After reading the foregoing tragic episode you must be wondering as to what could be the reasons for so many deaths in our family, that of our uncle, to be precise seven daughters (four as infants and three grownup) out of ten children. I am not competent to explain the circumstances leading to such a tragedy except to say that it was due to the Will of God Almighty. However, I would dare to disclose a few background events which might have caused the premature deaths of the three grownup sisters.
I must also tell you that all human beings are mortal and whoever steps into this world should also be ready to step back out of it in response to the WILL of the Creator. Having said this let me tell you the incidents as I recall them today about the sisters one by one. Not many people might share my views but I feel I am not wrong.
Bibi Jan. As I have told you before the sudden death of her two and a half years old son Qamar when she had come to participate in the marriage of her younger sister Chotima was enough to cause a deep wound in her heart. That everyone knew led her to prolonged illness from which she could never recover.
Chotima. Hers is a sad story of changing circumstances which gradually led her to the ultimate result. Here I must digress a little in order to give you the correct picture.
My father in law Mr. Mohammed Hussain Mahmood was posted in Anekal, a town about sixty miles from Bangarapet. This was during the thirties. Their house happened to be in close proximity to late Abdul Hamid Khan's, your great grand father. My mother in law developed friendship in the true spirit of neighborhood with Begum Hamid Khan (step mother of your grandfather late A. Rashid Khan). You should also know that when two ladies meet they just don't sit quietly. Most of the time they gossip about relevant or irrelevant matters. Such a gossip between the two of them led to the possibility of entering into matrimonial relationship with our family in Bangarapet. My mother in law suggested that Chotima would be most suitable for your grandfather Mr. A. Rashid Khan. As per agreement they visited our place for preliminary talks and to see Chotima. While she was confined to a room in ceremonial dress my sister Begum was active in serving the guests and other activities. At this time Mr. A. Hamid Khan somehow had a glimpse of your Nani (Begum) who was very young. After inquiring as to who the girl was Mr. Hamid Khan made a decision that Begum was the girl of their choice. When my father came to know about it he flatly rejected as he would be hurting the feelings of his younger brother. The controversy continued for sometime when eventually my father agreed following the pressure from our uncle to accept the match.
I have already mentioned in my previous episodes that the marriage between Mr. Rashid Khan and our sister was the talk of the town. It was fabulous and the ceremonies continued for about a week in our house. Chotima and Begum being of the same age were very close to each other living in joint family. Although Chotima seemed to be very happy during the marriage she must have felt the pinch because her place was taken by her cousin. If she did, it was but natural, I would say.
As if this mishap was not enough Chotima suffered another severe blow in the shape of her own marriage a couple of years later. What happened was that when Chotima was still young she had some sort of a pimple on her earlobe. When it did not heal through application of medicines it was operated upon. The wound healed but it left a deep mark on the ear which was quite conspicuous. Quite a few families came to see her for the purpose of asking her hand in marriage. You know when the women folk come to see a girl with such intentions they will have a very close look. Some even make the girl stand up and walk to make sure she doesn't have any defect. Such being the case Chotima used to be rejected at first sight without further discussions, only because of her earlobe. Ultimately one family came and accepted her. The prospective bridegroom was a widower, at least twenty years older than Chotima, his complexion was brown a bit darker brown. He had a couple of children. I don't remember how many. All these features were conveyed to the bride to be by different persons in different ways. No one in the family liked the match except her father, her step mother and our father. The reasoning was that a marriageable girl should not be confined to the parents home indefinitely and this was the only offer which made no fuss about the girl's condition.
Marriage was celebrated without much pomp or noise. It did not take more than a week or so for Chotima to become a victim of deep depression which gradually resulted in catching the consuming sickness T.B. She was also under a severe shock because of the tragic incident of loosing her lovely nephew Qamar (Bibi Jan's son) a day before her marriage. All these contributed to her fast deteriorating condition which caused her premature death. Her stay in Mysore T.B. Sanatorium for a couple of months did not help her much. She also joined Bibi Jan in heaven I must say. Both sisters were young, had not seen much of life before meeting their tragic end.
Abida. The third sister's fate was not different to her two elder sisters. She also was the victim of the same incurable disease T.B. a couple of years later.
Abida was fair, graceful and had lovely features. She was more like her mother our beloved Chachi.
The circumstances which led to her premature end were in my opinion as follows :
I have told you before that myself and late Mr. Qadri (Nanhi Jan's husband) were in service in the Railway in Lanovla or adjoining towns. We were very close to each other since our school days in Bangalore. One day I suggested to Mr. Qadri that in order to bring us closer he should agree to be married in our family. He readily accepted the suggestion.
When I went to Bangarapet on a short holiday I suggested to my uncle that Abida would be very happy if she is given in marriage to my friend Mr. Qadri. I conveyed to him all the good points about this relationship. His only question was that he did not know much about Mr. Qadri's family. My reply was that Abida was not going to stay in the family as Mr. Qadri was alone and more important was that I would be around. He agreed because of my persistence except being very stubborn on one point. Mr. Qadri's people had asked for Rs. 1000/= (about $7,000 in today's money) as dowry and my uncle being a very hard task master was not willing to part with more then Rs.800/= (about $5,600 in today's money)
You know what happens in a big family like ours. Nothing remained a secret either from Abida or other relatives. Day to day or minute by minute information was conveyed to Abida, and some people even congratulated her about the prospects. They did this without realizing as to what could happen if the talks failed.
In the meanwhile our Taya Abba was watching the discussions when he suddenly seized the opportunity and agreed to pay the amount of dowry Rs. 1000/= (about $7,000 in today's money) if I could arrange the marriage with his daughter Nanhi Jan whose age for marriage was also suitable. In fact she was a couple of years older to Abida. When I talked to our uncle about Taya Abba's offer, he did not budge from his original figure of Rs.800/= (about $5,600 in today's money). Those days Rs. 1000/= was a considerable amount, its purchasing power was about 20 to 30 times of the same amount today.
Since my leave of absence from duty was expiring I had no time for any more shuttle diplomacy (using today's jargon). I left for Lanovla and conveyed the gist of my mission to Mr. Qadri. Although he agreed to the alternate relationship he posed a question, which meant that his people had not seen the girl. He knew that they had also not seen Abida but he was satisfied with my thorough descriptions of Abida enough for anyone (an artist) to even draw a picture.
When I told him with emphasis that the other girl was also my cousin and that he had no option other than accepting or rejecting it. He made a decision in favor of my alternate suggestion after apologizing for raising some doubts. Six or eight months later the marriage was celebrated not so fabulous as Begum's or so simple as Chotima. After the marriage I left for Lanovla as I was given only ten days leave with great difficulty.
Time passed and after a few months I heard about Abida's sickness with similar symptoms as with her other two sisters. This time my uncle discarded the usual treatment by the doctors and in sanatorium. Instead he consulted a famous Hakim in Bangalore, rented a house near his clinic and shifted Abida there alongwith a maid to look after the kitchen.
It was at this time when I received a letter from someone (probably Begum) to say how depressed Abida had become when I left for Lanovla after my failure to win over my uncle to agree to pay Rs. 1000/= (about $7,000 in today's money) as dowry. I believe she also asked Begum to write to me not to give up but try to persuade my uncle again, until he agrees.
Obviously she had not seen Mr. Qadri and she had never met any of his folks. The only thing she knew was that she would be very happy in a place which I described to be one worth living and that she would not miss the family with me around. No one wrote to me about her anxiety as they had taken for granted that the chapter was closed. I don't know what I could have done even if I had come to know about it. I knew that my uncle was very stubborn and it was impossible to make him change his mind.
However, after I received the news about Abida's sickness and her treatment in Bangalore by a Hakim I availed ten days leave without pay and visited her. I talked to her when she was alone explaining my position, consoled her not to loose courage and with tears in my eyes I promised that I would marry her whenever she returns to Bangarapet after a successful treatment. I told her that the Hakim had handled so many cases and had succeed in treating them successfully.
My uncle, I saw tried his best to provide with whatever the Hakim had prescribed, medicines, fruit, any type of suggested food etc. He took care to see that she never missed anything. He was very keen to see her back to normal.
I went back to my duty after satisfying myself that I had done everything to convince Abida about my sincerity.
After a couple of months there was the inevitable telegram which Mr. Qadri had received and he gave it to me after sometime. Abida was no more.
Today when I recall the events it surprises me to know that so many people could have risen to the occasion. Taya Abba could have doled out Rs.200/= (about $1,400 in today's money) to help his younger brother or my father could have offered to help or Mr. Qadri himself could manage with Rs. 200/= less.
It is not shocking to know that a paltry amount could have saved one's life ?
I do not like to blame anyone except to take shelter in the true and famous doctrine. No one can play with Destiny