Tuesday 4 March 2014

Grandfathers


Because of the distances presented by my parent's migration to England, I didn't grow up with either of my grandfathers and only saw them during a trip to Pakistan when I was still in first school. I have fading memories of my maternal grandfather, Ghulam Nadir, and some almost equally blurred images of my paternal grandfather, Ali Akbar.

My father's grandfather went by the fine name of Arsalaan and his father was Ras Gul, and so it continues. They are mostly known by their singular names (Khan and Gul as honorific titles) at a time when hard records were not always kept. It's important, however, to have knowledge of your past and this thread is dedicated to that important patrilineal lineage of grandfathers.


Tor_Khan تور خان

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4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Salaam,

    This is an interesting topic and I hope you don't mind if I share an anecdote about my grandfather.

    My maternal grandfather had a vintage radio that he really loved. The radio no longer worked but still he was really attached to that radio.

    One day as we kids were playing, suddenly magnets became a big deal and I could not find any magnets to play, so I realized that the speaker in my grandfather's radio had a magnet. I opened the radio, removed the speaker and broke its magnet.

    My grandfather was inconsolable. Until the end of his life he talked about how his beloved radio was broken.

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  3. This is a lovely anecdote. Thank you for sharing. I too remember taking radios apart to get to the magnet.

    I have fading memories of my maternal grandfather but the picture that sticks is of him telling me about the stars in the sky. I loved sleeping on the charpois up on the roof during the summer catching the cool breeze. Memories, ha?

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  4. During summer we also used to sleep on the rooftop. I'd notice that some stars moved in a constant and slow pace, I remember my grandfather telling me they were satellites.

    When I was a kid, I hated going to school, this was a constant thing with me, despite being an A student, I never liked going to school. What I liked more than anything was stories, any kind of story, and I'd simply listen to it, and of course my grandfather would not disappoint, his stories have shaped my life.

    Your a good writer, and I'm not saying this to flatter you, I like your prose style.

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