Hyderabad / BRITAIN:

Muhammadi Begum was a student of Osmania University, Hyderabad, where she topped the Bachelor’s examination in 1932.

Highlights

• Having received a scholarship from the Nizam for higher education, Muhammedi Begum, a young woman from Hyderabad, travelled to Oxford University in 1934.

• What makes her story even more remarkable is that she maintained an extensive record of her four years abroad.

• Her diary has been translated from Urdu into English, and published, by her daughters

In 1934, a young woman from Hyderabad travelled to Oxford University in England to study, accompanied by her husband. She had received a scholarship from the Nizam of Hyderabad to pursue her higher education (for which she studied French, Arabic and English). During the nearly four years she spent in the UK, she had two children, travelled around Europe and established a pattern of living that would hold her in good stead her entire life.

The young woman was Muhammadi Begum, student of Osmania University, Hyderabad, where she topped the Bachelor’s examination in 1932. She was married to Delhi-born, Syed Jamil Husian, an alumnus of the Aligarh Muslim University.

Those days, women travelling abroad to pursue education was a rarity; although what made Muhammadi Begum’s story remarkable is a diary that she maintained at Oxford which recounted everything from her day-to-day concerns to reflections on the state of society.

Muhammadi Begum’s diary remained under a shroud till the year of her passing, in 1990. The little note-book, where she detailed her daily life as she lived across continents, was eventually a precious find. It went to her cousin first and meandered in the family, till it caught the attention of her eldest daughter towards the end of the decade.

“I was pleasantly surprised and was taken aback by it,” said Zehra Ahmad, Muhammadi Begum’s eldest daughter. “I came across the diary after she passed away. I would’ve asked her many questions if I knew about its existence.”

What followed over the years was translation (as Muhammadi wrote in Urdu), editing, followed by COVID-induced delays in publishing, before A Long Way from Hyderabad saw the light of the day in 2022. Zehra translated the book along with her sister Zainab Masud.

Translating the diary was no mean feat, as Muhammadi Begum made detailed records, even writing in the margins. The sisters read it multiple times, transcribed it, and then translated it – all of it laborious and time consuming.

Kulsoom Husein, her youngest, who came out of retirement to edit and rework her mother’s diary said, “The tone of the diary is true to her experience. It was a new experience for her to travel to England as few women did so in those days.”

Charting new paths

Muhammadi Begum belonged to a well-known family of writers. Her mother, Qaiseri Begum, was the granddaughter of famous writer Moulvi Nazeer Ahmed, who’s work Mirat-ul-aroos is often dubbed as Urdu’s first novel. Qaiseri Begum, herself was a prolific writer whose memoirs Kitab-i-Zindagi details changes in Indian social history from the 1880s to the 1960s.

The diary successfully encapsulates the journey of a young couple making their way in the London of 1930s. Her observations are detailed, precise and provide an invaluable peek into the world at the time – be it shopping at Harrod’s, visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum, eating ice-cream at a restaurant in Elliston & Cavell or taking walks in University Parks in Oxford, it paints vivid vignettes of pre-World war- II London.

The diary, according to Ahmad, who also spoke for her other sister and co-translator Zainab, brought her mother alive. “Everything she wrote was an accurate account of herself; her worries for her baby or exams, her management of the household and juggling her studies with a baby. She was on the move all the time and led a full and active life,” said she.

The writing is assured and confident. It stays true to what it is intended to be — a record of its keeper’s time in a foreign land. It comments on the English way of life (an interesting nugget is the usage of blackcurrant jam to treat colds), the trials of learning French and the easy camaraderie between students from India. Her letters to her mother Qaisari Begum were even published in a Hyderabad Urdu daily, Ismat.

It also showcases Muhammadi Begum as an independent woman with agency. Travelling in Europe along with a toddler can be a daunting task at any time, but she managed it with a remarkable spirit. It is in fact this spirit that would hold her in good stead later in life, when at 42 she lost her husband and had to look after many children.

A Long Way from Hyderabad can be nostalgic. It’s all about an era gone by, of Urdu publications in Hyderabad which have long ceased to exist (Rahbar and Tehzeeb) or local traditions like Kalzana, a medicine made from chalk and calcium, and given to pregnant women.

What she wrote holds relevance even today, as her struggles (with food, culture and money) are similar to ones faced by many students studying abroad. The diary also strikes a balance between everyday details of life, reflections of the time and personal observations.

A record of the time

Records of women travellers are rare. The few accounts which exist are those of Sikandar Begum, the ruler of Bhopal who wrote of her pilgrimage to Mecca in 1869, Maimuna Sultan who wrote an account of London in 1911 and Atiya Fyzee who published her travel writings in Zamana-I Tehsil in 1921. Typically, the women who published at the time were queens, politicians or activists; Muhammadi Begum was none of them and hence her account stands out because of its simplicity and honest rendition of her life.

Her writing is as much a record of her own life as it is of the times she lived in. The Independence movement was on in full throttle and she along with her husband eagerly took part in discussions with friends. She actively participated in cultural exchanges even though she was reluctant to lend her sarees to curious British women.

“My mother was very stirred by the experiences she had. Technology, in the form of planes and ship liners, was just coming up and when she visited the science museum she was struck by the difference in Indian and British kids. While rote learning was accepted in India, the children there were curious to explore scientific apparatus and experiments. She makes a mention of all these in her daily jottings,” observed Husein.

Indeed, the travel account shows that concerns have not changed much between 1935 and 2022. The author lamented the state of Indian museums on a visit to the V and A Museum and was entranced by a Buddha statue. She worried about land prices shooting up in Hyderabad and wondered if the family could afford to buy a house — valid concerns even after a century.

She throws light on the comfortable relationship between her and her husband. Muhammadi Begum’s husband, Jamil, took leave of absence from his work as a civil servant in Hyderabad to travel with his wife. According to Ahmad, her father was a hands-on parent. “He looked after the baby with her, which was unusual for the time. Also, they shared an equitable relationship,” she said. “He was an admirer of Gandhi and she looked up to Iqbal, which led to many discussions around each. They both liked exploring places and had a wide circle of friends.”

The years in Oxford had a lasting impact on her, as throughout her life she remained fond of open air, long strolls and staying independent. In fact, later in life, she took in paying guests in Lahore when she retired from her job and needed to supplement her income.

A nod to the past

In producing the book, Muhammadi Begum’s daughters became closer, as Husein noted, “We exchanged information about relatives mentioned and forgotten. My elder sisters have translated and I reworked the text — so it was a collaborative effort. My daughter, Amena, helped with research on key figures who were at Oxford at that time, such as educationist Sir Michael Sadler and GM Sufi, a retired University of Delhi registrar and historian, and Miss Bharti Sarabhai, who hailed from a prominent Indian civil rights activist family.”

With an account of food, state of women, culture, feelings and a life well lived, A Long Way from Hyderabad, is a perfect addition to the archives of writing from pre-Independent India. It provides a reliable record of the times gone by. It also shows the lasting impact of the written word and its ability to transcend time.

source: http://www.news9live.com / News Nine / Home> Arts & Culture / by Mallik Thatipalli / June 03rd, 2022