DR NAJMA HEPTULLA (Born 1940 ) IN KASHMIR
( Left To Right ... Abdul Aziz or Aziz Tourist , Dr Najma Heptulla , Mr Vithal Bhai Patel MP from Ahemdabad , Bal Kavi Bairagi well known Hindi poet and MP from Sagar (MP) and a functionary of Congress party from kashmir )
( Photo clicked by Avtar Mota year 1985 )
For the first time , I came across the word “Heptullah ” in an Urdu write up on actor Shyam by Saadat Hasan Manto . Manto was fascinated and amused with this surname . Infact he had read it in a newspaper .
“ What a surname ? ”Manto would often think about this word .
In Mumbai , where he worked as script cum story writer for some film production houses , he even suggested to director Kamal Amrohi to use it somewhere in dialogues for his movie MAHAL ( under production at Bombay Talkies ) . Manto’s friends namely Ashok Kumar , actor Shyam ,Hasrat Ludhianavi were also amused with this surname. Between close friends of Manto and Shyam, Heptullah, the new word gained sufficient popularity . After the partition of the country ,when Manto left permanently for Lahore , actor Shyam came to see him off. When Manto was about to depart , he looked towards Shyam and said :-
“”HEPTULLAH ”
And Shyam answered :-
“HEPTULLAH ”
( This fact appears in chapter on actor Shyam in the book “Saadat Hasan Manto – Stars from Another sky - The Bombay Film World of The 1940 -Essays of Manto translated into English by Khalid Hassan Publishers Penguin Books India Pvt . Ltd. )
I also became familiar with this surname when I heard about Najma Heptullah . She got this surname after her marriage with Akbar Ali A. Heptullah In 1966 ( Died in 2007 ). Akbar Ali Heptullah was one of the founders of Patriot newspaper ( founded in 1960 ) in India .And in 1985 , I met Dr Najma Heptulla in person when she visited Kashmir with a parliamentary delegation .
I knew one Abdul Aziz popularly known as Aziz Tourist . He had a shop inside Batmaloo Bus Adda in Srinagar city and dealt with our bank. Abdul Aziz ( Aziz Tourist ) had a sweet tongue and unmatched dash in his dealings and approach. He was a man of helpful nature. Aziz Tourist had once conveyed to me that he had started his life from a scratch and within a short span of time , he had become an important functionary of the Congress party in the Kashmir valley . Congress party’s local unit had ordered him to head the team that had to take care of Najma Ji in Kashmir . Two officials from our bank were also attached with Najma Ji. Accordingly , Abdul Aziz had direct access to Najma Ji. My access too was doubly assured now ; one through Abdul Aziz and second through the bank.
During this visit , I found that Najma Ji was an ace photographer . She clicked sunset shots around Dal Lake . She clicked the Shikaras . She clicked flowers , poplars , Chinars and at times common man on the road through her car window. I vividly remember her scribbling something on her notebook or papers while talking to people . Some thought she is noting what they said. Some thought she was rechecking or redrafting her programme schedule. And surprisingly ,I saw her writing poetry amidst busy work schedules. Maybe some photographs / some poems that she clicked /wrote during her stay in Kashmir also find space in her book “MONTAGE OF IMPRESSIONS ” . I do not remember. I also do not remember what she would write but for sure she wrote poetic thoughts in English . I do remember how a poem titled “The Silence of Terror ”appearing in “MONTAGE OF IMPRESSIONS ” had touched me.
( A poem of Najma Heptullah )
During her Kashmir visit in 1985 ,she carried a book of Swami Vivekananda . The day she arrived , I found the paper tag protruding at about half of the book . She kept reading the pages in between, carrying forward the tag while travelling . She appeared sharp, well informed , widely travelled and a lover of Kashmir . Immediately on her arrival she declared :-
“Look ! No gifts. No purchases . I need to carry some bulbs of flower plants .I shall select and l buy myself . That is all.”
“ As you please madam “ said Aziz Tourist .
I heard her saying :-
“ I am happy and full of energy when I come to this beautiful land . You have all the colours and climates over here . I turn sad on my last day. So enchanting . In fact life makes minimum demands over here.”
I also came to know that Najma Ji is the grand niece of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad . She has Dawoodi Bohra and Ismaili Shia ancestry from her parental side . She speaks Marathi and Gujrati fluently .She has been Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha and a minister in the Central Goverment. She has been Governor of Manipur ( 2019-2021) .She has personally known Sai Baba of Puttaparthi and visited his Ashram several times . Najma Ji had very close relations with Mrs Indira Gandhi. She informs :-
" During the Janta party rule,after her release , Mrs Gandhi would come to Mumbai as ordinary citizen. Everytime she visited Mumbai, I made sure she didn't stay anywhere else but my home. So, I would fetch her from the airport and cook for her. Often, I used to make Gujrati dishes like Kadhi and khichri for her , which she loved."
( Governor Manipur )
( With her friend Sushma Swaraj )
She is a postgraduate in zoology and a doctorate in anatomy ( completed when she was 22 years old ) from University of Denver . Apart from poetry , she has also authored following books :-
1 AIDS : Approaches to Prevention, 1996.
2 Human Social Security and Sustainable Development, 1995.
3 Environmental Protection in Developing Countries, 1993.
4 Reforms for Women : Future Options, 1992.
5 Indo-West Asian Relations - The Nehru Era, 1992.
After being elected president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in 1999, Najma Heptulla rang up the then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi from Berlin to convey the news but had to hold the phone line for an hour as she was told "Madam is busy". And Sonia Gandhi never attended the call. Najma Ji left the Congress party and joined BJP . She mentions this incident in her autobiography "In Pursuit of Democracy: Beyond Party Lines".
More on Najma Ji next time. So long so much .
( Avtar Mota )
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)