“I’m not born; it’s 1948 and the bus turns onto a road without a name; there on his bicycle my father, he’s younger than I; at Okhla where I get off, I pass my parents strolling by the river Jamuna.”

Agha Shahid Ali

Shahid’s father, Ashraf Ali, the grand old man of Srinagar, teacher and guide for generations of Kashmiri students, passed away in his sleep on Friday, August 7. He died as he lived, without a murmur and with a smile on his face. He was buried, as per his last wish, next to his beloved wife Sufia in Baba Mazar, the Shia graveyard in Zadibal.

Incredibly, Agha Ashraf lived the last 23 years since his wife’s demise almost alone except for visits by his wonderful children, Hena, Shahid, Sameetha, Iqbal, all of whom followed in their father’s footsteps, securing doctorates and teaching in various universities in the United States. His son, Agha Shahid Ali, the renowned Kashmiri-American poet, was already a legend and inspiration for a whole generation of young Kashmiri writers. Sadly, he passed away in December 2001.

Agha Ashraf’s family for the last many years were his ‘Mulazims’, the youngest of whom, Shaukat, was beside him at the end and made arrangements for Agha’s final journey. Despite the lockdown in the city, nearly 100 people, including many of his students who worshipped the old man, assembled to recite the ‘Fatiha’ and pay homage to Agha Saheb.

The youngest of three brothers, Agha Ashraf Ali, was born on October 18, 1922, into a highly educated and illustrious Kashmir family. His older brothers were both civil servants, one in India, and the other in Pakistan. Ashraf himself was, unequivocally Kashmiri’s greatest educationist; teacher, professor, principal, and Commissioner of Education with Sheikh Abdullah until he resigned. Academia flowed in his veins. His mother, Begum Zafar Ali, herself an educationist and a legislator, was the first female matriculate of Kashmir and his maternal grandfather, Agha Syed Hussain, was likewise the first to pass class X.

Agha was hugely influenced by Dr Zakir Hussain, who later became President of India. He often quoted Zakir Hussain’s words in S.P. College where he was a student: “youth was not an attainment but an opportunity which should not be wasted.” Dr Zakir Hussain later became Agha’s teacher and moulded his personality.

When asked about his philosophy, Agha Shahid famously said, “I don’t have a philosophy, I have a temperament.” His father had both, quite often asking questions that he already knew the answers to. While extremely well read, Agha Saheb’s philosophy was solidly Gandhian. The child in the old man emerged when he referred to his ‘Bapu,’ often emulating the Mahatma in his squeaky voice. Above all Agha was a humanist who spent most of his last years doing charitable work. His integrity was unimpeachable. He believed in the Quranic injunction, “Speak the truth even if against yourself.”

Sufia Nishan, the Agha home, resembled an English countryside cottage in its exterior resplendent with roses. The inside was more austere. Ashraf’s pride was his library; a personal area to which only special friends were admitted even though he kept an open house without discrimination between Hindu and Muslim. More Pandits visited him than Kashmiris. Gandhi’s books and photographs were strewn all over the house.

Agha was an icon in Srinagar. Those who’d never met him missed out not only on a storehouse of wisdom but the most unforgettable human being: the essence of Kashmiriyat and ‘Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb’. My regret is that I also met him too late. In the Spring of 2011 whilst in pursuit of the ‘Vajpayee Years,’ my young friend from the city, Nadir Ali, who was virtually a member of the household insisted that I accompany him to meet the great man. It was a revelation and an exhilarating experience of Kashmir and life though I sensed Agha was sizing up how crooked a spook could be. He wouldn’t talk to me even as I tried to coax something from him about Kashmir. He just laughed and skirted the issue.

Our second meeting in the summer of 2012 was easier and when he invited me, I had the privilege of attending his 90th birthday celebration in October with the intimate ‘who’s who’ of Srinagar. I felt admitted as a friend. In the course of time, it helped me finally eke out his views on Kashmir. Agha Saheb had no doubt that Sheikh Abdullah, ‘Sher-e-Kashmir’, as he referred to him, was the tallest leader in Kashmir. Yet, he said, while Sheikh was gutsy, he had no brains: he could not fathom the reaction to Partition in North India and what Prime Minister Nehru was doing in Kashmir to save Muslims in the rest of the country. In 2014, I asked him who he would vote for in the elections. “Farooq of course,” he said. He was the only one who could fight Modi. Agha had been disappointed that Mufti Sayeed had tied up with the BJP.

When the floods came in September 2014, Agha was marooned at home; he had to be rescued in a boat from his first-floor window. He arrived in Delhi the same evening and came to our place for dinner. His first words as he entered were, “Dulat Saheb, I escaped death by three minutes.” He was visibly shaken. His house in Srinagar was devastated and took two years to repair, his library totally lost in the flood.

He was living in a hut in Chashme Shahi when I visited him in the summer of 2016. Because he enjoyed his tipple, I normally carried a bottle of whiskey for him. This time, I had no whiskey and felt sheepish when I entered empty handed. Agha’s response to my apology for the lapse was typical of the man: “Don’t worry, I’m only 94 you can bring me a bottle next year.” I phoned him on his birthday, both in 2016 and 2017, and he always said, “Thanks so much for remembering me.” But sadly, there was to be no next year. In the last two years he was not particularly keen to communicate. Since then one got news of Agha Saheb mainly from his son Iqbal [Lala] who visited his father from the United States every three months and was kind enough to call while passing through Delhi.

Haji Altaf, a Shia who owns a hardware shop in Maisuma, claims that Agha Saheb summoned him last year to convey to the Abdullah family that Omar was the future of Kashmir. Agha was impressed both by Omar’s speech in Parliament and a spark of humility that he saw in him. The link with Maisuma also possibly explains Agha’s weakness for Yasin Malik and his so-called ‘Gandhian path’ till he realised that Yasin was going astray and lacked leadership.

Agha’s last bit of political advice to the Kashmiri leadership was “Unite or Perish!”

Agha Saheb will be sorely missed by all those that came into contact with him. Those who need him most are the youth going astray in Kashmir, caught between war and peace, desperately needing to heed Agha Shahid’s most beautiful of lines, “We shall meet again in Srinagar by the gates of the villa of Peace.”

A.S. Dulat is a former chief of the Research & Analysis Wing. He was also a Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau and Advisor on Kashmir Affairs in Prime Minister Vajpayee’s office.