Ishq latka Rahega Pankhe Se*

'Old Delhi is chaos and Greater Noida is silence', two worlds I navigate and experience as an inhabitant of both. 

The world of Shahajahanabad is where I was born at a Nursing Home at Nai Sarak, the most central, chaotic middle part of Old Delhi, after nearly thirty years of life at Shahjahanabad, I shifted to Greater Noida almost a decade back.  

Greater Noida (or GreNo) provided me a home as a refuge, solace and support when I needed it the most in my life. Its long winding, quiet, green, tall trees shaded roads often my companion of long walks, heard all my complaints, rants, songs and helped me heal with their silent presence. I often feel that just like Delhi is the City of Djinns, GreNo may also have some of the relatives, extended families of those Delhi Djinns who came for a holiday and decided to stay back here (for solitude and greenery like me!). 

Both cities are very different yet very similar in many ways, especially in their celebrations. The celebrations here are never limited to individual homes but often spill on the streets and are loud, noisy, community shared and shape local identities. 

So, at Old Delhi (Bazar Sitaram), having grown up seeing many Dussehras at Ramlila Maidan (Delhi) it has become a matter of habit to attend Ravan Dahans wherever I maybe. The shared community festivals regardless of faith, become an experience for the residents' of the particular localities and the dominant festivities take over the sensibilities of the residents. Visiting Durga Puja Pandals or Ramlila in the calendar month of October was a regular feature whichever city I resided in. 

Some people believe that Ravan was born at Greater Noida as per local legend at Bisrakh village. Shiva built a palace of gold for Parvati on an island, called Lanka. As Parvati wished to enter her home, an ardent search for a suitable priest began, which ended on Ravana. He performed the yagna but demanded Lanka as dakshina in return.* Dussehra is not celebrated in Bisrakh Village, the only place in UP where Ramlila is not organised. 

This year during the Dussehra/ VijayDashmi festival, I experienced something strangely unsettling at GreNo and hence, is the reason for me writing this blog-post after such a long time, as a form of catharsis. 

It raised a question that has been haunting me: When hate arrives at your doorstep, do you stay silent or speak up? 

At Ravan Dahan this year, my housing society erected the effigies of Ravan and his brothers outside the Market Complex in the large Parking area. As crowds started coming in for the Ravan Dahan, someone started playing hate-filled Hindutva Pop at the Music system for the public. 

Hindutva Pop* is political, not devotional or spiritual music to be played at festivals and is often the cause for increasing conflict among communities. I was dismayed, pained, anguished at the choice of such music at MY residential society.  Something I had never heard in a decade of stay here.  Hindutva Pop is a genre of hate-filled violent lyrics mostly directed at Muslims'.  

At Christ College (deemed to be University in early 2025), we had invited journalist Kunal Purohit who has a book on H-pop for a talk. The discussion became very political (of course!) leaving Left-Right ideological divisions exposed of/for the audience.  

I registered my disappointment (not shock!) at the kind of music that played just before the Dahan at all the Housing society WhatsApp groups and on Mygate app via a message post.  My friends/family were concerned and advised that I should refrain from visiting festival spaces or saying anything about this. 

In another context, someone had shared a post that has stayed with me:

“If you see something wrong happening around you and ignore it, a small matter may soon grow into something much bigger. That is why it is important to call out the wrong when it happens, otherwise the wrong gets normalised as right and starts dancing on our heads.”
(loose translation from a WhatsApp message)

As we see the rise of right-wing majoritarian politics and performative religious festivals around the world, we also need to reclaim shared, safe spaces. Spaces, where local communities can celebrate, exchange dialogue and build solidarities across faiths.

Because silence too is a choice, and often it is the most dangerous one!

 Our Ravan here resembled Dali as per a friend.   

Title from Zia Mazkoor's she'r:  Humko neeche utaar lenge log ......Ishq Latka rahega Pankhe se 

References:  

www.indiatoday.in/india/story/ravana-greater-noida-demon-king-delhi-ncr-bishrakh-dussehra-345906-2016-10-10    

https://time.com/6242156/hindutva-pop-music-anti-muslim-violence-india/

Kunal Purohit’s H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars  

Cold Icy winds Hit my face, as I watch mothers adjusting caps, keeping babies warm. Men don jackets, gloves, girls wrap themselves in a shawl, all seeking warmth. Clothes, blankets, food— small shields against the harsh weather. And yet... As we see images: babies, shot and wounded, bodies with limbs torn apart, children crying for morsels, shredded, naked bodies lying exposed to the world. Hospitals, schools, homes—bombed. No warmth Not from the weather, Not from humans. Nothing protects from The Coldness of The Human heart No warmth of kindness It remains the Coldest Colder than icy winds, Colder than any lifeless form. Colder than any dead organism The Living, Breathing Killer ColdHeart!

Archiving Living Residue of a Lost World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1DAMq7hLr0&t=48s

Khutbah al Muniqa : Hazrat Ali's Sermon Without Alif'

 Alif in eastern philosophy stands for Oneness, it is the first letter and the most important letter arguably.

 Tashayyo Video Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGLSCSfMhXQ

Translation :

According to a traditional narrative cited in Kitab e Kharay, one day Prophet's companions were having a discussion amongst themselves about the alphabet/letter in Arabic language without which no word can be formed, no priest can give his sermon without this word/letter.  After a long discussion they all agreed that Alif is that unique letter, no sentence can be formed in Arabic language excluding it.
Hazrat Ali (RA peace be upon him) was also present there.  He came on the podium and gave such an amazingly illustrious sermon/khutba where Alif was not used in any of the words. Translating this Khutba makes its human brilliance reach the larger audience but the actual quality of the Arabic lyricism is lost on the larger non-Arab audience.  This can only be understood in the Arabic language.  Tashayyo channel tried to adapt this in Urdu language so that none of the Urdu words have any Alif letter in them. So that the audience can also enjoy the actual meaning of the sermon and its lyricism.

Hazrat Ali said, "Praise be to God, the One, who blesses with mercy with greatness, whose blessings have different colours, whose anger has been overtaken by His kindness, whose confession of faith became real, whose power is in power, whose reputation is big, this praise is from such a person whose head is bowed in submission, whose proud of his servitude, who negates every unbeliever. One whose faith in Oneness is unique, the one who before reprimanding always looked for mercy..the day when wife and kids will turn away, my eyes will be on the Merciful.. my Lord of Mercy from you I expect help and towards you I look for guidance. My belief is in you and you are my source of satience. All of my claims are not just like that because I am a martyr on the cusp of martyrdom, like a believer full of joy I have faith in your unique knowledge. This claim of Oneness is like the claim of a believer freed from the trap of a prison. No one shares your kingdom or your rule of governance, though the height of Oneness is that there is no need of any mediator or minister, that level where no helper or supporter is required. The one who knew all the faults but kept them hidden under curtains of the creation. The knowledge that every secret state is visible, governance such that for every folly committed there is forgiveness available at all times, the one whose judgements are based on kindness and impartial justice. One who is always present, the beginning and the End, the One who cannot be compared. The ancient one, came before everything, whose Lordship is Supreme and glory is respected, whose heights are sacred, persona has pride, One on whom no eye can stay fixed. One who is strong, provider, listens to everything, Mighty kind and merciful. The One whose qualities may force Creation to worship him. The One whose praise is not even possible, nobody can be close to Him, He negates none. The One God Kind and Merciful who is Always there for anyone who petitions Him, One whose joys are a secret but grasp is tight. Mercy filled with compassion, whose merciful grace is like an open heaven for me and whose anger is like painful hell. I martyr myself on the Mohammad's community of followers. That Mohammad who is the most sincere human being, who is a Prophet and a Messenger. He is the chosen one, who is a friend and a beloved. Mohammad's revelation was decided at the best time by the Creator, and that's how Prophet Messenger became a source of mercy for believers. The last in the list of Prophets who became the source of Truth. He faced many difficulties but kept preaching and spreading the message through hardships, was kind and compassionate for the believers. Not just this, the Prophet was kind, full of benevolence. The Prophet's being was showered with mercy, honor and blessings from the One. Without doubt he is the merciful, closest answerer, acceptor and healer. The Eternal One, this is my testimony for my own soul and for everyone present, listen this mention is the way of Prophet that find such an abode where the hearts find peace and satisfaction, look for joys that make grieving possible, keep such belief that leads to pardon but remember to finish all this before the day of tribulation, because then only those will succeed whose good deeds carry weight not those whose backs are laden with their bad deeds. If you ask for something from God Almighty then ask for it by humiliating your ego. People when you thank do it with sincerity, if you repent do it with humility. Be inferior when you ask, be embarrassed when you ask, ask like a beggar. Listen, health before illness, youth before old age, poverty before wealth, busyness before leisure,  life before death should be valued as a blessing. It should remain etched in hearts, that when you get old, weak, suffering from ailments, sins would be cleaned up. Then even the healers/doctors would apologise to the suffering patient, friends would turn away, age would have advanced, mind and memory will fade, then you would realise that in some moments life is going to get over. Weak body is going to go through the intensity of death, the known close ones and even strangers have reached. In the eyes the images have become still, vision's companionship is lost, forehead has beads of perspiration, neck has fallen on one side, sobs have turned silent, ego is crying for itself. Grave is being dug as wife is crying, children facing orphaned future ahead, friends separated, tribe/community has also turned away, there is no light in the eyes and in the day, no light in the skies, no comfort in sleep, hands and feet have been straightened, no clothes even left on the body, lifeless body sent for bathing and they closed the doors. After drying the body on the wooden frame, it is to be wrapped in the shroud, chin has been tied, shroud worn, turban also worn, lying in the wooden box, body traveling on the shoulders is to be taken to the graveyard for the last rites. Then, that Takbeer is said which requires no bowing, the friends will ask for forgiveness on your behalf from the Merciful God, the body passing through beautiful homes reaches a narrowly dug grave. Layers upon layers of loose soil taken out, the roof of which is made of stones, On the other side, lies the soil taken out from the pit, soil has been filled in the grave, friends started strengthening the light of the heart and slowly even these moments disappeared from memory in sometime, those loved ones who were your helpers, sympathisers, companions will also leave you behind. Friends have changed, your body now is being consigned to the grave, that will be a place of anxiety, the place will be so hot and full of humidity that the cloth' of the grave will start melting in the body, the brain in the head will start melting, the flesh will start rotting, the blood starts drying up, till the bones start disintegrating bit by bit. This is the condition that remains till the Day of Resurrection. When the final trumpets on that day will be blown then the dead will become alive and rise from their graves and will be presented on the floor of the Day of Resurrection. The gates of the graves would have been opened, no secrets in the heart would remain hidden. All the Prophets, pious, martyrs will be present, the Judgement will be in the hands of God, Powerful, all knowing, insightful, so many sighs will escape at such dreaded vision, so many desires will die suffocated. This presentation will happen in front of the Great, glorious God, who is aware of every big and small sins of young and old. This will be such a difficult time where the crowds will be drowning in sweat, feeling suffocation in the body, the pleaders will remain out of mercy, they will shout, make excuses which will not be accepted, your deeds will be public, the office of the deeds will open and everyone will see. The sight will speak against the eyes, the cruel acts will be told by the hands which committed them, the legs will provide evidence of the wrongful acts, the private parts will tell stories of the lust, skin will inform of the touches, neck will be in iron collars, handcuffed, the angels will drag you towards hell. This entire exercise will be very painful and heart wrenching because the hell will be a place of amazing havoc. The drinks will be boiling hot, the faces will be burning, the skin melting. Angels will give further wounds with hot melting iron, scorched skin will be replaced by new skin, they would plead but the hell inspectors would turn their backs, they will scream, but no attention would be paid to them, the never ending life will be spent in humiliation and shame. 

And, we seek help from the forgiving God, that He keeps us safe from the wrong path. For forgiveness, we have to seek and strive like a person who has already been pardoned. For my requests, He is the only chosen acceptable Leader, for my wishes He is the Only Giver. Those who remained safe from the wrath of evil will be in heaven in lieu of the honour of the Merciful, where the life remains forever, where they have a strongly built palace, where the companionship of beauties will be given, surrounded by young ones of heaven, where rounds of wine and other delicious drinks will be served. Sometimes they will turn in the blessings, in the spring of heaven will drench themselves, they will take sips from the perfumed waters of heavenly drinks. This drink of wine will be served in the ambers of sealed packs. This will not be momentary or for a few days, but all these blissful blessings will remain forever . In the middle of the lush green gardens you will drink wine which leaves no dryness or heaviness, it is for such people who have joys in their hearts of meeting their Lord, who restrained themselves in their lives. The wrath is only for the non-believers who revolt against the Will, these are final judgements based on justice, people these are narratives of reality, this is specific sermon and advice from the wise praiseworthy God, given in the Book which was preserved in the heart of the Prophet by the authority of the Holy Spirit. The Prophet who is a rightly guided leader, a dedicated and pious servant of the Great God, all the Prophets and angels seek blessings for the Rightful Prophet Messenger. 

I seek the protection of God from any and every kind of wrathful sin. O Believers if you have to be in grievance, be aggrieved for your Lord Merciful. If you want to seek anything then seek from the Great One, every living one should seek pardon for all of us... for us, He is Enough". 

Beedi Peeti Aurat बीड़ी पीती औरत

 

 

बीड़ी पीती औरत  

अंकुश लगती है 

घूरती निगाहों को 

समाज नकारता है  

कुढ़ता है उसकी बेईमानी पर 

कर्त्तव्य याद दिलाता है  

यह उसका हक़ नहीं 

इस बीड़ी की जगह  

हाथ में बेलन, झाड़ू शोभा देती है  

आंख में आंसू की जगह 

ज़िद क्यों है बराबरी की!

मुंह से निकलता धुआं  

मज़दूरी के दर्जों पर सवाल करता है  

मेहनत की बराबरी का हक़ मांगता है  

बीड़ी पीती औरत ख़ुद सवाल है  

धुंए में बनता ख़ाका  

उसके अस्तित्व का हर प्रश्नचिन्ह '

समाज को भी कटघरे में  

खड़ा करता है  

और  वह उड़ा देती है 

बीड़ी के कश में  

समाज का हर सवाल 

और अपने वजूद का भी !

डिस्क्लेमर : बीड़ी  पीना  आपके  और  समाज  के  लिए  हानिकारक है  

بیڑی پیتی عورت

انکش لگتی ہے
گھورتی نگاہوں کو
سماج ناک بھوں چڑھاتا ہے
کڑھتا ہے اُس کی بےایمانی پر
فرض یاد دلاتا ہے
یہ اُس کا حق نہیں ہے

اس بیڑی کی جگہ
ہاتھ میں بیلن، جھاڑو، زیب دیتی ہے

آنکھ میں آنسو کی جگہ
!ضد کیوں ہے برابری کی

 بیڑی پیتی عورت خود سوال ہے
دھویں میں بنتا خاکہ
اُس کے وجود کا ہر سوالیہ نشان
سماج کو بھی کٹہرے میں
کھڑا کرتا ہے

منہ سے نکلتا دھواں
مزدوری کے درجوں پر سوال کرتا ہے
محنت کی برابری کا حق مانگتا ہے

اور وہ اُڑا دیتی ہے
بیڑی کے کش میں

سماج کا ہر سوال

!اور اپنے وجود کا بھی

انتباہ: بیڑی پینا آپ کے اور سماج کے لیے نقصان دہ ہے۔

Beedi Peeti Aurat 

Ankush lagti hai 

Ghoorti nigahon ko

Samaj nakarta hai 

Kudhta hai uski beimaani par 

Kartavya yaad dilata hai 

Ye uska haq nahin hai 

Is beedi ki jagah 

Haath mein belan, jhadoo, shobha deti hai 

Ankh mein aansoo ki jagah

Zid kyun hai barabari ki!

Dhuen mein banta khaaka 

Uske Astitva ka har prashan chinh'

Samaj ko bhi katghare mein 

khada karta hai 

Munh se nikalta dhuan 

Mazdoori ke darjo'n par sawal karta hai 

Mehnat ki barabari ka haq mangta hai 

Beedi peeti aurat khud sawal hai 

aur woh uda deti hai 

beedi ke har kash mein 

Samaj ka har sawal

Aur apne wajood ka bhi!

Disclaimer: Beedi peena aapke aur samaj ke liye haanikarak hai 

 

Book Review

Parveen, Nazima Contested Homelands: Politics of Space and Identity, New Delhi, Bloomsbury India, 2021, 312 pages, Rs. 1299/- ISBN 978-93-89000-89-4

Social Change: 53(1) 144–157 2023 pg. 152-155

 

 In India, residential segregation on the basis of caste and religion is not a recent phenomenon and not confined to one religious community and is widespread across regions, linguistic communities and religions, but the intensity and the religion-centric politics of the current times surely desires’ fresh research perspectives and studies. Nazima Parveen’s first book focuses on the Muslim community and the process of religious segregation in Old Delhi/Shahjahanabad.

The Pew Center Report[1] (2021) published couple of months back validates what we have known and have been observing for some time now in the present day India. The report through surveys in various regions of India shows large proportion of Indians prefer to stay in neighbourhoods of their caste and religion, want to make friends and marry within their communities (endogamy), hence religious or caste based segregation is what large majority of Indians want even today in 2021. Often, their belief centering on the notion of religious ‘tolerance’ does not include intermixing with other religions’.  Religious segregation is a manifestation of such beliefs and practices.  

Two very important books on the same issue of religious segregation of Muslims in the recent past have been of Ghazala Jamil’s  Accumulation by Segregation: Muslim Localities in Delhi (OUP, 2017) and edited book by Christophe Jaffrelot  and Laurent Gayer, Muslims In Indian Cities: Trajectories Of Marginalisation (HarperCollins,  2012), Nazima Parveen in her book provides the context and the background for the segregation of Muslim community as a consequence of historical processes. 

The first chapter starts with tracing the developments in colonial India regarding the ‘communalisation of space’ from 1809 up to 1939. In this chapter, she documents the colonial administration’s intervention through policy in the form of various decrees/declarations/ municipal bye laws/ police orders with regard to local customs and religious practices. She emphasizes that it was the administrative colonial demarcation that produced three categories of space: ‘Hindu dominated’, ‘Muslim dominated’ and ‘mixed’ areas.  Problematization of cow sacrifice under the British while it had never been an issue before to post 1857 changes in the Delhi city’s demography and socio-political conditions have been explained in detail. 

Second chapter takes a closer look at the pre-Partition politics of 1940s which gave rise to the discourse around homeland, the idea of Pakistan.   There have been many books and much discussion on the pre-partition violence and the communalization of this period. She adds interviews with some older residents of Old Delhi/Shahjahanabad to add more depth to the chapter. 

 Third chapter focuses on the post-independence period from 1947 to 1974 which made Muslim dominated areas appear as problematic ‘mini-Pakistans’ in the popular imagination.  Politicization of Indian Muslim identity can be traced back to this period in terms of belongingness and citizenship. The institutions of the new Indian nation state were compromised on the lines of religion, for example, often police acted in a biased manner in several instances of communal conflict. The meat politics led to communal riot at Kishanganj in 1974 where Muslims were targeted by RSS, Jan Sangh and a section of the police force (Vijay Pal Singh enquiry committee) (pg. 183).  

Wars with Pakistan created a situation where Muslim dominated areas started being seen with concerns around internal security.  Fourth chapter deals with the politics of redevelopment and resettlement in the Emergency era. The administrative politics of the 1970s transformed the community-space relationship.  Urban development and its politicization through the two episodes of Jama Masjid Clearance scheme and Turkman Gate redevelopment scheme have been discussed in detail, how statutory, metropolitan and municipal authorities formed a collaborative team and zeroed in on ending Muslim ‘segregation’ through forced clearance and sterilization at the two Shajahanabad localities. 

“Do you think we are mad to destroy one Pakistan to create another Pakistan?” (pg. 231)

Jagmohan, then DDA Vice Chairman had given this (in) famous reply to the residents of Turkman Gate who had approached him for help for suitable settlement relocation in view of the threat of their homes being demolished by the administration.   

Portrayal of Muslim community as being anti-development and their resistance as anti-establishment led to Muslim localities and their image being propagated as ‘culturally segregated and politically separated spaces’ (pg.245).

In the conclusion chapter, Nazima Parveen discusses the dilemma of Delhi Muslims, largely reflecting the microcosm of the macrocosm of the larger Muslim question of identity and citizenship,

“For Delhi Muslims, homeland was nothing but an evocation of the right to live and perform their religious and cultural practices in the galies, mohallas and ilaqe where they were the majority…… conflicting claims and realities of the partition turned every Muslim household,  gali, mohalla and ilaqa of Delhi into contested zones. I argue that these various assertions of homelands were eventually reduced to the theory of ‘two nation’ or communal antagonism.” (pg. 267)

 

Over the years, she observes how the Muslim localities and their perceptions changed as she sums up the changing trajectory and politics 1940s onwards,  

“…in the 1940s, as Muslim dominated areas that were to be administered for the sake of communal peace; in the 1950s as ‘Muslim zones’ that needed to be ‘protected’; in the 1960s as ‘isolated’, unhygienic cultural pockets that were to be cleaned and Indianised; and in the 1970s, as locations of ‘internal threat’-‘mini Paksitans’ that were to be dismantled and integrated. This book thus suggests that ‘Muslim localities’ are discursively constituted political entities which may or may not correspond to the actual demographic configuration of any administrative urban unit…” (pg. 274)

Through the idea of ‘Contested Homeland’ this book suggests that the relations between Muslim communities and their living spaces have evolved out of a long process of politicization and communalization of space in Delhi. Nazima Parveen’s book has focused on the Muslim community’s interaction with the colonial to post-independent Indian state and the effects of state policy in creating segregated spaces for the community, especially the British government policy of  separate electorates’ to Indira Gandhi’s Emergency era clearance/sterilization fiasco. Her work is rich with details of history and concludes at the Emergency period to contextualize the present religious segregation debate.

Although, the multi-layered process of segregation cannot be seen just from the prism of historical processes and as a result of state policy. The view from top as opposed to view from the below as the book focuses and creates its narrative mainly from archival sources, reports’, written and oral accounts, Shahjahanabad’s complex demography has been explained briefly through the caste factor (Qureshis’ of Qasabpura, Telis’ of Turkman Gate) discussed with regard to different incidents but largely the factors of caste-class segregation of various kin-based neighbourhoods’ of Shahjahanabad remain largely unexplored. Some more ethnographic details and interviews from the locals including the Muslim lower castes’ and women living in caste based mohallas could have been added to give a diverse people’s perspective.

Since, religious segregation is a complex process and apart from historical processes and state policy, there are many other factors which need a deeper analysis. Muslim community at Shahjahanabad (and elsewhere as well) have also used their active agency or the choice to reside in the Muslim dominated areas due to various cultural factors ranging from availability of halal food to presence of mosques which cannot be overlooked.

In the present socio-political scenario, the insecurity factor again became relevant in the post-liberalization era leading to religious segregation. The communal politics of BJP-RSS leading to the Ayodhya -Babri Masjid riots in the 1990s to Gujarat riots of 2002 to Delhi riots in 2020 have had a deep effect on Muslim psyche and fear of being targeted in non-Muslim areas by the right wing mobs.

 

Nazima Parveen’s Contested Homeland: Politics of Space and Identity is well-researched and relevant book for the present socio-political debates on Muslim segregation and the larger Muslim question of belongingness.  

 

      

Reviewed by:

Dr. Uzma Azhar

---

[1] https://www.pewforum.org/2021/06/29/religion-in-india-tolerance-and-segregation/

Eight poets, one city they loved and lived in: 'Beloved Delhi' is a fresh look at a city much written about

 

https://www.dailyo.in/arts/saif-mahmood-beloved-delhi-old-delhi-ghalib-urdu-shahjahanabad-27711

Published on: 11th Nov. 2018

There have been many books on the lives of these poets, and on Shahjahanabad, but Mahmood merges the two milieus.

 

The city of Delhi, with its glorious history and imperial past, has variously been described as the ‘City of Djinns’, ‘Imperial City’, ‘City Improbable’, ‘Delhi Metropolitan’. Author Saif Mahmood in his book calls it ‘Beloved Delhi’.

Saif Mahmood has been a prominent name in the cultural revival of Urdu that Delhi has seen in the past few years, through various programs and festivals.

 

In his book, he talks about the golden period of classical Urdu poetry, and situates it within the politico-socio-economic decline of Shahjahanabad (today’s Old Delhi). The author is making an attempt to make the works of eight eminent classical Urdu poets accessible to the current audience, by writing in English and then also translating them along with their biographies. 

There have been many books on these poets and on Shahjahanabad as well, but Beloved Delhi merges the two milieus, as the author says himself: 

Delhi, a modern capital and a city of cities, has many layers of history that unfold and reveal its fading colours crease by crease. In the book, literary historian Rakshanda Jalil, in the Foreword with Shahar e Ashob (the genre of poetry which talks about the decline of a city), and Delhi’s history chronicler/story teller, Sohail Hashmi, in the Preface, situate and contextualise the city of Jahan’abad, before we dive into the depths of beautiful poetry and history, starting with Sauda Mohammad Rafi (1713-1781).

 

Each chapter is neatly divided into three sections — the first part is devoted to the biographical details of the poet’s life, the second deals with the finer nuances of his poetry, and the third lists the selected works of the poet.

Fluid writing and language, with a dash of contemporaneity (interesting sub-titles to each chapter: Dancing Dervish/Dard, Debonair Hakim/Momin, Incurable Romancer/Mir, Last Casanova/Daagh) and well-researched sources make the descriptions rich, without getting too heavy.

Bahadur Shah Zafar’s long sufferings at the hands of the British have been dealt with, as also his poetic dispossession. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) 

The longest section is predictably devoted to Ghalib. Detailed narratives are quite fascinating — of Bahadur Shah Zafar’s long sufferings at the hands of the British along with his poetic dispossession (aspersions were cast upon his poetry, with disputed claims on authorship especially on some of his ghazals); the technicalities of poetry, such as lambi beher (long meter) ki ghazal and the colloquialism of Zauq’s poetry, have been wonderfully explained; the poetic rivalry of Ghalib and Zauq; the affairs of poets (Ghalib/Daagh) with courtesans of their time have all been adequately dealt with.

Beloved Delhi elucidates on the social world of the 18th century Shahjahanabad through various famous personalities, such as Shah Naseer or Kaale Sahab (whose name keeps appearing in the biographies of Ghalib, Zafar and in reference to the mentorship of Momin and Zauq). Lives of the poets run parallel to Shahjahanabad’s changing fortunes and Saif Mahmood weaves a world of desolation to describe the city’s decline.

To borrow Gulzar’s words, the local Hindu/Muslims traditional ‘tareeqa’ (way of doing something) mostly reflects:

Mita do saare nishan ke the tum… (Wipe out all traces of you)

So, the body is burned and even the ashes are given away to Ganga Maiyya. For most Muslims, the grave is of loose earth so they become a part of nature after some years — pucca graves are not encouraged. Common folks in the subcontinent could neither afford nor were encouraged to have their remains preserved. Museums were introduced, like most modern things, by the British. We still do not have the infrastructure or the attitude or the culture to care for historical artifacts. 

Reliance on oral traditional culture and denial of it in its physical form, releasing the body and all things related for the atma’s mukti to the modern way of ‘holding on/establishing memorials’— we have a long way to learn and unlearn things. 

Mazars and mausoleums are reserved for kings or revered saints.

For Mahmood’s book, Khwaja Mir Dard’s dargah is the only case (among the eight poets) where lovers of his poetry did not have to fight with authorities to give him a deserving final resting place, or institutionalise his ‘memorial’ — probably because he was seen more as a ‘Sufi buzurg’ (elderly saint).

Saif Mahmood goes looking for memories/ remains of 18th-19th century poets in the present world, and predictably — with the numerous problems of existence in the present-day Shahjahanabad — finds the remains of the eulogised poets difficult to locate. 

Thus, at the sites where they lived and wrote, we are shown glimpses of today’s chaotic lives (through Anant Raina’s photographs), which is symbolic of the way we have treated our legacies and our cultural ethos.

Beloved Delhi, author Saif Mahmood’s debut book, is an important work not just for the lovers of Urdu poetry, but also for anyone looking to understand and appreciate literature, the socio-cultural life of Delhi, and its rich history.