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'.

Kamila

Here is a book of hers that you must read …

but that's unfair. You must read all her books.

You can find most of Kamila's books here

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The younger daughter of Ishaat Bhai is Naushaba.

Naushaba

Naushaba with her children: Saad, Samirah

Saad and Samirah live with her in Montreal.

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For the daughter of the Habibullahs, Tazeen Faridi,

I will blogpost again next week.

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Have aliens from space visited us?

Larry King's 11 year old interview is

 Shermer on Larry King Live with the UFOlogists 

It has people that I wouldn't disagree with

as they range from Presidents, Governors, an Astronaut

(who was the second person to walk on the moon),

and many others that include witnesses.

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There is also Michael Shermer, a leading Skeptic,

among the panel. Always an important person to listen to.

(He is also the editor of Skeptic, a magazine well worth reading).

He has objections to the standard story and wants evidence.

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A documentary, Out of the Blue,

and subtitled

The Definitive Investigation on UFOs

is narrated by Peter Coyote

and many of you maybe familiar with him.

Most people think it's the best film in this genre!

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There are, of course, objections by many serious people

about all these being 'conspiracy theories'

and they are mainly right.

But not all of them can be right, either.

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One theory that is almost always mentioned

is that the Governments are hiding a secret 

and don't want it out in public view

because it would create a panic.

Some say that beings outside our planet

would create a religious panic:

Why would the 'Son of God' appear just on Earth?

Christianity would then be wrong.

But that's no help, really.

Apart from the fact that hundreds of religions

and their sub-sects don't even accept that

Jesus was the 'Son of God'.

They do not even have him in their 'texts'.

In Abrahamic Religions only 2 of the 3

accept him but only one accepts him as God's Son.

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And what about Buddhists who have no God?

Why wouldn't they announce it if they knew this.

And Hindus, with their several gods

- who came from the sky - would accept this, too.

And so would Communists.

Their Atheism has no such problem.

And Scientologists would actually love it!

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One of the great pieces that I recall

was the The Walton Affair:

Woodworker Travis Walton was 'abducted',

in the presence of his friends.

Many though he'd been murdered by a friend

and the others were spinning a story.

Travis was discovered a few days later,

by a phone booth from where he contacted

a friend who was with him during the 'abduction'.

In 1993 a film Fire In The Sky was made about him.

(Do watch it! The scenes in the UFO are a treat!)

As Wikipedia stated, some people said this was a hoax.

Shermer criticized Walton's claims, saying

"I think the polygraph is not a reliable determiner of truth.

I think Travis Walton was not abducted by aliens.

In both cases, the power of deception and self-deception

is all we need to understand what really happened in 1975.

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However, you can now watch

Tarvis - The True Story of Travis Walton

and make up your own mind.

This is Travis many years later confirming

that his story is true and 100% right!

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[BTW, Tubi is a great place to watch some films for free.

But do remember that these are films.

Some are, naturally, based on true stories

but the rest are great fictions, too.]

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