For the record.

APRIL 2000 - In a manner of speaking, this is an apology, somewhat belated, but nevertheless straight from the heart. It is true that those of us who are privileged to write columns for newspapers and are therefore able to burden their readers ever so often with whatever they have to say on any given subject, do forget that views so expressed can be hurtful. Sometimes this is intentional, sometimes it is not. However, those who are at the receiving end cannot see it simply as a point of view expressed. If they are being taken to task they are naturally willing to believe that the whole world has read every single bit written about them and if they have been ridiculed, the agony can be great. This is not to say that those who deserve to be taken apart should be let alone simply because the column or the truth, hurts.

Over a year and a half - maybe more, Mahmud Sipra suddenly disappeared from the scene, specifically from Lahore. There was great speculation what had happened, particularly since no one quite knew where he had gone. Neither did I other than the fact that I had been told by common friends that he had taken a flight to London and decided to face those who wanted to question him for the Bank of England caper that shook one of Britain's oldest banks. I wrote a column and called it, 'Where is Sips?' a name that some of us called him when he was here in Lahore. I thought at the time and still do, that the object of the article was to sum up the very unconventional and chancy innings Mahmud Sipra had played and lead to his return to Pakistan in the middle eighties with the production of 'The Khyber Horse.' Whatever I wrote then apparently was offensive and hurtful to Mahmud and at the time the column appeared, he was facing very difficult times in London with the authorities. I had also at the time felt that the column would end to some extent the rather widescale speculation that was doing the rounds in Lahore - I can't say the rest of the country. This may not have been a noble enterprise and may not have actually succeeded in its mission, but the last thing on my mind was to make fun of Mahmud or ridicule him.

I say this after a long and unhappy conversation with him in London today. I had heard, again from common friends, that he was most distressed about the column and thought it was a stab in the back when he could least afford it, but it was too late to do anything and in any case there were no confirmed details that one could fall back upon. And so time went by and the trial commenced in England. From whatever one could learn through the grapevine, it seemed that the case was going against him and that there were dire consequences ahead. However these were apparently unfounded or only speculative because after a few months, the reports changed and it was then believed that he had come through the worst and things were going his way. In the end, save for a light sentence, the authorities in England had nothing substantial on him and since then Mahmud Sipra has been free to go wherever he pleases, do whatever business he chooses to do and meet whoever he wishes to. He has managed to set himself up in some style - the way he has done most of the time save the days in Karachi when we were both struggling - he having made a fortune and blown it all away, me having blown nothing away having made nothing (still holds good). What business he intends to do, I of course have no idea except that given his track record and business savvy, it would be something on a grand scale. Well, as an old friend and one who has hurt him I can say with all sincerity that I hope he succeeds and makes the big time once again. If for nothing else, he owes us a good time since many of us were not around in New York or in London when he was in the swing of things. Having said that, his pals such as TA are anxious that he does this soon. We are not exactly spring chickens and by the time Mahmud lines up the yacht along the French coast with the right amounts of caviar, liquid replenishments and nubile young things, we may be able to only ogle and sigh.

I met Mahmud Sipra in the middle sixties in that wonderful city now gone forever, Karachi. He was into advertising and so were we all. We were all broke. He was making far more money than we were, but most of it was taken away, so consequently we were short and had a saying in those days that after the 31st of the month, it would be the 1st and then the 31st again the next day ! And so it used to be, not that we didn't enjoy every minute of it. There were some places where his credit was still good and since he had that snap-the-finger style perfected, waiters served and managers cowered in the distance not willing to ask for the payment which as you might have guessed were not forthcoming ! Although there were people who warned us to stay away, I must say that in all the time that we knew each other and in the time since then, he was a good and sincere friend who was willing to share whatever he had.

While I certainly did not meet him during the years he made the big time - we having lost contact between the seventies and the eighties, I had heard of many who shared his wealth and had a great time at his expense only to come back and make ugly noises about his success. Luckily, I never got the VIP treatment and didn't even know where he was at any given time. When 'The Khyber Horse' rolled into town, Sipra was back and with a bang. From then on, things went wrong and eventually he flew to England where he now resides and, I am sure, building another empire - which brings me back to the start. I think that the irony wouldn't be lost on Mahmud that I happen to be reading Paul Theroux's 'In the Shadow of Sir Vidia' the novel that caused a literary uproar when it appeared last year. While I am no Theroux and I am sure Mahmud has no desire to be V.S. Naipaul, the subject matter is rather similar, though I have no literary axe to grind but only to set the record straight when offence was not meant but still resulted. I am sure he will bounce back in style and perhaps Pakistan will feature again. I have a theory that most of all Mahmud Sipra wants to make it in Pakistan, in front of his home crowd. I had ended the earlier column with the belief that he would be back. I wasn't wrong.