To catch this guy, commonly known as Aaroh because of the band that he associated with, though he is its lead vocalist but does not possess this name as his own. So where was I? Yes, catching up this guy is one bit of an adventure. "I'll turn up today," Fine by me, at the eleventh hour I am informed by him "Could it be a bit late, need to meet my friend who's leaving today." No junction, no pauses, I call it off for today. "Tomorrow would do." That's my assertion.

Next day turns up and he never picks up my phone call. Ahh….this guy surely doesn't want to meet me, jokes aside, lets just drop the idea altogether, I tell myself firmly. That's exactly what I'd do. But by threeish in the afternoon, I receive one phone call, which asserts "I am on my way." Good for you, bad for me. But where is the guy, after half an hour goes by, still waiting patiently and no signal from his side; I jump up the bandwagon and venture down to my office. With two of my junior colleagues to keep me company; I wait. Another call comes stating boldly, "Are you the one with the blue dupatta on your head." Well, that's right that's me. "But where are you?" is what I want to know. "Well, at least I can see you, I am in the car which is next to the mobile shop." "Wrong, I am standing just opposite it and you are nowhere in sight." Then my eyes look around for awhile. Oh, yes, there's a guy sitting at a distance in a silver Alto speaking on his mobile phone. "Oh, so there you are. What are you waiting for, let's get ahead with the interview."

So he comes by, alongwith his friend whom I meet. The friend goes off in the car and the Aaroh guy or for that matter Farooq Ahmed his original name, comes in my cozy office and we talk.

Loose jeans, a blue T-shirt with 'Math genius' inscribed on it; my first question is "Are you a math genius?" "Oh, yes, I have always been. But why do you ask." I point at his T-shirt, he chuckles and since the ice has already broken, we start off with a nice interview. Brought up in Karachi, schooling took place at three different schools namely, PAF Mauripur Base, St. Patrick's and St. Michael's. Says he comes from a very close knit family, altogether he has two siblings, and what 's more he has recently tied the knot, to a ravishing beauty - Konpol.

Enough on personal level, I trot towards professional questions. So how exactly did he think of joining the music scene in Pakistan. "First things first, I always liked music. It runs in my family, so this comes directly in my genes to venture in this field; my family has always been supportive of the fact that I sing. More so my father has been a staunch supporter of me pursuing music as a career. His moral support itself has allowed me to venture in this field."

Ok, no family pressure to make him quit, led him to stay on and move ahead in the music field. So when exactly was it. "I think I was 15 and we were visiting United States, there in a shopping mall I did sing a rap song Vanilla Ice-Ice with my cousin Taimur Durrani. Later, listening to my voice over and over again, I came to know that I really could sing. This prompted me to sing." So the association is quite old. "Oh no. Even older, you see I am one person who has used each and every musical instrument and have known how to play it, well since childhood." Awesome, I'd rather not say much on music, the guy knows a lot.

But one song that he really liked was Dr. Feel Good off beat Motley Crue. This stuck his brain cells strongly and he started taking music seriously. Next in line came Metallica, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen. In 1993, the year his listening expanded when Metallica's Black was one song that he fell in love with. It became the ultimate Muse of Music for Farooq to grow his music talent.

Then came his knowledge of Def Leopard. His strong passion for singing grew and Farooq went ahead with his singing performances. But, keeping his father's ideals of studying, he kept the torch burning for educational qualification also, as far as taking his A-levels examinations were concerned. He studied studiously. So serious was he about his studies that he did not touch the guitar strings for those six to eight months, and kept his pledge till the very last day of his examination.

His romance with music was so strong, and the burning fire of passion was flicking within him, that he would more often than not touch the guitar case just to make sure the instrument lay in safely. Interestingly, he scratched all 'B's in his examinations. With being accepted in Lyceum, he studied there for a short while before venturing abroad for further studies.

With this intention, he left for England. At the South Devon College, where he got admission, he became even more interested in music than any other subject. Ian Scott who taught him music there was highly impressed by the way he worked wonders in understanding musical tones, lyrics, and rhymes. So practically where Scott taught him music in-depth, at home Farooq would try and study musical tones, theoretically.

Since then there has been no looking back, Farooq has become a keen swimmer at this sport, so much so that today, he claims he performs the best of U2, _____Live. Assessing himself he says, "Allow me to play U2 songs in front of the U2 band. I can vouch for the fact I will give in my best performance."

So how exactly was Aaroh band formed? He says "It was Pepsi---Battle of the Band, that launched us; hence Aaroh was formed." Deep inside himself, he knew one thing while competing, "If this competition is fair, we will surely win." Keeping glued to his firm belief, the band undoubtedly won the top slot.

That was the primary step towards the group formation. Besides Farooq the rest of the band members included Nabeel, Kami, Eddie and Khalid. Slow and steady, the band kept on performing Live at many concerts and shows etc. Till the time came when things suddenly fell apart with only Khalid as his true friend. But in gaining new heights of fame and fortune, the band has been reshuffled and today, some of the members have been replaced with Farooq as the lead vocalist, Khalid on Base, Jason on Drums and Haider plays Guitars.

His hobbies include reading spiritual books such as Think and Grow Rich, One Minute Millionaire, Eight Habits and Success Principles.

So what about the future? "An album in three to four moths time period." At the moment he is busy in contributing as much as he can for the earthquake victims especially in the Hazara Division. With a fund raising concert for the victims of the calamity that struck certain parts of the country, he plans to rock Karachi Live. Let us see what and how secure his next move turns out to be.