Spent the day travelling on two wheelers through Meerut city along the location of the old fort wall which does not exist today (I obviously was the pillion rider). The wall had been dismantled by the British after the Uprising of 1857. It was a hot dusty day and we finally reached the residence of the Thairandesh Nawab family of Meerut. They are the oldest existing Nawab family of India, predating the nawabs of Awadh and Hyderabad by nearly 200 years. Nawab Muhammad Afzal Khan is nearly 85 years of age and is a mine of information of the days gone by.

With Dr. K. K. Sharma (Historian), Nawab Saab, Mr. Manoj Gautam (Curator Meerut Museum) and Steve a researcher from Germany who has a thesis topic linked to Meerut (from right to left).