ACQAINTENCES ASSSOSIATES AND FRIENDS
Among the many writings on 'National Movement' one theme which is propagated is that during the freedom struggle India as a Nation was ' in making '. Prior to that it was a loose federation, a mere geographical entity. The founding fathers evolved it as a Nation. Then there was the famous theory of Jinnah and Iqbal-- the 'two Nation' theory. With the recent happenings in Assam and Mumbai the debate on the 'cause of the problem' arises again. Have we as a Nation failed to integrate /amalgamate?
Despite the numerous social contradictions and conflicts and many issues remaining unresolved such as the matter of caste, gender bias,regional conflicts we have moved ahead in a democratic manner and to some extend the power of vote, reservations in jobs and in Parliament have provided some hope and relief. At least the conflicts are not violent. However when such violent incidents occur the questions are raised regarding the differences between the two communities, the creation of Pakistan, and also of loyalty to the Nation etc.
My experience and analysis is that we may have differences , but we have more in common, it is in the mutual interest that we propagate our common heritage , the most prominent being our fight against the British during '
the first 'war of independence'. It was the Golden period of Hindu-Muslim unity. Thereafter, the British systematically kept us away and the separate electorate under 'Morley-Minto' reforms was a big blow . However we have examples of bigger and violent conflicts among Hindus the story of 'Mahabharat' being one , which in essence is fight for private property between cousins!
But, here I wish to go back to my past and ponder over the acquaintance association and friendship I have had with the Muslims. The first point is very clear, none of my associationwas by design, it just happened during the course of my journey from childhood to youth., as it would happen with persons of other communities, organizations and religion.. Here I go.....
Shahid. It all started in Dehradun, the tonga which took us to school was owned by Shahid, the bearded Pathan from western UP his white mare ( Ghori) was the fastest and smartest among all the tongawallas and it took us to St' Joseph's at Rajpur road from Lakshman chowk negotiating the narrow and steep lanes of Khurbura via cannaught place and Ghanta ghar. Often there would be an impromptu race as we approached the school and invariably we won with children cheering joyfully. We were at least ten to twelve children of varying sizes and competed with each other for a seat in the front row , sometimes when Shahid was in good mood he would make one of us sit on the driver's seat ( a side seat ) and sometimes he allowed us to handle the leash ( lagaam). I was with him for four years , from class II to V , with his flowing beard and well chiseled nose , Shahid was an impressive personality.
Yusuf. The scene shifts to Allahabad ,how I and my brother met Yusuf is an interesting episode clear in my mind. We were waiting outside our school ( St' Joseph's) looking around to hire a rickshaw to return home when suddenly a boy appeared and confronted me for something which occurred between him and me during the school hours, while I was trying to pacify him my younger brother did not wait for the matter to end , he came forward and lifted the boy by his neck and threw him on the ground, the astonishing part was that my brother was almost half the size of the chap he flung on ground; while I was dumbstruck it was Yusuf ( an old rickshaw walla)who was observing from nearby; and was very impressed with the courage and wrestling skills of my brother and immediately volunteered to take us home . Since then he became regular, in fact in his off time he would just hang around our residence and often chatted with my grand father. He was a wise old man with a square chin and was compelled to pull rickshaw even in old age to meet his ends . Later we learnt that his son was employed in the household of Shri Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, the congress leader who was also the Chief minister of U P. The family did see some prosperity. I still remember the peculiar phrase which Yusuf used to utter to describe anything odd or strange in a person – 'jhampar rishtu and lampat bhon', we laughed and it was a common joke among us, and later adopted in our colloquial vocabulary.
The three teachers at St' Joseph's, Allahabad. Kazmi Saab,was our sports
teacher and he was impressed of my hockey skills, though he himself was a
cricket player. I was good at hockey and represented not only my school but the Allahabad region as well. Kazmi Saab being an ex-student knew the pulse of the students and was often called upon to discipline some trouble creators, in which I too was included, but he was quite understanding though his very presence with biryani belly was of a toughie . We too played our pranks and were never a threat to the system , though our class x- c was always in news. I met Kazmi Saab, regularly after I had completed school as my brother was still there, as always he was helpful and understanding. I can never forget the sports room full of sports gear, hardly lit , items spilling all over and his office was also housed there ; a privilege few teachers had. And then there was one fraud who entered school teaching faculty based of false certificates, Mr Hussain was probably his name, he dressed shabbily and spoke with a queer accent and was lacking in confidence and competence and was nick named R D Bottle ( relative density) by our class, he taught us physics. One day Father Rego found out his true credentials and literally pushed him out of the school. The next teacher , Mr Javed was tall, lanky and well dressed and always wore a suitable jacket and tie, there was much sophistication in him, he taught well too. He had completed his masters and was awaiting the results of the I A S . Once I and my class mate visited him in Muslim Boarding house near the university where he resided, to inquire of our physics marks, it was afternoon and he was resting , his bed was on the floor , books lying all over, a surahi in one corner. He just turned his head and asked us of our purpose, and we asked him of our marks and I remember he immediately said 76; my friend too got good marks , we were thrilled, thanked him , rushed down to our bicycle and peddled back home. He was soon selected in the I A S and left us, he was made for higher things!
Sadar Bazaar. The Sadar Bazaar near Ashok Nagar was part of cantonment area, it has remained the same since I visited it first .Our Barber resided there ( I fail to recollect his name). Very polished , soft spoken I looked forward to visiting him and engaging him in conversation to hear his chaste Urdu.. He was there with us in good times and sad times , he was there for my nephew's mundan , he was there on my father's death. I continued to visit him on my vacations to the city and he would request me to find a job for his son in Mumbai and I would always dissuade him from leaving his native place for I knew that once one leaves his town for Mumbai it is difficult to return. His son continues to occupy his shop, the world has changed but not Sadar near
cantonment.
Asif Ali. My friend Asif Ali and I were together in school and then later in
B A . Asif was tall , well built with dark round face. He played hockey and in fact we both were in the school team. He once remarked that for a Muslim it was of no use excelling in hockey as they would never get a chance to represent the Indian team , I did not agree with him and did not take his comment seriously. I do not know whether he was serious or voicing the general perception. Asif ,was original and had mastered the art of matching the colours of Rubik's cube,he was so good at it that he wrote a book too on the subject, I am told by my friends. In B A we were together in the economics class, it was one of the rare subjects where girls and boys had a combined class. Mr D K Ghosh and Mrs Rajul Mathur were our teachers who taught us economic theory and Indian economy respectively and they encouraged participation of students. Asif who was a back bencher in school, however was always well dressed and was well prepared for the economics class and would reply to any query promptly giving no chance to other volunteers! We all wanted to impress the girls who sat huddled in the front rows , but it was only Asif who made sincere efforts! His father was a Lawyer and my father had met him being in the same profession, his name was Sharafat Ali and resided in Rajapur. My father had said that Sharafat Ali sahab was Sharif, true to his name; once when he visited him he found Asif pressing his father's feet, so he came back quite impressed. I have learnt from my class mates that he is in Canada and doing well. The image of Asif Ali coolly peddling his cycle , his hockey tucked behind, often returns to me when ever I think of my school days.
Bollywood calling. Then there were at least two Muslim boys whom I remember were in class viii . I am bad with names but the episode I never forget. Suddenly for many days one of them did not attend class, there was this rumour that he has run away to Bombay to try his luck in films. He was indeed tall, fair and well built and would have got some work on his mere looks. But, he returned soon. . His story which he told me was that he was traveling to Lucknow by train and some fellow passenger offered him some 'pakodas' and he lost consciousness there after they took him away to a remote place which he does not remember anything. When he returned to his senses he managed to escape from their clutches. We all knew that he had made up the story. He also showed me a scar on his hand as proof of his tussle with the kidnappers ; he said that it was a knife wound and I nodded my head.
Hasan. The picture of Hasan, in commanding posture, as school captain is retained with me, the power which he emanated with his mere presence was effective. Hasan was in green house and I think he wore spectacles, but he was tough , the way he walked and uttered sentences in measured tone and bore military style and probably that is why he was made the school captain eliminating Goel from blue house, who perhaps was better than Hasan in academics , but the decision of Father Rego was always well considered and he knew to pick talent . It was not that he was in command mode at all times, I found him in lighter mood also. Once he acted very cheeky with one of the lady teachers during the Annual school fete . The lady teacher was in charge of one of the stalls and Hasan approached the stall and in his typical robust style said ' Madam aapka rate kya hai' apparently he was asking for the price of the items in the stall, but it was such a loaded statement that even I who was standing at the stall was shocked. I expected fireworks and the lady to blow up and bring the school captain to mother earth, but the lady smiled and said ' my rate or rate of the item? And then Hasan corrected himself and the situation was saved . Assessing now I think the lady teacher reacted in the most mature fashion, saving her own modesty and restoring the position of the school captain; had such an incident occurred in today’s times Hasan would have been thrown out of the school. I would always inquire of him whenever I visited Allahabad. He did Law and to my surprise was practicing in the lower courts despite High Court being at Allahabad.. Then one day I learn t that he was no more . I never expected an ordinary life for Hasan; but such is life!
Javed. Javed was an odd ball. We were together in class xii at Govt Inter College Allahabad. I never got along with him, but I was hardly in the class, most times I was playing hockey. I would often pull his leg in the class and never took his warnings seriously, but actually he took all that to heart! One day he showed me a knife tucked inside his pant, this was just to caution me probably, but I laughed it out. Then one day I was late for college and was entering the premises from the Medical college side , when he confronted me with another chap . While javed had the knife his companion carried a cycle chain. Their plan was to hold me and attack with the knife; but somehow I pulled out of their clutches and rushed to the school where the assembly was in session. I sighted my friend Manjeet and along with him and other class mates we rushed back to catch Javed and his accomplice, but they had vanished. This was one serious attempt to injure me, but I got away, one regret was that my new shirt was torn.
Naqui Sir. I have been poor in Science and Maths so I failed in my first attempt at Intermediate. To this day I regret as to why I opted for science , I should have taken Arts, played hockey and passed without pain. But next year I had to take help by way of tuition, so we contacted Naqvi sir who was known to be good in science and maths tuitions, and had helped many shaky science candidates in the past. He taught me the subjects for three months and I passed intermediate in second class and since never looked back at science. I visited him once at his residence near Sadar bazaar near cantonment. He lived modestly and his source of income was from tuitions. Then he got a teaching job in Assam and I saw him off at station as he boarded the Tinsukhia mail from Allahabad. I often wondered that why a competent and qualified person like him had to seek such remote occupation? Little did I realize at that time that merit and achievement are not necessarily linked ;we were young and intoxicated in idealism , then.
Bari Tailor. The challenge was to look smart with limited resources. Bari tailor of chowk, solved this problem. He was my stylist as well as tailor. During college days in late seventies there was this craze for foreign jeans and jackets as Indian brands were yet to emerge, but denim and other thick material cloth was available which compensated my desire to have long sleeves shirt with flaps or a stylish jacket . All this was under the influence of western actors and our own Dev saab and Dharmendra. Bari would also give his own suggestions in designing my clothes made out of the locally available low priced cloth and it gave me a lot of happiness to flaunt my creations among friends. At no time did Bari discourage me or mock my suggestions, he would just smile and was confident of the outcome, however since he was much in demand I had to wait for longer period but I was not discouraged. His shop was at one end of chowk and I had to cycle almost 12 km , but it was worth it. How I discovered him I do not remember but I lost contact with him when I left Allahabad and then with the surge of ready made garments flooding the Indian market the craftsmen such as Bari tailor of Allahabad lost out. He was such a refined gentleman both in his work and dealings.
Zafar Alam Nomani. Nomani was my friend in university . Thin , dark and lanky , he wore spectacles. He would constantly look down while cycling and was lost in his thoughts. Our ideas were romantic and we shared left ideology. In our discussions, debates we would veer the conversation toward our ideology and exhort our other friends to support the left cause, even though we were not members of any group. During those days like me , Nomani too was Dev Anand's avid fan and we did see 'Hum-Dono' at Niranjan and 'Funtoosh' at Jhankar together. He lived in the Railways residential quarters near civil lines, we graduated together, I was in touch with him during my vacations but soon lost contact. Recently I learnt from my brother that he was a lawyer at Allahabad, I shall meet him during my next visit to Allahabad, it will not be difficult to identify him even in a crowd, Nomani with his chashma and frown.
Arshad and Chiku. Arshad and Chiku were brothers and I got to know them through my friend Ranjit Dutta. They lived behind the Y M C A and we often played cricket together at YMCA grounds much to the annoyance of their administration who expected approvals, but Arshd's Mamu also played with us could pacify the YMCA people . The brothers were full of pranks and Arshad was known for blowing long farts , which he even recorded as prized possession. Once I along with the two brothers went to witness a test match at Kanpur between India and Pakistan; to my surprise I found them cheering for Pakistan, though I was taken a back then but now I understand such sentiments after witnessing Indians in England cheering for The Indian cricket team even though most of them were British citizens. One interesting incident I remember even now; the brothers had taught the child of their servant the choicest of abuses, some very typically Allahabadi. On the arrival of a friend the child would be asked to perform and the boy would rattle out the abuses with such sincerity and innocence completely unknowing of its meaning but provided an original entertainment to all of us . Later I learnt the brothers migrated to U S.
Rufi. Rufi was a shy guy who stayed in Bahadurganj. I came to know him through my neighbor Deepak Dhawan. He was tall, a little plump, always appropriately dressed and possessed refined expressions. Like all of us he too sought association of girls and looked forward to the jam sessions which we managed to organize periodically. He was shy to approach any girl for dance but admired them from distance, we called him 'balcony' party. However he provided us home made 'mutton- biryani' which was delicious and all of us looked forward to it. Rufi too was proud of it and would say in his chaste urdu- ' biryani aisee banegi ki aap juban pe rakhenge aaur wo aap ki halak se nikal kar sidha knoon ban jayegi' ( the quality of biryani will be such that the moment you will put it in your mouth and it moves down your throat it will transform into blood).What I gather is that he continues to be in his furniture business at Allahabad.
Computer Ali and Nassem. Finally there are are two barbers whom I know in Mumbai since last thirty years- Computer Ali and Naseem. On my arrival in Mumbai when I visited the Barber shop in my locality and as per habit inquired the name of the person who was attending my hair I was amused to learn that his name was Computer Ali, therefore even then such innovative names were kept by the village community, and names such as 'Definite' and 'Perpendicular' ( Gangs of Wassepur )came much later . Probably that was the time when computer machines might have landed in India and the rural folk would have been impressed by its potential and power and named their new arrivals after it. A rapport was established with him and his cousin Naseem . Both are from Handia tehsil , of Allahabad district. Their income is not sufficient to allow them to bring the family to Mumbai, therefore they periodically visit Allahabad and alternate each other at work on most occasions. From them I receive feedback on Allahabad, its heat, lack of power supply and dependence on inverter by those who can afford the investment, during my recent interaction I was told that this time the rains have been good and so they are expecting a good harvest , even the local river rose to unexpected level. The conservation of forest has brought in the influx of Neelgais who eat away the fully ready harvest and nothing much can be done to prevent them. I learn that on no occasion the two have been able to get a confirmed reservation in train, so they obtain waiting ticket and travel on the floor of the reserved compartment after tipping the T C , such has been their journey home.
The above are few of my 'Muslim – connections'. These were pleasant memorable associations which arose out of circumstances and were not planned. I never felt the 'two nation' aspect with any one of them There was mutual trust and my association with them was never guarded and was as clear as it was with any Indian citizen. I sincerely believe that we have much in common to celebrate and we not even have common history , but culture too. Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Dagar brothers, Sahir , Kaifi ,Majrooh, the Bolywood Khans and our dear Ghalib, have provided me emotional sustenance and like me to many others
