Cricket and All That: My Brush with the Nawabs

When we were living in Hyderabad, we rented a house in Ameerpet. This was 2002. The house belonged to Air Vice Marshall (Retired) Syed Abbas Hussain. His son Mr Zain Hussain, was a Vice President in Satyam Computers, where I worked at that time. I came to know about this house via an ad posted by Mr Zain Hussain. This house was called 'Karishma'.

We lived there from March 2002 to Jan 2005, My son Ammar was born while we lived here.

I have not been there now for more than 8 years, but I could locate this house on Google Maps. (see below). It seems a apartment has been constructed where the front garden used to be while we were there.

We used to call Syed Abbas Hussain , Nana and his wife 'Nani'. Both were quite old. Nana passed away while we were there, I think in 2004. I am not sure if Nani is still alive. They were very affectionate people.

This is the only photo of Nana I could find on the internet. He was the recipient of Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) in 1969. He rose to become the Air Vice Marshall in the Indian Air Force.

Ati Vishist Seva Medal
AVM	Syed Abbas Hussain	1706 F(P)	Unit : -N.A.-	Award Date 26 Jan 69	Announced 26 Jan 69
Details :

This is a photo of Mr Zain Hussain. He used to live in Banjara Hills.

Nana Nani had 2 daughters and a son (Zain Hussain), We used to call their daughters Raazia and Faouzia Khala. Raazia Khala lived in a house in the same complex as Nana Nani. Her husband (Naqui Kkahlu) was a GM with a Pharma Company and mostly used to be in the US. But he would be in India off and on for many months in a year.

Raazia Khala had 2 daughters, the younger one named Marzia. I am forgetting the name of the elder one.

Nana Nani's whole family was full of achievers but they were all very down to earth and affectionate. They were a very well known family among the Hyderabad Muslim gentry.
I think Nana's brother was a Cricketer who played for the Hyderabad Ranji Team, Mumtaz Hussain (I am not totally sure about the name).
Though Farah & me were just a tenant in their house, they made us feel special.

The above photo is of Fouzia Khala with her husband Aimaduddin Ahmad Khan, affectionately called 'Durru Mian'. We called him Durru Khalu. He belonged to the ruling family of the Princely State of Loharu near Jaipur in Rajasthan. He has been a Congress MP many times and was a minister in the Ashok Gehlot ministry. The Loharu family traces their lineage to the famous Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib. Durru Khalu's sister Noor Bano has been an MP from Rampur in UP. Their family has close relations with the Patuadi family.

Below is a photo of the Loharu house which they maintain as a Heritage Hotel,