When Delhi beckons!

Passing by

Delhi. A land which has seen millennia of rule by different emperors, bears their stamps in the form of shrines and monuments, has developed traditions in arts and food and today shelters people from not just parts of India, but in fact the world.

So, when a Pakistani visits the Capital city and ends up writing a book on it, an Indian is bound to sit up and take note. Why is a man born and brought up in Lahore, with no roots in Delhi to boast of, writing about Delhi?

Editor of leading Pak daily, Friday Times and Director, Jinnah Institute, Raza Rumi’s relationship with Delhi can best be described as one ‘bound by the heart.’ So when he came to the city to promote his first book Delhi by heart, Metrolife caught up with him to understand the mystery of a Lahori writing on Delhi.

Raza admits, “Just like any Pakistani of my generation, I was indeed brought up in an atmosphere of dislike and mistrust for India and its people. My own memories of the three wars we have fought didn’t help either. But I was fortunate to get an opportunity to meet the ‘long-imagined’ and ‘much-detested’ enemy in person.”

“In 1988, I went to the London School of Economics for Masters and found many Indians there. I think it was due to the shared language and culture that we hit it off immediately. A lot of my misgivings were dispelled. Later, in UN peacekeeping missions to Kosovo, I again encountered Indian bureaucrats and ended up making life-long friends.”

But his first tryst with Delhi came only in 2005. He was working with the Asian
Development Bank when he was sent here on an assignment. He confesses, “From the moment I landed in Delhi, I was awestruck. Delhi is the land of the Sultanate. Several kings, nawabs and poets of yore lay in rest here. This city is also called the Mecca of Sufism as no less than 22 Sufi saints preached and lived here. It was like all my history lessons had come alive.”

Raza has mentioned in his book that many centuries ago, his Hindu Brahmin forefathers were converted by Sufi saints. Therefore, he has always had a keen interest in Sufism. But his book is not just limited to notes on monuments and Sufi Islam, but spans subjects like Hindustani classical music, Urdu and even food as they have developed in Delhi.

He asks, “Do you know that several ragas and khayals which developed in the Mughal court were deeply influenced by the Qawwal bacchas raised by Amir Khusro at Hazrat Nizamuddin? Or that many Mughlai delicacies like Biryani, Nihari and Kebabs either originated in Delhi or were greatly developed here? I love the city’s street food.”

    Raza is also deeply in love with the Metro, “I saw the Metro and the IGI airport being built before my eyes. Today they are the finest examples of transport facilities anywhere in the world. I love the fact that Delhi is comfortable with its past. Monuments, museums, multiplexes and malls - all co-exist here. Tradition and modernity are not at odds with each other.”

And what does he dislike about Delhi? “I feel, people could be a bit more conscious of their surroundings - the ancient architecture, the environment. Delhi is beautifully green. If maintained this way, it will serve as a nature’s oasis in the hot region. Delhi is blessed in many ways. Delhiites cannot stop counting.”