Ali lived for some time with his brother Hamid Ali (1880-1965) who had retired in 1934 from the Indian Civil Service and settled at Southwood, ancestral home of his father in law, Abbas Tyabji, in Mussoorie. During this period Ali became a close friend of Arthur Foot, principal of The Doon School. He visited the school often and was an engaging and persuasive advocate of ornithology to successive generations of pupils. As a consequence, he was considered to be part of the Dosco fraternity and became one of the very few people to be made an honorary member of "The Doon School Old Boys Society".