8216;The poor uncle8217; who lived upstairs,wore 8216;cowboy hat8217;,ate 8216;chocolate with an apple8217;

… and COWBOY HAT: When OBL moved about the compound he wore a cowboy hat to avoid detection from above. He was concerned about the poplar trees on the perimeter of the compound as they might provide a cover for observers. He had thought of buying them to cut them down.

ON MEDICINE: Whenever OBL felt unwell unofficial US accounts indicate he suffered from Addisons disease,he treated himself with traditional Arab medicine Tibb-i-Nabawi and whenever he felt sluggish he would take some chocolate with an apple.

ON WHO DID WHAT: Khalid,OBLs son,looked after the furnishings and the internal plumbing. Abrar and Ibrahim the Pathan courier brothers saw to the buying of food and provisions. They lived extremely frugally. The family of OBL did not mix or socialise with the families of Abrar and Ibrahim. The children did not play together. The children of the OBL family led extremely regimented and secluded lives. OBL personally saw to the religious education and supervised their playtime,which included cultivating vegetable plots with simple prizes for best performances.

ON MISKEEN KAKA: Maryam wife of courier Ibrahim had four children. The eldest was her nine-year-old daughter,Rahma. One day,she asked her father why the uncle who lives upstairs in the main house never went to the bazaar. Ibrahim invented a story that he was too poor to go out an buy anything. From that day Rahma referred to him as Miskeen Kaka,i.e. poor uncle. Rahma used to visit the main house to take lessons from Sumayya Osamas daughter. Later,Rahma accidentally came across OBL on the staircase of the main house and greeted him. After that,her interaction with the OBL family came to an abrupt end.

ON THE APPEARANCE: The womenfolk in Abbottabad initially had access to TV. One day,while watching al-Jazeera,a picture of Osama came on the screen and Rahma immediately recognised him as Miskeen Kaka. Ibrahim panicked8230; He immediately stopped the ladies access to TV. This episode also put a stop to the interaction between the OBL family and the families of the brothers8230; Ibrahim at last confessed to Maryam that their daughter was right. Misreen Kaka was none other than Osama bin Laden.

ON PURDAH: Maryam said the purdah observed by the OBL women was so strict that as soon as their girls reached the age of three they began to observe it. The ladies of the house would go to the extent of observing purdah from men shown on TV!

ON SECLUSION: Ibrahim and Abrar taught their own children,who did not go to school. OBL never left the premises. Occasionally,according to Maryam,he complained of pain in the heart and kidneys. But he never visited a doctor. During their six-year stay in Abbottabad,Maryam never once saw OBL! Khalid Osamas son occasionally visited a dentist. The men,including OBL,offered their Friday prayers together on the ground floor8230; While the children of Ibrahim and Abrar were free to go outside the compound,the children of Osama bin Laden always stayed on the premises.

Before Abbottabad,2002-05

ON SPEEDING: Once when they were all including the tall Arab on a visit to the bazaar in Swat they were stopped for speeding by a policeman. But Maryams husband quickly settled the matter with the policeman and they drove on.

ON PAKISTAN BIRTHS: In Haripur they lived in a big house with two hallways,three bedrooms,a lawn,etc. They stayed there for two years,during which time Amal Osamas youngest wife gave birth to two children. She went to a private clinic for delivery but never stayed overnight. She was taken there by Abrar and Bushra his wife who told the lady doctor she was deaf and dumb.

ON PAY: Osama paid each brother Rs 9,000 a month plus additional money as zakat as well as gifts from time to time.

SOURCE: http://www.aljazeera.com