Late Nawab Amin-ud-din Khan then governor of Punjab had a very keen interest in horses; their breeding and sport. Having been a good rider and having taken part in tent pegging and polo at the highest level, he initiated a state level horse show at Jalandhar. A horse show at the state level had not been held in the state for a very long time.
The organisers invited teams from the army, BSF, Police and some private clubs who took part in show jumping, tent pegging, and dressage among other competitions. The event was spread over three days and the ‘laat saab’ attended all events, each day with full gusto.
On the final day, the lunch was hosted by the commissioner Jalandhar division, Sen at his residence. On reaching the house of the commissioner Nawab Saab was reminded of the early 30s when he had done his prince’s revenue attachment at Jalandhar under the guidance of the British Commissioner who lived in the same house.
The happy Partridge
While at lunch he related a hilarious event. The then commissioner’s wife had invited all officers and their wives in the division for a lunch. She had a pet black partridge who would walk all around the guests in the gol kamra and was great friends with their dog. He would travel on the dog’s back at times. After some rounds of drinks, lunch was served. Some invites left their unfinished glasses of beer, gin or wine in the gol kamra.
This episode had the guests in splits and Sen announced that since there was no pet partridge the guests were free to feel as happy as the partridge.
While everyone was at lunch the black partridge took the liberty of taking sips from the half-empty glasses, so when the guests came back to the gol kamra they found one drunk partridge who was wobbly on his feet and would fall off on one side after taking a few steps. This episode had the guests in splits and Sen announced that since there was no pet partridge the guests were free to feel as happy as the partridge.
—An ex-Cavalry Major, the author was a member of the Haryana Legislature
