Mr. Roomi is an accomplished person of many talents. Alongside his distinguished and long career as a government bureaucrat, he has been a poet, a radio star, and an organizer of literary events in Pakistan. He has continued these activities now in Chicago, and is invited to numerous poetry recitals (mushaira). Very active in the Urdu literary scene in the Chicago area, he also writes for Urdu language local papers. While most of his time is taken up in supporting his wife’s boutique and fashion store on Devon Avenue, he also volunteers his time and talents to a neighborhood community organization called ZAM’s Hope. Mr. Roomi is one of the people integral to the social life of the South Asian community in the Devon neighborhood. Mr. Roomi was raised in the city of Kasur in the Punjab province of Pakistan. At an early age he moved to Karachi for further education. Karachi is where he secured employment and worked for most of his illustrious career. Many of his family and childhood friends who he visited every year live in Punjab. Now, many of his siblings are in the US, as are his children. Text by Salman Hussain |
Chicago area Urdu literary scene.
Daily routine.
On the history of Devon Avenue.
Devon Avenue's economic and cultural diversity, and South Asian food.
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