(Most of the text below was taken from Gujarati Introduction in 'Angal-Kavya-Darpan: 1')


Birth and early education

Born on July 31, 1912 in Inhambane, Mtamba, Mozambique, Mr. Rupani sailed to India in 1923 "to acquire education". He was one of several children, including siblings and a number of orphans from Mozambique, whom his father, Late Juma Premji Rupani, intended to enroll in academic institutions. Their arrival in Mumbai (Bombay), coincided with festivities in Rajkot for the visit of 'Hazar Imam', His Highness The Aga Khan III Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah, Spiritual Leader of Ismaili community.

Although himself barely educated to Gujarati 'one-and-half-year' level, Late Juma Premji Rupani, who had emmigrated from Kodinar, India at the young age of 14, to settle in Mozambique in 1895, was an ardent believer of the importance of good education . He was returning to India after 23 years with the single objective of availing his own and other children the opportunity to acquire education. Encouraged by 'Hazar Imam's' blessings in Rajkot for success in the noble intention of wanting to educate so many children from a far away land, Late Juma Premji Rupani took the children to Kodinar, where they would undertake academic studies.

Mr. Mohamed Rupani received:
- Primary level education at a Gujarati school in Kodinar, India
- Junior high-school education, first year of English, at H. H. The Aga Khan Boys School in Mumbai (Bombay)
- High school education, second and third-year English, at an Anglo-vernacular school in Kodinar

Father's library - a resource centre
Mr. Rupani's studies were, however, interrupted from 1928, when he had returned to Inhambane, Mozambique, where he remained until 1931. During this interruption, however, Mr. Rupani took advantage of his father's voracious reading habit, going through almost everything in the latter's library including 'Chandrakant', Bhagvat Gita, The Quran, The Bible, 'Narmaghadh', Swami Dayanand Sarasvati's publications, 'Manikant Kavyamala' and father's own diaries.

In addition, his father's desire to keep abreast of international news enabled Mr. Mohamed Rupani to read regularly popular publications of the time 'Bharati', 'Prajamitra Kesri', The Ismaili', 'Ismaili Aftab' (get a glimpse of Editorial Notes 1st October, 1937) and a Durban (South African) weekly Indian Views. Fully integrated in his adopted Portuguese-speaking black African country, Mozambique, Late Juma Premji Rupani, a self-educated literary mind, mastered Portuguese language, and published two Gujarati books
'Hind ane Africa-no Vepaar' (India and Trade in Africa)
and
'Aga Khan Hirak Mahotsva Granth' (Diamond Jubilee Book).
These combined literary elements provided Mr. Mohamed Rupani an ideal environment that would mould his intellectual prowess.

Choosing education over riches

Declining a bag filled with diamonds, jewelery and money, offered by his mother as incentive to remain in Inhambane and build a business, Mr. Mohamed Rupani, opted to further his education. Unable to go to a school in South Africa he sailed to India where he attended Baroda High School (1923-1934), Baroda College (1934-1938), and graduated from Mumbai (Bombay) University in 1939

While at Baroda College, in 1936 he had met Miss Dilawer K. Kavi, first Muslim girl to join that institution, and married her in 1940. That year Mr. & Mrs. Rupani went to East Africa where they taught in schools in Zanzibar (1940-1941), Dodoma (1942-1949) and Mombasa (1949-1968).

Drawn to poetry by 'Ginans'


Mr. Rupani's faculty for writing poems has its roots in Ismaili community's 'Ginans' (devotional songs) that he sang at a very young age. As an adult, in matters of Incarnation, Mr. Rupani found similarities between teachings in the 'Ginans' on one hand and J. Krishnamurti's philosophy and studies of Theosophical Society on the other.

Travels and residence

Since retirement, Mr. & Mrs. Rupani have lived in Nairobi (1968), Ahmedabad (1968-1970), back to Nairobi (1970-1975), again in Ahmedabad (1975-1988), visited Lisbon (1988, 6 months), again Nairobi ((1988-1996), Porbandar (1996), Rajkot (1996-2000), Jamnagar , India (2000-November 2006).

Affectionally known as 'Didi', Mrs. Dilawer Rupani, wife for 66 years of Mr. Mohamed Rupani, passed away in Neral, India, on 14 December, 2006, a month from her 89th birthday she would have celebrated on 19 January.

In mid-April, 2009 Mr. Mohamed Rupani left Neral and now lives at Ramanand Senior Citizens Home in Lonavala 110 kilometres from Mumbai, on the way to Pune.

Mr. Mohamed (Mahmad) Rupani is the author of:
>> 'Angal-Kavya-Darpan:1 and 2'
Gujarati version of selected English poems of some 216 poets
(click here to view complete list) (14th Century to 20th Century) - (See Reviews )

Earlier publications (currently out of print) include:
>> ('Yogini Maari') , His own Gujarati poems published in December 1969

>> Gujarati version of Shakespeare's 159 Sonnets published in December 1977

>> "Aapni Pasandgi" Gujarati version of Shakespeare's play 'As You Like It' published in January 1979

>> Gujarati version of 1090 Japanese Haiku published in June 1979