Written by: Syed M. Ahmed

CANADA

August 14, 2017

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Introduction:

Family history is remembered and preserved through oral transmissions. It may last a generation or two but eventually fades away, unless someone takes the trouble to write it down. I had no intention of writing it down but here I am writing what is still vivid in my memory.

I was born in 1938 and children were told stories every night by their elders. We were fortunate to have our grandmother living with us; she was the source of great stories. She did not invent them but rather told us about the past and present event like a story, every night. We looked forward to her stories.

To appreciate the importance of story telling, just imagine; in 1940s we had no TV, there were short-wave radios but electricity was needed to power them. Only small deiseal powered generators produced electricity. But the second world war was raging in Europe and radio were considered essential war material. It had not been commercialized.

I was too young to understand the context of her family stories, specially this one because it sounded too glamorous and grand. I had spent a lot of time with my grandmother because my mother had become ill after giving birth to me.

Her father goes to London

Sardar Bahadur[1] Mehrab Ali Khan was my maternal great grandfather and Shaukut Ali Khan’s paternal grandfather. According to the oral history of my family, he used to travel from Hyderabad to London by ship.

Bombay (Mumbai) was closer to Hyderabad but it was still a shallow harbour in 1898. The big ships had to sail from Karachi which was a naturally deep-water port.  Karachi, at that time,  was a fishing village but Charles Napier[2], the first British Governor to Sindh Province, modernized it into a city.

My grandmother Muneerunnisa Begum would gloat about her father’s accomplishments and tell us stories of how he would carry all his provisions to London with him. He used to live in London (we were told on Buckingham Palace grounds!) in service of the late Queen Victoria.

The Pathan prisoner

How he got to serve the Queen is very interesting. Mehrab Ali Khan was serving in the Army of the Nizam of Hyderabad-Deccan, as Risaldar (Cavelryman) ranked as a Major.

It was on one Eid Day: possibly the one that comes after the annual Hajj (pilgrimange to Mecca). He come to know that a fellow Pathan [3] was in prison. He took pity on him and since he knew the Jail warden, he decided to get the prisoner out of the prison on a day pass. Mehrab Ali Khan gave his personal surety and recognizance.

The prisoner had another idea. While the friends and family were being received and offered refreshments and perfumes and sumptuous meals were being prepared, the prisoner ran way, ruining the Eid celebrations and creating big problems for Mehrab Ali Khan.

Apparently, Mehrab Ali Khan, immediately organized a big search for the abscounding prisoner. The nearby dense forest and hills were searched by him and his men, but they could not find a trace of the fugitive prisoner. As the night fell, his team of searchers had left the surrounding hills and the forest. Dejected and disappointed, he let his horse amble back at his own pace.

The horse was distracted by a pile of leaves on the ground and, decided to help himself to the cache of leaves. Mehrab Ali Khan did not interfere with the horse. Suddenly,there was some movement underneath the pile of leaves. Mehrab Ali Khan dismounted his rorse and saw that it was the runaway prisoner, siting on his honchos. Mehrab Ali Khan[4] tackled the prisoner to the ground. He then tied the prisoner’s arms behind his back with a rope and, made him run ahead of the horse; all the way to the prison in Hyderabad.

Alas, the damage had been done. The Warden had to report the missing prisoner to authorities. The army was also informed of the incident. Mehrab Ali Khan was fired. A lot must have happened in between, but the bottomline is; he was now unemployed.

He could not find another job and the family was in dire straights.

Some of his friends and family suggested that he should now pray much and petition some of the pious people to pray for him and hope for a miracle. Mehrab Ali Khan was a soldier; he believed in creating miracles himself; how could he ask others to do it for him? Nonetheless, after much persuasion, he agreed to visit a pious man (a Muslim). This man would sit inside a Mosque, in Falaknuma and, meditate most of the time.

Mehrab Ali Khan was a generous man, he was not going empty hand to ask this man to pray for him without a gift. He had taken a basket of fresh Jalebbi, (an Indian sweet dessert) as a gift to this man.

As he entered the precinct of the Mosque, Mehrab Ali Khan could see the pious man sitting there, cross-legged on the floor, with his eyes closed. As he softly approached him, the man never opened his eyes. The pious man was seated there motionless, as if he was in a trance or a self-induced hypnosis yet, as soon as Mehrab Ali Khan approached the seclusion area, he said, with his eyes still closed, “Mehrab Ali Khan, if one door has been shut, a thousand doors will be opened for you.” Never a believer in power of prayers or miracles, Mehrab Ali Khan returned home even more disquiet and dejected.

After the visit of Her Majesty Queen Victoria[5] to India, the miracle of miracles happened. His job was given back to him with the seniority intact. Apparently, this was in consideration for his bravery in rescuing the trapped members of the British army in Singapore.

Not much is known of the circumstances, but Mehrab Ali Khan managed to return to his old job in the Hyderabad Army, after the Queen’s visit. The Queen also invited[6] him to a visit to London.

What was the purpose of his visit?

No one knew the purpose of his visit and such matters would probably never have been discussed. Before my own departure for London: I had asked Mubarak Ali Khan (Shaukut Ali Khan’s father) and his two uncles Waris Ali Khan and Sardar Ali Khan if they knew the reason for their father’s visits to London. They did not know it. My grandmother, his eldest child, did not know it either.

When I lived in London[7] with Shaukut Ali Khan and his wonderful wife Heather[8]; we used to go to the Army and Navy Archives and search for two pieces of information. (1) any mention of Mehrab Ali Khan and (2) the whereabouts of one of his most talented of sons Omar Ali Khan[9].

We did find a full-page article on Mehrab Ali Khan in the Army and Navy Magazine. It talked about his marksmanship. Apparently, he demonstrated his skills by tossing a 2 Anna silver coin (the size of 2P) with his left hand and shooting the airborne coin with his revolver. He did these six times: a score of 100%. I wish I had copied the article.

In 2015, I came across a book called The Secret History of Our Streets, at one of the bookstores at the Heathrow Airport. It is BBC Book written by Joseph Bullman, Neil Hegarty and Brian Hill. On page 88, there is an amazing story which I think, was one of the most likely reasons for Mehrab Ali Khan’s visit and the luncheon he had with Queen Victoria on 19 June 1898. This is what it says:

“The reason for this particular attention to Deptford lies …. Victoria had marked her Diamond Jubilee on 21 June 1897 with a vast celebration:  some three million people had gathered to witness a royal procession through the streets of London, a service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s, and a march-past of some 50,000 troops gathered from all corners of the empire. There seemed every reason to be complacent about the future – yet it was clear to the Victorians that not all is well. Britain’s military and commercial might were under threat as never before ….”

In my opinion, Victoria most likely had these Indian Officers in London for her Diamond Jubilee Celebrations. Mehrab Ali Khan was a very distinguished looking man, tall, fair complexioned and impressive personality in military uniform.

Gold Sovereigns:

My grandfather had died young. So, my grandmother; Muneerunnisa Begum used to stay with her father, in Falaknuma, with her son Yusuf Khan, daughters Jilani Begum and Fatimah Begum (my mother). When my mother got married, my father had asked my grandmother to stay with them, which she did until she passed away in 1969.

Mehrab Ali Khan used to give one English gold sovereign called the Guinea to every new born grandchild. I was the last one of her children to receive a Guinea. When I was leaving Hyderabad for London, in 1959, my mother gave it to me, but I returned it, asking her to give it one of my two sisters.

His love of Highland Games:

Firstly, I plead ignorance about the Highland Games[i][10]. Apparently, Mehrab Ali Khan had a passion for Highland Games like: The Caber, shot put and throwing weights. He would wear a kilt during the games.

A friend of his challenged him to lift a heavy bolder[11]; he did but it gave him a hernia for life.

His Final Resting Place:

He is buried in the vicinity of the royal drinking well known as the Engine Bowli.

Note: The oral history says that the Queen Victoria had visited India; this is not true as she never did.

[1] Sardar Bahadur was a title given for his act of bravery helping the cornered British troops in Singapore, against the Japanese.

[2] Napier Road in Karachi is now a red-light district.

[3] Pathans are Pashtun from Afghanistan. They had a Rohilla dynasty in North India. They lived in what was known as Rohailkhand at the time. After the genocide conducted by

warren Hastings, the Rohilla came to Hyderabad. Warren Hastings was the only person impeached in the house of commons by Sir Edmond Burk.

[4] According to my father, Mehrab Ali Khan was a “giant of a man”. His forearm was twice the size of his own forearm.

[5] The Queen Victoria had held a Durbar in Delhi in 1877.  She had personally opened the Indian Parliament too.

[6] See attached printout from The London Gazette Extraordinary, March 14, 1898 https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26947/page/1571

[7] We lived on Quintin Road in Blackheath.

[8] Heather helped me learn to speak English. She would ask me how I was feeling about my English and I would say, “I am finding it very hard”. Her response was “good, if you are finding it hard, you are learning.” I owe a great debt of gratitude to both Heather and Shaukut.

[9] Omar Ali Khan was a linguist who spoke Urdu, Telegue, Arabic, Farsi, French, English and German. It was thought in the family that he was teaching Farsi to Hitler. We believed he worked as a British Agent and may have been dropped by parachute into Nazi occupied France. None of it could be verified. The family lost all contact after he went to Britain.

[10] Highland Games are held only 50 Km from Ottawa. I shall make a point of attending them next year.

[11] Hyderabad is a city of boulders