Part 2 Life and times in the USA - 1921-1946
In Part 1, we got to know briefly the character of Syud
Hossain, the man exiled from his shores to fight for
Move to USA
The world congress of religions was then holding a
conference in New York and using the influence of Agha Khan and Mr Chotani,
Syud managed to get across the Atlantic to the new world. That he needed
special help to travel is clear due to the simple fact that his passport had
already been impounded, effectively ensuring that he could only remain where
the British wanted him, far away from India.Thus it was in 1921, that Syud
Hossain arrived in USA to lecture in New York and here he remained to report
the Washington disarmament conference as a press representative for India.
After this event, he continued to network with the few Indians rooted to
American soil and inform about the land of India and her peoples, talk about the
person called Gandhi, correct much disinformation spread by the British and
also change the public opinion of the normal American. If one were to stop
here, take a breath and think about that enormous task, any such person would
just balk. But Syud had to do just that and survive only with the remuneration
from his lectures about his far away land, his convictions and some good will.
Since that period, he was virtually the non-accredited
Indian Ambassador to USA, until Asaf Ali took up the first formal position and
later Vijayalakshmi Pandit herself took the job.
Together with Haridas Mazumdar, Dr. Syud Hossain and Dr.
Anup Singh, he was a member of the second generation of Indian exiles,
establishing close interpersonal links with religious pacifists and civil
rights activists in the United States
Early years 1921 to
1934
Those were the days when the British sponsored negative opinion
about India was spread about America by writers like Beverly Nichols who wrote
that ‘Democracy in India had about as much hope of surviving as Scottish
heather in the desert of Thar’!! He went on to equate Gandhiji with Hitler and
state that Gandhiji was an ugly, vain, narrow, ignorant and supremely arrogant
dictator. If he did peep from his present abode somewhere up above or down
below, and see the world’s largest democracy called India, he would at least
squirm. And there was the grotesque misinformation spread by the book Mother
India written by the infamous and notorious Katherine Mayo about which I will
write separately.
One of Hossain’s early contacts in America was Mazumdar. His
first attempt at publishing on American shores was a magazine called Ars
Islamica, expounding the various contributions of the Islamic community to
Math, Art, Music, science and so on (perhaps
this is when he crossed roads again with Ozai Durrani, the minute rice man?)
during the renaissance. Soon he was to get associated with the Orient magazine,
a popular publication in New York.
The New Orient
magazine
THE NEW ORIENT as was described then, provided a meeting
place for the keenest, most sincere, and most sympathetic minds of East and
West. It was the magazine of the Orient society and soon Hossain had become its
secretary in New York.
The magazine started in 1923 with Hari G Govil as the Orient
edited by Govil and later edited by Hossain (Hari went back briefly to India came
back and joined IBM) as New Orient and
continued until 1928 after which Hossain left. The society arranged a number of
social gatherings, lectures and entertainment and the magazine was widely
popular and had a good readership showcasing many an Indian politician and
writer (anybody desirous of studying his association with the Orient as well as
his editing and writing styles and how beautifully he engaged readers is
advised to read the book by Fedirka).The aim was of course to use the written medium
to show how wrongly stereotyped India and Indians were was in the western eye.
Later after Govil returned, it became the Oriental. Tagore, Gandhi, Gibran,
Noguchi, Coomaraswamy, Wadia, Sarojini Naidu and so on were contributors. And
there were many a western contributor too, like Einstein, HG Wells, Blanche
Watson and many others. Not surprisingly it had a global reach even at that
time, but for monetary reasons the magazine was running into difficulties and
as it was soon to go under, Hossain took to other avenues to sustain his
mission and himself, notably legal work and lecture tours.
And that was how his first association with the National
committee for Indian Independence with Anup Singh evolved. It was the emergence
of what eventually was informally named as the Indian lobby in Washington, the
group that penetrated the higher echelons of the American leadership, the
senate and the white house.
It is difficult to separate the next two decades of
Hossain’s life between lecture tours, work at the University of South
California and the India league activities in Washington, for Hossain was in
those years, here there and everywhere.
Hossain went on to speak for a number of events and club
meetings, as well as in churches and other prominent places. Detractors do
mention that he projected himself and as to how wonderful a person he was (in
typical American style, outspoken, be they philanthropists or outright
capitalists) and how great a help he would be to the Indians of America,
leading their cause against the British. The speaker bio’s or pamphlets
provided about Hossein quoted praise from papers, eminent personalities and the
various gentry. But his lectures attracted audience. One report even mentions
that he collected over a hundred thousand dollars in 6-7 years, a stupendous
sum. During these years, he lived in the best hotels and presented himself in immaculate
attire. Hossain himself remarked ‘Saints and I do not get along together’ and
Mazumdar also affirms ‘ Austerity and Hossain never went together’.
Soon tongues began to wag. Hindus in America felt they had
no reason to pay a Muslim to live in five star luxuries while they slaved in burning
fields of Stockton California. By 1930, the lecture contributions had started
to dwindle and Hossain contemplated returning somehow to India.
It was also the time when the few Indians in America had
lots of legal problems and Hossain represented their cause on a number of
occasions. Soon it was apparent to him that his major client base was far away
and in the west coast of USA ( though there were a few in New York, Chicago and
Michigan), not only as clients, but as sources of funding for his as well as
the Indian leagues activities. But as is well known, Hossain brought the word
of Gandhi to America, in the most appropriate manner. Importantly, he was
fiercely anti-communal, opposing figures like Jinnah or their advocacy for
Pakistan.
And soon, his activities were under the British secret
service folders – Check if you can the following for details. Dr Syud Hossain, journalist: activities in
USA and Canada IOR/L/PJ/12/247, File 646/25
Interestingly he found a lot of women supporters due
apparently to his immense sex appeal. Many of the glowing articles written
about him were by women. His circle of admirers and friends included people
like Jacques Marchias, where their common link was interestingly, understanding
Buddhism so much so that in 1933, Jacques Marchais helped him organize the
"Roundtable of Contemporary Religion" in New York.
1931 – Move to California,
USC
I obtained a better party understanding of Hossain’s days
lecturing at the University of South California from the memoirs of the famous
nuclear physicist Piara Singh Gill, a person who was nurtured by Syud Hossain
in many ways and who is remembered by Singh fondly. Piara Singh was a pioneer
in cosmic ray nuclear physics and party of the famous Manhattan project with
Oppenheimer. Later on he returned to India, with Syud’s help and worked with
Nehru and other famous people like Homi Bhaba starting up or working in many of
the organizations like TIFR AEC, CSIO and so on.
Singh states that he first met him when he came to lecture
in California in 1923 where all Indians attended to pay their respects to
Hossain. It was the time of the great depression, and Singh was finding it
difficult to support himself and his studies. His first observation was how Hossein
decried the collection drive for Muslims affected in the Hindi-Muslim riots of
Bombay with his stance that such fund raising becomes seed for further riots.
How prophetic!! Anyway Hossain singles out Gill and gives him a lot of advice,
asks him to forge on with his research even though times were bad and a
shoulder to lean on should life become intolerable and unsustainable for Gill.
This was to become an everlasting friendship.
Somewhere in 31 or 34, Hossain moved to USC Los Angeles. His
courses were on the ‘Civilization of India’ and ‘The civilization of the Near
East’. The dean even went on to recommend that every new student take one of
Hossain’s courses and the net result was that every lecture of his was packed
to the full. Gill would meet Hossain at the cafeteria and Hossain would educate
him on Nehru, Gandhi and Sarojini Naidu. Their intellectual association was to
continue until 1935 when Gill, moved to the University of Chicago for higher
studies. A few years later in 1940, he decided to move to India and as expected
Hossain offered to connect him up with the highest authorities and the great
mentor he was, did exactly that allowing Gill to finally chase his dreams, in
his own homeland, while he observed wryly from afar, from exile.
Even during these days at USC, he continued with his
lectures. He spoke at town halls,
churches (on themes ranging from Budhha to Gandhi), he spoke without any
religious leanings, fiercely supporting secularism much to the disgust of
people like Jinnah. Clubs advertised his arrival and contents of his speeches.
Take a look at this for effect - BRITISH RULE IS STARVING INDIA - Syud Hossain
Declares 60,000,000 Get Only a Handful of Boiled Rice a Day. DEMANDS THEY BE
FREED asserts Washington Conference Is Futile While Fifth of the World Is Being
Oppressed.
Visit to India 1937-9
Not much talked about, Syud did visit India briefly,
spending time at Dacca and meeting up with Subash Chandra Bose.
The Indian Lobby
1939-46
Dr Gould, a great friend of India and lecturing on such
matters even today, provides a beautiful
commentary of those days and I am only using tidbits from the tantalizing
chapters of his wonderfully lucid book ‘Sikhs Swamis Students and spies’.
Anup Singh, Mazumdar, Sridharani, JJ Singh and Hossain were
the first participants of an organized effort to obtain US support for Indian
independence. Three or four times a year, they would meet in Washington and
hold debates marshaling public support. Syud used his connections in UK and
India to get inside information to expose people like Churchill and their
duplicity in Indian matters. Many an American intellectual was roped into the
ring, and significant in her presence was the great Pearl S Buck and such
meetings would always have at least one member of the American congress.
Imagine, the first meetings of the India league were held at
the Ceylon India Inn, the only Indian restaurant in NY! Soon JJ Singh, who was
until then somewhat of a playboy businessman dealing with Indian textiles, was
to take a leadership role in the India League and make it the focal point of
all lobbying efforts. It also appears that he was friendly with President
Roosevelt’s son Jimmy. This was not to the agreement of some others and so Syud
Hossain and Anup Singh formed a parallel organization called the National
committee for Indian independence in Washington DC, supported by the
businessman Watumull.
By 1942, in the middle of the world war, the Churchill
sponsored propaganda wars started in the US, so also the quit India movement
and the efforts of other groups such as the east west association of Pearl S
buck. Americans were by then in India, at the CBI Theater and able to obtain
much local insight. The Indian lobby meetings started to attract large audience
much to the alarm of the British.
Durga Das provides an example in his memoirs - One of the
most telling ripostes to the British propaganda was delivered at a time when
Churchill was in Washington for one of his frequent consultations with
Roosevelt. Some Indians and their American sympathizers booked a full-page
advertisement in the Washington Post. Churchill was breakfasting with his host
at the White House when the Post was brought in. Roosevelt was unaware that the
paper contained the ad, which had been prepared by Syud Hussain, Chairman of
the Committee for Indian Freedom, and was a biting indictment of British rule
in India.
He passed the paper to Churchill, who opened it and saw the
ad, captioned "What About India?" Churchill threw the paper down
angrily. On learning the cause of his ire, Roosevelt calmly observed that the
ad had obviously been paid for, and buying newspaper space for propaganda
purposes was not unusual in the US.
Nevertheless, the days 1942-44 were filled with some amount
of wrangling between Hossain and Singh. JJ Singh was better connected and more
in the news and prevailed in the League. Eventually after some years of
concerted efforts Hossain returned to South California as a professor,
commuting regularly to Washington while JJ Singh and the India league continued
their work. Matters, events and relations were strained, but still gathering
steam…fate you see, was to intervene and bring a measure of relief.
Hossain continued to thunder in the lecture halls – he said
in one meeting “Indians are not trusted with arms and yet hundreds of thousands
of Indians are systematically taken across the seas to various parts of the
world to fight nationalists not yet brought to the same state of servitude as
themselves and to help to reduce them to that state. And he pushed even harder
for independence "India is changing and changing very rapidly. The spirit
of self-assertion and self-confidence manifested either in platform or in
silent plans of works no doubt reveals the dawn of a new era in India”.
Vijayalakshmi comes
to New York
The equations were soon to change as fate brought the two
people together in December 1944. As the World War 2 was raging in Europe and
other parts of the world, Ranjit Pandit passed away and it was decided by the
congress to depute Vijayalakshmi Pandit to the US as a goodwill ambassador to
marshal even more support. Since she had no formal approval to travel, she flew
to US in a military plane, in a bucket seat, to the USA. Her children were then
in the US studying at Wellesley by then and so as fate decided, the paths of
Syud Hossain and Nan Pandit crossed again. As Dr Gould writes – This was of
course a sentimental moment for Hossain and Madam Pandit because they had not
met since their brief love affair back in the early 1920’s. He also mentions
their meeting to be filled with tender reminiscences, though there were no
overt resumptions to their old relationship for too much water had flowed over
the dam.
Dr Hossain naturally headed the steering committee for
Vijayalakshmi’s attendance at the UN San Francisco conference, speaking on
behalf of the national committee for Indian independence rather than the Indian
league. Sadly the event passed without fanfare and the next few years were also
lukewarm as far as support for India was concerned, even in relation to the
food shortages, perhaps due to internal issues and the rebuilding after the
war.
Shortly before the conference, Roosevelt passed away, a
covert but not overt supporter of Indian Independence. And later, Churchill
gave way to Atlee.
During this period Gandhi received letters from several
Indians in the United States complaining that Syud Hossain was following Vijaya
Lakshmi everywhere like her shadow. Early in September 1945 Nehru received
cable from Syud.
Request to Nehru
It appears that Syud Hossain finally (1945) took the
decision to request permission to return home, perhaps after discussions with
Nan Pandit. He cabled Nehru (excepted from MO Mathai’s book) – Thinking Coming India to help toward Hindu
Muslim Unity on basis clarification fundamental issues. Could run for central
election as Muslim nationalist if necessary. Please cable your opinion
regarding usefulness feasibility such course….
Nehru replied, after consulting Asaf Ali and Gandhi – No chance running for central election
owing technical difficulty absence name from electoral registers. Your return
India helpful especially in Bengal if stay long though results inevitably slow
in present conditions and your long absence. Difficult say where your
usefulness greater. Gandhiji thinks you can do more important work in America.
Syud Hossain was once again thwarted, this time by his own
people perhaps it was Nehru’s plan to keep the two of them apart.…
Lobbying for
citizenship
For years Indian nationals continued to suffer many
hardships, partially because they were not allowed to obtain citizenship of the
US. Joan M. Jensen, historian and author, described the plight of Indians as
follows:
“Excluded from immigration, persecuted for their political
activities, threatened with deportation, excluded from citizenship, denaturalized,
excluded from land ownership, and regulated even in their choice of a mate in
the States, these Indians now formed a small band of people set apart from
Americans by what truly seemed to be a great white wall.”
One of the persons who lobbied for support was Hossain.
Indian community activists, J.J. Singh, Dr Anup Singh, Syud Hossain,
Krishanalal Shridharani, Haridas Muzumdar, Mubarak Ali Khan, Taraknath Das, and
a few others relentlessly lobbied with the elected representatives of the
American people for granting of civil rights to the nationals of India who were
already in the US. Fortunately in 1946, President Truman took special interest
in the passage of Luce-Cellar bill which was finally approved by both Houses of
Congress restoring the rights of citizenship of Indian nationals in the US. It
was a great triumph for the Indian community leadership when on July 2, 1946,
President Truman signed the bill in the presence of Sardar J.J. Singh and Anup
Singh allowing Indians to become naturalized citizens and 100 Indians to
immigrate every year. Saund was the first Indian in the entire western world to
get elected to a major political office. In the US, he will be remembered as
the first Asian to attain that distinct honor. J.J. Singh, Dr Anup Singh, Syud
Hossain and some others who actively lobbied for equal rights for Indians never
applied for US citizenship. They went back to live in free India.
Khalil Gibran
In 1924 his work on ‘Arabic canons of eloquence’ appears in
Cairo and a year later he is invited by Syud Hossain to contribute articles to
the New Orient Magazine, an international publication seeking to encourage the
meeting of East and West. During his association with the journal he submits
several articles for publication.
Return to India
1946 Amritsar
As is well known, Hossain was secular and never supported
the formation of Pakistan. Jinnah was not happy with the way Hossain had
projected Jinnah and Pakistan in US. As a result, Syud’s relations with Jinnah
were cool and in fact Jinnah even accused him bitterly of defecting to the
enemy camp, i.e. India during the pre-partition juncture. With this backdrop,
let’s revisit an event.
Excerpted from Gills memoris - Oct 21st 1946 Syud
Hossain was traveling from Lahore to Delhi by the Frontier mail, sharing the
compartment with a man, his wife and their 3 year old child. When the train
pulled into Amritsar, an angry crowd of 500 Muslims armed with sticks and
daggers were waiting to pounce on Syud Hossain. They broke the windows of the
compartment and neither the police nor the railway staff intervened.
To save the lives of his fellow travelers, Hossain exited
the compartment. Perfectly composed, he demanded the attention of the crowd in
a commanding voice. Telling them that he was not in the least afraid of getting
killed, if this was their intention, he added – You cannot coerce me to do
anything against my conscience. For 30 years, I have been fighting for India’s
independence and for Hindu-Muslim unity. I am doing so even today, if in all
these years, the British have not been able to coerce me or tempt me away from
the path of my convictions, certainly threats of personal violence could not do
so.
He kept the crowd spellbound until the train pulled out of
the station to the accompanying shouts of ‘Long live - Syud Hossain’.
That was how his mother land received him during his short
stay, but he could never stay, for soon he was deputed to Cairo.
At Cairo 1947-49
Staying at the famous Shepheard hotel in Cairo, he ran the
first Indian embassy at Cairo, by now a distinguished diplomat, and well suited
for the job with his knowledge of Arabic and other languages and the deep
knowledge of the region and Indian ideals. He did well in representing India’s
side of the difficult Islamist issues with respect to Kashmir and Hyderabad, in
the Arab league.
Two years later he was no more, dead of a heart attack at the Papayoannou Greek hospital in Cairo. The Egyptian government gave him a state funeral and a marble tomb in Cairo. A road was named after him. As is said, his friends in Cairo swore he died of a broken heart.
Two years later he was no more, dead of a heart attack at the Papayoannou Greek hospital in Cairo. The Egyptian government gave him a state funeral and a marble tomb in Cairo. A road was named after him. As is said, his friends in Cairo swore he died of a broken heart.
Horniman’s
appreciation
Syud Hossain did the forward for his mentor’s 1918 book ‘A
friend of India’ which without doubt Benjamin Guy Horniman was. On the eve of
Syud Hossain’s deputation to Britain, Horniman made a farewell speech from
which the following is excerpted
Continuing, Mr. Horniman said the absence even for a short time of Mr.
Syud Hossain was for him a great personal wrench. There were several reasons
for that, the first of which was that Mr. Syud Hossain was his oldest friend in
India. He might have said that about ten years ago he discovered Mr. Syud
Hossain, but as that claim had already been put forward from another quarter,
he would desist from making that claim himself, and would say it was Mr. Syud
Hossain who discovered him about ten years ago …. And though for long they
separated·, one having gone to another country than his own and the other also
being in another country than his own, they had been together for the last
fifteen months in Bombay", and during that time his respect for Mr.
Hossain as a politician, as a publicist, and as a fearless honest and
straightforward fighter (applause), had continually increased. But more than
that they had been associated together in connection with a certain public
institution which he would not specifically name (laughter), and Mr. Hossain
had been to him a colleague of more value than he could adequately describe.
His loyalty and devotion to him in all times of stress and in every description
of trouble-and trouble of a kind which did not ordinarily fall on journalists, was
beyond his power to express. He had been as devoted and loyal a colleague as
any man could possibly expect to have. He was sure that all were undergoing a
personal sacrifice in allowing Mr. Syud Hossain to go to England, for during his
absence they would not have the ecstatic delight of listening to Mr. Syud
Hossain, when he belabored his opponents with his rhetoric; but they did so
with all good will and real pleasure in another sense, because they knew him so
well that they were sure they were sending the right man to England, (Loud
cheers.) The speaker next referred to Mr. Gurtu's qualifications, and concluded
by saying that Mr. Syud Hossain and Mr. Gurtu would be second to none in their
devotion to duty and in their determination to do what they were asking them do
viz., to put the plain and straightforward issue of Home Rule before the
British democracy.
References
Sikhs
Swamis, Students and Spies – Harold Gould
Up Against
Odds: Autobiography of an Indian Scientist By Piara Singh Gill
Colonial
Displacements - Paromita Biswas
Toward a
Locational Modernism - Sarah A. Fedirka
My Days with
Nehru – MO Mathai
Communications
and Power - Milton Israel
Dr Syud
Hossain – A glimpse of his life, Speeches & Writings – JN Chakrabartti
Roosevelt
Gandhi Churchill – Venkatramani & Srivastava
Tail note
Sometimes reputed and knowledgeable people in the business
of writing ask if I really read all these books to pen such articles. Well, I
do refer to related sections in each and every one of these listed books, while
admitting that I am particularly fortunate to even lay my hands on these rare
books. For that I owe all my gratitude to the great library system of the USA, especially
my home library the NC State Hunt and the DH Hill library. I must also thank
the US - Rice for books scheme of 1964 which transferred so many great books about
India to the USA, where they are carefully preserved and made available for
nutty characters like me who ask for them.
Sometimes the librarian says ‘like, wow! – “You are the
first person to lay your hands on this 1948 book”! The other day, it was the
inauguration of the robot operated Hunt library, and the librarian mentioned
that they could perhaps introduce me as their most dedicated patron, even
though he may have remarked so in jest!
And all I can do is smile, sad at the fact that nobody else
has the slightest interest or inclination in such matters but at the same time
happy that I can retell some of those stories to all of you in a simpler
fashion. Maybe they are not appealing to the broad public, but some day,
somebody looking for some specific information will stumble upon articles like
this, with gratitude.
Syud Hossain’s finest
Speeches
The paradox of civilization – Look at this excerpt –We human
beings are a class in ourselves. Any animals, wild animals, savage animals –
brutes as we call them – if they kill, they usually kill for purely biological
reasons, they kill for food. No animal ever kills with any calculated motive of
malice, no animal ever kills with all the abominable refinements of torture and
premeditation and calculation. That is a special quality and attribute of
ourselves - humans.
