Abdullah Ahmed: My Life Story

I am writing an autobiography on my beloved Father in Law who passed away 3 yrs back in 2008. He was a self made man, a very kind hearted and generous and compassionate and extremely lively. This is his story, a story about his Journey from the age of 10 yrs or younger till his death.

[abdullahmed]

Memories.....1945-47

Abbi was 7 or 10 years old, when his father became sick. His father came back from the hotel not feeling well. In fact he was having chest pains and was unable to breathe. Ammani called the doctor for a quick checkup. Doctor came and checked and said that his condition was serious and must be kept under supervision. So a nurse was appointed to stay and keep watch on his condition and if he survives the night then there is a 50-50 chance of survival.

But the next day, there was no change in his condition but got worse. In the night, Ammani came and woke the children up so they can say goodbye to their father (the father made a request to see his children for the last time) as he was breathing his last. Abbi's father gave hugs and kisses and blessings to all the children and finally passes away. Ammani cries out loudly when she realizes that her husband is no more and she is now a widow left with 6 children to take care of by herself.

[abdullahmed]

Memories....1947

1947 After Abbi's father's death, the Council or the Elders of the society took a decision regarding who will run the hotel until the children are old enough to run it. So they had decided that Abbi's Tayya (older uncle) will run the hotel as a caretaker until the heirs are ready to run the hotel business. Now Tayya was an efficient businessman, he knew how to make money as compared to his brothers. His nature was realized later on in upcoming incident. One day Abbi's brothers and sisters requested that they wanted to eat some Nehari from their hotel. Ammani said ok. So Abbie left for the hotel on his bicycle. When he reached there, he informed his Tayya, that he came to collect some Nehari as they wanted some for dinner. Tayya said fine and Abbi left with the food happily, only to find out that he was charged for the food when it should have been for free. This enraged Abbi, as this was their hotel and they were the owners thus they should not have been charged at all. So Abbi made a complain to the Council or the Elders of the village and immediately replaced his Tayya as their caretaker and made his Chacha (younger uncle) the care taker. So both Abbi and his Chacha worked together to manage the hotel business. Although, Chacha was not really a good businessman but was rather a nice person. Abbi used to get up early in the morning after his Fajr prayers, go to open up the shop and then go home to get ready to go to school by cycling. Then after school hours he would run the hotel along with his Chacha. Both Abbi and his Chacha were inexperienced in running the hotel as compared to his Tayya. The hotel wasn't doing well and Abbi started to see that it is best to sell the hotel and do something else that would help his family's condition. Now that is another story which will be in the upcoming blog.

[abdullahmed]

My Personal Details - Biodata

Name: Abdullah Bin Ahmed

Date of Birth: 10/06/1935

Nationality: Pakistani

Place of Birth: Hyderabad, India

Father's Name: Ahmed bin Abdul Karim Bafalla

Mother's Name: Fakhrunissa Begum

Siblings:

Abdul Karim Bin Ahmed (Chunnu Bhai)

Abdullah Bin Ahmed (Saheb)

Saleh Bin Ahmed (Abid)

Jamilunissah Begum (Moti)

Meharunissah Begum (Mehar)

Education:

High School Graduate-1952

Bachelor of Arts in Osmania University-1956

Skills:

Typist - 30 wpm

Marital Status: Married Afsar Jahan on 21st July 1956

Children:

Faryal Ahmed

Mustafa Faisal Ahmed

                                       Paternal Side Family

Usman Bin Abdul Karim Bafala (Taya)

Ahmed Bin Abdul Karim Bafala (Father)

Mohammed Bin Abdul Karim Bafala (Chacha)

Qutubunissah Begum (Phopoo)

                                      Maternal Side Family

Qairunissa Begum (Khala)

Fakhrunissa Begum (Mother)

[abdullahmed]

"A Man should never forget where he came from."

Anonymous

[abdullahmed]

My Life....

The earliest memory I have of my childhood is the one about the Restaurant my Grandfather and Father owned in Hyderabad, India. It was located in Charminar area  which became very popular. The name of the restaurant was 'Chaush Ahmed Restaurant'.

I come from the Hadramouth town which is located in Yemen. My Grandfather and his family migrated from Yemen to Hyderabad, India during the Nizams era. In Hyderabad, my Grandfather and along with his sons started up a business of a restaurant.  

The restaurant is still there but has changed hands ever since I had left it when I migrated to Pakistan after the partition. It was mainly run by my father Ahmed but after his death at the age of 35 approx. (as I was 10 yrs old so don't exactly recall the actual age). My older Uncle (Tayya) took over the restaurant, as it was decided by the Councils of the elderly of the town. But soon it turned out that he wasn't the right person as he was very business minded and didn't care about anything but only how to make more money. Then after my intervention, the Restaurant was run by my younger Uncle (Chacha) and myself. I was about 13 years old at that time, and I would remember that I would arise early to open the shop then run to school on my bicycle and when school finished, back to the shop.

I will continue the story in the next blog...

[abdullahmed]

WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST HUMAN MEMORY?

I believe my earliest memory was when my father was very sick and he was on his dying bed...in the night....my mother woke us up as he was breathing his last breaths....then we said our goodbyes to him and then he passed away.