Featured photo at top of post: Former Daily Nation chief photographer Azhar Chaudhry (d. November 2020, aged 75) looks on as His Highness the Aga Khan signs a copy of a special souvenir publication entitled “Smiling Safari” that Azhar published in 1976 to commemorate the 49th Ismaili Imam’s visit to Kenya in the same year. Photograph: Azhar Chaudhry Family Collection. See same image in black and white below, that includes the Aga Khan’s inscription in the souvenir.

By FAISAL (FAS) NADEEM

In the early hours of November 1, 2020, my beloved uncle Azhar Chaudhry lost his battle to live and I lost one of my heroes.

Azhar was only two years old in 1947 at the time of Indo-Pak partition and his family migrated from Indian Punjab to Pakistan’s rich farmlands of South Punjab. Soon after, his father took them to Kenya as he had found work on the railways. 

In his early 20’s, Azhar had to go through a personal tragedy when due to some medical complications one of his legs was amputated. But he never had this get him down as he narrates his own story in Zarina Patel’s book “The In-between World of Kenya’s Media: South Asian Journalism, 1900-1992,” a limited edition of which was published in 2016.

Azhar was a self-made man through and through. He started his professional life as an apprentice with the Kenyan newspaper, The Standard, working as a Lino Operator and trained to become a professional photographer at the London School of Arts. From 1963 he worked for The Daily Nation and later on became their Chief Photographer and Picture Editor. His love and passion for photography remained in his DNA for the rest of his life and Azhar contributed to many important publications. In 1969, Azhar’s published his first book “Jomo Kenyatta: A man and his people”. 

Being a keen traveler, shooter, safari enthusiast and photographer was a combination that opened several high-profile avenues for him.  He travelled with former Kenyan President Moi and also with the Aga Khan, the founder of the Nation Group of newspapers, and documented the Aga Khan’s travels to Kenya through two special souvenir issues — Smiling Safari published in 1976 and Family Safari published in 1981.

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Azhar Chaudhry also graciously permitted Simerg and its sister blogs to reproduce a collection of his memorable photographs of the Aga Khan that were in the possession of his former colleague at the Daily Nation, the Late Sultan Jessa of Montreal. Please view the photographs by clicking on Azhar Chaudhry’s Photographs of His Highness the Aga Khan from the Collection of Veteran Ismaili Journalist Sultan Jessa (a version of the post was published earlier in Simergphotos.)

Azhar was a keen rifle shooter and represented Kenya’s shooting team at various world shooting events.  He was part of the overseas teams that took part at the international shooting events of 1986 and 1990 at The National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom (Bisley, Surrey).

A man of many talents, Azhar had developed his love for cooking into passion and from early 1990’s Azhar had become a full-time restaurateur. He successfully ran the famous Nairobi restaurant renowned for its steaks ‘The Professional’. Located in the heart of Nairobi and just opposite the Kenyan Parliament Buildings, this famous joint was based in the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.  He ran this restaurant for a decade or so.

Azhar was a colorful man in his personal life too, and for various reasons he got married about 4 times but was never able to settle in a long-term marriage. During the first decade of the 2000, when Azhar was in his 4th marriage, he left Kenya and settled with his wife and two boys Ayman and Areeb in Nelspruit, South Africa. His first venture here was to run a butcher’s shop furthering his culinary skills. By 2005 he was keeping the family in Nelspruit and had moved himself to Johannesburg. 

This is the time when I had planned to do an extensive family holiday in South Africa with visits to places such as Cape Town Peninsula, Robyn Island, Nelsprut, Kruger Safari Park, Johannesburg and Sun City.  During this trip, we had the pleasure of spending time with his family in Nelspruit and then visited him at his newly opened Pakistani restaurant Dawat. I must say it was one of the best restaurants that I experienced in South Africa; it not only specialised in Pakistani cuisine but also served Chinese, Thai and Continental dishes including his famous steaks. Over the years many celebrities visited the famed Dawat which was located in Fordsberg (Johannesburg). Subsequently, he opened a branch in Cape Town as well. He sold both these restaurants to settle into his retirement days.

I had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with Azhar in Pakistan during 2015 when he was accompanying his friend from South Africa, the world-renowned orthopaedic specialist Professor Charles Lautenbach who was in Lahore to deliver his research paper at a Conference. Professor Lautenbach had designed a procedure for treating bone infections, which he researched and continued to refine over the span of his medical career. He also trained a number of doctors from around the world in what became known as the ‘Lautenbach technique’. It was a pleasure to accompany Azhar and the Professor to a few private dinners. I was lucky enough to meet Azhar again for the last time in 2017 when he came to Lahore for dental treatment. 

He then re-organised his personal life and settled in Port Alfred with his elder son Ayman who was completing his commercial pilot training there.  I last spoke with Azhar on Aug 29, 2020, after he and Ayman had moved to their new place in Port Alfred by the river. 

Sadly, during the last week of October 2020, when visiting his younger son Areeb in Cape Town, he felt poorly and had to be taken to the Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 and never recovered from this episode and passed away during the early hours of November 1, 2020.  Azhar’s last resting place is at Grassy Park Cemetery, Cape Town.

Rest in Peace Azhar. You will always be my hero.  Your family — the Chaudhry clan — and your friends all over the globe will miss you dearly.

Date posted: August 31, 2023.
Last updated: September 1, 2023 (link updates.)

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As Chief Photographer of the Daily Nation for many years, Azhar Chaudhry was well-known by readers of the Daily Nation and widely respected by his colleagues in the East African media. Of course, many know him through his popular restaurants in Nairobi and South Africa. We invite our readers to submit their personal tributes and fond memories of Azhar Chaudhry by clicking on LEAVE A COMMENT.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Faisal (Fas) Nadeem is an electrical engineer and an IT specialist by profession and lives near Oxford, England. As a hobby, Fas spends his time researching on those who are near and dear to him, as well as his family who come from a humble Punjabi farming background. With facts not easy to come by, he relies on older members of his family for information gathering. Fas is widely travelled and has toured several countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Thus his interests span across many cultures and faiths. Fas, who has two grown-up sons, is surrounded by members of his extended family and has many friends in the UK who are from East Africa and the Sub-Continent. Fas may be reached by email at fasnadeem@gmail.com.

Please also click on Azhar Chaudhry’s photographs of the Aga Khan published in Barakah.