Yusuf K. Dawood Was Kenya’s Paragon Of Corporate Leadership, Master Of Literary Simplicity And A Symbol Of Professional Humility

To be paragon is to be the best example in the class, or to be the best among the equals, also known as primus inter pares in Latin just the same way Asian cultures enjoy similar tempo of decorum by appreciating paragons as gurus, mandarins or Moghuls. The case in point is that of the recently departed Kenyan surgeon, Yusuf K. Dawood. He was a paragon of corporate leadership, a Moghul of prose and an epitome of professional humility when it comes to the manner in which he practiced his profession as a surgeon. Those who met and got served by him as well as read him will readily accept that thereis no skew in facts to point out that Yusuf K. Dawood deserved all the above accolades.

However, it calls for some public concern tolearn that Yusuf Kodwavwala Dawood’s death on 28th January 2023 did not spark any kind of kerfuffle in Kenya, his homeland. For example, the conventional Media in Kenya must stand accused by future history for remaining so lukewarm about passing on of Dawood, even though his public life has been six decades of indelible foot-prints in the sands of our times, especially when it comes to literature, medicine and corporate leadership in Kenya.The multiple utilities that every Kenyan must have enjoyed in a way or another.

When working among the top leadership at Aga Khan University Hospital in Kenya, Yusuf K. Dawood rose above the culture of the time to ensure that Aga Khan University Hospital achieves world class corporate excellence in terms of quality level of medical service to the people of Kenya. These were also the times when corporate executives in Kenya were neurotically mismanaging organizations to death. But Dawood led Aga Khan University hospital to financial stability, stability in the culture of customer focus and persistent as well as continuous improvement towards peak level of corporate Excellency.

Those from Kenya and beyond that happened to have visited Dawood for surgical services have always testified that Dawood was humble, kind, emphatic, and very caring medic. However, phenomenology of humanity in Yusuf K. Dawood did not appertain only in practice of medicine. It was in his talent as a writer of long prose and short stories that Dawood dazzled and puzzled our understanding as human beings. Dawood was the king of sharp humour and unspeakable simplicity in use of language. He was a captivating writer. Dawood wrote stories in simple English. His short stories which had recurrent allusions from the medical world, especially the field of surgery were full of humour. This is why most of the people in Kenya met Dawood through his literary work but not hospital work.

Dawood was ever busy as a medic doctor, but still he managed to write very many spell-binding books and the Surgeon’s Dairy, a weekly column in the Sunday Nation (a publication of the National Media Group). In the world of serious prose, Dawood had so many titles on his name, some of them are; Return to Paradise (2000), Behind the Mask (1995),Water Under the Bridge (1991), Eye of the Storm (2010), The Last Word (2012), NothingBut the Truth (2002), Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1983), The price of Living (1983),One Life too Many (1983), and Off my Chest(1988) . This is just to mention but a few works by Dawood.

Personally, I was lucky to interact with Yusuf K. Dawood through his works, literary interviews and cultural conferences. I, personally recognize Dawood for his literary prowess in his book Water under Bridge.

Infinitude in literary creativity that Dawood enjoyed has been discussed by several literaryscholars in the likes of Dr. Godwin Siundu (University of Nairobi) who have done extensive research on Indo-African literature, they have severally argued in their researched publications that Yusuf K. Dawood was a resourceful literary thinker and creative worker that surpassed the times to deal with issues like gender, fallacy of masculinity, pain of rejection and cultural perspectives of marzipan through his simple worded works of fiction.

Yusuf K. Dawood is one among other literary phenomena that makes curious literary scholars to ask why medical doctors make good writers than literature graduates. Looking at this question from historical perspectives of literature you come across medics that were literary dynamos. Among them we have Lukanus (Greece slave in Rome also known as St Luke the writer of the Gospel according to Luke in the Bible), Anton Chekhov (Russian), Grace Ogot (Kenyan), Margaret Ogola (Kenyan), and Cyprian Ekwensi (Nigerian), W. Somerset Maugham (British), Lukoye Atwoli (Kenyan) and many others. It is an established literary fact that since the time of antiquities, most medics, physicians and doctors have come out to write literature, drama and poetry in the most admirable manner. Perhaps a curiousperson of our time must engage in research to explain to the human society the causative relationship between Excellency in medical education and literary productivity.

Another literary phenomenon unique nature in terms of competence among Indian writers. Personally I have always wondered about what guides Indian Writers to maintain excellence in their writing work? This is a question that have to be asked in recognition of Indian writers allover the world. The Indian Writers have always commanded simplicity that makes their literary works ever fit for human consumption. Since the times of Rabidranath Tagore, JewarlalNehru, Romesh Tulsi to the current times ofPeter Nazareth, M. G. Vassanji, V. S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Sam Selvon, Derrek Walkot, Taslin Nasreen M. M. Kaye Indian writers have commanded unique capability and talent that calls for inquisitive attention. The question is, what are these particular cultural forces that underlie such literary abilities always displayed by Indian writers?

I defined the word paragon at beginning of this article, though there are other difficult words used this article that deserve simplification. ‘Kerfuffle’ is one of them. It means buzzing here and there due to a certain event. It is some kind of public unrest. It is expected that death of cultural giants like Yusuf K. Dawood is to be met with some level of kerfuffle, especially inthe lands of their nativity. Dawood’s great life ended without any buzz, both in India where he was born and in Kenya where he has lived all his productive life as well as in the United Kingdom where he died from. I can premise or hypothesize that Yusuf K. Dawood as a red-African in Kenya could not have his death get saluted with twenty-one gun salutes and other kinds of ceremony because he is an Indian in Kenya. Black Kenyans have not yet accepted Red-Kenyans (Asians) living in Kenya as fellow brothers and sisters. There is a very huge gap created by collective feelings of otherness between black Kenyans and red-Kenyans. The gap has gradually crystallized into some kind of collective insensitivity and obliviousness between red-Kenyans and black-Kenyans.

In spite of the insensitivity, East African Indians have significantly contributed to human comfort, economic development and human dignity. Their contributions range from excellency in the corporate world to self-sacrifice in the academia. For example, Manu Chandaria has contributed immensely through his exemplary entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility welfare and quality of life in Kenya. In the same stretch, Professors IssaShivji and Mahmood Mamdani have done a lot of good towards promotion and growth of social science research in East Africa, just the same way Yash Gal Pai has done much to support growth of the rule of law in Kenya. In the industrial world, Rai family has created jobs through Rai investments in manufacturing sector in Kenya.What I mean is that the list can be long, if we can also think of Markhan Singh the trade Unionist, Rajan and Zarina Patel the Publishers of Awaaz Magazine focused on crusading for human rights in Kenya as well as Yash Tandon the Pan-Africanist Marxist Scholar un Uganda. These are clear testimonies that Indians in East Africa have all contributed towards human comfort, human dignity, economic advancement and freedom as well as human rights in East Africa.

Alexander Opicho writes from Nairobi, Kenya