10. Ejaz is Born
KHAGARIA AND DUMKA (Strange names! isn’t it?)
Doctor Saheb was transferred to Khagaria, a village in Monghyr District. He was so docile, he would not even utter a word of protest and pack up for the next place. After the luxury of Monghyr, this was an awful place. The quarter had just three rooms. There was a well in the centre of the courtyard and the toilet was at the far end. There was no electricity and when lantern was lighted in the evening, Nikhat who was very young then would move to grab it. And one day she eventually did it as my attention shifted for a while. She kept crying the whole night.
Shahnaz was then 3 years old. She was fairly naughty and playful.
The quarter was a small one and it was not easy to fit in the entire family
including Mumani Amman, Nazim and wife and Sufi.
Khagaria had a large Muslim populace and had a few landlords. He had a
good practice there though the fee was still two rupees. During the monsoon,
the roads were not approachable by car and so elephants were sent by the
landlords when he was to go on call. Often, the children too took a joy-ride.
After the birth of Nikhat, I was not in the best of my health. It was
Amman who was looking after the children while most of the times I was in bed.
A new Lady Doctor came there named Dr. Vajpayee. She had some resemblance with
me. There were two cinema halls in Khagaria and their owners were both his
patients. One day doctor Saheb and I went for the late night show. The next day
the nurse came and told me that the rumor is that doctor Saheb had gone to see
the movie with Dr. Mrs. Vajpayee. I had a hearty laugh at the incident of
mistaken identity.
When a child was born in Dhawalpura family, the tradition was not to have
the conventional ritual of aqueeqa (first hair cut). This was forbidden by Bari
Dadi Amman. Probably someone in the family had died immediately after the
aqueeqa. This was going on for quite some time. Before Asim, Kazim was born to
Mumani Amman. Mumani Amman was rather staunch in her belief against such
misnotions. She performed the aqueeqa of Kazim and the boy died. After this
incident, there was no aqueeqa for Asim or even any of my children.
Long after Bari Daadi Amman passed away, in Monghyr when Nikhat was born, no
such function was held. This time when Ejaz was born in Khagaria, I called for
two male goats and had the Aqueeqa ceremony done in the proper fashion. Thus
the superstitious notion came to an end. Thereafter it is done with the birth
of every child born in the family of my children, as it should be done.
The due date for Ejaz’s birth had arrived. The delivery used to take place
at home as the doctor was available with all the necessary equipments. This
time also the nurse as well as Dr. Vajpayee were present by my side at home
itself. After 40 days Ejaz’s Aqueeqa was performed with lots of fanfare. I was
feeling very weak as Ejaz was born. He was a breach and was held by the feet
and was upside-down and was all blue, as I saw him. The nurse would give him
alternate dip in hot and cold water. Doctor Saheb gave some injection to the
infant and then there was a sigh of relief as he eventually gave a cry.
Whenever I visited Patna, some illness always was there in the waiting for
the children. Be it Whooping Cough, Flu or dysentery. Because of this reason, I
developed a sort of phobia for this place which had otherwise remained a
favorite of mine. The last time when I came here, Nuzhat was 5 and she got
Asthma. Even after all sorts of treatment and injections, it was not cured. In
those days there was one renowned Dr. N.C.Ghosh but the problem was that for
his consultation one had to be in the queue since early morning. I caught hold
of Mannu to take me there. Mannu was in Matric those days and was very helpful
to me always. We reached there at 10 in the morning and out turn came by 4
o’clock. He ruled out asthma and said this could be allergy to something. There
was a goat in the aangan of our house in Patna which was removed and the
medicines given by Dr. Ghosh were also given. She recovered fully within a
month.
Doctor Saheb now was transferred to Dumka. The route by car was via
Deoghar. School leaving certificates were obtained. However, as Ejaz was not
well, I was to join him in due course. When the doctor was consulted for Ejaz,
he had rickets (a childhood disease caused by deficiency of vitamin
D and sunlight). I was very concerned as this was a worrisome disease. One
Ahmadi teacher then used to come for giving lessons to Talat and Nuzhat. When
she came to my room and heard about Ejaz, she said that her grand child had
similar problem and Dr. Mahmood Shah had done a fine treatment. She advised me
to go for him. Again Mannoo was sent to get Dr. Mahmood Shah. He consoled me by
saying” Don’t worry it will be OK within a week”. With God’s will it happened
as he expected. Prior to Dr. Mahmood Shah, a number of reputed doctors such as
Dr. Madhusudan Das, Dr. Hai etc. were consulted, but of no avail. God had given
Dr. Mahmood Shah the power to heal and he was always offering free treatment to
the poor people.
I myself went to the market and got
a pram for Ejaz as his Khilai Bua was always clinging him to her
lap. Sumran Bua was summoned to look after Ejaz. Accompanied with Khedi (a
messenger) and Badlu Mian, we all reached Deoghar. He was present there at the
station with the car to take us to Dumka. It was a hilly terrain. The Civil
Surgeon’s bungalow was surrounded by a garden and it was majestic. Though there
was no power, a servant was provided just for moving the mechanical fan from
outside the room. The climate there was said to be conducive to health. Now I
was myself looking after Ejaz. Sumran Bua used to take him out in the pram in
the morning and evening. I had also hired an ayah for him. Within a month, it
was difficult to believe that it was the same child who was suffering from
illness. He had gained weight and a milk man used to come home to milk the cow.
It was a neat and clean locality surrounded by hills on three sides. The
hospital was not so close from the residence there. Right opposite our house,
was the bungalow of the District Judge. Some other officers too were Muslims.
Asghar Bhai (Sharfoo Baaji’s husband) was the sub-judge, Nasiruddin Khan was
the District Judge and Tawheed Saheb was the SP who was living
nearby. Tawheed Saheb too had plenty of offspring and we all became family
friends. The Deputy Commissioner was Ayub Saheb who also belonged to Bhagalpur.
Only the commissioner was a Hindu Mr. B N Sinha but he too was very fond of
Urdu poetry and literature and thus he too got friendly with doctor Saheb. Then
Muzaffar Gilani got transferred to Dumka who was a class mate of Dr. Saheb.
From Patna, Mumani Amman came with Nazim’s Dulhan and the kids escorted by
Tahir. (eldest son of Dulha Bhai) Preparations were on for the “Moshaira”
(congregation of poets) on the occasion independence day, clubbed with other
celebrations and festivities. Tahir had a singer’s voice. I used to listen to
his singing when we were in Patna. Doctor Saheb asked him to practice for the
occasion and wrote a poem “celebration of independence” himself. I was wearing
burqa till this time but in Dumka I saw everyone without it so I also gave kept
it aside. Some school girls were also asked to perform. Nuzhat also sang “Sare
Jahaan se Achha, Hindustaan hamara” and she was awarded
a Muradabadi pot with glass. Doctor Saheb recited his
Ghazal for the occasion. Then it was the turn of Tahir who sang the famous
Ghazal of Bahadur Shah Zafar:
“Lagta nahi hai hai jee mera ujre dayar men”
He had pathos in his voice and his
singing was well appreciated. On pressing demand from the spectators he had to
sing two more ghazals. The function went on till midnight.
In case of Dumka as well as Darbhanga, there are so many happy memories
associated that if I write them all, it will take volumes. In Dumka I had
beriberi. Entire body was swollen. I was given 90 injections of vitamin-B. The
ailment though went away, the obesity that came with it, stayed on.
One of these days, he informed me that Dr. Dukhan Ram is coming
for a conference here and shall stay with us. Dr Dukhan Ram had been the
teacher of Doctor Saheb and was the leading ophthalmologist, in his
time. The biggest problem was that he was a strict vegetarian, we
didn’t know to cook anything other than meat and fish. All I could do was to
arrange for papad and pickles. There was one doctor Umeshwar Prasad in
Bhagalpur whose wife was from Benaras and I was friendly with her. In Dumka we
had telephone for the first time. I called her and requested her to teach me
cooking vegetables. She came all the way from Bhagalpur for this purpose and
gave me lessons in vegetarian cooking. Some of the recipes I jotted down. Dr
Dukhan Ram stayed with us for two days and thank God!, he thoroughly enjoyed
the dishes and praised my culinary expertise all the time. As he was leaving,
he said “ I grant you certificate for excellence in cooking”
As Civil Surgeon, a number of other smaller hospitals were within his
jurisdiction. Jamtara was one of them where we went for a sojourn with the
children and also Mumani Amman. Dr Mrs. D. Sing was given her first posting
there. I went to the market with her and purchased some clothes. I casually
asked her how much cloth will it require for the jumper (kurta) of the two
sisters? Before she could calculate and tell me, Nuzhat was
ready with the answer. This incident was refreshed to me by D Singh after 10
years when she came to meet me in Patna. Nuzhat was then just 10 but she
managed to stitch her own shalwar.
One day Dr. D Singh came to meet me in Dumka. She wanted me to plead her
case and shared her problems with me. She was carrying an eight month pregnancy
but was not able to get relieved by her superior on the pretext of
non-availability of a reliever. I assured all possible help from my side. With
a little bit of pleading with Doctor Saheb, I could manage to get her back to
Patna. She was a beauty those days. As she came to Patna, a baby named Pinky
was born to her. After this short interaction, for all times to come, she
herself took charge deliveries of almost all my grand children.
Neyaz had a poor health. As he was having fever one day and just was
having water from a glass, he fell unconscious. Doctor Saheb rushed from the
hospital with a few other doctors. After this incident, he was always reluctant
to drink water. Doctor Saheb used to make ice-cream in the hospital fridge but
even that never tempted Neyaz. He was given Khichdi just because it had
substantial water content. With the grace of God he recovered after some time.
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Chapter
INDEX.