Friday, December 16, 2011

In Memorium Farhan Mujib

Just returned from the funeral of Dr Farhan Mujib. He found a place very near to his father Professor A.Mujib who left this world in 1969. There were many people in the burial that took place in Minto E Cemetery of AMU. Yours truly was desirous of giving the burial bath to the departed friend but the earlier post, mostly for catharsis reasons, so engrossed the attention that time escaped in a flight. Some people had managed to come from Delhi otherwise it was a quick affair. Once again after returning from the burial attention was grabbed by the surviving member of this pair of swans. Yes that is the Indian metaphor. Some years ago she bade farewell to her mother-another very illustrious personality in that family. And some years before that she bid farewell to her father. This is the way of Allah(SWT) - He gives and He takes away. Here are some anecdotes that spur to the mind at this moment.

(1) First a joke from him. He was not religious my any stretch of imagination and yours truly was amongst those who used to bug him about this. A colleague revealed this after the funeral that he'll get the reports of these activities. Anyway Farhan Sahab was quite familiar with the Islamic terminology and could talk about Gog and Magog and the psychological aspects of Shia Majlis - just to give two disparate examples. He told this story that might be better told by professional narrators. Once there was a man who was scared of death. He came to know that he is going to die at some particular time. He some how thought that he would be safe at the top of Mount Kavkaz (Caucasus). He went to a Mystic and requested him that he may please be transpoted to Mount Kavkaz. The Mystic was preparing to spiritually transfer him to Mount Kavkaz and just then bang came the angel of death. He was surprised to see this man there. Angel asked the Mystic as to what that man was doing with him. The Mystic asked as to what was angel's business. The angel said that his next assignment is to snatch away the soul of that very man at the top of Mount Kavkaz.

(2) Once Farhan Sahan had a minor accident - he sustained an impact in the elbow bones. When yours truly arrived at Shaheen Villa, his residence, he had his hand in a sling. Soon it was time to go for consultation to a well known orthopedist in the locality. He decided not to take his car - he had a car when he was the only carred person in the Department. On the way at was time to crack jokes at the expanse of the would be benefactor - the orthopedist, owing to excessive inclination of the medico to worldly matter. Dr Mujib was no ascetic but worldly blessings did not overwhelm him-he had them all and he used them all but show-off aspect was conspicuous by its absence. The question was whether the medico will charge any fees from a colleague (Dr Mujib had not taken VRS till then) or not. More over medicos younger brother was a fast friend of Herr Mujib. The medico twisted and turned Farhan Sahab's hand at latter's expanse and recommended an X-ray. He did  not charge his fees saying that you are the son-in-law of my teacher. This cheered up the duo-yours truly and Farhan Sahab. Not that Farhan Sahab ever needed a cheer for he himself was a great source of cheer to his friends. Then it was time to walk to the nearest X-ray lab that was Barula Market. After giving exposure to the technicians a few minutes wait was due. While sitting on the market railing he was telling about some past events and he came to an incident that was painful to report but one can not ignore the reality also. After narrating that semi-underground event he said, "Our respectability, Maripat, is just skin deep." As remarked earlier Dr Mujib was no Sufi but the wisdom that was oozing from this statement belongs to the repertoire of Sufis only. These are the moments that cement the bondage between human beings and the passing away of a dear friend becomes shattering because of the strength of these bonds. Rest In Peace Farhan Sahab - you were of a kind. We already miss you so much.

(3) Last meeting of yours truly with Farhan Sahab was in the marriage reception of Professor Wasi Haider's younger daughter. All the current and retired members of the Department were there and it was exciting for one and all to meet many people after various durations of time. Having left the Department Farhan Sahab very rarely came to visit it anymore. In this reception party he was clad in fashionable Kurta-Pajama. This was unusual because he'd rarely care to wear informal dress in public or even at home. But lack of rule is the rule was his generation and forte too. The parting anecdote to yours truly in that function is given below. Once Mir (the famous Urdu poet Mir Taqi Mir) was once traveling. There were other people too in the same coach. They complained that Mir Sahab you are sitting silently it would be so enjoyable if you could indulge in some conversation. "Nothing doing", said Mir. "Why?", they asked. "Well you'll get your entertainment but by your company my language will get into decline", quipped the bard. The joke was told a typical artificial carelessness. Farhan Sahab used to indulge in this punchline delivering occasionally and with elan.

(4) To tell you the truth, Maripat, I was tired at that time. This was the usual sentence structure employed by Farhan Sahab. If he was popular, dear to every heart in Urdu (har dil aziz), then he was so because of a reason. He made efforts to win friends - of course he cared two hoot about influencing people. Allah (SWT) was bounteous in giving him friends in every possible walk of life - through family connections or because of his own efforts. He did not mind using techniques of popular psychology like Dale Carnegie or Transactional Analysis (of Thomas Harris) that appeared as I AM OK, YOU ARE OK. He was a consummate practitioner of these type of arts. He'll use his technology of communication on people who he chose. The choice fell on talented people and his speed of exploration was fast. People were amazed at the rate of appearance of new friends in his life. "This man can not live without people," he quoted some body about himself. How true. Even today a person remarked to yours truly that you had been very close to him. The truth of the matter is that this very person too has been very close to Farhan Sahab.

(5) Since had been, used in above passage, is different from were some explanation is in order. Because of the desire of Allah(SWT) yours truly started hobnobbing with the religious people. Farhan Sahab was very understanding but then there is reality. Frahan Sahab was vocal about his skepticism. When the psychologist came to visit him before his bypass surgery (he struck friendship with people like famous Dr Naresh Trehan, his surgeon, too) the kind doctor made to suggestion to him about remembering God above there. Farhan Sahab was forth right. "Do not depend on that doctor, there no body there", he sad. May Allah(SWT) guard us from these thoughts but this was his temperament. Because of newly acquired temperament of yours truly-and the ongoing journey, it became sort of awkward communication and the frequency of meetings dropped otherwise it used to be hours nearly daily in the evening at Shaheen Villa.

(6) In the initial phase of his collages there used to be old falling apart buildings, cracking plaster, museum quality exteriors. Interiors were fabulous but life was conspicuous by its absence - if you ignored the parrots, pigeons and kites (not the birds). The horses were heavily used but they were always pictures. People were puzzled as to how he could make the cloth fall from a table though the medium chosen by him was absolutely non-dynamic. He told that most of the time is spent in looking through the magazines for suitable pictures or through the collection already cut from the glossy magazines that he used for his collages as the raw material. He also dabbled in generating his own raw material by photographing catchy places, including the AMU and Aligarh buildings. Yours truly was once surprised to see  a flowing river in the collage and some modern high rise buildings too. When it was pointed out to him he made his characteristic remark. "You are right, it is changing now, the nostalgia is gone." At another occasion when a new book, by Gyanpith awardee Professor A.M.K.Shaharyar,  had a typical Farhan Mujib style cover yours truly inquired if he had done the cover. His reply was laconic, "You have changed but you have not lost your eye for the detail." There was a reference to yours truly's inclination towards things spiritual. The thing that had sort of created a drifting apart. Feeling of yours truly are before you but what were his feelings in this regard? He was not averse to speaking the truth and some may just turn up and spill the beans but the present evidence only points to them being still positive. And these are the things that make life a rewarding experience.

And for every blessing thanks are due to Lord Most High. Verify all praise belongs to our Lord Most Kind, As-Sattar.

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