THIS refers to the recent obituary notice (April 12) related to Syed Kalbe Mehdi, a leading figure in Pakistan`s corporate world. Among his other virtues, as the obituary noted, `he will be remembered as a true saint to have lived`.

I was a contemporary of Mehdi Sahib during the 1990s when he was heading the finance department of a leading multinational firm and I used to be in the human resources.

Sometimes, I would approach him to seek help with accounting problems, and he would attend to me immediately, leaving aside everything else. He would never tell me to come later despite being preoccupied with other work, and would never leave the task without completion.

One day, my car had a flat tyre on my way to Karachi`s West Wharf area in the morning along with my wife who would bring back the car. I was changing the tyre when Mehdi Sahib, who was driving behind, saw me and stopped his car. He told me to get aside as he would change the tyre quicker than me. Indeed, he did that quite easily and swiftly.

Thereafter, he apologised to my wife for causing her the inconvenience of waiting, and told her to take away the car. He then took me to the office.

Mehdi Sahib was humble and accessible with no inhibition about his position.

Besides, he possessed a great sense of humour and made people interacting with him feel at ease. He was, indeed, a true saint.

ParvezRahim Karachi