books daduji abdullah malik

8/10/2019 Books Daduji Abdullah Malik

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Omar ji koye gup shup sunaoo, are the words I heard and, as I looked up, therehe was in his off-white boski ka kurta and old traditional white pajama, gazing atme with a twinkle in his eyes. He sat down in front of me, as he always did, andwe chatted about everything that we always chatted about and suddenly I felt myson Muhammad kissing me and I got up from my encounter with Dadabu.

The entire day I sat in the veranda of my house on the border of Model Town inLahore and tried to doze off into the same dream. I live in my ancestral house,which is home not only to me but also to memories of a Pakka Lahori. Thisinstitution was my Dadabu, or Dada-Abu (Grandfather), the late Abdulla Malik (or

Malik Sahib, as he was known), a mentor, supporter and we ll-wisher of many ofPakistans eminent journalists, poets, literary and POLITICAL personalities. Hestarted from humble beginnings he was the last of the comrades and althoughhe lived long enough to see the demise of the Soviet Union and the dismantling of

communism, to his dying day he did not waver in his faith in socialism and in itspower to provide justice to the deprived and the disinherited.

Abdulla Malik with communist leader Sajjad Zaheer and others

He did not waver in his faith in socialism

Dadabu had the ingredients of a true Lahori. A journalist and POLITICALhistorian, he didnt take an active part in politics but, as his friend the late HamidAkhter Sahib (died October 16,2011) used to say about him: Abdullah is the onewho brings warriors to his Gol Kamra [drawing room], cleans them, briefs them

on political war strategies and tactics and sends them off to the battle field.

Dadabu used to say, Hamari sab se shanasai hai, (I am in touch witheveryone,) and true it was. His friends included the poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, the
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historian Syed Sibt-e-Hassan, the lawyer Ijaz Bitalwi and the writer and activistHamid Akhter. He was also friends with Altaf Gohar, I.A. Rehman, KishwarNaheed and Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan. He had the capacity to befriend the veryyoung, the young and the not-so-young alike.

It is said that there is a special relationship between a grandson and hisgrandfather. My relationship with him fits the saying. I spent my college life inLahore with him while my parents were posted in Faisalabad. Dadabu was afriend, supporter, motivator, critic and now, when I look back, I realize that hewas my link to the most inspirational people I know of today. He always said,

Omar ji, waqt insan ko sab sikha deta hai, (Time teaches one everything),adding that I would see the good and the bad of the world with time.

With long time close friend Khalid Hassan

Some of the pe ople Faiz chose as his friends caused him much unhappiness

Abdullah Malik was a Kakkaizai Pathan. He was not averse to a fight, and hewould go to any length to defend his friends. One such friend and someone herespected a lot was Faiz Ahmad Faiz (d. 1984). I always knew about his strongemotional connection with Faiz Sahib. In 2001, the late Ahmed Nadeem Qasimi (d.2006) wrote an article of about 32 pages in Mr. Atta Ul Haq Kasmis quarterlymagazine Muasar International in which he said some things about Faiz that were

not accurate. Dadabu was incensed. How dare he write incorrect things aboutFaiz! said Dadabu, sitting in his white shalwar and boski ka kurta in the veranda.He thought of writing a reply, which then became a series of hard-hitting articles.In a letter dated May 30 th, 2001, to the late Khalid Hassan in Washington, D.C.he wrote, I am planning to write a few more articles to disprove all the untruths

Qasimi has told. Some of the people Faiz chose as his friends and some of thosein whom he placed his trust caused him much unhappiness, but I am happy that Iwas the first in this crusade in defense of Faiz. Perhaps we have repaid the

DEBT we owed him. It has also given Faiz a new life.

Dadabu was a natural dastango or storyteller. At the age of 81, he wrote PuraniMehfilain Yaad aa Rahi Hein (I Remember the Gatherings of Yore), an account ofthe first twenty-seven years (1920-1947) of his life. Dedicated to his children,daughters-in-law and grandchildren, this is an invaluable history of my family andmy city.


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Abdulla Malik and Faiz Ahmad Faiz

He writes, I was born in the last years of the second decade of the 20th century,on 20 th October 1920 in Lahores Koocha Chabukswaran, which was located inthe heart of the city. Relying on my earliest memories, I can say that all thestreets around ours, and in fact our immediate neighbourhood, the area bazars,

the mosques, the takiyas, the PUBLIC baths, were part of Haveli Mian Khan.This haveli was built in Emperor Shahjahans reign by his Prime Minister NawabSaadullah Khan, but it was completed during the time of Emperor AurangzebAlamgir by the Nawabs son, Mian Khan, governor of Lahore. This grand edificewas spread over an area of several miles, and it was divided into three sections:

the womens quarter, the mens quarter which was called Rang Mahal, and theQalai Khana, whose walls touched those of Masjid Chinyaanwali.

After the British annexation of Punjab, the first mission school in the city wasestablished by a clergyman named Farmson. That school came to be known farand wide as the Rang Mahal Mission School. In front of the school stood themosque named after Muhammad Hafeez Chabukswar. Since the mosque was

situated in the Rang Mahal area, it became popularly known as Masjid RangMahal. Koocha Chabukswaran, where Dadabu was born, took its name from theChabukswar family, who were professional horse traders and who belonged to thePakhtun Kakezai tribe that originally migrated from Afghanistan.


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The plaque of his famous clan in the walled city

Dadabu recalls that the street next to Dabbi Bazar was called Ghaggar Galli, mostof whose residents were Hindus. It was called Ghaggar Galli because the loose

lower garment worn by its Hindu women was called ghaggra. There were also afew families of Kashmiri Pandits who lived there, and Dadabus grandfather, towhom he was far closer than he was to his own father, had the most friendlyrelations with them. On the occasion of the festivals of Diwali and Dusehra, theHindu families would send their Muslim neighbours gifts of sweetmeats, a gesturethat was reciprocated by the Muslims when Eid came around.

Nehru was put on a shimmering white horse and tak en in a grand procession intothe old city

In 1925, he writes, JUSTICE Shadi Lal became the Chief Justice of the LahoreHigh Court. It was the same year in which Maulana Abu Muhammad Syed DeedarAli Shah, the Khatib of Masjid Wazir Khan, declared Allama Iqbal a kafir andoutside the pale of Islam. The Allama had earned the ire of the clerics because hehad advised them not to interfere in the internal politics of Saudi Arabia. Maulana

Suleman Nadvi declared the fatwa an edict born of ignorance. (Of course themullahs of today are far more dangerous than the mullahs of eighty years ago,because the mullahs of today are armed with deadly weapons and commandsuicide bombers.) Significantly, Dadabu recalls that Lahore was plunged intoturbulence when the British principal of the Mughalpura Engineering College wasaccused of having insulted the Prophet (PBUH). Syed Ataullah Shah Bukhari spokeall night at a protest meeting held outside Mochi Gate and when it ended in theearly hours of the morning, so emotionally charged had become the crowd that it

started marching towards Mughalpura to settle scores with the principal. Later itturned out that the only reason this fabricated charge had been made against theEnglishman was his refusal to grant admission to a number of undeservingstudents.


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Abdulla Malik, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Mazhar Ali khan

With Faiz and Alyce

Dadabu remembers a memorable visit to Lahore by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru forthe annual session of the All India Congress, which was held on the banks of theRavi river. He writes, When Nehru arrived at the Lahore railway station, he wasreceived by milling crowds. Among those who were there to welcome Nehru,were men like Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Abdul Qadir Kasuri,

Chaudhri Afzal and Dr Satya Pal. Nehru was put on a shimmering white horse andtaken in a grand procession along Circular Road and into the old city throughDehli Darwaza, Chowk Wazir Khan, Kashmiri Bazar, Sunehri Masjid, Dabbi Bazar,Bowli Bazar, and then into Anarkali via Rang Mahal and Machhi Hatta. Nehru waspresented with a bag of money in Anarkali. According to another chronicler andlover of old Lahore, Pran Nevile, this bag of money a thheli was presented by

the owner of the famous Bhalla Shoe COMPANY . Justice Shadi Lal was alsoseen among those out to greet Nehru. The next day, when his presence wasreported in the press, he issued a statement saying he had nothing to do with

those who had received Nehru. The day after that, the Sikh leader Baba KharrakSingh, was taken through the streets of Lahore on an elephant flanked by dancingSikhs waving unsheathed kirpans. That was the way things were in those days.

Finally, let me make a confession: This is the first time I have read the entire

BOOK in one go and it is a moveable feast. I am unable to convey the rush of


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energy and passion that I feel. It is as if I know all these people personally, andam connected to this land with a much stronger sense of belonging than everbefore.

- See more at:http://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/dadabu/#sthash.06UBonew.dpuf

From : Friday times 18 Jul 2014

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