Scholar-activist Ismat Mehdi writes of life in and beyond Hyderabad in her memoir ‘I Almost Wasn’t’

In 1994, while she was working as the first secretary at the Indian Cultural Centre in Egypt, scholar and professor Ismat Mehdi’s stint coincided with an attack on the Nobel laureate, Naguib Mahfouz. Since Mehdi had interacted with him once or twice, it was decided that she would call on him at the hospital.

“At our weekly meeting it was decided that I take a bouquet of flowers,” she said, “but I said that ours would pale in comparison to those presented by the US and France.” Her suggestion: to take some sandalwood soap she had brought from India. Though initially reluctant, the Ambassador acquiesced to the idea.

When Mehdi walked into the hospital filled with reporters and photographers, wearing a saree, they asked her what India was sending the ustadh. “Sandal,” she quipped, ensuring that newspapers the following day reported that “India sends perfumed greetings of sandal to the Ustadh.”

Donning many hats

This instinct and quiet assertion have shaped many roles that Mehdi, now 87, has played throughout her life. As the managing trustee of the Hyderabad chapter of the Sarvodaya Trust, as a professor and head of Arabic at EFLU (The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad), and as a polyglot (she is a scholar...

Read more