“I tried to cheer his family up with stories of his antics around office; that’s what our little boy would have wanted, I assume,” said Daniyal Hasan, the bureau chief of DawnNews Lahore where Umair Ali worked as a reporter till only a few hours before he walked into hospital on May 14 for a biopsy.

Only the closest friends and not many family members knew Ali had been diagnosed with brain cancer in February; most are stunned by his courage.

He chose to face the news with prayer and hope, always with his characteristic smile and an unyielding belief that he will be taken care of. Ali was sure of one thing: he never wanted to be on a ventilator.

Ali’s family say he was fascinated with the idea of being on the television screen just as a child is with his toys. I still remember editing Ali’s first story as a junior reporter for DawnNews, Tour de Pakistan 2010; a fact he never let me forget. There was no looking back.

He was a quick learner; trustworthy and responsible and within months was in full command of his new beat, court reporting. From then on to terrorism and politics, Ali did not look back. We were consistently amazed at his capacity for hard work often joking that he should start bringing his bed to work. Ali’s answer was simple and riddled with irony: “Let me be, you are never sure of life” (Karne Dein Mujhe, Zindagi Ka Koi Bharosa Nahe).

One of Ali’s driving forces and strongest desires was to make his parents proud. Following his interview with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in 2012, only a couple of years after he had begun his career, his father acknowledged his hard work. Ali glowed with happiness and said: “I thought today I am a successful man” (Mujhe Laga Uss Din Mein Kaamyaab Ho Gaya). The last picture on his phone is a selfie with his mother, a gift, he said.

We hope you are at peace Umair Ali and that you will be blessed with an eternal smile that was emblematic of who you are.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2014