A FORGOTTEN AMBASSADOR IN CAIRO, N.S.VINOD

Amongst the multitude of tombs in the City of the Dead in Cairo, there lies buried a lone Indian — a scholar, writer, debonair statesman and a leader of the freedom movement. Who is he? How did he get there? For a man who used both the lectern and the pen to devastating effect during the Indian Independence movement led by the likes of Gandhi and Nehru, little is known of Syud Hossain. Born to an aristocratic family in Calcutta, he forayed into journalism early in life and became the editor of Motilal Nehru’s nationalist newspaper, The Independent. After a brief elopement with Motilal’s daughter, Sarup (aka Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit), Hossain, under immense pressure from Nehru and Gandhi, annulled the marriage and stayed away from the country. Thus began several years of exile. Eventually, he landed in the United States. Flitting from one place to another, making homes of hotel rooms, he imparted Gandhi’s message across the country.