Act I, scene It is past midnight. When the noise from the party across the road becomes unbearable, he decides to make some noise of his own. One gun shot… two… three… pierce through the night, jolting the entire neighbourhood out of its sleepy sojourn. The party is spontaneously adjourned. The guests disperse; the cars parked on either side of the road drive off. Amid the howls and barks of mongrels, one well-bred little white four-legged creature with his hair over his eyes and a very wet black nose stirs to curl up again inside the corner house... no duties to perform with the Master out on the prowl.

Scene ii

Thick volumes line up the walls of the study. Pictures of famous dignitaries, some of them ancestors, have found places of honour on one wall while another has the man’s own portrait, though slightly difficult to recognise as he had hair then, along with several mementoes of happy times, with his beloved life partner and their girls.

The tables, chairs, photo frames and vases, with fresh flowers from his lawn, all remain in the very same spots assigned to them by the lady of the house several years ago. Nothing has been moved, nothing changed, even though she has moved on and changed everything by her absence except her man.

Scene iii

Driving down the road you know you have reached the right corner house when you see bricks lined outside the boundary walls. As territorial as Buttons, his dog, who in his own words “might pee on the person who trespasses on his territory”, he himself only puts put out bricks.

The man sits surrounded by heavy reading material. However, the impression is ruined when you notice what he is reading himself. The latest escapades of some film star are more on his mind than anything else this afternoon. He shares with you the juicy gossip he has just read before tossing the film magazine on the chair beside him.

Asked how someone could enjoy the tacky stuff after having read all those volumes in the bookshelves, he casually announces, “Oh these books are my father’s. I haven’t a clue as to what they are about.”

We are meeting on a Monday afternoon as this is his day off. The eccentric that he is, this is also his way of mocking the world by taking the first day of the week, the busiest of all working days for many, as his off day.

“Fire your questions, Boss,” he addresses me like he does everybody else, man or woman. And so begins the voyage of discovery, of getting to know Arif Ali Khan Abbasi.

Breaking down the fort of attitude and madness that he has built around himself, there is only truth, honesty and goodness of the heart. He keeps referring to himself as “stupid fellow” but is smart enough to realise when being taken advantage of. And still he chooses to ignore it. “Even when I know if someone is cheating me for money, I will not let that person know. I just can’t offend or hurt anyone’s feelings,” he says quietly.

However, that is only for the underdogs. For others he will take such a stand that it’ll send their heads spinning like when he resigned from Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) again and again and again as he did with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) due to interference. His four stints with the national carrier, which saw him reach the post of the director and later the managing director three times, 12 years with the PCB where he was the chief executive and as the head of other sports bodies, including hockey and squash, spelt the best of times for all these organisations.

“I have held all these big posts, including ministries, during the PPP government, Nawaz Sharif government and Musharraf’s time, which should tell you that I am not in line with any party. I am a professional,” he states matter-of-factly. As a minister during Pervez Musharraf’s time he had labour, transport, commerce, industry and cooperatives under him.

No surprises then when his name still comes up whenever there is a vacancy at any of these places but these days he is too busy heading the beautiful Arabian Sea Country Club as its chief executive officer. The club he heads now has been declared by the Asian Tour as one of the best golf courses in Asia. On top of that it has got a riding facility and the most alluring cricket ground in Pakistan. “And yet the PCB doesn’t hold matches there,” states Abbasi.

He mentions a recent incident where he kept writing to the PCB for permission to hold an international match but only received an NoC when it was too late and his sponsor had left. “I was bringing a team from India like I had done in Gujranwala for an earthquake relief match back in 2005. After several reminders, the PCB this time sent me a long list of facilities that I must have at the ground before holding the match. Now I have been with the PCB and overseen construction at the Lahore and Karachi stadiums while financing the one in Faisalabad to know that the board itself doesn’t have all that they put on the list but I did have each and everything and more at my ground,” he laughs off the matter.