Family Eid Milan in Karachi

Thank God, by His grace and mercy, over one hundred and fifty relations, living in Karachi, including children, were kind and gracious to attend the Family Eid Milan held on Thursday 26th October 2006, the day following Eid-ul-Fitr, So many of them had come from far away places, and, it was due to all them that made the occasion a great success.

However, all of us, without any exception, owe a great debt of gratitude to KHWAJA ARSHAD, SHAHNAZ, TUBA, ATYAB and NIDA for doing what they did to make it all happen. Regardless of the fact that our relations are not in the habit of making registrations in spite of such request over a month in advance, Arshad, left no stones unturned whenever he was home from duty – flying for PIA – telephoning as many persons he could to get their registrations and making sure that no one that he knew about was left out. Shahnaz, Nida and Tuba helping with wrapping prizes for the “Lucky Dip” and gifts for the children for which they went shopping. We are indebted to Monty Mashooqullah who, as always, in addition to providing various items, also makes a handsome contribution. We also thank Amir Adnan for his contribution, and Wasi Ahmad and Khwaja Arshad for their share in meeting expenses for the function.

For the past few years Family Eid Milans have been held, through their kindness and courtesy, at the Karachi home of Aliya and Nabil Tebawi for which we will, for ever remain grateful. We thank Murad and Baneen Mashooqullah, who live there, for making their lawn available to us for this purpose.

It was a warm day in Karachi, but there was a light breeze which, along with the pedestal fans so thoughtfully arranged by the catering contractor, was of great help as the guests started arriving, greeting each other and making themselves comfortable under the Shamiana. As announced earlier, between 1.45 and 2 p.m. Khwaja Arshad announced that lunch was being served and, as soon as most of the guests had helped themselves with the delicious food and proceeded to doing justice to it, he asked the eldest member present, MUSA BHAI (Mr. A. M. S. Ahmad, husband of the late Bilquis) to choose a lucky number – each guest, except children under 12 was given a token with a lucky number - from the bag carried over to him by Atyab Arshad. The prize for the first number drawn was presented by Tuba to Begum Kaniz Wajid Khan, a very old friend of the family, and coincidentally, a very close friend of Musa Bhai and Biquis since 1947. They were together in Rajshahi where Mr. Wajid Khan was posted as Controller of Civil Supplies and Musa Bhai was the Superintendent of Police (S.P.). Thereafter, Atyab went round asking different persons, old and young, to pick a number, with Arshad calling out the number and Tuba handing over a prize to the lucky winner.

We were glad to welcome, from far away Canada, Nishat and Aziz Kashani, from Bangladesh, Binoo Zakiuddin and Hushmat Husain from Rawalpindi. There was another coincidence – a meeting of two persons after many, many years – as Nishat Kashani, then a nine-year old girl, remembered having met Mrs. Kaniz Wajid Khan in Murshidabad, where her father, the late Khwaja Bahauddin, was posted as an officer in Civil Supplies. It is possible that among those present, there were others who met one another for the first time, or after many years.

We sincerely hope that, by the grace and mercy of the Lord Almighty, we are given the opportunity to have such a grand re-union year after year, and members of the family are earnestly requested to please make it a point to visit the Dhaka Nawab Family Website – www.nawabbari.com - regularly, and in particular at the beginning of the month of Ramadan for information about Eid Milan. In any case those wishing to attend should not wait to be reminded, and may kindly get in touch with Khwaja Arshad or Shahnaz Arshad (Tel: 021- 584-1835) around the 20th Ramadan and register the number of persons in their respective parties. This will be necessary as the publication of the DNF Newsletter will cease after December 2006.

Khwaja Sayeed Shahabuddin
Karachi - Pakistan
Saturday 28th October 2006