in Rural Development.” Writing on such a difficult topic that did not have mass appeal was not an easy task for a high school student. The columns that appeared on the first page were from famous or regular journalists and the back page was also reserved for regular contributors, and I had never seen a column by an unknown writer on the back page. Before this column being published, a few jokes, puzzles or stories were published in the Children’s pages of Dawn and another daily newspaper–Morning News from Dhaka.

When my father woke up, I showed him my prized publication. He was overjoyed to see that and kept on showing it to all of his friends who visited for the whole month. I was not expecting any payment, as I thought only regular contributors or writers who were on the “payroll” of newspapers were paid for any columns. So, I had any surprise and joy when I go a check in the mail after nearly three months for Rupees thirty five. Just to compare it with the monetary value or purchase price. In 1965, one US Dollar was worth about five dollars and the cost of purchasing a gallon of gas was also about a dollar. For a student it enough to get a cup of tea and few cookies or samosas for the whole month. I was “rich” and enjoyed the first payment for a month.