Abi remembered

11.04.1900 — 19.09.1963

There are so many things I remember about my father, Azhar Kidvai. His love of Books (English and Urdu), Music (from Western Classical to Indian Classical and Jazz), Films, Ghazals and Prose that he wrote. I keep thinking of the müshāerās which happened often and in which he recited. He had a wonderful voice and sang Western and Eastern songs, occasionally. 

When parodying his friends in Scotland — where he studied his medicine and practiced there for a few years — he spoke with a perfect Scottish accent.

My love for all of these came from him … sadly except his voice. I can't sing a note right, although everyone in my Dādhiyāl (paternal family) can ... including, of course, my father's young cousin, Talat Mahmood.

Ustad Asad Ali Khan of Agra believed that a bad voice can be trained in a few months. He asked my father to let me stay at his house for three months and I would be able to not just have a good voice but would sing like that gharana. That never happened, of course: I was his only child and he would not let me go away for so long.

In 1911 - on his 111th birthday - I was lying down on my beanbag, listening to Beniamino Gigli singing Tosti's Goodbye and thinking of some of the things about our lives. Sabeen Mahmud walked in and saw me with tears in my eyes (I hadn't even realized that had actually happened). She did not know that it was Abi's birthday so I was quite surprised that she asked me if it was my father that I was thinking of. Obviously I must have talked about him fairly often and said that I think of him a lot.

I read out a piece to her that he had translated

We then decided to watch a movie: Witness for the Prosecution. A film that had four of his favorite actors: Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power, Elsa Lanchester. And it was written by Agatha Christie, an author that he read and always thought she was absolutely fantastic.

While watching that film I mentioned to Sabeen that my father had said to me when we were watching a Disney film about Nature (at Rex Cinema that the Karachiites will remember) that I could see the regular film in 3D if I closed one eye. I thought it was a joke but he said I should close an eye and see it.

YAYYY!

It actually worked.

I often see regular films even

on my TV in 3D nowadays.

I always wondered why most people don't watch them like that. When I had my Cataract operation I watched several of the regular films in 3D :)

Recently I came across an old article on how people can see 3D by closing one eye and I thought I'd write about it in this post. Try it. You won't be disappointed.

•

Miss you, Abi!

'Meanderings'

Sabeen Mahmud started her Blog, titled Meanderings, in March 2003 and continued with it until September 2007 when she became far too busy with many more things.

After her death the Website where it was, was also removed and we lost all o f the items that she had written.

We did want all of them back, not just because she was no longer with us (though that was an important part) but because we wanted to read a lot of her things again.

Putting the Blog together helped us re-read some posts that we adored … but it also showed us how she and her opinions remained over those 5 years.

 Fortunately we now have all those Blog Posts back (but the comments by others under the posts have disappeared).

I shall be presenting each year in a separate blogpost here so you'll see 2003 tomorrow and the rest as soon as I put them together.

This is just to let all of you who knew her know that there's going to be much that you'll enjoy reading.

For those of you who got to know of her after her assassination and are now as fond of her as we were, you'll love seeing these posts.

For the ones who got to know her (or are getting to know her) by their frequent trips to T2F, where she is mentioned every now and then, they will get to know her through her posts.

For the many not in Karachi - wether they are in Pakistan or abroad - this will also be a way for them to see Sabeen again in her own words.

Enjoy.

•

Sab, we love you more than you can even understand …

Süno, Sabeen …

Kia hüvā?

Ragni Marea Kidvai

became a mother on the

6th of November 2019

at 12:47am

•

We were with her in Brooklyn at that time

and could only visit her the day after

(Bloody USA Rules!)

No name was given then

but this is what was decided

by Ragni as an announcement.

Weight: 6lb 9oz

Height: 20"

He was nicknamed after you

•

Look at his toes

•

On the 10th November his full name was announced.

MEKA-ELIJAH KIDVAI-WILLIAMS

Meka is short for Milkail

It also has several other meanings:

Hawaiian: Eyes

Chinese: Beautiful Eyes

In some European languages it means

A Gift from God

In USA it can mean Awesome

Elijah has a Jewish meaning that says

I believe in Yahweh

Elijah aka Elyahu was a Biblical Prophet

but his name was also chosen

as a Tribute

to Elijah Cummings

who passed away recently.

The surname is a combination

Ragni's surname KIDVAI

Alisha's surname WILLIAMS

•

•

So there you are … all up to date

•

We all miss you so much, Sab!

It's always worth reading while you s••t!

Sorry about the title, but I didn't know what to say.

•

OK, so you go to s••t at least once a day (more often if you have diarrhoea). You can waste that time with one end of you piling cr•p-on-cr•p … but how about using the other end for reading :) — This is intended for those that don't read: Please put up a shelf or a place to keep books in you toilet.

My toilet (like many of my friends) has a place that has books

Mir, Ghalib, Faiz

So there are three Shaeri books
that are permanently there

&

Then there are always temporary books.

•

Here are the ones that live on the shelf these days.

I love Short Stories

(who wants to read a whole novel there!)

or pieces that you can randomly browse through.

Graphic Novels are great here. 

This one was a gift from Joe Sacco,

one of my favouritest graphic novelists.

(Thanks, Muneeza, for carrying it back for me)

 •

And one always has books that are favourites
and readable anywhere, anytime.

Mine, at the moment, is

which has become available among old books.

Try Amazon.

The Rape of the A*P*E* (American Puritan Ethic) is the ultimate sex book. It is the hilarious but true story of 27 salacious years of American history - the Sex Revolution - America's longest and hottest war. Allen Sherman: "There is a brief but telling instant when a boy is taking off a girl's underpants, during which she must give her assistance; if she doesn't lift her behind a split second, it is impossible. Ours was a nation of girls who would rather die than openly contribute to their own seduction. It is a tribute to the girls of 1940 that they learned how to lift their asses without seeming to be lifting their asses. Sometimes they did it with a ho-hum and a stretch, pretending to be utterly bored, meanwhile shifting their position just long enough for the expert panty snatcher to do his job. I have witnessed it many times, this fantastic arabesque girls do and every time I am overwhelmed with the sheer creative artistry of it. It belongs among the great moments of ballet.

•

If you really like small pieces to read,

there's Blinklist, anyway.

It's a superb introduction and a collection

of books that you may love to buy later,

or be happy with the stuff already there.

Here's an example from today's FREE book.

Don't forget that you can read this

(and the following 6-7 pages)

or even have them read out to you.

•

My request is to please read.

•

One of the ways that our nation is in a terrible way

is because they don't read.

•

Some of you may not like to read

… for which I'd first suggest seeing a psychiatrist …

but there is a solution:

Audible

is exceptional.

I listen to AudioBooks very frequently and it is great when I am on a long drive (I don't drive, but my wife is the driving force in the house) or in the s••house. If you haven't tried it, go to Audible and try a FREE trial. Or, if you are not into subscribing, look at LoyalBooks and find free audiobooks.

• • •

While I was writing this blogpost a friend turned up

and saw my photographs.

She wanted to see the Metal Bookend and where did I get it.

I showed it to her (she loved it!) and told her that

this was available years ago in Karachi

when we were a slightly more civilised society.

•

For others, here it is

(Remember toilets with a chain and cistern above your heads)

• • •

Sad for me was the fact that

Sabeen wanted it to be given to her after I die.

I wrote this on its bottom and shared it with Ragni Marea.

How awful that she was assassinated.

We all miss you, Sab.

Immensely.

It's Abi's 116th birthday today …

Dr. Azhar Kidvai:  11.04.1900 — 19.09.1963

•••••

For many days Nuzhat and I have been wanting to publish Abi's Prose and Poetry. Ragni and Sabeen wanted me to do so, too. In fact Sabeen said she'd publish it all at T2F's publishing house that, sadly, never began (and probably won't).

It was after Sabeen's assassination that I decided that I'd have Abi's works published in a website, so it is is now on the net and you can go there and see the beginnings that are complete. While his Ghazals and Nazms will be ready at some point this year — and they will be in his handwriting — his prose selection has been completed now.

Look under Naee Paod in the titles here. The pieces were written between 1936 and 1939 and were published in 1939 under the Shirkaté Adabiyah (Dehli) and printed at Dilli Printing Works (Dehli). 

There were 1000 copies printed and all (except 31 that were gifted by Abi to friends and family members) were sold at Rs 1 each. (Does the price surprise you? That was a good price, you know. I have Ustad Amir Minai's works, published in 1941, that cost Rs. 2 only.)

•••••

Oh, and while you are there, do take a look at Laghv Goi, his humorous verses written from 1924 to 1935. You might be surprised to know through one poem that what was then known as Aligarh Ki Zabaan is almost the same as spoken today … often known as Urdish.

Its been 6 months, Ragni …

This was the oldest picture I have of Sabeen. It was on her Nana's bedside table. It is now on her Nani's wall. Although she hated having her pictures taken — and shouted at me for 'shooting' her when she was not expecting it — she really liked this one.

Ragni was about five when she became closer to Sabeen,

… and a bit of sibling rivalry existed. Ragni felt that I'd laugh at what Sab did, and she tried to do the same things, but at the wrong times. Sab, for example, would get up to go home from our library, but before leaving she'd jump on several cushions, jump down again, and say goodbye and rush off the door. Ragni would see me laugh. A little later, while I was very seriously listening to Classical Music, Ragni would repeat what Sab had done. I'd say, "Ragni, not now, please …". She'd go to Nuzhat and say, sobbingly, "Abi loves it when Sabeen does it, but gets angry when I do it." (Sorry, Ragni. That wasn't planned at all - as you may have thought, then.)

Oldest Picture of Sabeen and Me together

Sabeen soon became like a daughter to me …

and was followed shortly by being part of our extended family.

Ragni and Sabeen's love developed into a much greater friendship. They'd write to each other often when Sab was at Kinnaird College, Lahore. Here is a piece from Sabeen at that time. (Sab called me Abi, just as Ragni does.)

When Sabeen left college she started working with us.

Ragni, Jehan Ara, Nuzhat, and Sabeen, with me.

This was us celebrating my CD-ROM Sabeen had helped make: "Faiz: Aaj Kay Naam". Her love for everything she did always came through. This, though, was her favourite piece, she always said. Hopefully next year I will have put it together again since the old item won't run well on todays Macs and Windows machine.

•••••

Sabeen was 10 years older than Ragni, but Ragni always said Sab was her 'younger sister'. She said to us, "Sabeen arrived in your house after me".

:)

I found this in her photo collection the other day.

Whenever Sab returned from Lahore on vacations, she'd always come to our house the same day. On  Ragni's birthday, we gave Ragni an iBook. Here she is with Sab and me in the Library.

Ragni's days at college, her work, her marriage, and her home, were always things that she spoke to Sabeen about. Much more than I had known. At one time we were trying to get in touch with Ragni on Skype … but she'd say she was busy and would talk later. Two nights later Sabeen came and told me that she'd been having long discussions with Ragni on Skype and we could talk to her now. Hmmm. So it was something Ragni wanted to discuss with Sab but not with us, until she was sure. Ok. That's what sisters are for, I guess.

Sabeen cooked a lovely meal on her birthday and we were there with her and her mother, Mimi (Mahenaz). Ragni was overjoyed at Sab's cooking … specially the desert.

Every time Sabeen went to the USA she'd pay Ragni a visit. 

•••••

This was the last pic I got of them together in Karachi.

•••••

Six months earlier, on 24th April 2015, Sab was assassinated.

•••••

Ragni was, like a lot of us, devastated.

She held a memorial in Brooklyn for Sabeen.

Many of her friends came.

•••••

This is a corner of Ragni's home now.

•••••

… and, dearest Sab, we all miss you more than you'll ever know!