Musafir Ki Diary

11-24 November, 1938- Khwaja Ahmad Abbas has reached Istanbul where Turks are mourning the death of the founder of modern Turkey, Kamal Ataturk. He visits Angora (Ankara), Halab (Aleppo), Baghdad, Karbala, Basra before returning to Hindostan. "Even water has a religion in Hindostan. The sounds of Hindu Pani, Muslim Pani greeted me at each rail station.''

Musafir Ki Diary, hailed as the first modern travelogue in Urdu has been penned by the legendary filmmaker, novelist and journalist, KA Abbas.

Abbas at the age of 24 set out on a journey that would take him to several countries as he left for Shanghai on 28th June, 1938. Abbas travelled to 17 countries in 5 months, covering a distance of about 25,000 miles at a cost of 3,500 rupees.

Presented by broadcaster Pervaiz Alam, the Cineink series 'Musafir Ki Diary' is produced by Achala Sharma in association with the Delhi-based Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Memorial Trust.

5 November, 1938- Novelist, journalist and filmmaker Khwaja Ahmad Abbas decides to return to India via land on a train from Paris. As the train enters Germany, a Nazi German Officer greets him with 'Hail Hitler'. Abbas shouts back 'Mahatma Gandhi Ki Jai'. The Nazi officer is confused.

Abbas visits Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Bucharest. To his horror, he realises Hitler's ideology of fascism has reached all corners of Europe. He's shocked to see how ordinary jews are being persecuted in Vienna.

Presented by broadcaster Pervaiz Alam, the Cineink series 'Musafir Ki Diary' is based on a travelogue written by KA Abbas. It's produced by Achala Sharma in association with the Delhi-based Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Memorial Trust.

19 September - 28 October, 1938- India's legendary journalist and filmmaker Khwaja Ahmad Abbas is in Geneva to attend a meeting of the League of Nations but he finds the proceedings useless. India's freedom fighter Jawahar Lal Nehru also happens to be in Geneva. Abbas meets Nehru. Both have a low opinion of the League of Nations.

But Abbas has the most scathing remarks reserved for 'racist' London and its 'ugliness' when he visits England.

Presented by broadcaster Pervaiz Alam, the Cineink series 'Musafir Ki Diary' is based on a travelogue written by KA Abbas. It's produced by Achala Sharma in association with the Delhi-based Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Memorial Trust.

Novelist, Journalist and Filmmaker, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas has seen a lot, so far, and thinks Paris is the ultimate symbol of beauty in the world. However, he also observes how rich and famous from India spend a 'gala' time in Paris, visiting clubs of nudity and sex. He shares a few anecdotes of India's celebrities, including a famous Urdu poet of Punjabi origin, who became the laughing-stock of the whole Paris glitterati.

Presented by broadcaster Pervaiz Alam, the Cineink series 'Musafir Ki Diary' is based on a travelogue written by KA Abbas. It's produced by Achala Sharma in association with the Delhi-based Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Memorial Trust.

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas couldn't believe his luck when he came to know American novelist, short-story writer and journalist, Ernest Hemingway was his co-traveller on 'Normandie', world's largest and fastest passenger ship afloat. He spends a memorable evening with the author who wrote 'For Whom the Bell Tolls', discussing his politics and work on his way to France.

Presented by broadcaster Pervaiz Alam, the Cineink series 'Musafir Ki Diary' is based on a travelogue written by KA Abbas. It's produced by Achala Sharma in association with the Delhi-based Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Memorial Trust.

17 - 23 August, 1938, USA. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas is so much horrified at the treatment meted out to 'Negros' (Blacks) on an American train that he decides to not eat at all in a dining car where blacks were not allowed. Though as an Indian he could have been allowed but he decided to call himself a 'Negro'. He also writes about his visits to the Harvard University, New York Time Times and other newspaper offices. He concludes Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University are better than Harvard!

Presented by broadcaster Pervaiz Alam, the Cineink series 'Musafir Ki Diary' is produced by Achala Sharma in association with the Delhi-based Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Memorial Trust.

11 August 1938- New York. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas is in New York to participate in the World Youth Conference, attended by hundreds of international delegates. He's overwhelmed in the company of Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the USA. He is so much impressed by Mrs. Roosevelt during an interaction that he asks her about the probability of a woman taking over as the next President of the USA.

Presented by broadcaster Pervaiz Alam, the Cineink series 'Musafir Ki Diary' is based on a travelogue in Urdu (1938) by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, the legendary journalist, screenwriter and filmmaker, produced by Achala Sharma in association with the Delhi-based Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Memorial Trust.

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas feels insulted and anguished as he manages to read the scenario of Gunga Din, an American adventure film under production, which makes fun of Indians. Featuring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Gunga Din is loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's poem. Abbas delivers a radio talk in Hollywood trashing such cinematic caricatures maligning India.

Presented by broadcaster Pervaiz Alam, the Cineink series 'Musafir Ki Diary' is produced by Achala Sharma in association with the Delhi-based Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Memorial Trust.

31July, 1938- Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, 24, has reached the USA via Canada. Little did he know that one day he would become an internationally acclaimed screenwriter and film director with 'Dharti Ke Lal' (1946), described as one of Indian cinema's first social-realist films. He unplugs Hollywood for the readers of 'Musafir Ki Diary', hailed as the first modern travelogue written in Urdu. Earlier people who lived in and and around a place called Hollywood, hated to be associated with filmmaking, Abbas writes.

Presented by broadcaster Pervaiz Alam, the Cineink series 'Musafir Ki Diary' is produced by Achala Sharma in association with the Delhi-based Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Memorial Trust.

21July, 1938- Khwaja Ahmad Abbas concludes his travel in Japan. Now, he has boarded a ship on his way to America, enjoying Hindi songs. He gets emotional as Bande Matram is played on the deck.


'Musafir Ki Diary' is based on a travelogue in Urdu (1938) by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, the legendary journalist, screenwriter and filmmaker.

This podcast is presented by Pervaiz Alam and produced by Achala Sharma for Cineink in association with Khwaja Ahmad Memorial Trust.