On the last cold Sunday of January, my friend and New York-based Pakistani journalist, Arshad Chaudhry passed away due to complications from COVID-19 infection.
He was 65 and had always sounded hopeful before the deadly infection. Arshad’s untimely death has been widely mourned by his friends which included colleagues, politicians, and diplomats. Always smiling and looking cheerful, Arshad will be sorely missed by everyone, especially the journalist community here, and for many who had known him for decades, life will not be the same without him.
A few days before his passing, I met him, along with my journalist friends, Nadeem Manzoor Salahri and Saleem Siddiqui, in Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn.
As we entered his room, Arshad pleasantly smiled and removed his oxygen mask to talk to us, with the monitor showing his oxygen level at 93/94. Arshad told us that he started having problems on January 5, when he tested positive. Initial symptoms such as mild fever, sore throat, and cough got worse, and his son Shan rushed him to the hospital’s emergency room.
After keeping him in the emergency room for 24 hours, he was sent back home as doctors declared his condition satisfactory enough. But his health deteriorated again and he was taken back to the hospital. With his oxygen level at 86/85, he was re-admitted. On phone, he sounded in high spirits and normal, saying he was physically fine.
For the next few days, his oxygen levels stayed between 90 and 93 and there was no improvement. We were concerned that this was not normal and visited him.
Arshad Chaudhry started feeling very cheerful and enthusiastic by our presence. The smile on his face has always been his trademark. To cheer him up, I asked him in a lighter vein, “Is it possible for you to walk out of the hospital with us for an hour and a half for lunch? Rest assured that you will be released back to the hospital.”
I could see a twinkle in his eye upon hearing this. He said, “Why not? It would be manageable. Here is a way to get out. Let’s go”.
Standing next to me, Nadeem Salahri said, “Chaudhry Sahib! for God’s sake, be serious, you have been admitted to the hospital and are on oxygen. How can you sneak out of the hospital? You will be released from the hospital in a few days, God willing. You will be well with us, then we will gather all our friends and celebrate your health in full.”
Salahri was, of course, right. But then Arshad became went quiet. To divert his attention from his medical condition, I told him there are three or four new books that I wanted to discuss with him, which obviously cannot be done here. “You should get well soon so that you can comment on them as well.”
Arshad loved books, especially the books about South Asia, foreign policy, and biographies. A smile appeared on his face again. Arshad was very happy with Saleem Siddiqui that he had come all the way from New Jersey to enquire after him. He also told us that last night journalists Khawaja Farooq and Kamran Malik also visited him and community leader Sarwar Chaudhry and other friends also called him.
When we were about to leave I thought I should shake hands with him. He was looking at me, and I felt, there was a hint of moisture in his eyes. Something similar happened to me. Which, I was trying unsuccessfully to hide. When I was just to leave, I turned back to Arshad and ignoring the Corona safety protocols extended my right-hand fist towards Chaudhry as a gesture to shake hands. He also made a fist in his hand in response and hit my fist.
That was my last meeting with my colleague and friend Arshad Chaudhry. Over the next few days, we remained in touch through phone calls and text messages.
My friend Salahri went to see him and comfort him a couple of times.
On January 25, at 7:30 in the morning, Arshad’s last call came to Salahri, he said: “that he is sad, he wants to meet, and wanted him to see me in the evening”. However, Salahri could not make it to him that day. Arshad’s son Sean used to spend some time with his father in the morning and evening and went back home to take care of his mother. Arshad’s wife and son got well, but Arshad was slipping into the death’s icy trap with each passing day.
One illness and second loneliness in the hospital were too much for a lively spirit confined to a hospital room. He was a party man. I texted Arshad on the evening of January 25th, “how are you?” I did not get an answer. However, the phone showed that he saw the message.
At 9:54 a.m: on January 26th, a message came from his number saying, “he is. Sean, Arshad’s son, and his father was put on a ventilator last night.” As soon as, I heard this, I knew his health was getting more serious with each passing moment. Hope seemed to be dying.
Sean told me that last night his father’s oxygen level had reached 75/74, so the doctors decided to put him on the ventilator immediately. He also said that his oxygen level was low. His kidneys and liver were also affected. He had a fever at night which had now subsided, but his blood pressure was shooting.
Salahri and I hoped against hope and prayed for Arshad’s recovery. On January 29th and 30th, we had a heavy snowfall in New York. This is the kind of snowfall that Arshad liked very much. When the fear of losing him intensified, I shared this poem on my Facebook page with a picture of Arshad taken during a snowfall. “All our prayers were not answered. Nature has its own decisions, Which are irresistible.”
On Monday morning, January 31, Arshad Chaudhry’s son Sean received a call from the hospital stating that “at 7:38 a.m., your father’s heart stopped working. He was removed from the ventilator and his heart was shocked. His heart began to beat again. However, at 8:30 his heart stopped beating again. And he is no longer in this world. “
A large number of Arshad’s friends, members of the Pakistani community, from New York, New, Jersey, Long Island, and the Westchester area, attended funeral prayers to say goodbye to Arshad on January 31st at the Omar Mosque in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Despite bad weather, journalist friends Azim M. Mian, Afaq Khayali, Nadeem Manzoor Salahri, Mohsin Zaheer, Mujeeb Lodhi, Farooq Mirza, Khawaja Farooq, Mumtaz Hussain, a representative of the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations, law enforcement officials Raja Azad Gul and Adeel Rana, Deputy Inspector and in-charge of the New York Police Department, also attended the prayer. Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations also expressed their condolences over the passing of the journalist.
On February 1st, Arshad Choudhry’s coffin was flown to Pakistan on a flight to the Emeritus Airline for burial in Sahiwal, Pakistan. Where he was buried on Wednesday, February 2nd at Mahi Shah Graveyard in Sahiwal, after a second Namaz e Janazah.
Arshad’s parents also died in New York and their coffins were taken to Sahiwal, Pakistan for burial, 38 years ago in 1984, Arshad Chaudhry came to the USA from Sahiwal, and today, he returned to be buried in his native soil.
In my last twenty years as a journalist, which, I spent in close contact with Arshad, I always found him a congenial person. Despite living in the US for the last 38 years, he has never been able to get Sahiwal out of his heart. Apart from his other friends in Sahiwal, he often mentioned Din Mohammad Dard, Shakeel Qamar, Dr. Javed Kanwal, Ivan Rajkumar, and especially “Cafe de Rose”. He had a beautiful heart and a hard-working professional journalist.
Arshad Chaudhry was born on October 2, 1956, in Sahiwal. He did his MA in Journalism from Bahauddin Zakaria University, Multan. He worked for about 25 years as bureau chief of “Daily Pakistan” Lahore from New York. For the past few years since the advent of electronic media, he has been reporting for “Capital TV” and nowadays reporting for “Hum News.” channel. He also created his own page called ‘Vera News’.
In 1993, PPP leader Pharmacist Sarwar Chaudhry started his own pharmacy in the Brighton Beach area. Sarwar Chaudhry told me that it was here that he met Arshad Chaudhry for the first time, which later turned into a deep friendship. The relationship with Arshad lasted till his death. Later, Khawaja Farooq and Engineer Sheikh Sadiq (Multani) also joined the group, saying that Arshad had spent most of his time with them.
Iftikhar Ali, a veteran correspondent of Associated Press of Pakistan in New York, mourned the loss of Arshad Chaudhry, calling him his friend and saying his death was a loss for Pakistani journalism.
Many years ago, at a PPP function in New York, which was held in honor of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. Chaudhry Sarwar introduced Arshad Chaudhry to Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto as Professor Arshad Chaudhry. She also started addressing Arshad as a professor.
In the 1990s, Arshad Chaudhry married Donna Ann Anderson in New York.
My personal relationships with Arshad Chaudhry started back in 2001 when I came to the US as a journalist. Nadeem Manzoor Salahri, a mutual journalist friend, had introduced me to Arshad. We were together at the UN General Assembly sessions and have memories of working together at many events in New York. Occasionally, we journalist friends would express differences of opinion on issues but our respectful relationship never dwindled.
Arshad’s departure has been a great loss of my life. Some people are not candle gamers, but when they leave the party, the party looks lifeless. Arshad Chaudhry was also one such person for many journalists and friends in New York.
