Navratri Puja: Mantras and Vidhi
A True Gandhian
“My life is my message“, said Mahatma Gand hi. And one
of Bapu's original disciples, Abdul Hamid Kureshi, 89 -the chair man of the
Sabarmati Ashram -has enclosed a message in his death. Kureshi, who was also an
eminent lawyer, chose to be cremated and not buried.
Kureshi
breathed his last at the breakfast table in his residence in Swastik Society ,
Navrangpura, on Saturday morning. Sabarmati Ashram was the cradle of Bapu's
revolutionary ideas to win freedom from the British.
It
was a rare sight at the Mukti Dham crematorium in Paldi where Kureshi's
illustrious family gathered for his final rites. Senior members of the higher
judiciary and distinguished lawyers stood alongside the grieving family .
Kureshi was the grandson of Imam Saheb Abdul Kadir Bawazir, a close associate
of Bapu in South Africa.Bapu referred to Imam Bawazir as his “sahodar“, brother
born from the same mother.
“Kureshi
saheb wished to be cremated because he did not want to waste land with his
burial,“ said Bharat Naik, the sonin-law of Kureshi's brother, Wahid Kureshi.
“In fact, he made me a witness to the decision in the presence of other family
members.“ Over the past four years, Kureshi had been reminding his son, Justice
Akil Kureshi, and Naik that they should ensure he is cremated. He asserted that
if anyone objected, the person should be told of his last wish.Kureshi was
cremated after 7 pm.
Kureshi
was born in the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad where Imam Bawazir had settled
with Bapu in 1915. Born in 1927, Kureshi grew up on Bapu's lap till Bapu
embarked on the Dandi March in 1930. Kureshi was one of the few kids who ate
tomato slices from Bapu's lunch. Bapu wrote letters to a young Kureshi, which
were later donated to the National Archives of India.
“Kureshi's
father, Ghulam Rasool, was part of `Arun Tukdi' that walked ahead of the Dandi
March procession,“ said Sabarmati Ashram director Tridip Suhrud. “The team had
to ensure that arrangements for meetings and halts were in place.“
After
Ghulam Rasool and his wife were arrested during the Dandi March, Abdul Hamid,
his brother Wahid, and sister Sultana were brought up for a few years by
Anasuya Sarabhai, said the secretary of the ashram, Amrut Modi. “Sarabhai was a
Gandhian and pioneer of women's labour movement in India,“ he said. Rizwan
Kadri, an Ahmedabad-based historian, said that in September1942 Kureshi was
arrested in Detroj during the Quit India movement.
Kureshi
became the chairman of the Sabarmati Ashram trust three years ago. A peace
activist at heart, Kureshi worked to build bridges between Hindus and Muslims
and penned a book titled “ Agnipariksha“ after the 1969 communal riots in
Gujarat.
Bapu's advice to young Kureshi: Improve handwriting
Hamid Kureshi Was Arrested By British When He Was Barely 15
Barely 15 years of age, Abdul Hamid Kureshi was arrested by the British in September 1942 during the Quit India agitation. He was in Detroj, taking part in a peaceful agitation. He was arrested along with five others. The police papers of Kureshi's arrest were recently retrieved from the Maharashtra state archives. His father Gulam Rasool and mother Aminaben, the daughter of Imam Saheb Abdul Kadir Bawazir, were major influences on Kureshi.“As Gandhiji considered Amina ben his own daughter, it was Bapu who was the main host for Amina ben's wedding,“ says city-based historian Rizwan Kadri. He adds, “Kureshi also wrote a book called Agripariksha, in which he recalled episodes from his life during the 1969 communal riots. The aim of the book was to dissect the riots and reveal how violence was meaningless and caused despair.“
After the Dandi march, when Bapu moved to Wardha's Sevagram ashram, he even wrote to the five-year-old Kureshi and insisted that he improve his handwriting. His father Gulam Rasool would encourage him to write to Bapu regularly and the boy was thrilled to get replies. Kureshi had preserved the letters and later donated them to the National Archives in Delhi. Kureshi was a friend of former chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki from his Ashram days. As lawyers, Solanki and Kureshi spend lot of time at Imam Manzil and took up cases of the poor. “They were very good friends. Solanki's father Phoolsinh, who was an employee of Sabarmati Ashram and Kureshi's father Gulam Rasool were also good friends. Their children Madhavsinh and Abdul Hamid continued the friendship. They would spend hours together at the Chandrabhagha stream near the Ashram,“ says secretary of Sabarmati Ashram Amrut Modi. Ashram director Tridip Suhrud adds, “He was very meticulous in handling Ashram affairs. Since he was a lawyer, he read every document with equal intensity. His absence will be felt.“ (source : Times of India)
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