WHILE in India, a visit to Aligarh was included in my itinerary. From Delhi to Aligarh was a journey that took me from a world full of hustle-bustle to a quiet and peaceful place. In Delhi different sessions of the Saarc writers conference would keep us busy during the day. Busier were the evenings, thanks to our hosts and friends in Delhi. Without an iota of doubt, we enjoyed those evenings. But perhaps my mornings in Delhi were more meaningful than the pleasant evenings. The stay at the India International Centre provides one with the opportunity, if he chooses so, to go for a walk in the Lodi Gardens and spend a few moments in the early hours in peace that the garden is suffused with.
But how I wondered to find during my walks the vultures which used to perch on the high domes of the Lodi dynasty’s mausoleums. They were not there. They must have flown away to some unknown destination, leaving the walkers engaged in yoga.
Dilliwallas have, perhaps, in recent years developed a craze for yoga. I had stayed for two days with my friend at Anand Niketan. There too, while walking from one park to the other, I saw early strollers engaged in yoga.
But the yoga assembly of both men and women at the Lodi Gardens was more impressive. These yogis had the advantage of exercising under the guidance of an instructor, who was chanting ashloks during the work out session that had made him quite vociferous.
One fine morning Mustansar Husain Tarar felt like joining them. He did so, but lost courage in the middle of the exercise and withdrew himself.
The next morning, after the conclusion of the conference, I left Delhi for Aligarh. And when I say Aligarh, I mean that part of the city known as the Muslim University Campus (MUC), which is a world unto itself — an Aligarh within Aligarh. But I am not trying to minimize the importance of the other, the larger part of Aligarh. It too has something to offer to the outer world. It is chiefly known for its padlocks. One should never underestimate the lock-makers of Aligarh. They had inspired our great social worker and intellectual Akhtar Hameed Khan so much that after resigning from the ICS, he chose to become a lock-maker.
But I was talking about the Aligarh founded by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. An Aligarian in his exuberance asserted that no other place in South Asia can claim to have within such a limited space a concentration of so many educated people and a galaxy of so many writers, scholars, and intellectuals.
So, it turned out to be a pleasant experience to breathe in the cool, rain-soaked air of the MUC and meet literary luminaries of the university. They included renowned poet Shehryar, and Abulkalam Qasmi, a known critic. These days Qazi Afzal Husain is head of the Urdu department. His recent works include a compilation of Urdu translations of Annemari Schimmel’s articles on Ghalib. Then there is Tariq Chataric, a young short story writer. His first collection of stories has recently come out entitled Bagh Ka Darwaza. Prof Athar Siddiqi is a zoologist and has brought out his autobiography entitled Main Kya Meri Hayat Kya. And how can I forget those two distinguished scholars, Dr Mukhtaruddin Aarzoo and Prof Asloob Ahmad Ansari, who after retirement have chosen to lead a secluded life focusing on research and study?
In old times, the sons of a family were expected to finish off certain things that their father had started. In our times daughters are seen taking up this kind of a job. Asloob Ahmad Ansari has two daughters, both of whom have become writers. Dr Roshan Ara is associated with the philosophy department at the MUC and has concentrated more on studying existentialist thought. Her study on the subject, with particular reference to Karl Jaspers, has appeared under the title Existing and Boundary Situations.
But the oldest soul in Aligarh at present is the poet who in the progressive writers movement’s heyday used to be a craze among the readers of Urdu poetry. As he entered the hall, all those gathered stood in honour of their grand old man Jazbi. He is now 93 years old. Nowadays he finds it hard to walk and speak. With the support of his younger admirers he reached the stage and spoke briefly. It was here in this gathering that I had to face the young students of the university, who had too many questions to throw at me. It was, of course, a pleasant experience to be among these young souls. What turned the occasion into a test was the volley of questions coming from the young ones.
In fact, this inquisitive spirit, which is the hallmark of the university’s students, speaks volumes for their mental capabilities, but at the same time creates problems for the management when it lacks vision. This reminds me of Dr Athar Siddiqi’s autobiography, which tells us that the Aligarh university went through a lean patch whenever a retired bureaucrat happened to be its vice-chancellor. His bureaucratic ways ill-suited the university. So the institution, according to Athar Siddiqi, saw its worst period when Syed Hamid was the vice-chancellor, since he with his bureaucratic arrogance mishandled the affairs of the university and infuriated many a student.
WHILE in India, a visit to Aligarh was included in my itinerary. From Delhi to Aligarh was a journey that took me from a world full of hustle-bustle to a quiet and peaceful place. In Delhi different sessions of the Saarc writers conference would keep us busy during the day. Busier were the evenings, thanks to our hosts and friends in Delhi. Without an iota of doubt, we enjoyed those evenings. But perhaps my mornings in Delhi were more meaningful than the pleasant evenings. The stay at the India International Centre provides one with the opportunity, if he chooses so, to go for a walk in the Lodi Gardens and spend a few moments in the early hours in peace that the garden is suffused with.
