The Hindu : New Delhi News : Retracing Ghalib's footsteps

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Wednesday, Feb 14, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

Retracing Ghalib's footsteps

Noted dancer Uma Sharma with her troupe

Despite the inclement weather and muddy roads, the heritage walkers' group from India Habitat Centre took rounds of the lanes and by-lanes associated with the life and times of Mirza Ghalib in the Capital over the weekend.

During the walk, conservationist Surekha Narayan told the participants that Ghalib's haveli was acquired by the Delhi Government in December 1999 and restored to its original splendour after public interest litigation filed by a non-government organisation, Friends for Education, through its general secretary Firoz Ahmed Bakht in October 1996. Earlier, the haveli was in a dilapidated condition and housed shops selling wood, coal and building material until the court asked the authorities to restore it.

The walk, led by Mr. Bakht, began at Town Hall in Chandni Chowk and the first stop was the dilapidated and badly maintained haveli in Gali Qasim Jaan. Mr. Bakht disclosed that the haveli actually measured more than 400 sq yards but only 130 sq yards had been acquired and a memorial has come up there.

The walkers passed through Ballimaran bazaar and witnessed Mahal Sara, the haveli belonging to Umrao Begum, Ghalib's wife. It has now been converted into Rabea Girls' School in Gali Qasim Jaan. The Ghalib walk, according to historian Biba Sobti, recreated an ambience and a flavour of the days of yore when "purani Dilli" was known for its "tameez" and "tehzeeb".

Kathak dancer Uma Sharma told the walkers that she was an ardent admirer of the great Urdu poet and in 1973 had started her first Ghalib dance at this location that earlier was a coal depot.

The walkers were then led to Ahata Kaley Sahab, a complex built by Nawab Faizullah Baig, son of Nawab Qasim Jan who was an honoured courtier of Bahadur Shah Zafar's durbar. It was here that a saint named Kaley Khan -- who accommodated Ghalib at his haveli after the eminent poet was released from the "white man's" prison -- lived.

The walk culminated at Rabea Girls' School where the students enacted a "mushaira" in the "durbar" of Bahadur Shah Zafar.

— Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

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