As I sat at Four Seasons, Tolichowki, Hyderabad, with Abdul Ghafoor Noorani or in short A G Noorani somewhere in 2013 I unsure what he would ask.
Hyderabad’s Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi was trying to help Noorani in his research on Hyderabad’s Police Action or Operation Polo. Asad, himself a barrister, was a great admirer of Noorani. He left us to talk and eat or rather eat and talk and left. He had some prior engagements that night.
The 1930 born Noorani passed away at his residence in Mumbai on Thursday (August 29). He was not keeping well for the last few months.
During my first meeting with him, Noorani came across as a wonderful listener. He did not interrupt me when I spoke but asked a few pointed questions later.
He was a foodie. Nayeem, the owner of Four Seasons, had filled the table with the best of the dishes he could get prepared.
After that meeting which might have gone on for over an hour, Noorani said he would seek me out again.
He did a few months later. This time he was staying a Secunderabad Club. I met him in the morning and gave away whatever material I could gather in that brief interval.
The next year, when the book was launched at Hyderabad’s Jubilee Hall I was there. I met him and introduced a few people to him. Ramoji Rao, the late media baron, was there to release the book. I was told that they were old acquaintances.
I found that among those he had thanked for helping him out in his research my name was there. It was a pleasant surprise. The editor and publisher had a done a bad job not using the right names of some people he had mentioned.
Then again I met him at Maulana Azad National Urdu University when Prof Salma Farooqui had invited him for a lecture. At that time I was working as Media Consultant with MANUU. He stayed at the MANUU guest house. Asad Owaisi’s man for all seasons, Mushtaq was in attendance to help out Noorani.
In Hyderabad I remember he had met several people. Among those I remember were Safiullah and Zareena Parveen.
One of Hyderabad’s own son who took himself seriously as a scholar on Hyderabad State tried to corner Noorani with sharply worded question as he finished his lecture at MANUU. Noorani did not encourage Burhan Badshah Quadri as he had not liked his style of putting up the question. Perhaps the feeling was mutual. Burhan passed away in the US recently. He was suffering from cancer.
Noorani’s relations with his immediate family, I am told by people who were close to him, were not cordial. He and his brother Muhammad Bhai who was married to Sartaj, did not see eye to eye for several years. Sartaj came from an elite Hyderabadi family. Muhammad Bhai is no more.
Noorani was perhaps not a family man. He remained a bachelor all his life.
He did not have ‘cordial relations’ with Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. Noorani was representing Sheikh Abdullah, the first prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir, who had been incarcerated by the Nehru government.
His relations with Nehru’s daughter Prime Minister Indira Gandhi were sour. It is said that once she sent an emissary to him with a note that she would like to meet up with him in New Delhi. Noorani, who lived in Mumbai, turned the emissary back saying that if she needs to talk to him, she should come to Mumbai.
Noorani is one of those rare believers who did not fall for any temptation to lure them away from their chosen path. He was rock solid in his beliefs and stood by them because they were not mere beliefs but well researched conclusions.
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