It may just be the longest relationship of your life, and the one that gives you as much grief as

pleasure. The sibling bond, long ignored by researchers, is now thought to be one of the most
important in our lives. No other peer relationship involves a shared upbringing, shared genes and
shared secrets. Studies show the importance as you get older of having friendly siblings for
companionship, reminiscences (stories of family holidays are boring for anyone else) and practical
support. Quote from [Link]

The purpose of this chapter is to estimate dates of births of myself

and my brothers and sisters. The ones recorded in ID cards are not
realistic. I have no intention to describe their personality or history.

We were three brothers and four sisters, who crossed infancy and
reached school going age. Three brothers died in infancy, Saeed
Senior (actually name unknown to me. Saeed and Saeed Sani.

I have a perception about an infant in Shahjahanpur. I saw this

infant only for a few days. I call him Saeed Sr. because my parents
seemed to have a liking for this name. The other Saeed was born
on arrival in Kot Nakka. All that I know is he cried a lot and then
died. My uncle Shafi took him out, wrapped in white cloth and
possibly took him to the graveyard. I was then in class 3 and was
kept in the room of my auntie Zainab for obvious reasons.
The third one named Saeed Sani was born in my absence and I
was never told about him. Munir tells me that he witnessed his
death in Mukhtaran house. His DOB fell in between those of
Perveen and Nasreen.

All dates of birth recorded on our ID cards and in school record(s)

are incorrect. So, I pondered upon it and with interviews with them
I have arrived at very approximate dates. Even these may not be
true, but the chronological order is correct. Place and house of
birth is correct, and rest is an educated guess. In my case I have
been pondering upon it all my life. I have devoted a separate
chapter on this subject. Here is a brief discussion of how I arrived
at these dates.

2 4-Of My Siblings
1-Abdul Aziz (myself): DOB as per school record Jan.6, 1939 but as
per solution of the quiz that my father told me in my adult life, it
probably was Jun 16, 1939. He told me that it was a Sunday and
32 of ASADH as per Bikrami calendar. He
also told me that the initials of my name
were proposed by a Hindu astrologer.
During my school days I consulted a table
in an almanac (JANTRY)
that gave my birth sign as Aries.
According to Hindu astrologers, Children
names are proposed using the moon sign.
So, I assume that my moon sign was Aries.
But working backwards from my
matriculation date which is more reliable,
and reasoning from occupation in various houses and cities that I
was in, I have to go back at least one year. So, let us say it was
July 17, 1938, to keep Sunday as my birthday and to keep to
ASADH 32. I tried several calculators available on the net, but no
date satisfies the moon sign Aries. So, none of these dates are a
correct solution to the quiz. Possibly the Bikrmi calendar used was
not the one now being used in Pak-Punjab. A detailed discussion is
given for interested readers in the “Chapter 9 on my date of
birth”. This chapter has been written by me with the help of several
web pages and theses of PhD candidates.

I have a memory of traveling to Kot Nakka from Chawinda with

my mother and Shamim. I do not recall having Shabir Sr. in the lap
of my mother. Father had already travelled to Kot Nakka a month
or so before us. He was retired from ordnance factory Sialkot as a
post-world war II downsizing measure. Mamoon Shafi offered him
an opportunity of work in Kot Nakka.

I computed the date of passing my grade 2 class as Feb. 1946

working backwards from my matric pass date of May 1954. The
actual promotion was due in March 1946, but we had to leave
Chawinda early. So, my cousin Younus took me to my teacher

3 4-Of My Siblings
(Beg Sahib from village Bagarian?) in Chawinda. He gave me a
test in his house. I found my inkpot dry and my cane pen broken.
So, the teacher provided a pen and inkpot. I passed the test and
was prematurely promoted to class 3 to make my leaving the
school possible.

2-Shamim Akhtar: As my mother told me, we were both infants

together with a difference of about one year. She was keeping us
on the same bed with her. She would keep Shamim on her side
and me on the foot side of the bed. When we cried, she would
pacify us by giving a pat using her hand for Shamim and her foot
for me. So, I reason out a difference of bout one year. Thus, her
date of birth could possibly be 15th. August 1939.

I remember Shamim from our bigger house in

Gujranwala (second rented house after we were
evicted from grandfather’s
house) where we played
together. I remember my
AQEEQA and two goats tied in
that veranda and a walker that I tried to play with
on flat brick soling floor. With Shamim, I
would pose as a salesman in a milk shop selling yogurt. My
sister would be my customer. The “yogurt” would
be just a clay paste.
I remember clearly when leaving
Chawinda that we waited for train
at the Aladh (Sialkot) end of
platform of railway station. The floor
was very cold, and I was feeling
uncomfortable standing there
barefooted. Watching my fidgety
feet, Shamim only one-year junior to me would spread her little
palms on the cold floor and with her childhood innocence she
invited me to step on her palms to make me comfortable. She

4 4-Of My Siblings
said,” Bhai Jan” (a title for elder brother) you rest your feet
on my palms”.

I recall her saving some coins from her pocket money and giving
me when I lived in Pindi Bhattian for short time intervals to save on
daily journey when possible.

In Chawinda she had been admitted into a girl’s school, situated

just in the opposite direction to my school. I would accompany
her to her school, daily before going to mine. The house of her
lady teachers was nearby and sometimes, to save time, I would
leave her with the head mistress there.

This teacher happened to be a dark colored woman with two

equally dark-skinned daughters. We both had a fair color and I
would take fancy of their talk of using a face cream (TIBET snow
cream was then popular).
These girls would describe
that after the application
of the cream, they would
seem so attractive that the boys
teased them.

After school, I would play with Shamim’s dolls and actually used
her language style, I mean speaking in girly language. My sister
was so innocent and uninitiated that in our childhood, I used to
laugh at his linguistic deficiency. She used wrong phrases. For
example, when she demanded some money from mother she
would say, I want to purchase some money. She actual meant, I
want to spend some money. She had a strange way of spelling
out various words. Instead of saying each alphabet one by one,
she would read the first syllable completely and then speak out
the rest of the alphabets one by one. I always thought it was funny
and her teacher would be very angry on her and could not
understand why she was doing it. And as for mathematics, she
had no concept whatsoever. Very soon she would drop out of

5 4-Of My Siblings
school in grade 2, as she did not like to study at all. Instead she
would be playing with dolls knitting and stitching dresses for them.

She spent all her time in knitting and stitching garments for the
dolls. In fact, I learnt from her the crocheting and knitting. In
knitting I learnt making a pattern we called "Peanut". We did not
have real needles for knitting. Instead we always used twigs from
our home besom (a
traditional witch's
broom made from hard twigs of a
hard grass with handle removed).
The pattern was knit by a simple trick. One would drop say 6
stitches on to a small auxiliary stick and continue knitting on the
main needles. Also knitting was continued on the auxiliary needle.

After 3 or 4 rows, one would pick up the dropped stitches, and

continue knitting on the main needle, but displaced by the same
number of stitches. I am not an expert, but that was the basic
idea. And besides, it was a good past time in the company of my
sibling. And our playing together brought less trouble to mother.

As I am remembering her, I am crying with my eyes wet and a

choked throat. In fact, I stopped my work for the day and talked
about the incidence to my wife. I am glad that I have a
companion with whom I can share my sorrows and my joys. My
sister Shameem would die in Karachi on January 18, 1999, that is at
the age of about 60 years. More tragic part is that I had seen her
about two months before her death. She had shown me her
ultrasound of the abdomen. Neither she nor I knew what was
wrong with her. The report did not give any conclusion in plain
language. Her son Ateeq, would latter take the report to a doctor

6 4-Of My Siblings
for interpretation and prescription. But my sixth sense told me that
the end was very near. I don’t know why?

Same day, I had earlier visited my younger sister Amina. She was
also living in Karachi not far from Shameem's house. Amina had
complained against Shameem and her husband and told me that
they were not on speaking terms. I immediately headed back to
Amina and told her to reconcile as Shamim was about to leave us
in two months’ time. I don't know how I said that. Amina promptly
accompanied, reconciled and made amends with Shameem. I
left Karachi and bought a ticket for 19th. January 1999. She knew
that I was scheduled to return. On 17th. January she spitted blood.
Ateeq decided to take her to the hospital. But she resisted saying
that the brother was coming in two days and he will not know
where I am. She was waiting for my visit all the times. She probably
also knew inside her that she will not be seeing me anymore. At
the hospital they gave her some first aid and discharged. She
expired next day on 18th. January. Alas it was too late for me to
visit her on 19th. Destiney does not wait. I rescheduled my ticket
and reached after midnight. Technically I reached there on my
“Walking alone is not difficult but when we have
walked a mile worth a thousand years with someone
then coming back alone is what is difficult.”
― Faraaz Kazi
original date of 19th.
January.

I read the following quote from

[Link]
sibling-bond

IT MAY JUST BE THE LONGEST RELATIONSHIP OF YOUR LIFE, AND THE ONE THAT GIVES YOU
AS MUCH GRIEF AS PLEASURE. THE SIBLING BOND, LONG IGNORED BY RESEARCHERS, IS
NOW THOUGHT TO BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT IN OUR LIVES. NO OTHER PEER
RELATIONSHIP INVOLVES A SHARED UPBRINGING, SHARED GENES AND SHARED SECRETS.
STUDIES SHOW THE IMPORTANCE AS YOU GET OLDER OF HAVING FRIENDLY SIBLINGS FOR
COMPANIONSHIP, REMINISCENCES (STORIES OF FAMILY HOLIDAYS ARE BORING FOR
ANYONE ELSE) AND PRACTICAL SUPPORT.

7 4-Of My Siblings
She was actually suffering from cirrhosis of lever, which was not
treatable at that time. Now they can put a stent to restore blood
supply to the lever. That is like putting a stent in the heart. I have
one installed on Feb. 16, 2012 after a heart attack (Jan. 29,2012).

Shamim was married to Abdul Rahman on Aug. 1, 1961. She was

then about 22. I was then posted in Hyderabad Sindh. The
proposal had come from Uncle Noor Din. My father accepted the
proposal. Mother was not consulted what to speak of myself. We
all saw Abdul Rahman for the first time when he came with the
wedding procession. My mother actually fainted on the first sight
of the groom. The mismatch was obvious and a surprise.

Those were the days

of absolute
authority exercised
by elders. Add to
that my father's
personal dictatorial
attitude. So, no
questions could be
asked. We
accepted it as part
of the destiny. She
too accepted it patiently without complaining. I could find only
one picture of her in my collection. The photograph reproduced
above was taken when they both visited us in Sukkur around 1967.
She was about 27 then. Earlier in 1964, she had accompanied my
wife, to Sukkur to settle her with me. That was about 4 months after
my marriage, around Apr.1964. My wife Kishwar, youngest of her
siblings actually did not know much about cooking except
making tea to which she was almost addicted, and scrambled
egg and some basic recipes

She trained my wife in cooking the dishes that I

liked. The first dish that they cooked was
"stuffed Karelay". In English they are probably

8 4-Of My Siblings
called bitter melon or bitter gourde. In pakistan we call them
BOOT STUFFED BITTER GOURDE
KARELA. KARELA IS A UNIQUE VEGITABLE-FRUIT THAT CAN BE
This is how USED AS A FOOD OR MEDICINE. IT IS THE EDIBLE PART OF
they look THE PLANT MOMORDICA CHARANTIA, WHICH IS A VINE
OF THE CUCURBITACEAE FAMILY AND IS CONSIDERED
THE MOST BITTER AMONG ALL FRUITS AND VEGITABLES.

after cooking.
My family likes this food very much and so I am dwelling on it a
little longer. Here are two YouTube videos giving some recopies.
1-BitterGored StuffedFried and 2-KeemaBhareKarele

In cooking, most of the vegetable was burnet and when I came

for lunch, they had hidden the burnt ones. But the smell in the
kitchen was tell-tale of the mishap.

I now recall that the family that I used to visitin Machikay

mohallah in Chawinda was actually parents of my sister’s
husband. I had only met his sister Shareefan. His brother Boota
lived next door to us in a small house. Our southern wall was
common. As I was told this little house was actually part of my
grandfather's house.

I recall visiting this small house as a of child. A strange bad smell

was associated to it. Now I understand the smell actually came
from "Heeng" Asafoetida, a spice from Ferula assafoetida is a
monoecious, herbaceous, perennial plant of the family Apiaceae.
In its pure form, its odour is so strong the aroma will contaminate
other spices stored nearby if it is not stored in an airtight container.
Mr. Boota always kept a small piece in his pocket. It is supposed to
be good as Antiflatulent, A digestion aid, for Fighting influenza,
Remedy for asthma and bronchitis, An antimicrobial, a
contraceptive/abortifacient, and Antiepileptic. Asafoetida was
approved by the US Pharmacopedia to stave off the Spanish flu
epidemic of 1918 that killed millions worldwide. It was placed into
pouches called "acifidity bags" that were provided by drug stores

9 4-Of My Siblings
to be hung around the neck to try to prevent catching the
disease. In Homeopathy, its most striking application is to what is
called globus hystericus, characterised by the sensation of a lump
in the throat, as a symptom of anxiety or hysteria, mainly in
women. I have seen the efficay on this account in my "innocent
practice of homeopathy" in my first year of engineering.

When I used to walk to my high school (Pindi Bhattian- 1949-54)

and returned home after evening (wintertime) she would share
with me roasted Chickpeas (BHUNAY KALAY CHANAY)
or a piece of sugar cane that were taken by all in the afternoon. It
was a common practice to eat some snack in the afternoon in
villager’s custom. She would insist that I consume it
before my dinner. Sometimes, I stayed in Pindi
Bhattian (In hostel or a friend house) for late study. Next time when
I would return, she would give me a small coin or two that she
had saved from her pocket money, telling me that it was her
contribution towards my school expenses. I find no way to pay her
back not even a portion of that money. I constantly remember
these little gestures from her as Hershey (company) advertises their
chocolate nuggets as "Little pleasures of life".

On her death, I was joined at the Lahore airport by SHAREEFAAN,

sister of Abdul Rehman. Then I recalled it was her house in
Machiwara, Chawinda that I used to visit so often. In the house, as

10 4-Of My Siblings
I remember there lived two or possibly three families, all having a
bedroom, a kitchen and a small courtyard. The courtyard was
common and looked very spacious. The bedrooms were
identically laid out in parallel, at far end of the main entrance with
one common "Drawing room” near the main entrance. Their
elders seem to have pioneered, what now is called “modern”
housing schemes built by NGOs in Flood effected areas- all
identical houses with common community services. I recall
once visiting her house and asking for a little GUR (Brown
sugar lumps straight from sugar cane called Jaggery
) for the uses of my father in his HUKKAH
Hubble-Bubble).
HUKKAH smokers place a little lump of Jaggery on the tobacco to
make it mild and take away tobacco smokes first “bite”. Actually, I
liked to eat any available sweet even from the tobacco box of
my father. Once I found that I had eaten all from the box and was
worried lest father find it out and show his anger first on me then
on mother. But ultimately, my father got the hint and asked me
about it. I had to tell the truth. He showed a slight displeasure,
because he knew of my addiction to sweet and mother was on
my side on that.

At the death of my sister Shamim, Shareefan had been a widow

for 30-35 years. She was married to FEEROZE in QILA SOBHA SINGH
. He worked in Kuwait in early days of of Kuwait's
affluence. I always saw him wearing silky shirt cream
color made from the famous TWO HORSE BOSKI and
SHALWAAR of CHABI KA LATHTHA. .
Uncle Feroze smoked costly cigarettes and wore a
ring made from solid gold. That combination was then the sign of
affluence. He must have accumulated a lot of wealth. That might
have helped his widow to survive for 30-35 years without earning
herself.

Every time I visited the family of Shareefan in Chawinda at

Mohallah Macheekay, I found her weaving drawstring
(azarband). A drawstring is pulled through the casing

11 4-Of My Siblings
of the SHALWAAR, or Pyjama, and tied to hold the garment in
place. Here is a youtube video link to demonstrate pulling of the
azarband. [Link]
AZARBAND NARA
The custome then was to have tassels at
both ends of azaarband. It was kind of
strange as these tassels are usually hidden
under the shirt. Stranger was the practice
of weaving patterns in the body of azaarband, which will never be
visible as it is in the casing. Yet girls made efforts to weave them
and compete for better and better patterns. I have been looking
for a picture of azarband weaving with warp on a charpoy in
Punjabi homes. After several years I found an article with two
pictures. Because the technology is extinct I want to stetch its
memory a little further. The article has been reproduced from

Revival of the Weave: Finding Passion for a Punjabi Craft Tradition

August 14, 2017, Swatantar Mann

“Now we’ve gone old,” said Harbans Kaur, my friend’s mother-in-law in her
early nineties.
My mother did not miss a second to reply. “We are not old! We know, we
have brains to think, we can use our hands to create.”

The two Punjabi grandmothers had just met, but it did not take long for them to gel, nor could they
wait to set their hands on their weaving project. As teenagers, they had learned the art of weaving
with the sprang technique to make azarband, more commonly known as nala in Punjab, India.
The nala is a drawstring used to secure the salwar—loose pants, worn with a kurta or kameez (top). It
curls up with use and stays hidden, unless embellished at the ends to be revealed on the sides of a
ghagra (long silk skirt worn by brides and close family in a wedding ceremony).

[Link]
The picture on the left
uses a charpoy standing
up with the warp hanging
from a loop made
between two legs of the
charpoy. It was a popular
scene in homes (mostly in
courtyards or even in
streets). A charpoyee
would be palced upright
in a slightly slanting
12 4-Of My Siblings
position, with warp made from good quality threads. Usually
mercerized cotton.
Here is the description of the weaving
NALA, recalled from my memory:
The warp was held tight between the end bars tied with the feet
of charpoy, called pawa . I do not remember how the
weaving started. But During the process, girls used their
two thumbs to pick up the threads, changing position of a pair of
threads (right to left) Holding them in the four fingers of their right
hand, until all threads are woven. They will then put a cane in the
space so made and pull out their right hand. As the process
continued, more and more canes were placed and with the
motion of thumbs, these canes would make a pleasant noise, a
sort of symphony. Every few minutes, they would compact the
woven portion by pushing up the canes and pulling them out one
by one, leaving behind a woven part.

3-Saeed (Senior): I do not know when he was born. But I saw him
in Shahjahanpur. He was being taken care of by a female monkey
in the Mughal type mansion locally called HAVAILI. I do not
know when he died but sure I did not see him in the army
barrack that we shifted to in Shahjahanpur. He must
have died in infancy. I do not know his name, but I have named
him because the name Saeed seems to have been a favorite of
my father. He named other two newborns as Saeed.
Unfortunately, all Saeeds died in infancy (within two weeks of
age).

4- Saeed (junnior): Saeed (Junior) was born in mamoon Shafi

house possibly in Mar. 1946, after our arrival in Kot Nakka.
As we moved from Chawinda (around Feb. 1946)and reached
Kot Nakka, we were received in the house of mamoon Shafi. I
remember the first dinner in mamoon Shafi house was “feet of
lamb” . I tasted it for first time in my life. Next morning, I saw
the curry frozen in a big brass dish called “Paraat”
used for making dough for chapattis.

13 4-Of My Siblings
This big dish if made of burnt clay called KUNALI in
Chawinda and Marilwala. The word “SAH-NAK” was
heard by me for the first time
in Kot Nakka. Incidentally Kunalis were
also used by shopkeepers to make and
sell youghurt or DAHI in them.
Soon I would find an infant in the family
that cried a lot for several days. My
father had named it Saeed. Somehow
father liked this name. Then one day it cried all morning and
before 10 am it expired. I only noticed a silence in the bedroom
and then my mamoon Shafi would wrap it in a white sheet and
carried it (to the graveyard). Then I did not know the death and its
cosequences.

5-Shabir (Senior): I do not recall him being present with us in

Lahore or Chawinda. Yet there are some facts about him that
may determine his DOB.
i) He died while in grade 2 at what we call Zargar House
in Kot Nakka. Mother told me that his cause of death
was some sort of food poisening.
ii) Amina tells me he died 40 days before Shabir Sani was
born. I have established Shabir Sani’s DOB as Sep 5,
1951. That puts the death of Shabir Sr. on Jul. 27, 1951.

Children usually were admitted in school at the age of 5. His

possible age on completion of grade 2 could be in 5 + 2 =7 years.
Possible date of completion of class 2 would be March 15, 1952.
Counting back 7 years from it, DOB would be March 15, 1945. That
was the time when I was promoted to grade 2 in Chawinda.

It was possibly a Hindu custom to hang garlands of Shreen

tree branches in English would be lebbek tree or woman's
tongue tree(What a male oriented lexicon!). I do not recall any
such hanging. He could have been born in Maraliwala, where this

14 4-Of My Siblings
 Hindu
custom was
not
observed.
Such
hangigs
were made
by some
singer groups called MARASI or transgender groups called
KHUSRA.
Hindus did it to warn pregnant women. It was believed
by them that if these women visited such house their offspring
might be harmed. Munir has some reasoning that Shabir senior
was born in Wassanpura Lahore. But that would make his death
date in grade Anyway I have seen this brother of mine growing in
Kot Nakka and had personally taken him to Kot Nakka school for
admission to class 1. I have been listening to his loud recitation of
Urdu lessons. One such lesson had a long list of
vegitables that are no more found in our grocery
stores now. I recall some like KURRAM
KULLA . This word is possibly another name
for cabbage. AALOO
(potato), KACHALOO taro etc.

Once my mother invited his headmaster for a

dinner to celebrate Shabir’s promotion to garde
2. The headmaster, Abdul Ghaffar was an old
man, wearing a “Kulla” and a
turban. I remember mother
coocked “PULAU”.
And the headmaster advised
me not to drink water after
such fatty food. That would
cause the fat to stick to the
throat. If one has to drink
water, one needs to first eat

15 4-Of My Siblings
dry bread so that the fat is swept down into the stomach.

Munir tells me that Shabir Sr. had kept a small “TAKHTI”

as a gift for “KAKA” Munir. “KAKA” in
Punjabi is used for male infant. Munir himself was
born on June 23, 1948. So Shabir Sr. at that time would be about
three years of age.

6-Amina: She told me that she was senior to

Munir. Munir somehow thinks Amina was
senior to him by 30 months. Counting back
from 23 June 1948, it works out to 23 Jan
1945. This is not possible as it would mean
that she was born only 3 months after Shabir
Sr. was born.

Moreover, I remember I used to give her

bath, dress her and comb her golden hair
and carry her on my shoulders, walking in the market when we
were in Zargar house. I estimate our move into Zargar house Dec.
1947. If she was to be born between Saeed and Munir, a good
guess would be Apr. 1947 possibly at Maraliwala. Law and order
situation due to expected partition of India was worsened around
June 1947. I remember Shamim was at Maraliwala on partition
and mother used to cry for her in Kot Nakka. Thus, it was possible
that mother had travelled to Maraliwala, Amina was born there,
and mother returned after 40 days of her birth before disturbances
and riots. Shamim might have been left behind in Maraliwala on

Has one watched my dear brother

lately?
He has an umbrella in his hand
And is drinking milk in the bazaar

her demand.

16 4-Of My Siblings
As Amina grew up she became a typical sister, looking after her
brother, me expressing good hopes for my future. She used to sing
usual sisterly songs. I recall only one given above.

Now normally in those days, drinking milk in the bazaar was not
viewed as a gentlemanly behavior. Yet the sister is praising for the
love of her brother.

7-Munir: He says he solved the quiz that mother

had told him for his DOB as Jun 23, 1948. His DOB
was related to SHAB-E-BRAT that I found on the
internet as 23 June at:
[Link]
calendar/global/global-islamic-calendar-year-
[Link]

Thus Shabir Sr. was about 3-year-old at that time. Which is

acceptable.

8-Shabir Sani: This is a long story. He passed Matric in June 1966

under roll number 43224 (His SMS dated
Jul. 26, 2017 at 11:50 AM). So, counting
(10 + 5 = 15) years backwards, he could
have been born in July 1951. I computed
his DOB from an incidence in my 8th.
Class in Sialkot at Jinnah Efficiency High
School Saddar Bazaar. I was admitted in
CMH Sialkot in Ramadhan of 1951(June
6- as per Saudi calendar found on
[Link] I
celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr on or about July 7
with the family and then back to CMH.
On that Eid father took me to a fair, bought me some grapes and
a toy drum on toy cart (sample image on this link)
([Link] )
I downloaded it and it may be accessed on here.

17 4-Of My Siblings
 Sometimes latter I was
discharged from Hospital. I
joined the school again.

There is a catch here. Usually

summer holidays started in Mid-
May to Mid-August. But I sure
was walking to school before
Ramadhan.

Contract of Abba Ji was

cancelled, and family had to leave for Kot Nakka. Then there
were floods. Father could not find another job and was living in a
shop in Saddar bazar. This was the same shop that he lived during
our stay at Chawinda and I had once visited him and lived for a
few days with him. I remember we had read about the invention
of Radio by Marconi and concept of eather or ether or
luminiferous ether in our class. Father bought some cigarettes. The
shopkeeper had a radio playing. I saw some light variation around
it and concluded that ether was disturbed due to radio waves. I
immediately disclosed the finding to my father. He was very
pleased and told the shop keeper about my finding. The
shopkeeper remarked that new discoveries are made by such
intelligent people. I wonder if that was really intelligence or
stupidity.

Actually, the light source was an incandescent lamp not visible

behind the decorations on the shop and was undulating due to
cool evening breeze, which I mistook for ethereal movements.
What an enthusiasm to use my newly learnt lessons in science.

Father left me in the house of Babu Mushataq (his friend from

Chawinda, then working as a telegraph clerk in Sialkot. It was
noon time. I slept in the reception of the house. I saw a
postcard being pushed under
the door in my dream. While still in the
dream, I read the letter learning
18 4-Of My Siblings
about the death of Shabir Sr. I startled and saw a letter inside on
the sill of the door. And sure, there was this news in it.

In the meantime, father returned and told that road traffic was all
upset due to floods. I remember someone telling that a flood
water in the form of a wall 8 feet high was approaching Sialkot.
So, we were very panicky lest we were stranded at Sialkot.

We travelled to Sambrial well known for (concentrate of milk).

The bus was bound to Sambrial but it seems they over-
shooted to probably Nalla Palkhoo crossing. From
there we walked to Karm Abad (town made
famous by Maulana Zafar Ali Khan editor Zamindar
daily). Zafar Ali Khan is named "Baba e Sahafet"
("Father of Journalism") in Pakistan.

We were very hungry. There were flood victims perched

everywhere on the road.
They told us that food is
dropped from the air daily
and asked us to wait. But
we

continued
our journey to Wazirabad Railway station. So, we must have
walked 20+km by then. Near Wazir Abad, a full stream was flowing
across the road and the road was cut deep. We saw volunteers
helping pedestrians to climb almost 6 feet to safety.

19 4-Of My Siblings
At the railway station we bought two small chapatis at an
exorbitant cost of 4 annas per piece. That was a cruel act by
railway venders. We then Took rail
to Sukheki. In the train we met
headmaster Abdul Ghaffar of Kot
Nakka. Then took a bus to Thatta
Kharo Matmal. Abba Ji crossed
sem nalla flowing parallel to the
main road with headmaster and
me on shoulders turn by turn. We
reached home late in the evening.
We found Shabir Sani born a few
days before our arrival (Chand Rat
of ZulHajj ). Thus I compute the
DOB of Shabir Sani as Sept. 13,
1951 from
[Link]
calendar/global/global-islamic-
[Link]
9-Perveen: Perveen says her date of birth is 1955 and was Born in
Mukhtaran House. Kishwar estimate her age at our
marriage was 6-7 years. I was married on Dec. 25,
1963. Seven years before that is Dec. 25, 1956. Munir
refers to the presidency of Sikandar Mirza He became
president technically on March 23,
1956 but was governor general since Oct. 6,
1955. But Munir says he was shown this baby in
M0amoon Shafi house. So, the place of birth in
Mamoon Shafi house. I estimated family move
from Sukheki to mamoon Shafi house was in Jan
1955 and move to Mukhtaran house in Apr.
1956. So, I assign her DOB as Feb. 1956.

7-Nasreen: Nasreen’s ID card has her DOB as

1963. Nasreen’s DOB was determined from two
pieces of information. 1) Munir says she was
born on a Tuesday in Mukhtaran house in the

20 4-Of My Siblings
year 1958, when Sikandar Mirza was president. 2) Kishwar says
Nasreen was about 4 years of age at our marriage. 3) My parents
visited me in Gujar Khan Camp and Nasreen was in lap. Mother
placed her in the pocket of my Swiss cottage.

The image shown below does not include bamboos blind

in front to serve as a varanda. I estimated my Gujar Khan
stay from Aug 8 to Nov 23, 1960. They had come in winter. I
remember giving them a ride in my jeep. I was a new driver and
was intimidated to
turn back due to
heavy truck traffic on
the main road.
Nasreen could be 1
to 1 1/2-year-old
then.

So, I estimate her

DOB could be
around Oct. 14,
1958.

21 4-Of My Siblings