July 06, 2006

 Jajamian’s claim to fame is his single-minded promotion of the equestrian sport throughout his life, a sport that he has indulged in with a passion, writes Adil Ahmad

Polo, the king of games, originated in the northern reaches of what is now Pakistan, and while many legends have graced the polo field in the game’s history, from Karachi’s point of view none have stirred emotions the way Fakir Syed Aitzazuddin has.

There are few in this world with the courage of their convictions strong enough to take a less trodden route, and let their passion prevail in determining the course their lives will take. Comfort zones have little or no meaning for such people who relish journeys on unbeaten paths, and receive a priceless reward for their dedication to the cause of trailblazing.

Such tribute to Fakir Syed Aitzazuddin, known to both friend and foe as Jajamian, might appear a bit excessive to his detractors. Such is the emotion that trailblazers evoke. One either loves them, or hates them, with there being no room for indifference.

To his detractors Jajamian hasn’t done an honest day’s work in his life, and has indulged himself to the hilt. To his legion of adoring students, life without the Shahsawar Riding School and its somewhat eccentric principal would have been quite meaningless.

Jajamian’s claim to fame is his single-minded promotion of the equestrian sport throughout his life, a sport that he himself has indulged in with a passion. In the middle somewhere, he helped his father set up a formidable textile mill in Gambat, and ran it profitably.

That mill was as famous for the quality of its output as it was for the horses that Jajamian had stabled there, and the polo drills that he engaged in after working hours. In the winters he would relocate his horses to Lahore, and play the polo season there. In the summers, when it got too hot for man or beast in Gambat, Jajamian and his horses would make the trek to Karachi and chill out in the cool sea breeze, playing the occasional chukka (a round of polo) in the evening.

“In those days Karachi was the capital of Pakistan and the hub of high goal polo,” says Jajamian. “The polo ground was centrally located in what is now Bagh-e-Jinnah, and the Governor-General Ghulam Mohammed would take his evening drive in his carriage and come and park there to watch the game. Iskandar Mirza and Khwaja Nazimuddin were regular visitors as well. Polo was the order of the day, with six to eight teams playing regularly, and the diplomatic corps taking a keen interest.”

Jajamian’s own introduction to horses was every bit as dramatic as the game of polo itself. Fakir Syed Iftikharuddin, Jajamian’s great grandfather, married a cousin of the Afghan King Amanullah. The British appointed him their ambassador to Afghanistan.

The blood bond helped overcome the traditional Afghan hostility to the British, and Fakir Syed Iftikharuddin remained there for the next four years engaging in diplomacy and spending four months on horseback every year traveling to and from Dehli for consultations with his employers.

Jajamian’s father, Colonel Syed Waheeduddin was in the British Army, working as a recruiting officer, and Jajamian’s grandmother would visit periodically and exhort her eldest grandson to become a horseman in the fine tradition of his great grandfather, who had traveled long distances on horseback in his time. She was pained that out of her five sons, none had become horsemen. “She made me promise that when I grew up, I would become a damn good rider!” says Jajamian.

Aitchison College, with its fine horsemanship tradition, provided him the opportunity to keep his promise to his grandmother. After school, Jajamian’s father asked him to join the family business, while his brothers were sent to England for further education. Equipped with a Senior Cambridge Certificate, Jajamian joined his father in the export of rice and grain in 1952. Then came the urge to industrialise, and a cotton-ginning factory was established in Gambat in Khairpur District followed by a textile mill, silk mill, and ice factory.

Gambat became his home. Understandably the social life at Gambat was quite limited, and Jajamian decided to spend his off-duty hours on horseback. He built stables at the factory and bought a few horses, keeping in mind, no doubt, the promise that he had made to his grandmother to become a horseman.

“Riding was a great exercise and mental therapy after a hard day at work. Every year I would take one month’s annual leave from the mills and travel to Lahore with two or three horses in the hope of playing in the Lahore Polo Club tournaments. Unfortunately its membership at that time was hostile to newcomers and each year I was disappointed and couldn’t find a team to play for.

“Then in 1957 I decided to give it one more try. Late Brig. Hesky Baig, a polo legend based in Karachi, was putting together a team of those who couldn’t find one, and I joined Mrs Brenda Yasin and two others and played the tournament,” he recalls. This brought Jajamian to Hesky’s attention and earned him an invitation to come to Karachi and train and play there.

Asghar Ali was the Risaldar-Major of the President’s Bodyguard who was later promoted to Honorary Captain. He was a four goals handicap player at the time of Partition, and became Jajamian’s mentor in the game. “He showed me the ropes of the game. In 1958 I played the National Open in Lahore for the Lahore Polo Club with Asif Afridi playing number 1, Hesky Baig at number 3, Siku Baig at number 3, and myself at number 4.

Jajamian’s eyes grow misty as he recalls those wonderful and very vibrant times, with the equestrian and polo fraternities organising regular events like the Sunday early morning rides in formal attire, culminating in a grand breakfast on the shores of the Arabian Sea.

With the shifting of the Capital to Islamabad in 1963, the ranks of Karachi’s equestrian fraternity were considerably depleted, and those who stayed behind found it difficult to maintain their horses. “I built a polo ground in Gambat and got a game going there on a regular basis. Then I would visit Karachi and organise tournaments there, lending my horses to budding players.”

In 1963 Jajamian was introduced to Pir Sahab Pagara, a meeting that would have a profound influence upon his life and personal fortunes. “Being a businessman I shunned politics, but my friendship with Pir Sahab became such that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was annoyed, and with his ascendancy in 1973, I was declared persona non grata in Gambat.”

After being thrown out of business Jajamian had precious little to do. He proceeded to Lahore and set about collecting all the data he could muster on the activities of the Lahore Polo Club, compiling in the process his first book on Pakistani Polo, in 1974. He also got into the reading habit, becoming quite determined in the process and devouring 500 pages on average everyday for the next 25 years on a wide range of subjects from cost accounting to military strategy and philosophy.

In 1979, with Bhutto gone, Jajamian attempted what turned out to be a failed re-integration into the family business. Unfortunately, the brothers were not amenable and there were court cases that carried on for the better part of 15 years.

He settled in Karachi, and started his riding school in 1981 with three of his polo ponies to make ends meet. Foreigners living in Karachi were his mainstay for membership of the riding school. “Up until this point I was focused on training the students that I had, and thought that once they had graduated I would pack up the school. I saw it as a stop-gap measure at best.”

Then came Sehar Ahmed, daughter of Zeenat and Saeed Ahmed. Her uncle Brig. Farooq Shabaz threw Jajamian a challenge to make a rider out of her. The student really took to riding, and convinced Jajamian to take a long-term view of the riding school. “Her father Saeed Ahmed, an accomplished tennis player, proposed the name of his riding school, and so it has been since that day. Saeed Ahmed helped us a lot, and was instrumental in organising a number of memorable charity polo matches that collected some serious contributions for worthy causes.”

Jajamian soon discovered the healing powers of a close proximity with horses. “Arif Abassi’s 10-year-old daughter was suffering from polio, and would come to the riding school carried by an attendant. She couldn’t walk or pick up her foot. I worked my guts out with her, and after two months of riding she would run back to her car! That gave me a lot of spiritual strength in my running of the riding school.”

Jajamian cites the example of a student who was bowlegged and keen on joining the army. “I put him through 10 weeks of prescribed horse drills and the boy was fine, and accepted by the army.”

The high point of the Shahsawar Riding School came in 1985 when it joined hands with the rest of Karachi’s equestrian fraternity in putting up a ‘Day with the Horses’ graced by the President of Pakistan. “It was a pure horse show, and the riding talents of our young and old members alike were on full display, along with riders from the Pakistan Coast Guards, the Karachi Police, the Pakistan Army and Navy. It was a memorable day, and possibly that was when equestrian activity in Karachi was at its zenith. We continued the ‘Day with the Horses’ for the next five years, and introduced many thousands of spectators to the sport.”

All good things do not necessarily have to come to an end, but they very nearly did for the Shahsawar Riding School and the Karachi Polo Club. In 1992 a civilian hotshot player tangled with a couple of military hotshot players to the detriment of the game’s larger interest. The young and dashing Fuad Alam, in a fit of exuberance, exceeded the carefully adhered-to speed limit on the dusty approach to the polo ground, spewing up a thick cloud of dust and in the process, ‘browning out’ two army Captains on horseback, as well as the women accompanying them.

The matter escalated, and the army landlords put Karachi’s solitary polo field off-limits to civilians. The election of Jajamian, a civilian, to the presidency of the Karachi Polo Club had not been well received in certain quarters, and this latest adverse report proved to be the last straw on the camel’s back.

Since that day, civilians were confined to playing on the Clifton beach in the midst of raw sewage discharged into the Arabian Sea, with the horses put up in makeshift, temporary stables in Shireen Jinnah Colony, co-habiting with buffaloes. Fourteen years later the Army has relented and is actively assisting the Karachi Polo Club in developing its own ground at the Boating Basin where the earmarking of 16 acres for the sport is a major development.

The future of the Karachi Polo Club appears bright, with the allotment of its own polo field at the Boating Basin, and the development of a major equestrian centre in Malir. The future of the Shahsawar Riding School is, however, uncertain. After 25 years of existence it still doesn’t have a ground that it can call its own. “Everything is so impermanent, and the development of the sport has suffered as a consequence,” laments Jajamian.

His offspring, two sons and a daughter, are all accomplished horse riders. The youngest, Nooruddin is in the IT business in the USA. Isma in the middle is a celebrated veterinary doctor, and the eldest Amiruddin is a banker. While the sons have followed their own paths in life, Jajamian expresses his gratitude to his daughter for being supportive of him, and says he couldn’t have run the school without her. However, the demands of her own profession do not permit her the time and energy required to take the riding school to the next level.

Jajamian’s own time and energy have found gainful employment as the administrator of the Karachi Race Club, a huge enterprise, the running of which leaves him with no time or energy for the school. His two young lieutenants Fatir and Afsar are managing to keep the riding school operational. The absence of the master is being felt, however.

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)