I am not sure when was the first time I met Amjad Noorani; it must have been in 2009 or 2010. Amjad Noorani and his wife, Najma, were physical therapists by profession and had recently retired and moved from Salinas to Los Altos. In the Bay Area, Amjad Noorani had become a desi circle socialite. We ran into each other often. His big smile and affable demeanor attracted people; I too became friends with him. I visited him at his home and went hiking with him. Of particular interest to me were his childhood stories of Karachi, my hometown. Several years before I discovered Karachi’s country club, he went there to hitch rides on private aircrafts flying out of the Karachi Aero Club.
In his quest to make the best use of his retirement years, once Amjad Noorani got involved with The Citizens Foundation (TCF), there was no turning back. Providing quality education to every child in Pakistan became his dream. He not only understood the philosophy and work environment of TCF he decided to write a book to tell the story of this one-of-a-kind nonprofit to the world. The result was ‘Agents of Change’, a book he coauthored with Nadeem Hussain.
We all have our expiration dates mostly unknown to us but if the checkout time is revealed, our priorities suddenly become clearer. After Amjad Noorani was diagnosed with cancer, I noticed a sense of urgency in his desire to get the ‘Agents of Change’ published. The book got printed a year ago and was well received in literati focused on social change and universal primary education.
Having heard stories of his younger years and reading the memoir part of ‘Agents of Change’ I thought about doing more in-depth interviews of Amjad Noorani and ultimately become his biographer. That did not happen. Amjad Noorani succumbed to the cancer today.
