Windmills of My Mind: My Nānihāl … 5

Iftikhar Husain Sahab (my Nana) had two nieces. One was Inam Khala who was married to Habibullah Sahab (a friend of my Nana). Here are their pictures.

Inam Khala

Habibullah Sahab

Inam Khala, an MLA, was an author.

Here is one of her books.

Nazré Aqeedat

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They had three sons and a daughter.

Habibullahs and their children: Ali, Inayat, Ishaat, Tazeen

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Ali Bahadur (aka as Sonny/Sunny)

He was married to Attia Hosain Kidwai

You'll hear more about her in a separate blogpost!

Attia (Baji Jania to me) was his first (maternal) cousin … although many members were upset since she was supposed to marry the next son. They have two children, Waris Hussein (a wonderful Director of TV and Films). You can read about him in the Wikipedia link. The daughter, Shama Habibullah, lives in Bombay (Mumbai) and has been involved in many films (including Gandhi).

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Inayat (aka Enayat/Enaith)

Inayat Habibullah opted for India and became a Major General. Manjhu Bhai (which is what I called him) was also a doodh-shareek bhai of my mother.

His wife, Hamida, was a very prominent parliamentarian. She died recently at the age of 102. This is her with me at a picture on one of her birthdays.

Hamida Bhabi

This was taken just after when I showed my CD-ROM of Faiz Ahmad Faiz in India at the invitation of PM Inder Kumar Gujral.

As for their three children:

Dr Nazli lives in Gurgaon and is the senior medical officer at NDTV. She was absolutely amazing whenever we met and I so wish to see her again.

Wajahat lives in India and is married to his aunt's (Tazeen Faridi) daughter, Shehla. They live in Delhi. They have 2 sons, Amar and Saif who are successful businessmen.

Wajahat, Shehla, Amar, Saif.

The youngest daughter, Rummana (nicknamed Chinky) died of Cancer rather early. She was a well known artist and is cited as one of the foremost leaders of conceptual art in India.

Chinky was married to Ishaat Hussain.

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Their youngest son lived in Karachi.

A wonderful conversationalist and always fun to hear.

Ishaat Bhai

He was married to Jehanara, an amazing lovable person,

who also wrote a delightful book that I loved.

Jehanara Bhabi

The Urdu Version of her book

Muneeza, the elder daughter, is an outstanding person in our literary world, having written several books/articles and has appeared everywhere here and abroad for her views in Literary Festivals.

Muneeza is married to Saleem Shamsie.

Saman Shamsie, their elder daughter, teaches at Karachi Grammar School and has written books for children that are well worth reading.

Saman

Here is one of her books.

Kamila Shamsie is well known internationally. Many of her books have won prizes and awards. An excellent writer, she also speaks very well at various festivals. I have always been her 'fan'.