*Part 1 of the article, “A Window into Bhera’s Past”. The story of a Christian Family* Given on the website bhera. org. Under the Category: People of Bhera.
*Part 2, by Brig Samon Simon Sharaf ( Retd). “Pastor Sundar Das belonged to the Presbyterian Mission in Bhera with the main Seminary in Gujaranwala”.* Given on the website, bhera.org. Under the category, the People of Bhera. The link is given below :
Lal Din from Sarghoda was a few years younger than Alexander. Having lost his mother, he used to cycle to Bhera, meet Alexander, and make friends with Katherine, the adopted daughter of Pastor Sundar. Lal Din was their third adopted child.
Soon, Alexander and Lal Din rode on a bicycle to Gujranwala and lived in the seminary residence of Pastor Khan. Pastor Khan’s son, Yaqoob Khan, later became the celebrated Padree Yaqoob Khan. They became friends, and they had a third brother besides Katherine.
Lal Din had a flair for poetry and often attended Mushaira’s of Amrita Pretam.
At the technical school, Alexander apprenticed in mechanical and Lal Din in Sectional Drawing. After his marriage, Alexander moved to Lahore, joined the railways, and went back to Bhera.
Lal Din moved to Sargodha and joined Khalsa High School, Block 16, Sargodha. Due to poetry, he extended his name to Lal Din Sharaf Sarghodvi.
He married Ester Nazir, daughter of Elder Sundar Das, who was related to Pastor Das of Bhera. Alexander’s wife was also related to Ester Nazir. Meanwhile, Alexander moved to Lahore.
Before independence, after teaching in Mission High School, Raja Bazar, Rawalpindi, Lal Din Sharaf joined MES. He was posted at Rawalpindi, Kohat, Quetta, and Wah. Wah Mosque is his legacy. In 1958, he was transferred to Dacca. There, he suffered a head injury and died in CMH Lahore on 25 May 1960. I was not yet 6.
We were four brothers and four sisters. That is when Uncle Alexander assumed his role as an elder brother, taking care of my mother and all the kids. Ivan Anwar and his brother Irshad drove me and my brother all the way to Presentation Convent Murree in 1960 to lodge us in the boarding there.
Ivan’s next brother was Irshad Hussain, who died recently. Youngest Zulfiqar lives in New York.
Besides Neelo, his daughter got married to Sqn Ldr Akmal Channan Khan. They have two sons and a daughter. His eldest son is a celebrated oncology researcher and inventor in the USA. Tasnim, the youngest, is married and lives in the USA.
*My Family ( Brig Samon Simon Sharaf, Retd )*
Late Major Joseph PG Sharaf, Major Justin Sharaf, and Brigadier Samson Simon Sharaf (Retd) are sons of Lal Din Sharaf. Edwin Sharaf Nida Sarghodvi is the eldest and lives in Lahore. He is also a respected poet.
*The seedlings planted and potted in Bhera have grown into big trees and huge canopies of success. They comprise lawyers, doctors, financial consultants, engineers, and entrepreneurs.*
To be continued ….
Zahid Mumtaz
