A Partition story from Pakistan

A Partition story from Pakistan
My Father Syed Ali Mehdi Naqvi

My Father Syed Ali Mehdi Naqvi Image and Narrative contributed by Waqar Ul Mulk Naqvi, Punjab Province, Pakistan This is the only image of my Late father Syed Ali Mehdi Naqvi I possess. He was born in 1930 in a small district called Beed then in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. In 1960, when new states were created on the basis of linguistics, the Marathi dominant town of Beed became a part of Maharashtra. My father graduated from Usmania University, Hyderabad (now Osmania) in Masters of Persian when he was only 18, in 1949. My grandfather Hassan Naqvi was a lawyer with the High Court of the Nizam of Hyderabad at the time and also owned a lot of agricultural land in Pimpalwadi (District Beed, Now in Maharashtra). Agriculture was a big part of the family income. When Partition of India and Pakistan was announced, my grandfather was still very optimistic that Hyderabad will be declared an independent state. The Nizam of Hyderabad was very adamant about that. But the Indian Government did not comply and the Nizam had to surrender in 1948. With a lot of sorrow, and seeing no other option in a very precarious India, my grandparents along with their children were finally forced to join thousands of others and leave India in 1955. All of our assets, a house at Muhalla Qila as well as the cultivated agricultural land were left behind, abandoned. They migrated to Karachi via Bombay on a ship. With our roots, and legacies all left behind, my family had to go through a lot of hurt, disillusionment and suffering. Consequences of which can be felt till today. In my family’s words “we were simply plucked and sent into a…

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Bangladeshi Family portrait

Bangladeshi Family portrait
My great grandmother and family. Dhaka, East Bengal ( Now Bangaladesh). Circa 1934

My great grandmother and family. Dhaka, East Bengal ( Now Bangaladesh). Circa 1934 Image and Narrative contributed by Saugato Datta, London This photograph was taken at a photo Studio in Dhaka. The woman in the upper-right corner (dark blouse, sari and dangling earrings) is my grandmother Smritikona Basu (nee Majumdar) (1919-1995). To her left, in the middle is her older sister, Sadhana Basu and then their cousin whose name I don't know. The man is Sadhana's husband, Manindranath Bose, who was a lecturer in Dhaka University. After partition of Indian and Bangladesh, he migrated to Bihar and became a professor and later a principal of a college in Begusarai. The baby is Sadhana's oldest son (Samir Bose, 1933 -). He is now a retired Professor of Physics at the Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana. The old lady is my great-great-grandmother, Swarnalata Majumdar. My guess is she would have been born around 1880. They all lived at my great great Grandmother Swarnalata's house in Tikatuli, old Dhaka.

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They went to receive the groom, but returned empty handed

They went to receive the groom, but returned empty handed
Mr & Mrs H.E Chowfin on their wedding day. Lahore, (Now Pakistan). December 28, 1938.

Mr & Mrs H.E Chowfin on their wedding day. Lahore, (Now Pakistan). December 28, 1938. Image and Narrative contributed by Madhypriya Sinha Mr Chowfin was part Chinese and part Indian. When the strapping Pathans from the bride's family went to the station to receive the groom, they returned empty handed claiming that the groom's family never arrived, there were however, many Chinese people hanging about at the station.

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