"Talking of distilled information, Rumi too suffered a similar fate. Back in Pakistan, there is a certain caricature of an average Indian that is provided by the media. And Rumi, like countless others, grew up with misgivings about India and Indians. They manifested in a lurking apprehension when he landed in Delhi or when he ventured out to discover the city without the ubiquitous tour escorts. “Wasn’t India responsible for dismembering the Pakistani state in 1971,” he wondered. For long years, Delhi, indeed India, was the ‘other’. What helped Rumi enormously was his ability to unlearn quickly and the time he shared with Indians in neutral territories across the world. Yet old fears have their ways of resurfacing at the most unexpected of moments. Rumi’s did when he arrived in Delhi. But soon, he discovered as a Pakistani, he was “not lonely on planet Delhi”, the city of 22 sufis, called Little Mecca by some. Rumi chooses to bring us a masnavi of Amir Khusrau to show the grandeur of Delhi. Khusrau wrote, “Noble Delhi, shelter of religion and treasure/It is the Garden of Eden, may it last forever. A veritable earthly paradise in all its qualities/ May Allah protect it from calamities.” A Pakistani praising Delhi, even if he borrows the words of one of our own? Rumi makes my day. Later in the book, he provides points to ponder by reminding us that the total share of Muslims in the civil services is a little over two per cent in India, and the only place they are over-represented are in the jails. A shade disturbing, such facts, but they help take Rumi’s book above a feel-good, thump-your-chest exercise." thehindu/books/two-cities-and-a-half/article4884621.ece
Posted on: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 21:27:10 +0000
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