My Nānihāl … 3

As I had written earlier (and am repeating it again in this post) Nana Jan's and Nani Jan's children were: Shamim (died young) -  Vasim, Married to Asad Ali Qidwai (No children) - Kishwar. Married to Azhar Kidvai (they had Kehkeshan died as an infant, and Me) - Syed Arif. Married to Safiya. (No children) - Syed Asaf.  Married to Sarwar (Amir, Khalid, Nuzhat, Tariq, Belal, Shariq).

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Abi, Ammi Jan (my Khāla), Me, Abbu Jan (my Khālü), Ummi

My parents and my khāla/khālu have been mentioned several times in this blog as well as in my other blogposts in Koee Mayray Dil Say Poochay so you can look at those posts there.

Arif & Safiya (Mamooñ Sahab & Mammi Jan)
Sarwar & Asaf (Jan Mammi & Mamooñ Jan)

Mamooñ Sahab was my favourite Mamooñ probably because I had always seen him even after coming to Pakistan when he'd visit us or I would, occasionally, go to his house after school. He was a classmate of Syed Mohammad Jafri and Shaukat Thanvi and often came to our house with Jafri Sahab whose poems I always loved.

Mamooñ Jan lived in India so I was not in touch until he finally shifted to Pakistan a year after Mamooñ Sahab died (on 19th March 1955). That was the day when Aqeel (Kirmani) Bhai (son of Shahabuddin Kirmani) was to get married … but the wedding had to be postponed. My father took Mamooñ Sahab to the military hospital and was asked (strangely) to sign the death certificate as a Doctor because the doctors there refused to sign it. This has been a source of worry to me, always.

Mamooñ Jan came here after his elder brother died and Ammi Jan (mainly) insisted that he come here. So he arrived here in 1956 and lived here. Mammi Jan always remembered India and they all used to travel to Delhi where her family was … until perhaps it was no longer possible.

Amir, Khalid, Tariq, Shariq, Nuzhat, Belal

Amir married Nuzhat (aka Nukki and was always called that because Amir's sister - my wife - had the same name). His children are Ali bin Amir and Ayesha binté Amir.

Khalid married his cousin, Sajeda, She left for India fairly soon after Khalid's death. No children.

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Our Wedding

Nuzhat and I got married on May 8th 1970 … and had a really quiet 50th Wedding Anniversary this year, thanks to COVID-19 :) Maybe we'll have a party some day if this problem ever goes away.

Shariq, Mufti Sahab (Me!), Tariq, Belal, Amir, Khalid
Nuzhat, Mamooñ Jan, Jan Mammi, Ali bin Amir, Nuzhat Amir, Sajeda Khalid

Here is our whole group. Because I had long hair, Ghulam Farid Sabri - the elder brother of our wonderful Qavvāls, the Sabri Brothers group - always called me Sufi Sahab.

Khalid who died early - Missed by all of us!

Khalid died on December 10th, 1977

He was in and out of the hospital several times with a constant pain in his head. His Brain Biopsy (the piece had to be sent to UK to test) had said he had a Tumor that was not touching his Brain. There was no reason to worry. Medication would put him right.

Dr. Juma, a brilliant Brain Surgeon, was his Doctor, initially. He had soon left JPMC and was replaced by Dr Bhatti, who didn't agree to the Brain Biopsy result and decided that he was going to operate.

Dr Juma came back and visited his old patients. I was there and Khalid spoke to him. Dr. Juma said to me that there was no need for an operation at all and he would talk to Dr. Bhatti.

Two days later, while I was bathing at Mamooñ Jan's home, Shariq came and said Khalid was very ill and we should get there. The rest of the family was already there. Nuzhat and I left with Shariq.

I jumped over the wall at JPMC and entered his room. I was told that his feet were turning blue. I looked around. There was Dr. Bhatti, a couple of nurses, and two assistants there. I noticed that the breathing tube that was going into Khalid's mouth had a doctor's foot covering it. I shouted and said this ... but no one listened. I was then told a few minutes later that Khalid had passed away.

The next morning Dr. Juma phoned up and said that Khalid had been killed but we should not go to court as they will go through this several times and Khalid's parents will have to listen to all this and cry all the time. We'd never win the case because people will say parents always worry. There will be nurses, assistants, and Dr. Bhatii who will be there to deny that all this ever happened. 

We never said this to his parents, because it would hurt them a lot more. Throughout their lives they lived thinking how terrible it was to lose a son.

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Tariq is married to Zarafshan. His children are Summaiya and Onaisa.

Belal is married to his cousin, Nusrat. No children.

Shariq was married and is now divorced. His son is Rayan.

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Newborn Daughter

Our daughter now lives in Brooklyn and has a child who is just over 6 months old. We were there when they was born. Now we get to see them only on the screen. He is named Meka Elijah and his nickname is Beanz (because of his mother's great love for Sabeen Mahmud who had that nickname).

Meka Elijah Beanz on his First Eed

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