Eid Mubarak

What a Hari Raya this was.

For the past two weeks, i had been trying to meet my uncle Syed Akbar Shah to pass him an article i had found, relating to his late father Syed Gulab Shah. And truly it was God's will that i managed to pass it to him on the Blessed day of Eid.

My uncle had said that he had planned to do korban in Tanjong Pinang. He had even booked his flight but an intuitive feeling within him had made him decide to stay here and forego the trip. He had no idea that i was going to pass him the article. In fact, no one in the family even knew such an article existed, especially since it was published in 1950. He read it out in front of us all, reciting Subhannalllah every few lines. I think it must have been overwhelming for all. My uncle described the news as one of the best he has ever received in his life. (He was three when his father passed away..)

It was a heart-warming reunion as he recounted stories of his late father and my maternal great-grandfather Syed Nadar Shah.

Earlier in the day, i also had the opportunity to visit Nenek Mak Besar, my cousin Nawaz's grandmother, with his family. Her full name is Zeenat Nissa bte Nassir Ali Khan.

Name Change?

On Friday - the Deepavali Holiday - I spent the afternoon at my uncle Syed Mahmood Shah's place.

There, i showed my cousin (his son) this site and he suggested i rename it to Project Hindustani Heritage. He said "Indo-Pak" is a little confusing. This is the second time somebody had thought the "Indo" referred to Indonesia.

So maybe i might consider changing it in time.

Work on this blogsite has been a little slow due to work commitments.

Insya Allah it'll speed up within the next few weeks. :)

Updates

Updated pages:

1. Those Who Came
2. How Can I Help
3. About The Research

The page: Those Who Came will have a brief description of each individual to give readers a better idea of who they were.

After Two Generations

Yesterday i was Masjid Sultan for a majlis where i met a friend of mine, Ariffin.

Ariffin's younger brother was a friend of mine since my junior college days. It was only years later that i found out they were their mother is the daughter of the late Sher Khan, who headed a successful transportation business during colonial times. Sher Khan was a close friend of my paternal grandfather.

As i shared with Ariffin, i have an old black and white photograph of the two of them during their younger days, taken at a photo studio. They were in white, and shaking hands.

And so i made a copy of the photo for Ariffin and presented it to him yesterday at the mosque. He was beaming at the sight of his late grandfather in his younger days. He had never seen a photo of his late grandfather in his younger days. The two friends in the photo must have been in their mid-twenties. And over sixty years and two generations later, their grandsons are mirroring their close friendship.

Bismillah

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Alhamdulillah.

Project Indo-Pak Heritage is personal research aimed at discovering more about the lives of the early Indo-Pakistani community within Singapore.

I hope that with this simple blogsite, we will be able to reach out to the relevant masses, and expand the breadth and the depth of the research.

Insya Allah