lucknow

Updated: Sep 02, 2019 13:59 IST

His reverence for the sacred text of another religion is a shining example of communal harmony.

Meet Mohammad Ejaz, 66, who treasures a hundred-year-old Urdu Ramayan that his late father Mohammad Jarrar, a World War 2 veteran, handed over to him many years ago.

Ejaz, a former assistant engineer with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Lucknow, used to often read the Ramayan till a few months ago when he suffered a major diabetic attack, hypoglycemia.

Sitting in the drawing room of his residence at Sarfarazganj, behind Era Medical College in the state capital, he slowly turns over the pages of this Hindu epic with trembling hands, partially affected memory and blurred vision.

Although the pages have turned a pale yellow, he has managed to preserve the Urdu version of the Ramayan by getting it bound.

“My father handed over this Urdu Ramayan, which he got from a friend in the army. This is my most prized possession, which I will hand over to my son Ali Shuja,” he says.

“This Urdu Ramayan is around a hundred years old. It also carries Hindi words between the lines to reveal the meaning,” he adds.

When Ejaz was still employed and staying at a government accommodation on HAL campus, he once went to Sitapur district with his colleague BP Yadav to recite the Ramayan.

“My close friends knew that I read the Ramayan. One of them, BP Yadav, asked me to accompany him to Sitapur to recite the Ramayan. It was a God-sent opportunity, which I readily accepted,” he recalls.

At one time, Ejaz had Hindi versions of the Bhagwad Gita and the Mahabharat too in his collection.

“I don’t exactly remember, but I think it was in 2007 that I bought volumes of the Gita and the Mahabharat when I went to Kolkata. They were part of my collection. But when a colleague, Pramod Kumar Pandey, expressed his desire to take the books, I could not refuse,” he reminisces.

He regrets he is unable to read the Ramayan like earlier due to his illness.

“After my diabetic attack made me unconscious for several hours, I am unable to read properly. Post ailment, I have partial memory loss and my vision has also become blurred,” he says.

For now, he is eagerly looking forward to meet his friends at a farewell ceremony at HAL at the month-end when a junior colleague will retire.