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Delhi by the book
Writing about the textbook enemy, the ‘other’, is but a daunting task. Facing the grandiose Humayun’s tomb on a chilly January morning this year, I decided to write a book on Delhi.
It was not before I had visited the ancient city that I knew what it symbolised. In Pakistan, we were influenced by the glories of Lahore, my beloved city. Reconstructed histories had kept Delhi invisible. The seat of the Sultans, Mughals and the Raj, precursor of the modern united In
dia and originator of the Indo-Islamic civilization was a mere phantom, best ignored.
Over several visits to Delhi, I realised that invisibility was also a shared curse. A good number of Delhi wallahs I met, had no clue where they lived or crossed the streets. Erasure, blank spaces in textbooks had rendered their own city a mythical other-world existing only in erudite books, rare cultural soirees and among the fading memories of old-Delhi.
When I looked for the house where Urdu’s legendary poet Mir Taqi Mir lived, no one knows it. Those living in Hauz Khas are unaware of what it was. There are thousands, perhaps more, who have never visited Nizamuddin Bastee let alone the dargah there. Tracing history through books resembles a two-dimensional vision. Lived histories add other dimensions to the inner kaleid
oscope. But there are so few who can help me.
I am pained when I am taken to the tomb of India’s first female ruler Razia Sultana (1236 - 1240). Only centuries later another woman Indira Gandhi was to rule the Centre. Razia’s grave languishes on an abandoned, filthy cul-de-sac. Many don’t care. I wonder, should I?
As I have ventured out to write, the enormity of Delhi — the idea — haunts me. Where do I start? The layered construction of Indian, and Muslim identities in the subcontinent emanate from the ridges and Hades of Delhi. The saints buried under its red-brown earth impacted the society and culture for times to come. Now viewed as a global ‘problem’, the Muslims augmented the diversity of an already wondrous India. What is known as the [north] Indian cuisine, albeit of the non-vegetarian v
ariety, is a Muslim innovation and so are tunes of Hindustani, classical music, the strings of a sitar and the rhythms of tabla. Ten centuries of cultural hybridization resulted in Urdu and current day Hindustani the idiom for northern India and the much-celebrated Bollywood.
Delhi’s history also underwrites the secular tradition. Save the unsavoury and brief spells of intolerance, governance was largely a secular feat. Whilst Europe was grappling with intra-Christianity fissures, Akbar was holding inter-faith dialogues and Dara Shikoh in his Delhi library was translating the Bible and the Upanishads in Persian.
What motivates me to write? Lacking an appropriate label, a catchy boxed tag such as a historian or a sociologist, what is my locus standi? Irritated, I ignore the little demons with a single sentence: Delhi belongs to me as well. As a ‘Pakistani-South Asian’ Muslim, I share Delhi’s past and its present too. Visas and borders obfuscate my affinities; shared histories are challenged by communalists and extremists. And, I write a book to cross boundaries and tread zones that officialdom cannot appropriate.
Who said writing was not a liberating experience. What could be a better way to subvert the imposed hostilities and jingoisms — just write?
Undaunted, I am still spinning my Delhi yarn.
(Versions of this article were published in Outlook City Limits,India and the NEWS on Sunday, Pakistan.)
Tags: book, Culture, Delhi, Ghalib, heritage, History, India, Mir Taqi Mir, Nizamuddin, pakistan, Razia Sultan, South Asia
July 29th, 2008 at 8:57 am
All the best with the book!
July 31st, 2008 at 8:56 am
If I remember correctly, all that I had read in school history books, Delhi, as we know it now, has been built and re-built at least seven times.
I wish you all the best for this noble endeavour.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:44 pm
My best wishes for this endeavor of yours.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:09 am
Raza, you’re soooo right about Delhi, I felt exactly the same way when I went there. I am eager to read your book whenever it comes out, good luck!
August 5th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Heartening to see someone write about my home-city..Delhi is quite a cultural and architectural amalgamation.Unfortunately, as you point out, not a lot of people are fully aware of the history and heritage of the city with knowledge coming to a standstill at the
‘rebuilt seven times’ part.
Goodluck with your venture ! Looking forward to reading your book.
August 5th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
“Writing IS a liberating experience!” …helps one to confront the ghosts of the past in the light of an evolved present.
I was in New Delhi on a visit a week ago and as always the experience both unsettles me and humbles me at the same time. I look forward to seeing Delhi through your eyes; perhaps it’ll give me an equanimity in perception and I’ll be able to see the grandeur of the ancient city that once was.
August 9th, 2008 at 9:01 am
HATRED DESTROYS ITS PRACTITIONER in the end. In the short term, sadism is a very consuming passion. When a group of people / community / nation is injected with hatred, an enemy is manufactured, the “us” and “them” syndrome comes into play. Initially sadism provides great comfort to the perpetuator(s); languages are destroyed / buildings are demolished / books are burnt… and the sadist (be it the Taliban in Afghanistan or the Hindu Taliban/RSS in India) feels : he has accomplished the task of wiping off something that human civilisation had accomplished. In the bargain, he destroys his own country, its ethos, its buildings and its history. He cries later… after destroying it… burning it… cuz collective consciousness / libraries / historic buildings… all of these depict or narrate the advancement of human intellect. History should never be tampered. It destroys a nation ! Nations consumed by hatred can not grow. They can never reach their full potential.
You pour garbage on some historic monument, because its the grave of a certain Muslim King ! (Stereotyped as evil… without giving a damn to history). You manufacture history and sell this poison thru tabloids, hate-speech…. and produce a nation that goes on a destruction spree.
The task is accomplished ! and the mobs are happy. Mobocracy is in full play… but then think about it this way. You destroyed the History… the historical monuments… the language.. the library… You destroyed the Tourism Industry. You destroyed Arts / Sciences / Research of centuries. God save one from Hatred. It is a consuming passion… worst than AIDS. In the end, it leads to total destruction.
August 13th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Teri kattan wali jeeve ~ Larriyan wattan wali jeeve…
Power be to you for weaving a beautiful fabric.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:06 am
just as there are many who are not aware of delhi’s heritage and history, there are many who are… and there are many like me who are interested and are constantly discovering. it takes a special perspective to see some things and delhi of malls and multiplexes obscures another delhi- of urdu and mir. if one couldn’t or didn’t see it, doesn’t mean it has ceased existing.
and… the delhi of english, book readings, theatre performances, exhibitions, documentary film clubs, seminars, shopping and eating out- is also a living, breathing, real delhi.
so is delhi of construction workers, pheri wallahs, house maids and the homeless.
its all a matter of where you are standing while looking and who you are standing with.