Whenever Satyanarayan Gupta met Mir Abbas Ali Moosavi, he would reminiscence about his grandfather having survived the great flood of September 28, 1908, by taking shelter on the terrace of Baadshahi Ashoorkhana. “Ram Dayal Pokarmal had a cloth store in Pathergatti. He was among the 75-odd people who survived the raging flood when Mir Mohammed Ali Shafeeq sheltered them on the terrace of the Ashoorkhana,” informs Mr.Moosavi, the 11th generation Mutawalli of the 17th century Shia house of mourning.
Asif Husain Arastu knew that his great great grandfather was a well-known surgeon who defied his business family to pursue medical education. “It was only in 2019 during a family reunion that I came to know about his role during the great flood. As I dug deeper, I learnt a lot more about how he helped evacuate patients and then helped his family escape the swirling waters,” says Arastu, a librarian and teacher.
“Two patients died from fright, Abdul Husain, the House Surgeon, deserves greatest praise for his untiring efforts in directing the saving of the patients. His own wife and family were themselves in imminent danger of being buried alive in an upstairs building, but only after he had seen his charges in safety did Dr.Abdul Husain save his own family,” state the words in a contemporary account.
