During its long history as the capital of several empires, Delhi — a city built, destroyed, and rebuilt many times — has numerous gripping stories, some melancholic and disturbing, others inspiring and exhilarating. From Lal Kot (present-day Mahrauli) in south to Shahjahanabad (today’s Old Delhi) in north, and from Lutyens’ Delhi in centre to now all-around expanding Delhi-NCR, this capital city stands testimony to its varied history.
And when these stories — from kings, nawabs and nobles to poets, sufis and faqirs — are packed with Urdu couplets about Delhi, then they sound more captivating.
My newly-released book, The Fascinating Tales of Urdu & its Courtyard — Dilli, weaves in some engrossing anecdotes from the city's past along with an interesting journey of Urdu, which was born and brought up here. The book was released by Dr Rohma Javed Rashid, Assistant Professor, department of history, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She said, "This book is packaged in such a way to make it appealing to everyone — be it a student or working professional, housewife or a senior citizen."
From early Sultanate Delhi to New Delhi today, the book traces the journey of Urdu and discusses both Urdu poetry as well as prose in context of Delhi's culturally rich history.
Delhi has a splendid legacy of Urdu poets — from Hatim, Dard, Sauda, Mir and Mushafi to Zauq, Ghalib, Zafar, Momin, Shefta and Daagh — who saw both the splendour and ravages of the time. The book also gives readers an exposure to Urdu prose and letters which are an important part of Delhi’s history. For the benefit of those who are not well-versed in Urdu, the author has written the extracts in Roman script (English) and has explained the meanings of difficult Urdu words too.
Besides history, readers will get a taste of Urdu prose and poetry, stories and anecdotes as well as fiction and linguistics in this book and that too in just 160 pages. Today, people spend more time on mobile, social media and television and give very little time to reading. That is why an attempt has been made to give the information in an interesting manner in a slim volume to make it appealing to everyone.
Almost all the famous couplets about Delhi are covered in The Fascinating Tales of Urdu & its Courtyard — Dilli under different chapters. The couplets written on Urdu zabaan are also included in a separate chapter.
It is published by Al Hasanat Books (Daryaganj, New Delhi). To order the book contact at 9870477658. The book is priced ₹350 (plus Rs 100 for courier).
