Dil, Dilli and Urdu!
A Draft Correspondent | Mumbai
“There are many etymologies that have been offered for Delhi, but perhaps one of the most appealing is the philosopher Ramachandra Gandhi’s suggestion that its name could derive from the words ‘dehri’ or ‘dehli’, both meaning ‘threshold’ – a permanent point of entry and departure but forever resistant to any stamp of permanence...The city Delhi most resembles...is Athens – with its monumental, crumbling history strewn all around, its ramshackle, seething present.”
These were some of the excerpts read out by veteran actor and thespian Naseeruddin Shah at the book-launch of Saif Mahmood’s much awaited and anticipated book – Beloved Delhi: A Mughal City and Her Greatest Poets, published by Speaking Tiger Books. The event, organised by Talkietive and ITC Grand Central, was held at ITC Grand Central, Mumbai on 17 September 2018. Prominent faces like Kirti Kulhari, Nitin Kamat and other members of Mumbai's literary community and art enthusiasts attended the event.
The reading was followed by an engaging conversation of the author Saif Mahmood with screenwriter and lyricist Kausar Munir. Mahmood, loyal to his unique style, started off the conversation by reciting some intriguing verses in Urdu, a few couplets of Shayari met by applause from an attentive audience.
He spoke of his tryst with Urdu, ubiquitous in his life since he was a child. He talked about the book and how Dilli became the city of poets and how Urdu came to be so integral to the heritage of Delhi.
The conversation was followed by a photographic presentation of the stories and streets of Delhi by Anand Raina. The event concluded with official book-release by Naseeruddin Shah. Mir's famed lines on Dilli seemed most apt:
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“There are many etymologies that have been offered for Delhi, but perhaps one of the most appealing is the philosopher Ramachandra Gandhi’s suggestion that its name could derive from the words ‘dehri’ or ‘dehli’, both meaning ‘threshold’ – a permanent point of entry and departure but forever resistant to any stamp of permanence...The city Delhi most resembles...is Athens – with its monumental, crumbling history strewn all around, its ramshackle, seething present.”
“And together, Purani Dilli and its iconic poets tell a 300-year-old story; the story of one of the most evocative languages ever known to humankind: Urdu.”
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| From left: Naseeruddin Shah, Saif Mahmood, Priyanka Sinha Jha, Anand Raina and Kausar Munir (extreme right) at the book launch |
These were some of the excerpts read out by veteran actor and thespian Naseeruddin Shah at the book-launch of Saif Mahmood’s much awaited and anticipated book – Beloved Delhi: A Mughal City and Her Greatest Poets, published by Speaking Tiger Books. The event, organised by Talkietive and ITC Grand Central, was held at ITC Grand Central, Mumbai on 17 September 2018. Prominent faces like Kirti Kulhari, Nitin Kamat and other members of Mumbai's literary community and art enthusiasts attended the event.
 |
| Naseeruddin Shah reading out excerpts from the book |
The reading was followed by an engaging conversation of the author Saif Mahmood with screenwriter and lyricist Kausar Munir. Mahmood, loyal to his unique style, started off the conversation by reciting some intriguing verses in Urdu, a few couplets of Shayari met by applause from an attentive audience.
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| Saif Mahmood in conversation with Kausar Munir |
He spoke of his tryst with Urdu, ubiquitous in his life since he was a child. He talked about the book and how Dilli became the city of poets and how Urdu came to be so integral to the heritage of Delhi.
“Delhi can point to a history as chequered and more ancient than the ‘eternal’ city of Rome; it was a famous capital before the days of Alexander, and it has survived all the vicissitudes of time and fortune to become one of the youngest and certainly the most magnificent of recent imperial cities. For it has undergone transformations as numerous as the incarnations of the God Vishnu; if it has frequently changed its site, its character and even its name, it has preserved through all a continuous thread of existence...Like most ancient cities it has succumbed to the magic of the number seven, but as the plain of Delhi is too flat for even the most exuberant imagination to discover seven hills on which the city can rest, historians have played with the idea of seven consecutive cities. The ‘seven cities’ of Delhi are in fact no more accurate description of Delhi history than the seven hills ascribed to many other places.”
The conversation was followed by a photographic presentation of the stories and streets of Delhi by Anand Raina. The event concluded with official book-release by Naseeruddin Shah. Mir's famed lines on Dilli seemed most apt:
Dil-o-Dilli donon agar hain kharaab
P’a kuchh lutf is ujde ghar mein bhi hain
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