Abdur Raheem Jalalzai (Mirozai-Kakar) left us on September 10, 2020. His date of birth was October 6, 1933. He would have been 87 years old this fall.
Dr. Jalalzai was born in Loralai, Baluchistan (Pakistan) to Boston and Zarmaido Jalalzai in what Dr. Jalalzai proudly claimed as “British India.” He was very much a product of his British education, and belongs to a generation of colonial students situated between traditional Pashtun and British culture. This education would eventually take him to the United States through the English language pathways open to him by British Schools. Raheem was an excellent student from the start. His classmates would often cheat off of his work, copying his answers, and the teacher would fail them both, writing, “Copied from Raheem” on their slates. Education was his love and his path to a world outside of Loralai. By moving to the United States, he was able to financially assist his family, but it was not a step easily taken, particularly as the first-born son. Nevertheless, Dr. Jalalzai earned his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees from Dow Medical College, in Karachi, Pakistan in 1960. Early in his career he was employed at various difficult and far flung posts, serving, for example, as a Medical Officer at The Zhob Militia Hospital at Fort Sandeman.
In 1967 he married Amina Jogezai from Qilla Saifullah, and they moved to Quetta when it was still a promising little frontier city. Dr. Jalalzai worked at Civil Hospital. After having two daughters Zubeda (1968) and Abida (1969), A. R. was drawn to completing his education in the US. His plan, though, was to amass just enough money to buy a car and come back to Pakistan to live with and support his father. A U. S. education, however, was also an honor and a rarity in the 1960s, but the Vietnam War had driven many US doctors overseas. International doctors were encouraged to study and work in the US. As a result, Dr. Jalalzai completed an Internship at Resurrection Hospital, Chicago, Illinois (1971-72). He did buy a car: a green Pontiac Catalina.
In Chicago, his son, Abdul Waheed, was born (1972). The same year Dr. Jalalzai began a residency in Internal Medicine at the Good Samaritan Hospital, an affiliate of Wright State University. Dayton, Ohio (1972-1974). There he was also Chief Resident (1974-1975). His fourth child, Farida, was born in Dayton (1974).
The thought of returning to Pakistan had not yet been put to rest, and the family tried to return and settle in Pakistan in 1976. By that point, however, they were firmly situated as Americans, no longer in the US for the short-term. Furthermore, getting established in medicine required a significant amount of up-front cash for expenses including the many bribes required to get started. Dr. Jalalzai was short on the funds and the moral sensibility to accept those terms. They returned to the United States, this time to New York State’s “North Country.”
Dr. Jalalzai spent the remainder of his long career as a rural doctor starting at Clifton-Fine Hospital in the tiny Adirondack town of Star Lake, NY as well as at Harrisville Health Center (1976-1977). He worked briefly at the E.J. Noble Hospital in Alexandria Bay, NY (1978-1979).
Dr. Jalalzai spent almost 30 years at E.J. Noble Hospital in Gouverneur, NY in private Medical Practice (1978 to 2007). There he had a distinguished career as:
• Medical Director: 1990-1993
• Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine: 1986-1992
• Director Cardio-Pulmonary Services: 1980-1992
• Chief of Staff: 1986-1988
• Director of ICU-CCU: 1985-1988
His licenses and certifications included: Board Certified American Board of Internal Medicine: 1977; Advanced Achievements in Internal Medicine (Subspecialties: Cardiology and Gastroenterology); American Board of Internal Medicine: 1987; Fellowship. American College of Physicians: 1996.
Throughout those years, A. R. also served as an Assistant Clinical Professor. Department of Internal Medicine at SUNY Syracuse beginning in 1981.
In 1981 another daughter, Sajida was born. In 1991, at the age of 58 A. R. saw the birth of his sixth child, Medina.
In 2007 Dr. Jalalzai retired and relocated to Marlboro, New Jersey where for the first time since leaving Pakistan the family was connected to a large and thriving Pashtun-American community.
To follow the medical career of Dr. J is only one part of his intellectual journey. A. R. spoke 6 languages, (English, Pashtu, Urdu, Punjabi, Persian, and Dari) and was an avid reader of history, poetry, literature, and anthropology, to name a few of his favorite subjects. Dr. Jalalzai spent his retirement poring over books old and new about Pashtun history, culture, and folklore. He was also a lover of music, and enjoyed a wide variety of styles, including classical Urdu gha zals, traditional Pashtun folk music (in particular, recordings of the stringed instrument known as the chaghaka), American Tejano country singer, Freddy Fender, and the American songwriting trio, Wilson Phillips.
Abdur Raheem was an absolutely devoted fan of the Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Maple Leafs, often watching or listening to the games over the television or radio with his son.
He loved his daily walks around the neighborhood, often sporting a windbreaker and a baseball cap. If the rain, heat, or a sore knee prevented him from taking his walk outdoors, he would resort to the family’s exercise bike, never one to skip out on his daily exercise regimen.
Dr. J’s final years were divided between NJ and the family seat in Loralai, Baluchistan where his wide network of family and friends took good care of him and allowed him to re-live his early days. In the summers, he would return to New Jersey to reconnect with his six children and ten grandchildren including, his “Are you my friends?”: Kadeem, Gul Andaam, Kazim, Zaid, Imani, Elam, Idris, Shaun, Sasha, and Adam, who at points were also “school skippers!” Whenever Dr. J’s kids were home for a visit, his first and last question to them would be, “Anything I can do for you?”
Although Dr. J. had some fairly common illnesses throughout his life, he was healthy overall and passed away gracefully in Loralai on September 10, 2020. He was sound, prepared, in prayer, and surrounded by loved ones. As he would often say: “not too bad for a young fellow.”
Dr. Jalalzai’s family remembers him as a kind, gentle, man who had a wide circle of friends all over the world. A.R. had a loud, startling laugh (of the “Ha! Ha! Ha-Ha!” variety).
He told funny stories about the past and related how people used to be and used to speak. For example, when cars in South Asia were beginning to shift away from starting with cranks to starting with a button or “self-start,” he related that when asked how one was doing, you could expect the response of “Me? I’m self-start!” His younger brother, Raziq, echoes his siblings when they say that A. R. was a father to them, too: He “was not just a great father but a genuine, innocent, and graceful man who lived his life on his terms, and embraced even death with grace and dignity.”
Abdur Raheem Jalalzai is survived by his wife, Amina, children and grandchildren, siblings: Nasar, Raziq, Samad, Shafia, Malik; nephews: Naymat, Rahmat, Inayat; nieces: Kamila and Jamila--as well as grand-nieces and nephews, other relatives, and well-wishers too numerous to mention by name.
“Be good,” Daddy. We love you.
