She was born in a Sikh family before India divided into Bhaarat and Pakistan. One day, sometime before the partition and independence of India from Britian in 1947, she walked into a mosque as a young teenage girl to accept Islam. She informed the Imam of the mosque that her house was adjacent to the mosque from where she could hear the Friday sermons. The sermons and their messages inspired her to learn more about Islam. She started learning about the religion on her own and from her Muslim friends. Every Friday, she would wait impatiently for the call to Friday prayer so that she could listen and learn more from the sermon.
She told the Imam that she was not going back home as her parents had given up on her after a lot of trauma and show downs. They had even raised their hands on her and as a last resort were going to marry her off to a Sikh. They gave her the choice to leave the house after she threatened them with suicide in case of a forced marriage.
She accepted Islam and found asylum with the Imam's family in his one room house. That was the time period when Hindu Muslim tensions had just started to brew and Muslims in India were beginning to migrate towards west that later became Pakistan. Muslims, in general, were worried and confused about the over all situation. Futures were insecure and uncertain. Suspicion and doubt were budding in the hearts of neighbors and friends and amongst all this, this young courageous girl had left her family, converted to a minority religion and desperately needed protection. The Imam, himself could not afford to help her for long with his meager income and large family.
The Imam made announcements in the mosque explaining her situation and asking for someone to give her protection through marriage. People were not thinking about marriages in the unstable political situation prevalent throughout the country, plus there was no one available of marriageable age at the moment. Being a minority and conscious of protecting their values, most Muslim families used to get their children engaged and married at a very young age.
The Imam kept on announcing each day but no one came forward until one day my maternal grandfather's uncle stepped forward. He was already married with kids. His wife was friends with the Imam's wife and had come to know about the whole situation. After observing and analyzing the whole situation, this God fearing woman had asked her own husband to marry this girl to give her protection. She knew that there was no unmarried Muslim man available in the small community and no other woman would be willing to share her husband with another woman. The marriage took place and shortly after that, the whole family with both wives migrated to Pakistan where they had many relatives, including my maternal grandfather.
She lived in Pakistan with her husband, the other wife and children. She went for Hajj with them in the coming years. She never saw her blood relatives or her birthplace ever again. Years later, I met her in my childhood. By this time, she was all white haired. Her husband and the other wife who were quite older than her had perished. She never got to have children of her own. The only relatives she had were through her marriage to her husband. She had no house and no property of her own but every household and every relative loved her like their own. She did not live at a one single place but stayed short periods with different relatives. Everyone competed to host her. She carried a single suitcase that accommodated her entire possessions which were a few change of clothes and some personal hygiene items.
She had no blood ties to anyone but she won hearts. She never asked for anything, always giving. I remember a very cold night, my mother's grandmother had to fetch something from a spare room that was across the courtyard. Everyone hesitated to leave the comfort of the warm cozy living room but Mami Ji immediately offered to accompany her without a second thought.
Her small purse was always full of goodies for small children that she would get from the small allowance she got. She was always distributing these small treats among children. I don't remember a single time when I saw her and she did not give me a candy, an orange or some other such thing. She was always praying if she was not helping others or distributing goodies among children. A smile always played on her lips.
I don't remember if I ever saw her wearing any color. She always wore white. In her white clothes and white hair she looked like an angel. The pure white fresh snow of each winter reminds me of her.
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