In 1947, Muqaddas Maula came to Sidhpur and a large crowd gathered on the station to receive him. There was a considerable difference between the level of the train and the platform, so the jamaat had created a paatlo so that he could step on it and alight without inconvenience. But the train rolled and overshot the intended mark where the paatlo had been positioned. Besides, in all the excitement, mumineen surged ahead towards the bogie in which Huzurala was present and completely forgot that the paatlo had been left behind. So when Huzurala came near the door of the train, half the mumineen were transfixed watching him, half the mumineen were watching the platform and suddenly they realized… paatlo! Some even shouting ‘Kahaan chhey paatlo?’ and ‘Arre bhai, paatlo laavo’ and ‘Paatlo, paatlo!’ I saw opportunity. I was merely seven years old but ran out of the crowd, bent down on my knees to where the paatlo would have been placed and offered my back – peeth – for Huzurala to step and alight. Huzurala took a light step and alighted. Nine years later, when I went for qadambosi in Bombay,Huzurala asked me my name and family background. And then he asked whether I had bent down and offered my back for him to step off the train in Sidhpur. You could forget things. He wouldn’t! Shaikh Mohammedbhai Darbar, Karachi