CALCUTTA: Incredible as it may sound, Tipu Sultan’s descendants are now pulling rickshaws for a living. Not that it was never known that the best days of the Tipu Sultan family were long over, History books had even recorded the gradual filtering away of the wealth and other reserves that were reported to have been brought in 12 ships from the kingdom of Mysore to Calcutta in 1805. Some years ago, a local newspaper reported that Tipu Sultan’s sixth descendant, Nawab Akhtar Shah, had died a poor and disillusioned man. He could not even be provided the medical treatment that he needed at the time of his death.
“It was not just that, it was far worse. Forget getting him doctors and medicines, there was hardly any money left to even get him the food that he needed and deserved,” says Dilawar Shah (36), the second of Akhtar Shah’s four sons.
Dilawar and his brothers Anwar (37), Sanwar (34) and Hasan Ali (19) all pull rickshaws on Prince Anwar Shah Road and in the Golf Green areas of South Calcutta. Ironically, the entire area on which they tug their passengers today was once owned by their ancestors. The first three brothers are marred and among them have 10 children. They have a couple of sisters as well. While Jahanara Begium (17), Dilawar says could “somehow” be married off, her elder sister, Akbari Begum (18), has not been all that fortunate. “That is because we neither have the money nor the wherewithal. One of the reasons she has consistently been rejected by prospective grooms and their families is that she is not all that fair complexioned,” he adds.
Dilawar, his brothers, their wives, children and his mother, Chaman Na Bibi (65) live in a small three-room tenement in 12A, Prince Akhtar Shah Road. He says: “If and when the rare visitor comes home, braving all the slush and grime that you see all around, we all feel hopeful that someone will take up our cause. We feel so cheated by everyone. The lease of most of our major properties has expired and after that, mysteriously enough, the relevant records have been missing from the files.” For instance, the lease of the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, which is situated on 26 acres of prime property in Tollygunge and which actually belongs to their family, expired way back in 1968. While the lease has not been renewed, the related documents have curiously been missing from the wakf files.
The same is the case with prime property on which the Shaw Wallace headquarters is situated in the Dalhousie area of central Calcutta. The lease expired in 1985 has not renewed or the rent received. Yet, in direct contravention of court orders, a monthly rent of Rs 32,000 is still being collected from the company.
There are other instances t00But the seventh generation of Tipu Sultan gets nothing. To feed 15 mouths in all, the three brothers pull cycle rickshaws daily. “Depending on the sort of custom we get, we average Rs 40 to Rs 50 daily. None of us can either read or write even if our father could speak a smattering of even French. But we are trying to see if our children can be taught the alphabet,” says Dilawar as he prepares to stand in the line to get passengers for yet another day.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 6, 1996
