Recalling Syed Mujtaba Ali

A recent article on Syed Mujtaba Ali, a renowned author and scholar in an English daily brought back my childhood memories, of meeting him and having our meals together in our house in Calcutta way back between 1940 to late 1947.
He was a close friend of my paternal uncle (father's younger brother) Abu Syeed Ayyub, also a noted littérateur and scholar of India. I used to call him  Mujtaba Chacha, as he frequently came to Calcutta and always stayed with my uncle who was then a bachelor living alone in his large three roomed flat. Both he and Mujtaba Chacha used to take their meals with us, as we lived next door.
Both my Choto Chahca (Abu Sayeed Ayub) and Mujtaba Chacha always treated me like an adult, although I was a young lad of 7 to 10 years of age. My Choto Chacha, who had his own billiard table in his large living room, taught me billiards and snooker, despite the fact that I had to stand on a small stool to be able to comfortably use the queue and strike the billiard balls.
They were also very respectful towards my widowed mother and my father   who died in 1937. Syed Mujtaba Ali once wrote about our family in Calcutta and his interactions with my uncle that was published in 'Desh' magazine of Kolkata. As far as I remember, it was titled 'Chacha Kahini' as my eldest sister told us many years ago.

Engr. S.A.Mansoor
Dhaka.
sam@dhakacom.com