Journeys to democracy

Guest post: A personal tribute to Karamat Ali (19 August 1945 – 20 June 2024) by Mandira Nayar in Delhi, for Sapan News

Karamat Ali was many things but for Mandira Nayar he was always the person who returned her grandfather Kuldip Nayar to Lahore, where he was born and which he considered home. The relationship between them defies labels but it has a bond that is deep and unbreakable, stronger than many relationships with names, she writes:

There are many words for friendship. Arabic has twelve. You can choose from friendships of different shades — the intense saqeeb, a true friend;  sameer, someone who you like to have a conversation with, or the casual zameel, an acquaintance. 

English has just the one — a bland ‘friend’. The short dost (friend) in Hindustani encompasses in its tiny frame a sort of bro-code for the intense relationship that Hindi film songs refer to, between Maana Dey’s ‘Yaari hai Imaan’ (My friend is my faith) to Sholay’s anthem ‘Yeh Dosti Hum Nahi toRe.nge‘ (This friendship we will never abandon). 

‘Dost’

So I struggle to find a word to describe the relationship between Karamat Ali, labour leader, peace activist, revolutionary, lover of music, and my grandfather Kuldip Nayar, journalist, peace-activist and fellow dreamer. And by extension, my relationship with Karamat Sahib. 

This relationship without a name has a bond that is deep and unbreakable, stronger than many relationships with names.

Karamat Ali was many things but for me he was always the person who returned my grandfather to the home he was born in.

Filed under: journalism, Obituary, Pakistan-India, Southasia | Tagged: Candle vigil, history, Human rights, India, Karamat Ali, Kuldip Nayar, Nirmala Deshpande, Pakistan, Peace, PILER, Sapan, wagah | 2 Comments »