Sikander Khan Umarkhanji Malik

Sikander Khan Umarkhanji Malik, the second son of Umar Khanji Malik and Liluba Sakhina Bibi Malik, was born in Surendranagar, Gujarat, India. His home was in Dasada, Gujarat but at the age of 5, he started at St Mary’s High School in Mount Abu—a Rajasthan boarding school run by the Congregation of Christian Brothers in India—with his older brother, Mohiuddin. At St Mary’s, Sikander and Mohiuddin were inseparable. During his school years, Sikander developed a love of literature, something that stayed with him throughout his life—he would often print out a poem or piece of prose for his grandchildren, including his favourites, The Tyger by William Blake and the Law of the Jungle chapter from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.

Sikander, Mohiuddin, and one of their younger brothers, Hamid Khan Umarkhanji Malik, survived smallpox as young boys but the virus took the life of their older sister, …