KARACHI, March 2: Speakers underlined the importance of the historical city of Delhi and its socio-cultural features at the launch of a new edition of the book, ‘Dilli Ki Chund Ajeeb Hastian’ by Ashraf Suboohi Dehlvi, organised by the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu at the anjuman’s office on Saturday.

The highlight of the programme was an excellent paper on the book and its author read out by Sabir Badr Jaffri. He began by suggesting that the book was the ‘funeral song of the late Delhi’ penned in a manner that it had brought the city under the spotlight.

Referring to Mir Taqi Mir’s assertion that Delhi had been ruined, he said Suboohi had gone a step ahead of Mir and penetrated into the very fabric of Delhi society. The author had shown some everyday characters (barbers, oral historians, etc) as representatives of the city’s dying culture. They might have come from different social backgrounds but had the same spirit, he added.

Mr Jaffri pointed out that after the 1857 revolt, Delhi had gone topsy-turvy. This made Suboohi sketch characters such as Mirza Anees and Mallan na’ee. Not just that, in one of the chapters he brought to light the seven kinds of Urdu that were being spoken at the time, includinglagangi and farangi Urdu. He claimed there were certain characters in the book that could not be found in today’s literature.

During his presentation, he then read out a few excerpts from the book signifying the richness of idiomatic expression typical of Delhi and latent wit in Suboohi’s writing.

Prof Dr Shadab Ehsani said though it had been 70 years since the book was first published (1943) it was still a useful work of literature, because Delhites were the real custodian of the language (Dilli waale zabaan waale hain).

He mentioned that one of the marked features of the book was that it showed how a culture developed by the ashrafia (elite of society) trickled down to the lower level.

He argued that language was not preserved by publishing thick dictionaries but by works such as Dilli Ki Chund Ajeeb Hastian. However, he drew the attention of the publishers towards the fact that there was no glossary of terms in the book that should have been there in the first place.

Dost Mohammad Faizi mentioned that the timing of printing the new edition of the book could not have been better as it coincided with the arrival of the spring season.

Prof Ali Haider Malik said that Suboohi was one of the finest prose writers of the 20th century as he was sahib-i-tarz nasr nigaar (has his own distinct style of writing).

He carried on with the argument that the author did not pen sketches of famous people but of those who were generally known as professionals (peshavar loag). They were committed to their respective professions and constituted the bulk of Delhi society. After the fall of the Mughal Empire whatever remained of society at the time was represented by this particular group of people.

From the book, he singled out the character of Mir Baqar Ali, a dastango (story teller), who left oral storytelling and started selling paan, because he had felt that paan symbolised the culture he was a part of. In the end of his speech, he lamented that there was no foreword to the book.

Aftab Ahmed Khan, who presided over the event, agreed that the book had historical worth. He said the author had painted the picture of Delhi as well as of a civilization that was our valuable asset.

The programme was conducted by Azfar Rizvi.

Jawaid Ashraf, son of Ashraf Suboohi, was also present.