Mohsina Kidwai writes about her encounter with two members of the Nehru-Gandhi family and her father-in-law's views on religious leaders campaigning for politicians.
Remembering Mohammad Anwar, Mehmood Jamal and Irfan Hussain
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February 24, 2021
LATE MOHAMMAD ANWAR: Life in exile is an excruciating experience. Its bitter taste is only known to people who have suffered it. The parting of the company is unbearable and hurtful when one himself is at the fag end of his innings when those with whom one had ‘sweet and sour’ relations running over decades without much of misunderstanding back to the Creator to whom we all have to return to account for our lives here and hereafter.
When I heard the tragic news of Anwar Bhai’s death the other day, I could not believe it. Just a few days back I had a chat with him on phone and we promised to meet over a cup of coffee as soon Covid restrictions were relaxed. Cruel Death took him away before we could deliberate on ‘halat-e-hazra’ (current situation). We shared two different schools of political thoughts as manifested in PPP and MQM. I also knew him to be son–in-law of late Barrister
Mahmood Jamal 1947-2020. Photo courtesy author
On Dec 23, 2020, the poet, screenwriter and film producer Mahmood Jamal passed away at London’s Royal Free Hospital. He had been receiving treatment for prostate cancer, and had been admitted for investigations after intestinal bleeding was discovered. There he was diagnosed with Covid-19, placed in intensive care and, after a few days, died.
Mahmood was the second son of Maulana Jamal Mian of Farangi Mahal (d. 2012) and the grandson of Maulana Abdul Bari (d. 1926), a leader of the Khilafat Movement. His mother was Asar, daughter of Shah Hayat Ahmed, the Sajjada Nasheen of Rudauli Sharif in Bara Banki, Awadh.
The Inimitable Saeeda Bano Lived Her Life Off The Beaten Track Book review
Off the Beaten Track is the last hurrah of Saeeda Bano who managed to live life on her own terms even in the midst of rampant male narcissism.
The inimitable Saeeda Bano was the first female news reader at All India Radio (AIR) since 1947. She was affectionately called Bibi.
Born in 1913 in Bhopal, Bibi blames Lucknow for some of the woes she was forced to face in life. The suffocation that women felt in Lucknow then was due to deep rooted conservative values that were followed blindly unlike her life in Bhopal.