What do You Serve when Munni Begum Comes for Dinner?
What do You Serve when Munni Begum Comes for Dinner?
- by Sumaira Salim

While growing up in England, I remember my mother watching Munni Begum’s song videos on lazy Sunday afternoons and enjoying a cup of tea. Who is this singer? I remember thinking. Little did I know that one-day I would get to know “this singer” on a personal level? May 6, 2001 was the day I will always remember. Why? That’s the day we had Munni Begum at our house for dinner. For us, history was made.

At 4:30 pm while shopping in Crabtree mall with my husband Ahsen and our daughter Aamna we got a call from Seema Faruqi about doing a joint dinner for Munni Begum at our house. Seema coordinated with other Urdu Majlis families. Seema made chicken and mash dal, Maryum Saboohi made kebabs and yogurt while Rifat Syed made alu gosht. My contribution was Meat Pulao, fresh fruit salad and regular salad and desert.

Our guests arrived one by one and all four families eagerly awaited Munni Begum’s arrival. She came with with Afroz Taj and Dr. Azam, accompanied by her son 12-year-old son Assad.

Munni Begum enjoyed the food while sharing her experience as a singer with us. When we presented a gift of crystal platter to her that was in shape of a leaf she was most gracious. She regaled us with story after story about different episodes and experiences she had, her triumphs and disappointments, her favorite ghazals and singers, her gypsy family life. We enjoyed an unforgettable evening chatting and joking with Munni Begum.The only music we heard that evening were some CD ghazal collections of Munni Begum and others playing softly in the background while we talked with Munni Begum in person.



A Group Photo with Munni Begum

We all felt that we had known her all our lives even though most of us met her on such personal level for the first time. She has that effect on you. Our daughter Aamna sat on her lap and then proceeded to lick the icing on cake slice server with her lithe finger. I was afraid that Munni Begum’s beautiful cotton outfit might have some more colors added to it before she left (the chocolate cake had blue and white butter icing on it) but luckily it did not. Munni begum told me not to worry about and continued to hold Aamna.

At the end of the evening we all left with the impression that while Munni Begum is a legendary star in her own right, she is also a compassionate person who reaches out to people. That’s what makes her a real star.