Khwaja Khurshid Anwar was born on 21 March 1912 in
Mianwali,
Punjab (now in
Pakistan) where his maternal grandfather Khan Bahadur Sheikh Atta Mohammad (whose eldest daughter was married to philosopher-poet
Muhammad Iqbal, to whom he was thus a nephew) was serving as civil surgeon. His father Khwaja Ferozuddin Ahmad was a well-known Barrister settled in
Lahore,
Pakistan. The ace jurist had a love for music so much so that he had a huge collection of gramophone records of
Indian classical and neo-classical music and his precocious son had an unhindered access to them all. Moreover, in the weekly music performances held in the lawyer's home, renowned music masters used to perform, and it was here that the young Khurshid Anwar developed a taste for classical music. Considering Khrshid Anwar's keen interest, Khansahib Tawakkal Hussain agreed to take him as his disciple and train him in 1934. Khurshid Anwar was also a brilliant student at
Government College, Lahore, the renowned seat of learning at that time. Having topped in the master's degree in
Philosophy in (1935), he appeared in the examination for
Indian Civil Service (ICS) in 1936 but due to his
political and anti-British Raj activities, the British colonial masters did not like his activities. He was also absent from the prize-distribution ceremony of the
Punjab University held to honour the students with distinctions. When his name was called to receive the
Nanak Gold Medal in Philosophy, nobody turned up. The British Chancellor of the University who was awarding medals remarked that the student having forgotten to receive the medal, is a true philosopher. ==Career in India==