Tributes to poet Mir Taki Mir and playwright Jayawant Dalvi at the Tata Literary Festival

When  I experienced petty policing in  a library  recently,    it became clearer to me that the prestigious Asiatic library is  comparatively much more democratic, open. Most of Asiatic’s lectures are free, no prior registration needed. The big open space at the entrance belonging to the Central library is open to anyone, any citizen can walk in, browse through   newspapers in various languages kept on the stands, as also magazines. And there is  a  reading room in this section  open to all.  This is as it should be everywhere, but everywhere  now  one faces so many restrictions.

 To sit in the heritage green sofas  in the Asiatic and talk with scholars in the historic building is so  comforting. Am a member there for almost fifty years.

  An experience in the  National library in  Bandra this morning, it is  over 100 years old, an asset and there are some good people out there. Not cribbing. But it is really annoying when someone tells  you, you  cannot sit in the library and read, reading is not allowed, one can only borrow books or  as the season goes borrow   Diwali anks, special Diwali  magazines.

 So outrageous  because long ago  S.R. Ranganathan, the founder of the public libraries movement in India laid down a good  norm, libraries should be as free as  roads, they should be really public, not  just  open to  members. He got the idea  during his visit to England in  1924, a hundred years ago, and  did  everything to spread the  movement.  One of his first steps   was to  send a bullock cart full of books to Thanjavur from Chennai.

  He was an extraordinary simple, devoted man.   A big name in the library movement  but most librarians betray his teachings.

 Against the spirit of everything he  taught, some libraries  keep their books under lock and key, denying open accsess.  He argued  that even if some books are  missing, stolen, it would still be worth it because  open access in comparison benefits  a huge number .

 Petty policing is now increasing everywhere.  In  the municipal Almeida park in Bandra a watchman would not allow  a visitor even to  stand on grass. I remember people  enjoying themselves on the grass in St James park in London and elsewhere, it is the most natural things. In India  our petty, ignorant bureacurats  and politicians and a section of  the upper class  look down upon   such freedom. The least one expects  is a little space on the grass for a little exercise, it is so healthy. One would not blame the watchman, they are receive instructions from ignoramuses.

  We cannot even manage our public grounds. Shivaji park   in Mumbai continuously makes the news for all the wrong reasons, it throws up so much dust, life is becoming difficult for people in surrounding areas. This can be easily handled with  environment friendly soil management but now they will spend  crores and deny access to citizens for a long time,  seems a favourite  pastime of petty officialdom.

 Plus some  jottings onthe recent  Tata literature festival at NCPA in Mumbai.

 Atul Parchure  used to play   the role of a mentally challenged young boy in the Marathi play Nati Goti so effectively that many people anxiously  came back stage  after the performance to  check his well being  and hoping he is actually normal. He did not have any dialogue, his body movement and facial expression conveyed   feelings.

Jaywant Dalvi
A picture of a booklet on Jaywant Dalvi being released at the Tata literature festival

    This was recalled  during a  well presented centenary tribute to  the play’s author Jayawant Dalvi at  the Tata theatre in NCPA    on November 17. The programme was organised by Granthali, the  publishing house,celebrating  its golden jubilee next month. conceived by Rajeev Naik, playwright and critic.

   There was a  moving rendering  of a scene  from the play by director Shailesh Datar and senior actor Swati Chitnis who played the mother in the original production.

 There was also  a reading about  Dalvi’s another highly acclaimed play   Barrister from the autobiography Jhimma  of Vijaya Mehta who directed the original production.

 And a good discussion among   actor Suhas Joshi, Datar,  actor  Pradeep  Velankar, Swati Chitnis and compere  Prajakt Deshmukh followed.

 It was recalled that Suhas Joshi initially  turned down the role in Barrister, she thought it was too small, but it  was later to win her much applause. Director Vijaya Mehta called  her and told her you are foolish to  decline such a role. Such was her authority, no one would feel hurt  and the actor accepted. There was a memorable  main role of the character Barrister by  Vikram Gokhale  who passed away  some time ago.

 Atul Parchure passed away last month after a long battle with cancer, he was very  popular.

There was also a good discussion  between Jane Ohlmeyer , William Dalrymple, history scholars,  in conversation with Mumbai scholar  Dinyar Patel. Quite relevant for India  because of Jane’s latest book about the relationship between Ireland, imperialism and the modern world.    Ireland was the oldest colony of the  British and India the  largest and there was co relation between their liberation struggles.The spectre of the British  empire  even now looms large. The harrowing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine are legacies of empire, just as the Troubles (1968-1998) in Northern Ireland was.

 The English rulers inflicted atrocities on the Irish for centuries,  that  rule was to be its laboratory for British imperialism in other countries.  The irony is that a good part of the British atrocities  in India  were carried out by  irish and Scottish employees of British rule. These two regions had    suffered much from the British in their own land. It is only recently that the British establishment is acknowledging its  negative record of imperialism.   The event was also interesting in that for the first time one saw another scholar  somewhat overshadowing  Dalrymple.  He is always a strong presence, it is good to hear him, one envies his relaxed manner .

 There was much missing during the discussion,  this became clearer to me when I was talking with Dr Bindu Desai, a progressive  thinker and neurologist, based  in the U.S.  She talked of  Jawaharlal Nehru’s  support to the Irish cause and  Krishna Menon’s fiery anti imperialist  speeches.

There were also close ties between  poet W.B. Yeats and Tagore and so much more.

Reading about  Mir Taqi Mir, the famous Urdu poet of the 18th century one  finds he and many others suffered at the hands of   Abdali, the Afghan invader.  the Marathas and Sikhs suffered too.Many Marathi people still cannot reconcile themselves to the disastrous defeat the Marathas suffered at the hands of Abdali in the  third battle of Panipat of 1761.

 Abdali  sacked  Punjab and Delhi several times and  Mir has mourned in his poetry the loss of life  and property in Delhi  caused by Abdali,  he lived in Delhi  and it was  very dear to him, he was not happy with later life in Lucknow. In Delhi most of Abdali’s  victims were Muslims in large numbers as well as Hindus.. Invaders obviously do not care for religion.

  The genocide  of the  Sikhs at his hands led to the saying  in Punjabi language—“Khada Peeta Lahey Da—Baaqi Ahmad Shahey   meaning that Eat, drink, & use what you have, rest will be looted by Ahmad Shah, as one source put it.

 It seems Abdali remained insensitive to request from Muslims that he should spare them, he saw himself as a Darvesh.


  Waliullah, a major Islamic, Sunni  scholar of the time,  wanted a Jihad to be conducted against Mughal rule as it was dominated by Shias and Hindus  were  said to have held  high positions.

  Some of these references  would have  added another dimension to Mir’s  poetry  during the discussion at  last week’s Tata literature festival where   Ranjit Hoskote’s translation of  Mir’ poems was discussed.

Vidyadhar Date is a senior journalist and culture critic

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