Stories from the past

Mr. Khan’s father was called Faqir Khan, and he led a very colourful life. He went to New York in the 1900s and stayed there for 10 years. He married an American woman and had a daughter, earning his livelihood through being an early pioneer of fast food, selling roast chicken on the side of the street and through shining shoes on the pavements of the boomtown that was New York. He made good money and eventually decided to return home with a small fortune in secret from his wife and to her great displeasure. Everybody travelled by ship in those days and Mr Khan senior knew that he had to hide his money well over the long journey home, else he was likely to be robbed. Very cleverly, he had a special pair of shoes made for him with hollow heels in which he successfully hid his fortune and returned home a wealthy man.

On another occasion Mr Khan recalled that all the toilets were outside in those early days and come rain or shine, if you wanted to use the toilet then you had to trek through the backyard, which particularly proved a challenge in mid winter with snow all around. On one such occasion Mr Khan awoke in the morning and went out to the toilet in his bedclothes. The neighbour upon seeing Mr Khan thus attired without dressing robe called the police who dually attended. Mr Khan was completely unaware of the furore he had caused until he was confronted by the local Bobby who informed him it was not considered decent to come out of the house without a dressing robe and could he please oblige to remember this in the future. How times change!