February 14, 2024 was Valentine's Day, where people express their love through cards, gifts, chocolates and teddy bears. But I attended an event that was truly the best way to celebrate this day of love: a very special evening program to celebrate an Indian coming back to the land of his forefathers. And not just any Indian, but Satvik Mohatta, the great-grandson of prominent Hindu Marwari merchant Rao Bahadur Shiv Rattan Mohatta who built Karachi’s fabled Mohatta Palace in 1927, and whose family had to leave Pakistan for India during Partition in 1947.
Shiv Rattan Mohatta, who was a friend of Pakistan’s founder Muhammed Ali Jinnah, was one of Karachi’s most esteemed citizens. With ties to Bikaner in Rajasthan, the Mohatta family were active in textiles, construction, and the sugar industry. As Shiv Rattan’s wife was suffering from health issues, doctors suggested that she be taken to live by the sea. Instead of Bombay, Shiv Rattan Mohatta chose the seaside neighbourhood of Clifton, which at one point was an island, joined to the mainland by a causeway, as were Bath Island and Keamari (Ghulam Hassan Kalmatti’s book Coastal Islands of Sindh, or Sindh Ja Samoondi Bet, provides fascinating information about Sindh’s coastline before the reclamation projects that changed the face of Karachi forever).
Mohatta Palace was commissioned by Shiv Rattan Mohatta between 1920 and 1925, and Ahmed Hussain Agha, one of India’s first Muslim architects, came from Jaipur to undertake the project, completing it in 1927 at a cost of seven lakh rupees. Shiv Rattan Mohatta went on to commission and build the Hindu Gymkhana in Karachi and the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, but Mohatta Palace became the family’s permanent home. It housed 10 members of the Mohatta family in 16 rooms and hosted many Indian Royal families as well as members of the pre-Partition Indian Congress including Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi.
Today, when we think of Mohatta Palace, we associate it with Fatima Jinnah, sister of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, who lived in Mohatta Palace from 1947-67. The Palace was also used by the Government of Pakistan as its Foreign Ministry right after Partition. It lay disused and abandoned for a good 20 years, until it was formally purchased and lovingly restored in 1999. Since then it has served as a museum, cultural centre, and focal point of Karachi’s rich heritage and history.
But Satvik Mohatta told us a more personal story, of the family that enjoyed a luxurious life in Mohatta Palace, complete with its own polo field and underground swimming pool. Beside the grand events and formal occasions, the family also enjoyed simple pleasures; every evening they went to the rooftop to listen to music and watch the tide come in and the sun go down over Karachi. The fresh sea air did have a therapeutic effect on the ailing Mrs Mohatta, and Shiv Rattan Mohatta threw a grand party once his wife had made a complete recovery.
One of the most interesting things Satvik Mohatta told us was about a seaplane called "The Flying Boat". It was the quicker option to get to Europe as opposed to a slow ocean liner. Indian princes would come to Karachi, stay in Mohatta Palace, then board the seaplane for travel to further destinations. Another anecdote involved a bread-and-butter pudding made by the Mohatta family khansama, a simple jelly, bread and custard dessert that nonetheless became so popular among guests that no matter how elevated, they would always demand the “Karachi ka bread-and-butter pudding” whenever they came for a stay at the Palace.
Shiv Rattan Mohatta’s family left Karachi for Bombay in 1947, although it is debated whether he handed over the keys to the Palace willingly or whether the new government of Pakistan claimed it as evacuee property. Satvik Mohatta said that his father tried many times to come to Pakistan to see the Palace. This almost happened in 2020, but then the worldwide Covid pandemic stopped his travel plans. Unfortunately, his father died 15 months ago, so Satvik Mohatta took it upon himself to fulfill his father's dream.
It can’t be an easy undertaking to come to Pakistan as an Indian; government bureaucracy, security, and the tense relations between our two countries impede most people’s attempts to obtain visas. But the Sindh Heritage Association managed to make it possible for Satvik Mohatta and his family to finally come to Karachi. “As soon as we stepped out of the airport,” said Andrea Mohatta, who had accompanied her husband with their three children Tara, Maya and Avik, “we felt as though we were home.”
Satvik said the first thing they did, after leaving the airport, was to come to Mohatta Palace and peer at it through the gates in the early morning light. It was beyond words for him to explain what it actually felt like to walk into the grounds and enter the house. He seemed overwhelmed by the welcome, the hospitality and the love that he was shown in Karachi. He couldn't believe how well the Palace had been taken care of, how beautifully restored. “The black and white of my imagination has turned into full colour.”
Asked if he minded that the Mohatta Palace had been turned into a museum, where "hordes of children" came to visit on school field trips (and a new scheme to bring children from underprivileged backgrounds is underway), Satvik Mohatta said he couldn't think of a better use for the Museum. It was also announced that evening that the Mohatta Palace grounds were going to be expanded with a commemorative garden in which people could pay for plants and trees to be placed in memory of loved ones. The Mohatta family has already pledged to do this, so that their names can continue to be associated with the Karachi they once lived in and loved so much.
When his son Avik was presented with a piece of the original sandstone from the house before its restoration, there wasn't a dry eye in the audience. There was something so redeeming, so gentle and kind and good about this event. Satvik Mohatta probably felt that a hole had finally been filled in his heart, one that had been passed down to him through generations. But we Karachiites felt the same way: that a missing part of our history, heritage and home had finally been found. Would that we could welcome home all the refugees who left Pakistan, and show them how much we have missed them over the years.
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