Ismat Mahdi

I almost wasn’t. Intriguing sentence, that sounds broken. Yes, it is. In reality, it is the name of a book written by Ismat Mehdi, a writer, social activist, globe-trotter, and philanthropist. During the release of the book on Tuesday (June 24, 2025) at the iconic Saptaparni on Road Number 8 of Banjara Hills, the open space was bursting at the seams (in fact it is boundary-less). Since there were more people than it could contain it appeared crowded. Remember, it was not a musical show, a dance performance, or a mushaira, still people wanted to be part of the event. It is Ms Mehdi’s popularity. People continued to stream in till after the given time. As soon as the mehfil got ready to take off, there were unexpected showers. Everyone had to be directed to a nearby hall which again complained of lesser space than the number of guests. This clearly showed how popular Ms Ismat Mehdi is. She is a symbol of grace and Hyderabad’s cosmopolitan culture. Mohan Guruswamy, thinker and writer, was invited to speak. He said Ms Mehdi was his teacher of German language at Nizam College. Incidentally, he had attended only one of her teaching sessions. It turned out that Ms Mehdi and Guruswamy were family friends. Their seniors used to spend time together and drink (nobody said what) and eat Hyderabadi and continental food. Hyderabad is Shia or Sunni? For a while, Guruswamy appeared to be confused about the nature of Hyderabad. He said the city was established by Qutb Shah, a Shia. That is true. Therefore it is a Shia city. Not true. He took time to say that the Shia rule that began in 1543 ended in 1687 followed by Asaf Jahs who were of Sunni faith. He spoke little about the book but more about what it means to a new generation. It was nice listening to him, for a change, because otherwise there are too many pauses in his talk. The talk, at times becomes incoherent. But this time it was a short talk. Before almost slipping into today’s murky political developments, he stopped and allowed the other guest to take over. Bakhtiar Dadabhoi, an eminent writer from Secunderabad, said how he happened to read the manuscript of Ms Mehdi’s book and convinced her to publish it through a proper publishing house. She agreed, though reluctantly. Ms Mehdi had told this writer earlier that she wanted to print only 40 copies and distribute them among friends and family members. But with the persuasive techniques employed by Dadabhoi she buckled. The result is that her admirers now get to a chance to look into some parts of her life. Dadabhoi could convince her because of his proximity to her and the fact that he has also written about a dozen books, mostly on Parsi personalities. Intriguing title Why that intriguing title? Because, when her mother conceived her, someone ‘influential’ in the family said it was not pregnancy but some malignant tumor. Convinced with that “uneducated response” Ms Mehdi’s mother was taken to a hospital where that “tumor” had to be removed. On the day of the ‘operation tumor removal’ , a close relative arrived, and began chiding everybody around. She claimed and convinced that the lady was carrying a baby, not some tumor. This is the story behind the title, I almost wasn’t. I am yet to read the book which I will in the next few days and write about it more. Some of my friends have said that the book is very interesting.

Ismat Mahdi

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