Ghalib lived here
When I saw the 300-year-old house where Mirza Ghalib lived the last nine years of his life, I thought of English poet Shakespeare’s birth house in England . Our Ghalib’s house is preserved equally well. Both the houses serve as museum’s for admirers to gain a peek into the lives of the gifted poets . Only our Ghalib’s life, unlike Shakespeare’s, was eclipsed by poverty. I took a rikshaw to Ballimaran lane in New Delhi to the poet’s house ‘Ghalib ki haveli’. It’s a quintessential Chandni Chowk haveli , with most of it re-constructed, barring some portions of stone wall, to resemble the original. Upon entering I enquired the guard if he could also be the guide, to which he happily obliged. According to Ghulam Mustafa, the guide, it was Bollywood lyricist Gulzar who was instrumental in revival of the haveli in collaboration with the government. As we moved on from the bookshelf to a statue replicating Ghalib’s last photo taken, Ghulam Mustafa filled me in on some anecd...
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