Nice Friday reading: Remembers a rare personality

[Guest dada_rocks]

Remembering two nonagenarians At Random | K. Natwar Singh Mr Azim Husain’s death in London last month was not widely reported. He was 93. This saddened me. When I was in London in 2005 as foreign minister, I paid my respects to him and Mrs Nusrat Husain, and spent a pleasant half hour with them in their Hampstead home. He gave me a few points on how to take the composite dialogue with Pakistan forward. He told me, "Natwar, you are now foreign minister, tread carefully on the Indo-Pak road. No euphoria." Sane advice from a very senior erstwhile IFS colleague. Azim Sahib, as we all called him, joined the ICS in 1937. He was educated at Lahore, Cambridge and London. His father, Sir Fazl-i-Husain, was a very distinguished, influential and respected politician of Punjab. He was one of the pillars of the Unionist Party. Until his untimely death in 1936, Mr Jinnah’s Muslim League did not cut much ice in Punjab. He also served a number of years on the Viceroy’s Executive Council. From 1937 to 1942, Azim Sahib worked with the Punjab government. Then he was posted to New Delhi. At partition in 1947, he opted for India. The only member of his family to do so. He did not subscribe to the Two-Nation theory. Jawaharlal Nehru spotted him early and inducted him in the IFS. He rose rapidly, ending up as secretary in the ministry of external affairs. His forte was disarmament. He represented us in Geneva and the United Nations. He was deputy high commissioner in London for nearly four years. After retirement, he was deputy secretary-general of the Commonwealth for almost a decade. He was ambassador to Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. He then settled in London. His brother-in-law, Mr Mansoor Qadir, became foreign minister of Pakistan. His brother too did well in the Pakistan foreign service. I have written about him because he was a very decent, upright and warm-hearted gentleman diplomat. His wife, who survives him (she is 91), was in her younger days one of the most beautiful women of her generation. Together they made a stunning couple. I do hope the high commission in London and the ministry of external affairs held condolence meetings to pay tribute to one of the most accomplished diplomats of the Indian Foreign Service. His Majesty King Zahir Shah who passed away last month in Kabul at the age of 92 was a friend of India. After a coup in 1973, he lived in exile in Italy till his return three or four years ago. No longer a monarchy, Afghanistan embraced him as Baba-e-Kaum. President Hamid Karzai treated him with very great respect. I was in Kabul in 2004 and 2005. Once on my own and once with Prime Minster Manmohan Singh. At the 2004 meeting, King Zahir Shah himself referred to my semi-clandestine encounter with him outside Rome in 1988. I did not raise the subject myself because the outcome had been disappointing. I had carried an invitation from President Najibullah to the King to return to Kabul, preside over a national Loya Jirga and become a Constitutional monarch. He did not respond positively, partly because of President Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan’s disapproval of my meeting the King. The news of the meeting was leaked and President Zia wasted no time to go on the offensive. Who could have leaked the news? Let bygones be bygones. I can’t help suggesting that the King was not a risk-taker. If he had been, the history of his country might have taken a different course. Here, I pay homage to a genuine friend of India. J.N. Dixit’s book, An Afghan Diary, is perhaps the best account of the tortuous history of Afghanistan in the final decades of the 20th century. It is a book that foreign office pundits should dip into from time to time. Mr Arun Shourie was thoughtful enough to give me a copy of his latest and 21st book, The Parliamentary System: What We Have Made of It, What We Can Make of It. Arun Shourie is a workaholic and he is earnest about issues and institutions that matter. Politicians of present day India are giving politics and Parliament a bad name. I wish all legislators would at least read the concluding chapter: "Romanticising ‘the People’." It is very hard hitting and so very true. Civilised and reasoned discourse is disappearing from our public life. We will be completing 60 years of independence on August 15. Arun Shourie concludes on a high note, "In any event, even if one of these helpful factors was present, we have the example of the generations that brought us Independence. We must labour out of devotion to them, and in the faith they had." K. Natwar Singh is a former minister for external affairs

[Guest dada_rocks]

Spare me for posting all these articles. I am just trying to drown my sorrow over match lost thought these readings. :D

[apocalypse]

aaj to monday hai abhi se friday :D kaam karne ka mann nahin hai kya

[Lurker]

Spare me for posting all these articles. I am just trying to drown my sorrow over match lost thought these readings.

No you are not going to be spared. :finger: Why quote Natwar Singh?? Gotaale-baaj Seriously speaking now, the sentiment of Azim Sahib(of not joining Pakistan) is nothing new. I picked that concept since you highlighted it. I can quote so many famous Indians that did exactly that. Here a couple of examples: 1) Bismillah Khan, the noted shehnai player, went to Pakistan border, put a feet on Pakistani side and then came back. He felt no different to India(after having "crossed" the border) and came back roaring to the city which was most dear to him, Benaras. It is very interesting, and fascinating, that while many of Indian classic musicians moved Westwards over the years(like us modern professionals) hardcore classic musicians like Bismillah Khan stayed put in age old cities like Benaras. And I am sure you must have heard of him playing shehnai at Kashi Vishwanath Mandir. Without him the functions didnt start. 2) Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza wrote the series Mahabharta that is till date the most popular Indian sitcom ever. Can you imagine how he would delved into different versions of Maharbharta available and then scripted it into Hindi? Reza saab's famous contribution to partition is his seminal Adha Gaon. Still one of the best books on the subject. And while he did write other great works, Topi Shukla and Neem ka Ped being other popular ones, Adha Gaon remains most popular. In it the Muslims of UP village, Gangauli, refuse to go to Pakistan and pi$$ off the Muslim League workers with a "Urdu ko Mussalmaan bana diya". Reza wrote the book in Hindi and did not allow it to be translated into Urdu while he was alive. His logic was not anti-Pakistan so much as the fact he was fiercly pro-Indian and considered Urdu as a "shaili" of Hindi/khari boli. Only after he died was the book translated into Urdu. There are many more names really but wont bore you further. Ah and dont tell me now how I never gave you any good funda in life. :sad_smile::sad_smile: xxx

[Guest dada_rocks]

Many more ....not really just juxtapose that number to the total muslim population u will see ur many doesn't qualify for even insgnificant few.... These are extincit breed and they need to be celbrated that's why posted.. If it has to come from Natwar so be it

[Guest dada_rocks]

aaj to monday hai abhi se friday :D kaam karne ka mann nahin hai kya

Sahi mein sala main friday mood mein tha be thanks for waking me up:haha:

[Lurker]

Many more ....not really just juxtapose that number to the total muslim population u will see ur many doesn't qualify for even insgnificant few.... These are extincit breed and they need to be celbrated that's why posted.. If it has to come from Natwar so be it

Matlab chahe kitne bhi der tak poonch ko ek seedhe pipe ke andar daalo, bahar nikalo to woh tedhi ki tedhi. Abhi 2 example diya I can give you 20 more. Right from Amjad Ali Khan to Quratylain Haider but kya faayda? You would be chiming like besura raag. Your point would still have some merit if you had ever ventured to say something nice about a Rahi Masoom Reza on your own. Lekin that obviously not gonna happen. xx

[Guest dada_rocks]

20 vs ..... millions.. ( put numbers) engg graduate ho yaar kuchh number ka idea hoan chahiye. main aur manthan nahin karna chahta... btw even i this gentleman's case his whole family moved .. kahe la khali pili tension le rahe ho mian sachchai ko chhupana itana aasan nahin hai.. dum wali baat waise tum pe fit hoti hai bilkul..:giggle: