This is the story of my career followed by my entry into practical life at the age of 20 years.
It may be of interest to you although it cannot be considered as part of our family history, because it reveals as to how a person is pushed in various directions during the early part of his life.
First, it was my father's wish that I should enter college after high school and achieve distinction while graduating, so that I could become an important officer in the Govt. This was not possible as the marks I obtained in matriculation enabled me only to join a technical school. I, therefore, on my own succeeded in getting admission for a career (3 years) in Electrical Engineering. Surprisingly my father did not object and I successfully completed the 3 years. These years as I recall were some of the best years of my life as I was a resident in the leading college hostel in Bangalore along with Doctor Sab and had some very good friends, both Muslims and Hindus.
Bangalore was noted to be the Garden City of India full of parks and good restaurants. It had quite a number of movie houses both English as well as Urdu, besides frequent thrilling soccer encounters for us to watch. The weather was ideal.
All in all it was a sort of care free living full of joy and less or almost no problems. Speaking of friends I had developed very special friendship with two persons. One was Mr. Nasrullah Khan who was my room mate and was a college student. In later years this friendship resulted in his sister getting married to my cousin Nisar Ahmed. It happened due to my casual mention to my friend and he arranged the matrimony for us to become relatives instead of friends.
The other friend was from my Engineering School. He was Mr. Syed Abdus Subhan Qadri who was my class mate. His friendship also culminated in his getting married to my cousin sister Nanhi Jan. My uncle (my father's elder brother) readily agreed to my proposal and the marriage was celebrated.
Mr. Qadri's marriage also took place after we had entered our practical life.
The three years of Engineering School life passed blissfully and after getting the result I had to undergo practical training in Bangalore and I continued studying in the college Hostel.
Life was going easy for me as I was still a liability on my father. Hardly three to four months of my practical training had elapsed when out of the blue I received a telegram from Mr. Qadri my Engineering school friend from Lonavla (near Bombay) to visit him if I was keen to get a job in the Railway, where he was already serving.
I proceeded at once without consulting anyone and got a job on Rs. 45/= P.M. (about $315 a month in today's money) Mr. Qadri was very happy as he was desperate for company. So we both entered service life and my parents were also satisfied as I was able to stand on my legs at the age of 20 years.
Life went on some time easy and some times tough until I got desperately home sick and was missing my mother and my brothers and sisters.
The loneliness crept into me after 3 years of my practical life despite the fact that I used to visit my folks every six months. Loneliness because myself and Mr. Qadri were posted at different stations and I had to cook my own meals. When I mentioned this to my father through a letter, he came down to Lonavla to pacify me and convince me that it is not advisable to loose a good job.
After sometime Mr. Qadri was married to Nanhi Jan and once again we lived in the same place at Lonavla. When he got transferred to another place I went to Bangalore and prevailed upon my dear brother in law Mr. Rashid Khan (your grandfather) to send my sister along with three children Amjad, Nazir, and Shakila to stay with me. They were with me for eight months and I still recall those memorable days which seemed to pass so quietly. Finally Mr. Rashid Khan came to Lonavla and returned with his family after convincing me that it was not easy for him to continue living without his family.
When I again got lonely I called Sirdar, Sarwar and another friend Mr. Jaleel to stay with me in Lonavla. I had engaged a cook and we all enjoyed living in a big Bungalow having five spacious rooms with very big compound on both sides. The rent was only Rs. 6/= P.M. (about $42 a month in today's money) as it was a Railway property. All three of them went back after six months again leaving me alone.
The second World war which had started in 1939 was raging in full bloom and it appeared that both German's and Japanese had decided to tear the World apart. The allies however did not loose heart.
In 1942 I had a feeling that it was time for me to get married as I had already been engaged. It was an early marriage for Khurshid as she was only 14 and I was 26 and this made my in-laws to show some reluctance. But my sister Rahmat Un Nisa Begum persevered and made them agree to the marriage which took place on May 2nd 1942 in a small town of Mysore State called Chiknayakan Halli.
All our near relatives had gathered for the marriage which was celebrated with all traditional ceremonies. After the marriage was over we went back to our place Bangarapet and exactly after five days Sirdar's marriage was accomplished to Azeemun Nisa (our cousin).
Mr. Qadri had also come to Bangalore on a holiday with his family and we both availed the opportunity to visit Hindustan Aircraft Factory and applied for jobs. Since we were technically qualified we were assured of jobs on Rs. 75/= P.M. (about $525 a month in today's money) We could not take a decision as we had permanent jobs in Railway and getting Rs. 90/= P.M. (about $630 a month in today's money)
We left Bangalore to rejoin our Railway jobs with instructions to Khurshid to wait for my signal to come and join me. This is how we proposed to live but just see how we were disposed by destiny.
After a couple of days I wrote to Khurshid to come and join me with somebody as escort.
One day I was sitting in the Railway station at my work place with another person who had come on that day as a substitute for someone who was on leave. This chap did not want me to continue to work in the Railway and he started lecturing about the dim prospects in the service. He had a motive behind this advice which was that his own prospects would be bright to take my place on promotion. His advice that day for one hour did the trick and I was very much impressed to accept it. He did not stop at that. He made me send a telegram to my in-laws not to send Khurshid until they hear from me. The telegram reached them when Khurshid along with a maid servant and her brother Aziz Ahmed were about to board a bus to take them to a Railway Station. Another 15 minutes they would have left. My father in-law I believe was annoyed with the change in program several times. Anyway I got leave from my job again and left for Bangalore. When I presented myself at Hindustan Aircraft Factory for job, I was asked to bring a release certificate from the Railway. I again proceeded to Kalyan near Bombay and collected the certificate.
By this time Mr. Qadri had come to know my program and he also left for Bangalore alongwith his family. Both of us joined our new service and to be near our dear ones.
A few morals out of this episode:
1. It is true that I was influenced by a person Mr. Armugam (a convert Christian) to check out my Railway job in favor of a job in Hindustan Aircraft, Bangalore. Today I feel that it was fate that made me change my early plan to stick to Railways and go to Bangalore.
2. Since Mr. Qadri had shown his reluctance to accept the job in Bangalore I did not inform him about my change in the plan. He himself found it out and made his decision. Perhaps it was fate again that influenced him to maintain the link with me. It was a major decision for him as he had a family (a wife and two children).
3. Both of us never had to regret about leaving the Railway as we made good progress in our new jobs and were happy to be in the known surroundings.
4. In case Khurshid had reached Kalyan I would never have had the courage to change course and would have stuck to my Railway job. The postal service those days was very prompt and the telegram reached in time for Khurshid to stay back. Otherwise my life today would be altogether different.