Cowasjee: I shall miss you!

Cowasjee: the last of his kind. Foul mouthed, acerbic, haughty at times. At other times warm, good natured, compassionate and kind.  A fearless defender of public spaces, he was Karachi's benefactor

Two weeks ago I had my usual Parsi omelette breakfast with Ardesher Cowasjee in Karachi. Although he was barely there, he did manage to mutter a greeting to me:sala kaisa hai?

There was scarcely a sentence that he uttered without "sala" in it.

In 1997, I had arranged an 80th birthday celebration for Col. Inayatullah  Hasan at Islamabad Club and asked Eqbal Ahmad to be MC for the evening.

Asghar Khan was invited and he turned up. Unexpectedly Cowasjee, who was  staying at Asghar Khan’s house for a brief visit to Islamabad, came with him.

Cowasjee was dressed in a long robe with a dazzling red hat. Together with his cane, which appeared like a spear, he looked like the Roman emperor I had seen in Ben Hur as a kid.

Cowasjee spotted Sahibzada Yaqub Ali Khan, who was chatting with another guest, and suddenly froze.

Cowasjee pointed his cane at Sahibzada Yaqub Ali Khan and said: "Yeh sala  maader&@@d kaisay ata hai idhur. yeh sala to zia ka aadmi hai...uss ka  chumcha tha, washington main baith kay sala aisa jhoot bolta tha aur logon  ko marwata tha".

[How come this mother&@@@ dare come here. This Sala was Zia’s man…was his pawn, used to sit in Washington telling lies and would orchestrate murders here]   

Sahibzada was Gen Zia's foreign minister.

He also said other such stuff that I can't remember.

Conversation in the room suddenly stopped and people  visibly squirmed. Sahibzada's face went bright red. Usually loquacious, he  was rendered speechless. Somehow Eqbal saved the evening, which by some miracle ended pleasantly.

Cowasjee: the last of his kind. Foul mouthed, acerbic, haughty at times.  At other times warm, good natured, compassionate and kind.  A fearless defender of public spaces, he was Karachi's benefactor. Like countless others, I shall miss him.

[This email was sent by Prof Pervez Hoodbhoy on a closed email list. Posted here with his kind permission. Ardesher Cowasjee (13 April 1926– 24 November 2012) was a noted columnist, social commentator and an activist in his own right.]

The author is a professor of physics and teaches in Lahore(LUMS) and Islamabad (QAU).