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Why Was Noted Pakistani Designer Yousuf Bashir Qureshi Sweeping An Old House In Ajmer?

Why Was Noted Pakistani Designer Yousuf Bashir Qureshi Sweeping An Old House In Ajmer?
YBQ

Noted Pakistani designer and artist Yousuf Bashir Qureshi has fulfilled a promise he made to his mother, even if it meant taking a trip into the heart of Ajmer to first discover, and then sweep the floor of an old house quietly residing in Langar Khana.

Qureshi’s mother Abida Bashir had asked her son to fulfil her dream of finding her childhood home where she resided before migrating to her family to Pakistan in 1947, and clean it.

Making his debut trip to India, Qureshi managed to track down the house, and was overwhelmed by the memories that his mother had passed on to him come to life. “The moment I confirmed that is the native house of my mother’s family, I closed my eyes for a minute, recalling the childhood days that my four uncles and six aunts spent here,” Qureshi told ToI. He kissed the doorstep to his family’s past. “It was a very emotional moment… it was as if I was with my entire family as I went from one room to another.”

Qureshi spent two hours reminiscing in the home that has received a few modern makeovers, but retains a few elements of the past, including the fluting strains of qawwali from the dargah nearby. Just before he left –- accompanied with pictures of the old house from the present owner as a gift -- he swept a part of the building, to fulfil his promise to his mother.

A graduate from the University Of Nebraska in Food science, Qureshi has garbed celebrities such as Sheryl Crow, Angelina Jolie, and Denzel Washington, and Madonna, and is also an avid photographer and a gardener. Qureshi eventually returned to Pakistan in 2002 to start his label YBQ, that is based out of Karachi, that he runs alongside being a resident professor at Indus Valley School.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.