An Egyptian’s message of peace

PEEPING from my goonghat, I saw him for the first time. A middle-aged, mustachioed man and his wife, both in western attire, were holding floral garlands and standing in front of the baraat. He was Osman, an Egyptian diplomat and a friend of my in-laws. During the anand karaj ceremony, they respectfully sat cross-legged with their heads covered.

Later, when I moved to Shimla, a swanky foreign car, then a rarity, bearing a CD (Corps Diplomatique) number plate, arrived at my hotel one morning. Our guests, Osman and his family, had come for a short visit.

Osman addressed me as ‘Madame Landlady’. No one before had honoured me with this title. I was taken aback, but was amused and thrilled all the same. I was in my twenties, a little older than Osman’s daughter, enchantingly named Nirmeen.

Osman was always grinning from ear to ear. We chatted for several hours about everything under the sun. He was keen to know about Indian culture, especially bindi and chura (the bride’s red bangles), apart from tandoori cuisine. I, a history buff, was all ears when he talked about the imposing pyramids, the Pharaohs, mummification, the Nile, Tutankhamun and ‘perfect-nosed’ Cleopatra (and much-married/divorced Liz Taylor, who played Cleopatra). We took the visitors to Tattapani, where Osman’s family members, sitting on the river’s edge, were simply thrilled to dip their feet in the roaring hot sulphur spring waters of the Sutlej river.

The evening before his departure, Osman and I stood on the balcony of his fourth-floor suite, admiring clouds floating across the hills. Suddenly, he turned to me and said with a flourish, ‘My dear landlady, I want to tell you something. I have travelled to many countries, big and small, all over the world and met so many people. I have realised that the more often people meet, the stronger their friendship becomes. Hence, there will be no war, only peace… a way of life in which we love and respect each other despite our cultural, religious and political differences. And human feelings are the same all over the world.’ He said it didn’t matter to him that I was an Indian and he an Egyptian. ‘Madame Landlady, I came as a stranger from Egypt but now I am going back as your friend,’ he added.

As I recall this unforgettable episode, the words of Makhmoor instantly come to my mind: ‘Na Hindu se mila hai, na Mussalmaan se mila hai, dil jab bhi mila hai, insaan se mila hai…’