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On death
anniversary, Ghalib's haveli languishes in squalor
Tuesday February 15, 2011 11:23:31 PM,
Firoz Bakht Ahmed,
IANS
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New Delhi: Mirza
Ghalib, the best-known of the Urdu poets of Delhi during last
Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar's rule, wrote: "Hum ne mana ke
taghaful na karoge lekin/Khak ho jayenge hum tumko khabar hone tak!
(You will not be indifferent, I know/ Nevertheless, dust I'll be
by the time you get my news)."
It can hardly be said that the poet's memory has been honoured.
The haveli in Gali Qasimjan in the Ballimaran area in the heart of
old Delhi, where Ghalib died exactly 141 years ago Feb 15, 1869,
is a favourite spot for holding wedding receptions.
At other times it sees tied-up goats or the labourers of an
adjacent guesthouse using the place to catch a quick nap - despite
the house being taken over by the Delhi government to be converted
into a monument.
The state culture department has just made some perfunctory and
cosmetic repairs to the structure. The haveli houses lately a
bust, some framed pieces of Ghalib's ghazals, some books on the
poet, copies of a few letters in Ghalib's handwriting and a few
brass utensils from the poet's times.
The inner cubicle where Ghalib's statue is there with a book, has
been littered with empty cardboard cartons, a blanket and the bag
of the guard there who is hardly seen there.
It's been over a year and a half since Delhi Chief Minister Sheila
Dikshit was approached for further renovation and lighting in the
haveli. Dikshit spoke to Culture Secretary Keshav Chandra but
nothing has been done. Of late, Chandra has even stopped
responding to phone calls.
A fitting tribute will be to set up a reading room where people
residing in the vicinity can avail themselves of Urdu, Hindi and
English newspapers and magazines. Besides, a room must be devoted
to selling the life history and pictures of the Mirza for his
connoisseurs. A lot of demand is there for his Urdu diwan
(collection) in Hindi as there are more lovers of Ghalib in Hindi
than even in Urdu!
Ghalib's tomb is another story, built almost 100 years after his
death.
It was Ghalib's wish that he should be buried in the city he
loved. But it wasn't to be till a century later when an ardent fan
of his, an Englishman, came to Delhi in search of his grave but,
to his disappointment, he couldn't find it.
He then wrote an article in one of the newspapers about it, after
which it came to light that the great poet even after death didn't
have much of a place to call his own. That's when a tomb was built
at the grave, close to the shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin.
Later, the mausoleum was beautified by funds from legendary actor
Sohrab Modi and businessman Hakim Abdul Hameed of Hamdard.
(Firoz Bakht Ahmed can be contacted at firozbakhtahmed07@gmail.com)
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