The Man Who Outlasted Twelve Years

How an erstwhile state transport manager faced twelve years of pain and emerged stronger.

- Syed Nissar H. Gilani

Author with his Uncle

yed Mehraj U Din Bukhari stepped into the room like he owned every corner. My mom's brother-in-law, he silently showed me how to keep showing up, without calling attention to it.

He'd fix a wobbly chair while asking about your day, fold his newspaper so neat it looked new, drop a tiny story that would replay in your head for years. He had no lectures to give, just silent moves you catch yourself doing later.

That's how I clocked that people leave bits of themselves behind. His bits just happen to be the heaviest.

He entered the world in 1928 in Keeri, a village near Pattan that sits in a gentle pocket of north Kashmir. His father moved the family to Srinagar when he was still a child, settling close to the shrine of Makdoom Sahab.

The neighbourhood carried its own soundscape: call to prayer drifting from the hill, footsteps on the steep stairs, and vendors sending out their calls.

The family found both faith and belonging there, and the youngest son grew up in that environment with a sense of purpose.

He completed his education in Srinagar, earned a position at the State Road Transport Corporation, and felt the security that came with a government job in those years.

He married my aunt in 1954 and started to build a steady domestic life. There was comfort in that routine: a salary at the end of the month, a home in a city that held its own charm, and plans settling into place.

Pain interrupted all of it.

In 1957, he developed a sharp ache in his left lower back. At first, the family thought it was a passing infection. Doctors soon discovered a large stone inside his kidney.