Photographs by Saajid Husani
National Director of three pageants: Miss and Mrs India Guyana and Miss Global International, Hashim Alli finally sat down with The Scene to speak of his passion for entertainment and culture and his journey from reserved to where he is today.
Hashim’s academic life began at Prospect Nursery School and continued with him attending Eccles Primary, Richard Ishmael Secondary and the Cambridge University. As a boy, Hashim was an introvert and part of a close-knit family for whom attending mosque was a huge part of life. He is still a devout Muslim and with Ramadan having just commenced, is currently fasting. His rare involvement in school activities was confined to a handful of spelling bees and the Christmas concert during his time at primary school. He went on to become the head of the Indian Society in secondary school never at all imagining that it would be the first of many to come.
Having grown up in Little Diamond, Hashim would accompany friends from his village to dance rehearsals looking on as they practiced. Whether he secretly desired to be among them onstage he never said. However, one day when one of the dancers didn’t show he was asked to fill in. His friends and the choreographer were so delighted with his performance that he was encouraged to take up dancing and so he did. Being shy, dancing was a huge accomplishment for him. It allowed him to better express himself and aided in him becoming a more social and disciplined individual. He was the first one in his family to take up the art form.
