Chacha Mouslim: See you in Paradise inshallah!

 By Shafick Osman

(Ontario, Canada)

 

Mouslim Mahomed Osman, England, 1962.
Credit: Amin Osman archives.

   

He probably would have preferred that we write this tribute in English, British as he was, but we feel much more comfortable writing it in (Canadian) French.

He was a key figure in our family, he lived far, far away in London, and when we talked about Chacha Mouslim, there was an element of reverie, because far from the age of the Internet, it was a mystery, something vague when our mother told us about this paternal uncle who quickly became an icon in my memory. The mystery thickened when mother told us, in detail, about Aslam, his eldest son, and Chachi Amina, his wife. But one thing is certain: Chacha Mouslim's family was close to our mum and to my father, and therefore to us! He was our father's elder brother, a bit of a mentor in many ways, and our mother, living in London for a few months with me in 1970, had become close to Chachi Amina. And as Aslam is a year older than us, he was automatically our reference at the time, as I was too young to choose one!

 

Chacha Mouslim was a great organiser and a 'multi-culturalist' too. He had left Mauritius well before independence and had become, in London, an organiser of charter flights from Plaisance. This made him a well-known figure in immigration circles and among Mauritian families who had just arrived in England (...)

 

There is not a person we know who would not describe Chacha Mouslim as a most amusing personality, with an almost permanent air of joviality and as we used to say in Mauritian Creole, enn farser (a joker). He was six years older than our father, but they got on wonderfully. They were really two friends. Even physically they looked alike, but our father was much more of a technocrat than Chacha Mouslim who was more literary than scientific. It was on the advice of Chacha Mouslim that our father decided not to go to Calgary (Canada) but to go to the Toronto area in 1970 because, according to Chacha Mouslim, Calgary was too far north, whereas in Burlington, near Toronto, he knew a Mauritian woman (married to a German) who could accommodate his younger brother. And our father, while having his ticket to Calgary in hand, decided to stay in Burlington. That's how much influence Chacha Mouslim had on him!

 

Tonn swiv li

 

Chacha Mouslim read a lot of the British press and was very interested in international news, and we were once told that we ‘followed’ him in this respect. He had a diametrically opposed opinion to ours on the Palestinian issue and he was also very British in his approach, following closely the debates in the House of Commons in England. And it was he, Chacha Mouslim, who told us that his brother, Sir Abdool Raman Osman, ran a "newspaper" (a magazine or a review, in actual fact) and he ended up saying to us one day, "tonn swiv li" (you "followed" his steps). When he was in Mauritius, Chacha Mouslim took pleasure in reading the local press with the serious tone that we know him for when he browses the newspapers, an attitude that contradicts his everyday jovial and relaxed mood.

Chacha Mouslim was a great organiser and a 'multi-culturalist' too. He had left Mauritius some time before Independence and had become, in London, an organiser of charter flights from Plaisance. This made him a well-known figure in immigration circles and among Mauritian families who had just arrived in England, as he had mastered the whole ‘system’: welfare, nurseries, housing, first jobs, etc. He was in his element in London and was able to make a name for himself. And like an Osman who lived up to his name, he was rigorous and detail-oriented!

About ten years ago, during one of our visits to London, we went to his house and, in a Franco-French reflex, or perhaps as a grandson would have seen his grandfather, we kissed him quite naturally (on his cheeks), and he let out, "premie fwa enn zom anbrass mwa" (this is the first time a man is kissing me!), with a big laugh as usual.

That was Chacha Mouslim! He passed away today, 2 January, at the age of 91, and will remain an icon of the family, my icon. May the God, the Creator, forgive all his sins, may the God protect him in the hereafter, and may the God reunite us in the highest height of Paradise in the next world! Amen!

--
Mouslim Mahomed Osman is the son of Mahomed Osman.

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La version française de cet hommage est disponible ici : Chacha Mouslim : à Dieu!