Hyderabad: When the titular eighth Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Barkat Ali Khan Siddiqi Mukarram Jah, passed away on Saturday in Istanbul, Turkey, it triggered a flood of memories for many people, including his family, close friends, and acquaintances who had met him and been moved by his down-to-earth charm.
People recounted stories and fond memories of their interactions with Mukarram Jah, encounters that will live on in their hearts forever. Despite being a prince, he was admired being humble and kind.
Mohd. Bilgrami, grandson of Nawab Mehdi Yar Jung Bahadur, the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan’s executive council secretary, knew Mukarram Jah since he was a little child and spent his formative years with the late Nizam.
“When I was six years old and Mukarram Jah was ten years old, I visited the Bella Vista Palace where the late Nizam and his family stayed. I fondly remember sitting at their dining table and having food with the boys Mukarram and Muffakham. Their mother Princess Durru Shehvar was a close friend of my mother and she used to visit our place often. We would go horse riding and hunting together,” Bilgrami recalled.
Nawab Najaf Ali Khan, grandson of Mir Osman Ali Khan and a cousin of Mukarram Jah, remembered his own ‘Bismillah ceremony’ when he was four-years-old and the Nizam had attended the function.
“The memory is vivid in my mind. I was four-years-old and I had presented ‘Nazar’ to the Nizam in my ‘Tasmi-o-khani’ ceremony in 1968. He had specially come to visit us on that occasion,” he recounted.
Mukarram Jah was remembered as a simple man and a man of substance by M. A. Faiz Khan, a Paigah family member. “I’ve known H.E.H. Mukarram Jah since I was a young child. He was quite humble while also having a captivating demeanour. Chiran Palace is one evidence of his love of nature. I always felt so warm whenever I shook hands with him. I last saw him about five years ago in Istanbul, Turkey. He asked about his former acquaintances and family members, whom he still knew by name despite his advanced age. Even if he lived elsewhere, his heart was always in Hyderabad, said Faiz Khan.
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