You might have heard very odd and outrageous stories during the time of lockdown in Coronavirus. Surely, no story can meet that of Usman Ashraf, a resident of Kasur, Punjab.
Usman, a young boy, recently finished his bachelors from NUST University in Electrical Engineering. Coming from a humble background, for Usman to achieve this feat is an inspiration in itself.
However, this is not the hook of Usman’s story. Usman’s Electrical Engineering degree came to an end while the Coronavirus was in full swing. With a harsh lockdown in place, Usman became a graduate of the NUST university.
But still, something was missing. For Usman to have his dream in his hand, but not be able to do something, didn’t match his courage or inspiration.
Thus, Usman decided to make use of this time being wasted, and turn it into something positive. Soon, Usman Ashraf set up his own fruit stall, selling mangoes among other fruits on a road side.
Usman says he did so to learn about public interaction, dealing, handling customers among other things.
“All the courses we learned in the university, I wanted to implement all the learning in a real life scenario. Thus, setting up a fruit stall was my go-to idea,” said Usman.
Moreover, Usman also said that he wanted to learn how the roadside vendors work. He wanted to know about the problems they faced in their day to day activity.
Furthermore, Usman also wanted to see things from the perspective of the buyer, who he had been catering to.
“During this experiment, I faced a lot of trouble. Sometimes people would say mean things to me, other times, I would get caught up in different problems,” he added.
Albeit, Usman was of the opinion that if you put your heart and soul into something and do it with diligence, nothing is impossible. Previously, the daughter of a Pakistani fruit vendor won a gold medal in her university, to make the country proud.
Usman’s frivolous aims and ambitions must be lauded. Pakistan needs more such practical students who want to get out of the ordinary and do something special. Well done, Usman.
Source courtesy: Independent Urdu
