By your oldest niece, Mino Farooq Akhtar, your “Imperial Beauty” (how I will miss that nickname!)
Thank you all for your lovely condolences on Facebook and otherwise- my whole family appreciates it truly. I write this to honor my beloved uncle Nisar Aryne who will be missed sorely.
Last Saturday I found out that Nisar Mamun (which means mother’s brother) passed on. I quickly called his son Tareq who lives in Connecticut, who confirmed it and was on his way to Amman, Jordan that evening. After that it was a flurry of calls to cousins, aunts, and so on. One of my aunts reminded me to stay in touch, and I apologized for having been out of touch, and promised to do better. Anytime, a death happens in the family it is a reminder to do the basic things – call each other, check up on each other, try your best to make visits and most paramount- make the most of each precious moment of life. Shahid and I almost visited Uncle Nisar and Aunty Ikram this September, but then delayed it to next year for various reasons. I will always regret that.
After 3 days of mourning and playing his favorite music which ranged across many genres, I began to write down my memories. I asked myself who was Nisar Mamun really down to his core? And I realized he was a Happiness Warrior on Planet Earth. His essence consisted of making everyone – family and friends across continents happy! And as I write this, I am playing Arabic music in his memory to remind me of his happy face and beautiful smile. He was the ultimate eccentric bachelor for a long time, and in my grandmother’s house he had his own wing, which was our wonderland as kids, with souvenirs and LP’s from all over the world. As cousins we would dance to Soul of Spain, 1001 Strings, all night and taste world cultures. He would make it a point to visit us no matter which continent we were posted on.
He played many roles- his work for airlines is legendary, air waves warrior that he was, especially in Jordan where he helped build Alia Airlines- now Royal Jordanian Airlines- up to an international level. Many a family member enjoyed our stays in Amman at Mamun’s lovely bungalow on the way from East to West or vice versa. I remember I even stopped over with all four kids and my siblings on my way to Pakistan to attend my brother’s wedding. Our twins were only 1 year old, and one of them got sick and threw up all over Mamun’s white Mercedes. That was it- we cut our trip short, only to be kept on the plane for 6 hours on our stopover in Amsterdam, and this was before 9/11. What a trip that was! I made up for it 7 years ago when the twins and Eric and I visited Jordan and had the best time ever. I think the reason Mamun married Ikram and moved to Jordan is that everyone is happy and friendly there. Ikram Aunty- being Arab- adds incredible hospitality, joy and energy to our gatherings! Meeting their friends from Petra, who arranged our amazing tour, and feasted us on the most amazing Jordanian food was truly touching, especially as we found out the matron of the home and her daughters were fasting! That is Arabic hospitality for you. We enjoyed every minute of our tour, except the Israeli border crossing part to go to Jerusalem, which was unfriendly to say the least, in fact downright crude, rude and frustrating.
My father’s youngest brother, Iqbal Yousuf told me that before I was born Nisar Mamun would bring him toy KLM airplanes to play with, and other models of airplanes. After I (the first grandchild on both sides) was born, the attention turned to me and my soon-to-follow siblings. And we know that there are tons of photos that my uncle took of all of us. He was a fantastic photographer and loved to document every gathering, much like my husband Shahid does these days. His collection is a treasure fest for us all, and I am sure we will cry tears of gratitude when we see those one of these days. To top it off, he was a gourmet cook, and loved to throw parties. I remember amazing French dishes that he would cook singlehandedly in his son’s bachelor apartment, and serve with great flair! To all of us cousins, he represented a happy era, of a Karachi that was going places- liberal, progressive, pluralistic and productive economically; of a Middle East that was modernizing and participating in world economy, and certainly not as dangerous as it is now; of an era when people lived happily and had optimistic outlook. Ahh, how I wish I could pass on that feeling to my kids and grandkids, but alas not to be!
Nisar Mamun, May you be at peace in the stillness of the afterlife, and relish the beautiful stay on Planet Earth, where memories of your happy face will always make us smile. Ameen.
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