In every family, if one is lucky, there appears a figure so marvellously singular, so steeped in wisdom and warmth that he becomes a sort of personal North Star. Rasheed Ahmed Akhund was such a man; measured, principled and enigmatic. A man who, like the best of us, lived not for show but for substance. He belonged to a dwindling class of men who thought deeply, spoke sparingly and forgave quietly.