BENGALURU: Although I am very ‘small’ to speak about a celebrated person like Nisar Ahmed, I fondly remember the friendship my father and he shared. Both of them are like rajkumars in their fields. If Dr Rajkumar is Natasaarvabhouma, then Ahmed is Sahityasaarvabhouma. Like us, even Ahmed lived in a joint family.
And whenever we were invited over by his family or vice-versa, there would be at least 50 people from each person’s house who would be present. He liked all of us to have lunch together, which would go on for at least five hours. Both of them loved spending time together. They would drop at each other’s houses, and stand at the gate and talk for hours. Biryani was a staple, and Appaji liked eating good food. So the two always enjoyed a biryani meal, and so did the families.
After Appaji passed on, Ahmed made sure to attend his birth anniversaries, and each time he came he would revive memories about my father. Seeing him always reminded us of our father. The connection between the two was so strong because both practised what they preached and preached what they practised. Just like how Rajkumar did not represent one community but represented anything to do with ‘Kannada’, Ahmed too was the same, connecting with people through his writing. The two great personalities will stay with us forever.