Share Our Heritage with the World

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There was a time when it was known as one of the spookiest places in Karachi. Some believed it was a haunted site. Jadu Ghar, they used to call it. Not many cogent reasons were ever given to verify the fear, but if you meet Jeevan Sonawarya who was born in one of the quarters here, he will tell you it was because of the lull that would be witnessed in the vicinity after rush hour that made tongues wag. Those were the days when the Freemason Lodge had not been turned into the Sindh Wildlife Department Building.

It was in 1730 that freemasonry took root in the Indian subcontinent. Some officers of the East India Company began organising meetings in Fort William, Calcutta (now Kolkata). The number assigned to the lodge was 72. The first Indian Mason, it is said, was the Nawab of Carnatic, Omdatul Omra, followed by M. Bandeh Ali Khan. Persons of international renown like Motilal Nehru, grandfather of Indira Gandhi, and former president of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed were also part of this group. Inventor of penicillin Alexander Fleming and creator of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle too were members.

If you look at the building now, it would not be easy for you to recognise the mystique that shrouds it, for it is being restored by the Antiquities Department and a bamboo framework covering its facade will block your view. Only when you enter the lodge, sorry the Wildlife Department Offices, that you can sense there is an air of eeriness about it. A tablet on one of the walls reads, “In Memory of Wor Bro Robert Shepherd Right Worshipful Master Born At Ellen Aberdeenshire 10th Dec 1863, Died At Karachi 21st June 1896, This Tablet Is Erected By The Brethern Of Lodge Hope No 360 SC As A Mark Of Esteem, Respect And Love Of A Brother Who Was An Efficient Master, A Kind Friend, And A Loving Brother, 1896.”

[Source: Karachi Legacies of Empires by Peerzada Salman]

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