My Mother — Page 138
138 suffer greatly, we have not complained. Yet Mother does not seem pleased with us and grudges us even our misery. I am, however, careful not to cross her in anything. ’ I tried to comfort Nasim as well as I was able, and told him to continue steadfast. When I conveyed to Mother what Nasim had told me she said: ‘I am not surprised. Lady Fazal-i-Husain is self -centered and has little consideration for others. Despite what you had told me about Nasim’s resolve, I had my apprehensions. ’ Then with a smile in her eyes she added: ‘Darling, the relation- ship between you and me demands not only that the son should be like you, but also that the mother should be like me!’ In the summer of 1936, cholera broke out in epidemic form in Kasur, where my brother, Abdullah Khan, was Municipal Executive Officer. Mother was anxious and supplicated for the safety of the people of Kasur. Bawa Jhanda Singh, a retired civil judge, an esteemed friend of mine, was on a visit to Simla and spent his afternoons with us. One day he learnt that Mother had dreamt that the epidemic in Kasur would subside altogether after a week. Thereafter, he looked for news of the epidemic in Kasur every day in the paper. On the eighth day it was reported that there had been no case of cholera in Kasur. Bawa Sahib was much struck by what he described as a remarkable coincidence. But in fact it was nothing unusual. Time after time, Mother had clear and precise warning of the onset of an epidemic, for instance, bubonic plague or whatever, and of its subsidence. The construction of my house at Qadian was completed in the autumn of 1936. In addition to three large and two smaller reception rooms and the usual amenities on a proportionate scale, there were eight large bedroom suites. Mother was given the