Invitation to book launch, 21 August 2014

Friends, delighted to invite you to the launch and discussion of my new book, The Death of Sheherzad, a collection of 15 stories by Intizar Husain translated from Urdu. On Thursday, 21 August at 7 pm at the Oxford Bookstore. Arunava Sinha and Jawed Naqvi will discuss the book. Please do come.

Invite for the Launch of my new book on Dr Rashid Jahan, 1 May

Friends, I have written a biography of Comrade Dr Rashid Jahan. It has been published by Women Unlimited and is being launched on 1 May at the IGNCA, New Delhi. I have also curated an exhibition of 30 rare photographs about her life. The exhibition will be inaugurated at 5 pm followed by the launch of the book and a panel discussion on the book. Prof Aijaz Ahmad and Dr Geeta Patel will discuss the book.

The details are in the card attached. Please do find the time to attend the function.

Reading from my new book on the progressive writers' movement, 22 april, oxford bookstore

I shall be reading from my new book, Liking Progress, Loving Change: A Literary History of the Progressive Writers' Movement in Urdu (OUP). The reading will be followed by IPTA songs sung by Parcham. The event is being hosted by the Oxford University Press and the Oxford Bookstore at N-81 Connaught Place, New Delhi on Tuesday, 22 April at 6.00 pm. Please do join us.

The details are in the link below.

　​​​

 Copy of Rakhshanda Jalil card new col logo.pdf

invite to the launch of my new book, 18 nov

My New Book, NEW URDU WRITINGS: FROM INDIA & PAKISTAN

Another new book, a collection of Urdu short stories, edited by me. Called NEW URDU WRITINGS: FROM INDIA AND PAKISTAN, it has 30 stories reflecting the best of contemporary Urdu fiction. Published by Westland, it will be formally launched in November. Meanwhile, it is available on Flipkart and other online stores as well as major bookstores in India. Here is a link:
http://www.flipkart.com/new-urdu-writings-india-pakistan/p/itmdp45w4fk9trfy?pid=9789383260379&otracker=from-search&srno=t_6&query=rakshanda+jalil&ref=cf7e648a-8a7d-4036-9a4f-20cf09be56a6

New Urdu Writings from India & Pakistan (Paperback) Price: Rs.328

This could easily be for audiences who read in both languages: Hindi and English. Further with Sufism coming up on the charts in music and films, this anthology could well become a favorite with those who are passionate about the sensibilities in the subcontinent: India, Pakistan and even Bangladesh. The sense of a great literary tradition and emotions which are similar. As the editor of this collection, Rakhshanda Jalil makes it amply clear in the Introduction It will make very little difference if you read this book from back to front or the other, more conventional way, around and puts the 30 stories from India and Pakistan in the context of a shared language involving similar emotions. If in the Mourner of the Feet, an itinerant shoe witnesses an adulterous wife with merciless hips conducting her marital life, in Revulsion a young boy chances upon the sexual escapades of an ageing maid with young servant boys, almost mirroring the desperation of the household ; in Joginder Pauls story, the futility of war between countries throws up a tragic-comic situation involving the picture of a girl child, even as a father awaiting his sons arrival on an airplane fervently prays for his co-travellers in Mansha Yads story; Laila in Jeelani Banos Empty Bottles is urban affluent and decidedly rejects her poetic lover for the comforts in her parents home and Sonu in Tarannum Riyazs City struggles to care for his infant sister and a dead mother in their fortified and spacious flat; Farzana blames her burqa for her transgression involving the murder of her children while Noor Bano is forcibly married to the Holy Quran and defiantly.

My new book, Excelsior: The Story of Wynberg-Allen School

Here is the cover of my new book, Excelsior: the Story of Wynberg-Allen School, published by Niyogi Books. The book celebrates the history of this 125-year old institution and revisits the legacy of Anglo-Indian schools to the Indian school system:

Pages from Mamu's Autograph Book, circa 1947

Flipping through the pages of my Mamu's ancient, somewhat battered Autograph Book (Mamu is Masha Allah close to 75 years of age), I came across this little nugget by Sahir Ludhianvi, written in his own hand:

Hameen se rang-e-gulistan, hameen se rang-e-bahar
Hameen ko nazm-e-gulistan pe ikhtiyar nahiin

 
Btw, Mamu's Autograph Book contains gems from some of the greatest writers, thinkers, poets, teachers of his times including the one much-quoted one by Zakir sahib, 'Jo kaam karo dil laga kar karo; agar woh iss qabil hai ke kiya jaye to iss qabil bhi hai ke dil laga ke kiya jaye.'



Here's another gem from Mamu's Autograph Book; this one is by his own father, Ale Ahmad Suroor and is dated October 1947:

Kaash tumhe hum se achcha zamana mile aur uss zamane ke badalne mein tumhara bhi hissa ho. Mulk aur qaum se mutalba kum karo; usse do bahut kuchch. Yeh baat mushkil hai magar badi baat hai.

And another treasure, a sher by his father Ale Ahmad Suroor:

Har ek jannat ke raste ho ke dozakh se nikalte hain
Unnhi ka haq hai phoolon pe jo angaron pe chalte hain

Haqayaq unn se takra kar naye pahloo badalte hain
Bade hii sakht jaan hote hain jo khwaabon pe palte hain

Woh kagaz ki kashti woh barish ka pani…

Once upon a time, till not very long ago, we used to have the Monsoons. Now, barring coastal areas, in most cities across Upper India, we have the Rains. The difference is not simply one of etymology but of a change in lifestyle, urban planning, global warming, shifting weather patterns, in short a whole new cityscape that bears only a passing resemblance to what once was. The Monsoons are a glorious burst of rainwater, preceded by damp masses of moisture-laden clouds scudding across the skies, bringing darkness at noon and followed by days upon days of uninterrupted deluge. The Rains, or the rainy season, is a much shorter affair bringing waterlogged streets, traffic jams and irater-than-usual city-dwellers.

Having said that, there is no denying that the average person living in North India looks forward to the end of June more eagerly than to any other phenomenon – natural or otherwise. Several cities have a designated date for the arrival of the Monsoon; in Delhi, for example, it is always 29 June. The first chaste encounter of cool water and hot earth, grey sky and parched land, is preceded by severe dust storms followed by an occasional drizzle that brings the temperature – usually hovering at 46 degrees or so – down, but it leaves everything – including your mouth, nose, ears and eyes -- covered with a fine, powdery dust. For weeks before, the city pages of the dailies are filled with reports from the Met Office. There is speculation everywhere. People talk of nothing but the unrelenting heat that smothers everything like a dense blanket. Water tables dip alarmingly low, taps run dry, hot gusts of loo wind sear, roads bake and homes give off heat even at night. Will the Monsoon keep its official ‘date’ or will it make us wait? How far has the easterly and westerly arms of the Monsoon progressed across the length and breadth of India? These questions take precedence over all else, even exam results and university cut-offs, as everyone waits with breathless anticipation!

And finally when the Rains come lashing down -- not the short-lived drizzle of the pre-Monsoon shower but the real thing -- the city lets out a collective sigh, as though it has been holding its breath all through the long harsh summer. A sort of hissing sound, as the earth takes in the full impact of the water, is followed by a long breath of relief from a city sweltering under the merciless sun. You can hear it when the first fat drops of water fall on parched earth. Or, when the skies open up as though someone has pulled a plug. Or, when the rain falls in endless sheets of water. That is the time when even the city, no matter how blythe and blasé, begins to show traces of its kinder, gentler self. Perfect strangers look at the pouring rain and smile at each other. Others stretch out a tentative hand to capture tremulous drops of water, marveling how this liquid beauty has transformed the city within minutes. But as I said before, the Monsoons we used to have were an altogether different affair from the Rains. They lasted from end-June, raining vigorously till August, then sporadically in September and then again in October when the retreating Monsoon winds would bless vast tracts of land across Upper India one last time before the onset of winter. Now, with changing global weather patterns and over-crowded, over-congested cities, the rainy season is less clearly defined.

Having grown up in Delhi, I remember the Monsoons of my childhood as a period of unmatched joy. Cycling back from school (yes, there was a time when children could actually cycle on the roads of Delhi, that too main roads!), I remember getting drenched in the rain and coming home with soaking wet school textbooks. But it was compensated with piping hot bhutta bought from the road side. Being young, it was fun to get wet in the rain and watch others sheltering under the giant neem and jamun trees that lined the roads. Later, it was a treat to pick the fallen plump jamun berries from the road or to buy some from the vendors who tossed them in tangy masala and served them in little cups fashioned out of leaves. Another family favourite during the Monsoons, was driving through pouring rain to have chaat at Sweets Corner. The joy of pani-puri, aloo tikki or dahi papri was no match for home-made pakoras. Or going to the India Gate Lawns where one could run and dance, romp and play in the rain with complete abandon, for everyone else – young and old -- was doing the same. I remember boating in the shallow canal near India Gate, upturning the boat and standing in waist-high waters with a bunch of can-get-no-wetter school friends!

Now, as I wait expectantly for the rains, I draw solace from reciting rain-related poetry to evoke the old magic. Reading Bikat Kahani, the baramasa by Afzal Jhinjhanvi, I am transposed to a world of love and longing associated with barkha bahar, the rainy season :

            Ari jab kook koel ne sunayi

            Tamami tan badan mein aag lahi

            Andher rain, jugnu jagmagata

            Oo ka jalti upar tais ka jalata?

            Ah, when the cuckoo sounds her cooing

            It sets my body aflame

            The glow worm glows in the darkness of the night

            Why does it burn one already on fire?

The virahini of the baramasa feels the pain of separation most keenly in the month of saawan for it is during the rains that men traditionally stayed home or came back as business was slack possibly because roads became un-passable. Tradition also demanded that a young bride would be called to her parents’ home when her brother would be sent to fetch her at the beginning of the season; shortly after a token visit, she would return to her husband’s home and resume her conjugal life. When there is a departure from this time-honoured way of life, when the woman finds herself alone and bereft during the months of the rains (traditionally said to last for a chaumasa, or four months), then the dark clouds, the call of the koel, the darts of rain, the smell of damp earth, the dancing peacocks, the blood-red birbahuti insects, remind her that all other women are with their husbands while she is not; she is reminded of seasons past when she had enjoyed the plentiful rains with her beloved and is tormented by the thought of his dalliances elsewhere. Different baramasas used this repertoire of images in different ways. Here’s a sampler:

 

Papiha de namak ghaavon ko ke pee

            Ghari sa har ghari doobe mera jee

            (The cuckoo pours salt over my wounds and tells me to drink it

            While all the while my heart sinks from minute to minute)

And:

            Asaarh aaya ghata chhayi gagan par

            Rasawat man mera rasiya sajan par

            (The month of Asaar has come, the clouds cover the sky

            My heart pines for my feckless beloved)

        

But for me nothing can beat Chitra and Jagjit Singh’s evocation of bachpan ka sawan when it comes to recapturing those magical days of long-gone childhood.

           

Woh kagaz ki kashti woh barish ka pani…

This article appeared in The Tribune, Chandigarh, 1 July 2012

Invite for the launch of my sister's book, 1 March 2012

My sister, Dr Tabinda J Burney, has written a book for children. It is being launched at the IIC on 1 March 2012. All are welcome, especially kids!

The book launch is followed by a lec-dem on the book. This event is on 3 March at 4 pm in The Attic, Regal Building, Connaught Place, New Delhi. The event on 3 March requires prior registration.

NDTV Interview -- with Sunil Sethi on 'Just Books'

Given below is link of my interview with Sunil Sethi on his show 'Just Books' on NDTV Profit, 5 Nov 2011

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/just-books/rakhshanda-jalil-on-her-book-release/215400

Q & A -- Sunday Guardian, 13 Nov 2011

I would like to look like my mother <><> <><>     Q. On a clear day, when the sun is out, who do you see when you look at your reflection in the mirror? A. I see my dear old friend Rakhshanda Jalil in the mirror; she's been a good friend. Q. What do you loathe in the reflection? What do you love and what do you fear? A. There is nothing that I dislike or fear in particular about my reflection. Q. Which facial feature do you consider your most attractive? Why? A. My favourite feature would have be my squint. Someone once told me that my squint gives me a faraway look and I quite like the idea of that.. Q. If age has changed the way you look, what do you miss the most, if anything at all? A. I miss the suppleness in my walk; I used to walk differently when I was younger. I guess you could say that I miss the spring in my step. Q. In the last year, have you ever wished you looked different? If yes, when? A. Yes, especially whenever I go to my children's school for parent-teacher sessions. Mothers nowadays seem to be getting younger by the day. Q. Who would you most like to look like? A. My mother, I think she's ageing very well. Age hasn't dimmed her curiosity or the sparkle in her eyes. She has this gleam in her eyes that makes her look much younger and she is very curious about the world around her.

Transcript of my webchat on IBN Live

Following is the complete transcript of my live chat on IBN Live on 28 October at 5.30 pm. The discussion was pegged on my new book Release & Other Stories published by Harper Collins.

http://ibnlive.in.com/chat/rakhshanda-jalil/everyday-lives-of-indian-muslims/728.html

Q
What is the reason behind the poor condition of Indian muslims. What can be done to improve it ?
Asked by: Akshat

A
I am no expert on Indian Musims. I am only a writer. But I think education may hold the key. It may open doors that will lead to general advancement. With education, come a lot of other things such as employment, financial indepndence, integration with other commmunities, social skills, better health and hygiene standards and upward mobility. So while there might be a lot of reasons, what needs tobe done now to improve things is I suppose graeter opportunities for education. Let the government's motto be: education for all Muslims!

Q
we r insecure citizens in india if i hv beard or having unshaved face then im on d scanner y? y nt sikhs with katars in hands a weapon?
Asked by: safder

A
There are insecure and ignorant people everywhere -- not just in India. In India, we have witnessed some of the worst atrocities committed against sikhs shortly after MRs Indira Gandhi's assassination. I live in delhi. I remember those grisly images quite vvidly. Moreover, Sikhs in America were roughed up after the Obama busines. I wd urge you not to make comparisons. Remember, many people have suffered because of teh ignorance and short-sightedness of just a handful. You have answered your own question in a way by using the word insecure. It is insecurity that is at the root of such stupididty.

Q
Rakshanda, don't you think that ordinary, everyday life of Indian Muslim is no different than that of any other person be that may Hindu, Sikh or Christian? Yes, the quality of his life can be improved if the litercy level is better.
Asked by: Sham Vadalkar

A
I have addressed this qs in one of my previous answers. To recapitualte, what I have said is precsiely what u r suggesting. In a couple of my stories, if u take away exeternal markers of identity such as names, some of the stories could be abt any Indians, not just Muslims. In response to another qs, I have said that education is a great leveller. I agree education can improve quality of life for all Indians, including Muslims of course because they have for a long time occupied the bottom of the literacy pyramid.

Q
Doesn't Islam talk about heaven for all muslims and hell for anyone else? How can such exclusivist thinking encourage respect for all religions?
Asked by: Ananth

A
Such ideas can only come from ignorance! I think you need to read up a little more on Islam. This is precisely the sort of stereotyped, inaccurate, handed-down ideas about Islam and Muslims that I have been chaffing against all my adult life.

Q
Hi Rakshanda, I feel that it is always good to read books that are non-fictitious (real lives, educatives etc) rather than cooked up ones. I had a little dispute with another writer in the previous chat session here. That author says that fiction books are more useful than the other ones. What do you say about this apart from the answer 'it varies with perception' ?
Asked by: Swaroop

A
I can't dispute your choice of reading material' Each to his own. as a reader, I like both fiction and non-fiction. But when it comes to writing -- and I have written more non-fiction than fiction -- I can say that fiction is a highly privilged space. It allows the writer to say a great deal more. I wont use the word 'useful' becaise I personally never read 'useful' fiction, but certainly fiction allows you to say much more in a more memorable, more enjoyable, more imaginative way.Since I don't go looking for the educational element in my choice of reading material, I fortunately dont have this problem. For isntance, on Diwali day, I was re-reading (for the nth time) one of the P G Wodehuse books. Now what can be less useful than that? But how delightfully readable it is even after so many readings?

Q
The "ordinary" Muslim suffers in day to day life because of a few who have caused terror. Will this fear and notion of Muslims being "questionable" ever go away from our society?
Asked by: Saif

A
One lives in hope for it is truly terrible to be without hope. By living transparent lives, by holding one's head with dignity, by gaining confidence through education and empowerment, I think we can hopefully shed the 'questionable' tag. I think education is a great leveller. It brings you t par with your peers where fewer questions are asked. I don't say no questions are asked if you are an affluent or educated Muslims. No, unfortuantely, there are enough examples of random harrassment caused to people at airports and in other ways simply because they happen to have a Muslim name. But knowing your rights helps. Knowing that you are not to blame for other people's wrongs helps.

Q
"Everyday lives of Indian Muslims" what does it mean to you??
Asked by: azan

A
I think the ordinariness of the Indian Muslims gets overlooked everytime they are treated as the 'other'. Reactions vary from patronising to exoticising. In some of my stories, I have deliberetately cast them in such a way that if you change the names of some of the characters (names that are pointers to their Muslim identity), they could be stories about any Indians. In one particular story -- The Stalker -- there are no names. Only the daughter's name -- Nida -- gives a clue that this family might be Muslim. I have placed this family in a situation that can happen to anybody. That is alos the point I am trying to make .... yes, some of these characters are Muslims but they are ordinary Indians too. All Indians have multiple identities -- we are Tamil Brahmins, Kashmiri pandits, and so on. In my case , I am an Indian Muslim. I see no conflict in having more than one identity.

Q
What you want to convey from this topic "Everyday lives of Indian Muslims"?
Asked by: Sahil Makkar

A
I think I have addressed this question a short while ago in response to one of the early posts.

Q
Why are there so many religions? Why do we creating more diversity? Why Indian Muslims/Christians/Hindus? I believe that what ever way people follow to worship God is their own personal thing. I made my own religion, Its called "Oneness". Is it possible to implement it?
Asked by: yashwanth

A
Good for you! I am happy for you. But I think religions are a fact of life. I dont think they must necessarily divide; ideally, they ought not to. In fact, the way secularism is enshrined in our Constitution it allows us the freedom to practise our (different) religions. Ideally, if we did so in our personal space there should be no problem. I think secularism doesnot mean the absence of religion; instead, it means respect for diversity. As to why have so many religions? I think each shows a path that leads to a higher One. the debate on religion and rationlity is an old one. I am not equipped to get into it. What I can say for myself is that my own deep-seated belief in Islam is in no way incompatible with my respect for all religions.

Q
Do you plan to write a full-fledged novel anytime soon?
Asked by: Ashish

A
Yes. Actually, I'd love to. I have a sketchy idea of what it might be. I have a collection of 'ingredients': a family that has fallen on hard times, a sister who is left behind in a large rundown home, a brother who lives abroad and sends erratic sums of money for their upkeep, the deep sense of mourning that enevelops the sisiter's life for the many missed opportunities. I want to locate the story in a Shia Muslim family in one of the smaller, more obscure qasbahs of UP.

Q
How did you collect all these information?
Asked by: ataul haque

A
By living life for 48 years!!! Seriously, one writes from what one has seen or experienced or believed in. Fiction allows you to create characters by mixing up parts of peple you may have known and through them convey larger truths about life and people. Sometimes, you invent characters because a situation demands it but somewhere, even in the invention, you as a writer are drawing upon life. I do believe life is teh greatest teacher. Everyday you learn something new. Fiction allows you to dip into your mixed bag of knowledge and bring out something that will, hopefully, mean something to at least some of your readers. To answer your question more directly, if you read the story called "The Strange Man" in my book, the woman in teh roadside cafe is me; thats how i -- as you put it -- "collect" my information. She describes her favourite pastime as people-watching. Well, its mine too. I love to observe people, take in a situation, just look at things.

Q
ASAK Rasshanda.. What exactly covers your book ?
Asked by: ARIF

A
If I were asked to describe my own stories I would say they are about life as I have seen it at first hand. That many of my characters happen to be Indi Muslims I would say it is because I am one my self! Moreover, I am a proud member of the Indian middle class and that also gets reflected in my stories. I hope that answers your qs; if not, i would strongly urge you to read the stories yourself !!!

Q
what is the difference between indian muslims & pakistan muslims?
Asked by: GK

A
They are essentially different; they are Indians and Pakistanis primarily. That they are Muslims too is a different matter. Of course, some of them may share certian cultural ties. Those who have migrated from parts of India may retain and thus share similarities of language, culture or cuisine. Those from certain provinces or specific geographical areas may remember things, such as what they ate during the summer months or how they felt when the first monsoon showers fell upon parched land . I mean that sort of collective memory. I have listed what they might or might not share. It is impossible to list the differences;they are too many because of political reasons and the choices made by history. At a theological level, all Muslims are part of a l;arger umma. The notion of surrender is something all Muslims share be it Muslims from India or Africa or Indonesia.

Q
Madam, Nowadays, there is a general notion in society that all terrorists are Muslims (thanks to the rampant terror attacks). That is not true. Terrorists have no religion. How, in your book, have you addressed this issue without hurting anyone's sentiments?
Asked by: Sanjay

A
You are right: terrorists have no religion. Though the media, and popular perception, seems to often take two separate words -- Muslim and Fundamentalists -- in the same breath thus causing the entirely wrong assumption that (all) Muslims are fundamentalists and by extension terrorists. Bioth assumptions are equally wrong. In my stories in this collection, I have addressed the issue of terrorism and the singling out of Muslims post 9/11 in an ablique way... by inserting it in a larger narrative. In one story I have talked about bombs going off in a city; but I have taken no names and pointed no fingers. Some day in the future, I want t address the issue more directly. Hopefully, in the next batch of stories I shall publish.

Q
Would like to say only one thing about such a chat topic. More the merrier.
Asked by: Abhijit Chatterjee

A
I tink the topic deserves to be addressed with all the humour and poise and honesty one can gather. I think the lives or ordinary Muslims needs to be talked about. We are as 'normal' as everybody else!

Q
rakshanda, what is the funniest stereotype that u have heard or come accross vis a vis Indian muslims
Asked by: shagufta k

A
The funniest by far is the qs that has actualy been asked to me several times: "Do u guys take a bath only once a month?" Next, I guess would be: "What does your mother wear?" I usually answer:"Leaves".

Launch of my book 'Release & other Stories', IIC, 17 Sept

My New Book -- Release and Other Stories

Dear Readers,

I take great pleasure in announcing the arrival of my latest book. Called Release and Other Stories, it has been published by Harper Collins. While only a couple of advance copies have come as yet, the book is expected to be avialble in bookstores in a week's time. I do hope you will buy it, read it and find something of some interest in it. Till then, please look at the cover jacket and the publicity material culled from the publisher's brochure...

 

There have been stories about many of India’s niche communities – the Parsis, Sikhs, the different denominations of Christians – but nothing about the Muslims, India’s largest and most visible minority, in Indian Writing in English.

In this, her debut collection of fiction, Rakhshanda Jalil draws attention to the lives of the Indian Muslim, not the marginalised or ghettoised Muslims of popular stereotype but ordinary, mainstream ones. The minutiae of everyday life are captured with painstaking gentleness as layers of identities are peeled back to reveal real life and blood people. Perfectly engraved cameos of grief and separation, frailty and strength, resilience and defeat, revenge and jealousy glow in the tautly-strung warp and weft of her stories. While the title story, Release, is an exquisite invocation of a vanished world, the others deal with contemporary and commonplace issues. The illusion of domestic harmony, the discord that breeds within a marriage, the definitions of success or failure, the inexplicableness of what attracts one person to another – Rakhshanda Jalil explores all this and more and lays bare a world at once familiar and little-known.

Taken together this collection brings to life the Indian Muslims who have forever grappled with twin identities, that of being Indian and Muslim, and long chaffed in the straightjacket of convention and stereotype. These stories release them from the typecast of popular imagination and recast them as real people with all the frailties and strengths of ordinary mortals. With Release & Other Stories, they move from the fringes of our collective consciousness to unknown men and women who are strangely familiar in their ordinariness.

--Rakhshanda Jalil

Farewell, Husain sahab

We mourn you, Husain sahab, with these lines from Bahadurshah Zafar, the exiled poet who like you lamented:
        Do gaz zameen bhi na mili koo-e-yaar mein

If only the powers-that-be would make amends now, and let your body return here to be buried in this soil!

PS: Pl see the op-ed I wrote for the Indian Express, New Delhi, 14 March 2010 shortly after the conferment of Qatari nationality on M F Husain. It is titled  'Secular Indian Muslim' in this Archive.

Maiden Post!

Hello, I am new to blogging and nervous about taking my first steps in virtual space. But I am begining in the hope that what I have to say is of ineterst to some of you out there. So, here goes...