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 anecdotes from the gem’s life. Such as the fact that the pension that the poet drew from Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zaffar’s court had stopped reaching him; Ghalib had found a job as a teacher in a school. When he reached the school on the first day in his palanquin and waited for an officer to receive him, the principal of the school sent a word saying that when one came to work, one was not to expect special reception, compelling Ghalib to return home; and that none of his children lived beyond a tender age, not even an adopted son. The haveli was gifted to Ghalib by a hakim (doctor) who was a fan.  

I felt sorry for the legendary poet and for all the artistes. I also wondered if the man who wrote profound couplets “Haathon ki lakeeron pe mat ja ae Ghalib, Naseeb unke bhi hote hain jinke haath nahi hote…" had been realistic about the affairs of the world and had walked into the school like any other teacher. Perhaps, then he would not be the Ghalib who penned ‘Hazaaro khwaishein aisi...ki har khwaaish pe nikle dam…bahut nikle mere armaan lekin phir bhi kam nikle…(A thousand desires, each takes my breath away, many wishes have been fulfilled, yet not enough have been fulfilled)”

The walls of the haveli adorn verses written by the poet and some other details such as Ghalib’s favorite dishes and information on his birth house in Agra, among many other farmed portraits. A tiny campus allowing one to finish the tour in minutes, the haveli seemed to be in sync with its owner. The haveli’s guard was a poet lover who had most of Ghalib’s verses memorized accurately. And just like how Ghalib could never invite money, so does his haveli; given the fact that visitors are allowed to sight-see the museum pro-bono.