Meeting William Dalrymple

New Delhi. 28 October: It was a fine October evening when I met my favourite author William Dalrymple in Delhi. 

It was 15th of October, and William was in the city, after a long tour across the United Kingdom related to the promotion of his latest book “The Golden Road”, which is a saga of ancient India’s impact over the world. In it, discussing about many gifts of Ancient India to the world, Dalrymple argues that there was no silk route available in ancient times, and It were the ports of Ancient India that enabled the commerce between Ancient Rome and Ancient China. Dalrymple suggests that idea of Silk Road is a modern invention, and we find no mention of this word “Silk Road” in ancient or medieval records. 

The book was originally released on 05th of September in UK and India. I was lucky to grab its signed Indian edition at Bahrisons Bookshop at Khan Market on 05th September itself. They also provided me with a nice looking Tote Bag that was printed in the similar design as of Golden Road.

I was enquiring Bahrisons in early October whether Shashi Tharoor will be in the store to sign his latest book “A Wonderland of Words”, but to my amazement they informed me that Dalrymple will be visiting the store on 15th.

I reached the store much early, and purchased this time “City of Djinns”, my most favourite of Dalrymple’s works. This book tells the history of Delhi, and that story shuffles many times between past and present. The book is adorned with many pictures and motifs by Dr. Dalrymple’s wife and celebrated painter Ms. Olivia Fraser.

It was about 18 years ago in 2006, when I was taking a brief afternoon rest in my backyard garden, that I was first introduced to William Dalrymple. I was reading the weekly “Brunch” magazine supplied by the Hindustan Times newspaper, and there I read a very interesting article about this Scottish historian. In those days I was a college student and I did not have a great pocket money to purchase much books. So I requested my college library to purchase “The Last Mughal”. 

Azad Manzil in Urdu

I was in a desperate need of this book to research upon my short documentary over the “Role of Urdu Journalism during 1857 revolt”. This documentary was related to the role of "Dehli Urdu Akhbar" (Delhi Urdu Newspaper), and its editor Maulvi Mohammad Baqar (Moulvi Muhammad Baqir) during the siege of Delhi. It was a beautiful project and we actually visited “Azad Manzil”, the residence of Maulvi Baqar that also used to double up as the press of the newspaper. Azad Manzil was named after the son of Maulvi Baqar - “Mohammad Hussain Azad”. It is located in a street of Kashmiri Gate area that was known as “Guzar Aite-qad Khan” (गुज़र एतकाद ख़ान) in 1857; This street is now known among the locals as “Krishna Gali”. 

Azad Manzil Front Gate

This area is in the vicinity of Dargah “Panja Sharif” of Kashmere Gate. Mr. Taimur Mirza, who runs a Motor Repair shop in Kashmiri Gate, told us that “Guzar” meant a “Passageway” in old times. It was indeed Mr. Mirza who very passionately showed us Azad Manzil, Dargah Panja Sharif and other places of Kashmiri Gate in 2009, after taking a break from his work. We said goodbye to Mr. Mirza and after that me and my team of cub-journalists also visited the Maulana Aazad Medical College, the site of the erstwhile British Central Jail, where Maulvi Baqar was executed by the Britishers. Ironically this site stands opposite to the Khooni Darwaja where Major William Hodson had executed the Mughal Princes, after taking their father Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar captive. 

Azad Manzil, Stairs inside

In the evening we visited the iconic "Delhi College" near Ajmeri Gate area. This building was constructed in the year 1696 by Mughal Military General Ghazi ud Din Khan. Zakir Hussain College of Delhi was functioning from this site till 1986 when it moved to a larger campus. Maulvi Baqar was once a student at Delhi College, and also taught at this college after taking up a job. He was executed on the fabricated charges of murdering the Principal of this college "Taylor". There is also a story about Delhi College, when Mirza Ghalib arrived at the gate of the college to join it as a Persian Professor, but since no one came to receive him at the gate, he felt offended and left without joining. This place looks so medieval, that when sunlight enters its sandstone structure, rooms and upper storeys, we get a feeling as if we are not standing in 21st century but 17th century Delhi.

Our college library did procured this book for us. Papa purchased me a copy from Palika Bazar in 2009. The Last Mughal was Dalrymple’s first work that I purchased.

Let’s return to the evening of 15th October 2024. It was William’s first book signing in Delhi for the Golden Road. He signed books at two bookstores in Khan Market - The Faqirchand Book store and Bahrisons Bookshop. There was a really long queue of his well wishers outside the Bahrisons Book Shop. Even a few people who were passing by were amazed to see such a long queue. One passer-by commented “How can so many people come to visit some writer”! A few curious ones also stopped and asked us, what this book is all about. A few regular visitors of the shop felt suffocated looking at this huge crowd and left without entering. After a brief wait, WD arrived at Bahrisons. He was wearing his iconic Blue Shirt, and was in a very jolly mood. Soon the book signing started and crowd started to vanish. When I told him that I was reading him for 17 years, he felt very astonished. He signed the book along with my name at the top. I am thankful to the Bahrisons owner Ms. Rajni Malhotra for taking my photograph with WD. I am not sharing that photograph with this post. One intriguing thing that I observed is that WD signs in-person autographs in blue ink, while other autographs where he is not interacting directly with the reader (Preordered books, Online Sales), he just signs in black ink.

 

I can now say that I have all of WD’s works. It was a dream came true after 17 years when I met him. Some copies like City of Djinns are in multiple editions in my personal library.  

 

 

 

Image Courtesy:

1). William Dalrymple and the Golden Road - Bahrisons Bookshop, Khan Market, New Delhi's Instagram Page.

2). Signed copy of City of Djinns - Personal Collection of Pallav. 

3). Azad Manzil images - Personal Collection of Pallav.