But this is the way a gentleman dies......Today on 14th Dec 09 is the second death anniversary of my dearly departed Papa who died on Friday the 14th Dec 07 under the trust and care of a big private hospital in Karachi of Multiple Doctors syndrome Twenty years after his
superannuation from the Tax department.Born in the twenties at Ajmer, in the British Indian state of Rajputana now known as Rajasthan,in a sunni syed family. His father a graduate of aligarh muslim university(alig) was employed in the British Indian Railways at Ajmer in a managerial posts nothing serious...His Great grandfather was originally from Agra,UP and so was his Mother a distant cousin of his father.
Thanks to the British Indian Railways free travel and other fringe benefits he traveled a lot and had a summer home and a summer name.He was one of the luckiest persons I have ever seen who benefited from the partition of India.where millions lost their loved ones separated from families...most of his close friends and cousins from both cities reunited here in Karachi and remained his close and dear friend in happiness and sorrows till the end
.. I don't know if it was unfortunate or fortunate that his dearest friend and confidant..his elder sister with whom he got the earliest religious education at a neighborhood shia seminary..had a separation from his husband in india also came to live with him for the rest of her life with two very lovely kid...Thanks to the british Indian railways free travel and other benefits this elder sister was born in Agra UP...and was very proud of the fact.Papa on the other hand missed Ajmer and the shrine of Khawaja saab...and proudly showed the visitors and guest to the house the gifts and souvenirs from the shrine of Khawaja saab in Ajmer... as a child who never got to see any of the two cities for me this InterState(inter provincial) rivalry between the drawing room and the living room was very interesting and entertaining but for the visitors who were not aware of this tale of two cities it used to be very bewildering. For years their friends from the two cities tried to maintain their cultural identity like two teams playing the same game...with Papa as umpire.
At the time of Partition of India Papa was in a law school...had to leave the studies abruptly and came down to Pakistan.Traveling by the Train to Karachi they were stopped at a small station and given a small farm land.Not Interested in farming at all he went to Hyderabad to complete his studies and also got a govt job as food inspector later on he got the job as tax inspector and came to Karachi.Being a taxman in the hub of business and commercial activity he made a lot of new friends .He liked to invite people to dinners a lot and in return his friends also invited us to dinners and weddings.He was very fond of good food...He loved Pakistani and chinese food.I never saw him drink at home or at the parties.He used to make sure that drinks will not be served before accepting an invitations.I am not sure what he used to do at the Official and National day parties thrown by the foreign missions...especially the US and British consulates...he used to attend in the early days...later on when his younger brother died he cut down on his social activities.Few years later when I was born the mourning ended and life begin to return to the taxman's household.He often call me the lucky one and loved me dearly.The parties I got the opportunity to attend with him were merely Eat&run weddings parties of family and friends.His family and friends got richer and richer so the simple wedding parties begin to turn into lavish extravagant things...with multiple course lavish dinners...I never saw him smoke either he hated smoking and was allergic to second hand smoke.Always discouraged me and everybody else from smoking...
I also never saw him with any woman other than my mother or heard any complains from my mother. He never had woman troubles which is a rare thing for a taxman...and yet on the day he died the house was full of women ..sisters, aunts,cousins,neighbors,friends..everyone in grief,sad and crying...
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