Aramco ExPats and Their Families Enjoy the Eid Milan Party on 27th April 2024, A Celebration of Togetherness
Standing Left to Right: Zahid Shah, Ejaz Sheikh, Arshad Naeem, Mohammad Abbas, Masroor Khan, Ijaz Shah, Muhammad Idrees, Javed Safdar, Mohammad Zamanullah, Naushad Yousaf, sitting in back row: Munawar Ahmed, Mohammad Akram, Hafeez Qureshi, Amjad Langah, Fazal Mahmood, Junaid Usmani, sitting in front row : Farouq Ibrahim, Ayub Janjua
As the holy month of Ramadan ends, Aramco Expats get together to celebrate the joyous occasion of Eid al-Fitr. The Aramco Retirees Association of Pakistan (ARAP) organized its Eid Milan Party on Saturday, 27th April 2024 in Lahore. It was a time-honored day that brought together Aramco friends and families to share the spirit of love, compassion, and gratitude, an evening full of merriment. The festivities included a meet, and greet, treats, praying for friends, poetic contributions, a lucky draw, and delicious traditional cuisine. With heartwarming conversations about the golden era in Aramco, new connections and lifelong associations were built and the best takeaway was the warmth of cherished memories.
Ladies pose for a group photo before the dinner.
In view of ARAP’s mission of connecting as many people as possible and bringing smiles to their faces, the event was set at Riaz Ahmed’s Farmhouse, at Nasheman-e-Iqbal Lahore. The setup presented a traditional Punjabi village theme at dusk by spreading charpaees (bedsteads of woven webbing of synthetic rope stretched on a wooden frame on four legs), moorah (small four-leg sitting stools with woven seats) and regular dining tables and decorated chairs, in an open environment, surrounded by fruit trees, vegetable plants, and flowers. Fire and light smoke of dung and coal in traditional angeethies (firepans) created a village evening scene and were the nucleus of attraction for the guests coming from cities.
The guests started coming at 6 pm. The Executive Committee (ExCom) members; Muhammad Idrees (President), Syed Arshad Naeem (Treasurer), and Malik Fazal Mahmood (Event Coordinator) welcomed the arriving guests. Light refreshments including tea, water, fresh jalebies, and namak paras were served while the attendees availed the chance to socialize, Gupshup, and make new connections.
Idrees recited an Aya from The Holy Quran, narrated one Hadeeth, made dua’ for maghfirah (prayers for forgiveness) for the departed Aramcons Mohammad Siddique Khokhar and Ilyas Butt. Prayers were also offered for the health of Asif Mirza (from Office Services) who was hospitalized and Muhammad Saleem Mallick (from Abqaiq Producing Maintenance) who was suffering from kidney problems but was getting better.
After introducing the ExCom, Idrees welcomed the visiting members and their families with his well-received poetic verses in Punjabi and Urdu. He then presented a summary of the ARAP activities and the launching of the ARAP website (https://sites.google.com/view/arapconnect).
As a part of the ARAP’s General Meeting, all members unanimously voted in favor of the actions taken by ExCom and showed full support for its decisions. The next event was announced to be held on November 16, 2024, and more details to be shared with the members in the future. Idrees concluded his address by sharing the good news of the Lucky Draw as an incentive in honor of the attending members/families. The floor was then opened for feedback from the members and their families. Following is a summary of the comments made during the event.
M Ayub Janjua:
“Thank you for your great efforts and a wonderful evening. We are fully enjoying it. Thank you for keeping us up to date through your timely messages.”
Mohammad Abbas:
“Shukran Katheer for bringing us together and providing us a perfect venue. Company of Aramcon brothers refreshes old memories and delicious food makes the evening more interesting.”
Farouq Ibrahim:
“Thanks for arranging a great G2G. We enjoyed meeting old friends and delicious food in a very pleasant weather. Bravo to ExCom members for great efforts. Everything was perfect.”
M Sheikh Ejaz:
“It was an outstanding and marvelous event. We had a great time and revival of Aramco gatherings. Great dedication and exceptional contributions of the ExCom members, please keep it up.”
Masroor Khan: “It was awesome and wonderful and a replica of Saudi Aramco events. Great efforts by the ExCom members and good to see the presence of valuable attendees”.
Riaz Ahmed: “Thanks to the team for their sincere dedication to organizing a wonderful gathering. It is always a source of pleasure to connect with friends and enjoy good memories. Anjum and I missed it being out of Pakistan. Stay blessed and be connected with smiles.”
Abdul Waheed Sheikh: “Great work in organizing such an outstanding event. Congratulations, I was not able to attend but the feedback of attendees is super.”
A diverse cuisine menu was served to enjoy the rest of the evening in an open and star-gazing environment including Chicken - Malai Boti, Kabab, Barbeque, Mutton Quorma, Fried Rice, Live diversity of Nans, and Dessert – Kulfa, and Kashmiri tea. The attendees from different cities including Islamabad, Sialkot, Toba Tek Singh, Faisalabad, and Lahore enjoyed the delicious food amidst pleasant weather.
Live Nan Tandoor, Nans and Kabab
Granddaughters receiving lucky draw award with grandfather Fazal Mahmood.
The incentive of a lucky draw, in honor of the guests added special colors to the gathering and remained the focus of attention for the lovely children in particular and families in general. Idrees donated his lucky draw award for another draw and the lucky winners were: Farouq Ibrahim, Masroor Khan, Fazal Mahmood, Junaid Usmani, and Hafeez Qureshi.
Fazal Mahmood concluded his remarks with a Punjabi poem. Idrees, in his closing remarks, extended special gratitude to Riaz Ahmed and his family for dedicating their Farm House, and for their incredible hospitality in their absence, to Fazal Mahmood for taking care of the logistics and preparations with dedication, and to Abdul Waheed and Syed Arshad for their unmatched support that made this event a great success. He also thanked Naushad Yousuf for taking care of the photography part and Junaid Idrees for developing posters, monitoring the agenda timings, and taking care of uncles and aunties throughout the event. He specifically mentioned missing the presence of Riaz Ahmed and family, Abdul Waheed, Sarwar Warraich, ARAP Islamabad Reps Riaz Baig and Imtiaz Ahmed, and all other members who could not make it this time. He advised the members to carry forward the spirit of connecting and togetherness in their hearts and continue to create such moments collectively or locally in their cities to strengthen the bonds of Aramcons friendship.
Some of the joyous moments are reflected through memorable pictures captured on Camera on the next pages.
Photography Credits: Engr. Syed Naushad Yousaf Shah s/o Syed Yousaf Shah Aramco #71533.
Standing Left to Right: Junaid Sheikh, Hassan Khan, Masroor Khan, Ejaz Sheikh, Farouq Ibrahim, M Abbas, Hafeez Qureshi, Sajid Safdar, Javed Safdar, Amjad Langah, Munawar Ahmed, Junaid Idrees, Naushad Yousaf. Sitting Left to Right: Arshad Naeem, Ayub Janjua, M Idrees, Fazal Mahmood, M Akram.
Members enjoying Idrees’ poetry.