Too bad there isn’t an award on GS for most bizarre thread titles. i’d win hands down every time.
This is about khandaani stories that you’ve heard, passed down from generation to generation. Whether or not this first one is accurate, i am not certain and i am not saying it is accurate. We have some pictures and that’s about all to go on. OK, so the first story my Nani used to tell was about this Nawab who apparently was related to her in some way (this goes back to the early 1800s - as i stated above, i don’t know if this story is accurate). Anyhow, the family legend about him goes that he was escaping from the British during a battle and literally had to run for his life away from his haveli. All he had with him was one chappal - that happened to be encrusted with diamonds. (It’s always good to note that some of these Nawabs may have done very little to follow Islamic principles of simplicity and humility). He escaped with the one chappal; all of his property - estate, lands, etc. - were confiscated by the British. With the value of the single shoe in his possession, which i assume he sold, he managed to purchase another haveli and some lands. i don’t know how accurate it is, but apparently it was Nawab Sirajadaulah. The image of someone running from the British with a diamond-encrusted chappal leaving behind all their properties, and then rebuilding their life based upon the value of that single chappal, is something that stuck w/ me when i was younger.
Another khandaani story - this one is a little less far back in history. It was about Nani’s Phuppi, Fatima Imam. They were a very poor family. The Phuppi’s father fell seriously sick. They had no choice but to call a doctor - i guess at that time docs would make house calls (as they still do sometimes in some places). Anyhowz, they had told the doc beforehand that they had no money with which to pay him; all they managed to scrimp together was, literally, a one rupee note - aur woh bhi, as the legend goes, was very ‘phaTTa’ and crumpled up. Nani’s Phuppi gave the one rupee note to the doctor, all the while her head was bowed down in shame because they had nothing else to give him. Khair - qismet kis ki kahan likhi hai kia pata. The doctor was smitten by her, sent the rishta to her family and lo and behold, they got married. The doctor turned out to be Sir Ali Imam who served as a barrister, chief minister of Hyderabad, and was President of the Muslim League in 1908.
Another story was also about Nawabs… this one is really really weird. i’ve heard it from my sister’s mother-in-law as well. It’s not just weird - it’s kind of disturbing in the sense of how much money and wealth was wasted by the elite Muslim class. i am fairly certain this story is accurate because i’ve not only heard it from Nani’s side of the family, but from my sister’s mother-in-law as well. Whenever there used to be a large dinner gathering, after dinner it was the custom of the Nawabs to be served (by their servants of course) a single dry chapati. They used the chapati to clean their hands - imagine what a waste - and then they would dip their fingers in bowls of rose water afterwards. The rose water is okay, a bit arrogant, but i can understand that although i’d never do it myself; but the wiping your hands with a chapati - that’s just bizarre. Imagine what their servants must have thought - what an ostentatious display of wealth and undiluted vanity. The chapatis would obviously be thrown away afterwards. In my opinion, it represents a serious waste of food at a time when there were famines and droughts in what was then all of India.
What i find more shocking is that they were Muslims. Where in Islam does it tell us to be this arrogant ? You find this reflected in today’s Muslim elite classes as well. Sheikhs on their cellphones driving in their tenth Mercedes, vacationing in Italy, and then they talk about “jihad” against Zionists. er why not sell your tenth Mercedes & donate some money to a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza or Rafah ?
Anywho, those are some of my khandaani stories i thought i would share. If i haven’t put anyone to sleep, i’d like to hear some khandaani stories from others. :o :o
You read fast 
