During the Diwali celebrations in the year 2012 , the Doon valley lost one of its most well-loved residents — author Nergis Dalal who was also known as “Middles Queen” for her distinguished middle articles in newspapers.
She passed away on November 13 , 2012, as quietly as she had lived. Unassumingly, modestly, softly and gently. She had turned 92 in June that year.
As a journalist, I had met her on some occasions, though she was not socially too active. She was always talking about her love for books, both for reading as well as writing them.
“Books are the best psychiatrists,” she told me on one of the occasions that I conversed with her. “They take a reader to different places, far-off eras or to varied situations. All these take a person away from his or her own situation and provide respite in life," she said.
"Inculcating the love of reading in a child is giving him the gift of a life-long passion,” said Dalal. Books can take a person out of his depression and guide him in a way nothing or none else could ...they are the best psychiatrists .They can help you through the difficulties and problems of life".
Nergis Dalal wrote “Middles” for years under the pseudonym “Aries” and lived in verdant Rajpur in the Doon valley. Her younger daughter, Roshan, was with her when she passed away at the Military Hospital here. A large number of the author’s friends mourned her demise. Raj Kanwar, a veteran journalist and an old friend of Dalal, wrote tributes to her in several publications and does so every year on her birth and death anniversaries.
Nergis had been one of the most durable and prodigious writers in India. During her writing career spanning over seven decades, Nergis wrote four full length novels, over 125 short stories and more than 2000 Middles in most of the mainstream newspapers, besides hundreds of articles and essays. She wrote extensively on Tibetans who have large settlements in Dehra Dun and Mussoorie. These articles had attracted the attention of His Holiness the Dalai lama who graciously invited her to visit Dharamshala.
Her son Ardeshir is an academic don and has been in the US for over 35 years. Her older daughter Shahnaz runs a successful art gallery in Hyderabad and also teaches art to school children. Her younger daughter Roshen is a well known author in her own right. She has written several books, including “The Puffin History of India for Children” in two volumes that had become a Penguin best seller.
Dehra Dun has always , along with Mussoorie, been a favourite place of writers. Nergis Dalal was one of those writers who chose to make Doon valley her home and carried on writing from its quiet environs and living a tranquil life. She maintained a low profile and came across as a shy and gentle lady. It was only amid her small, intimate circle of friends, among whom is Nayantara Sahgal, the famous author, and Raj Kanwar that Nergis opened up.
She was indeed one of those persons who made the valley proud. Nergis had been one of India’s most well known and prodigious writers. She did not confine her writing to a particular genre; her writing range covered short stories, novels, ‘Middles’ and even books on cookery and yoga. Her output during the seven decades was indeed enormous; it included four full length novels, over 125 short stories and more than 2000 Middles, besides hundreds of articles and essays.
It were, however, her ‘Middles’ that gave her a greater recognition; these short pieces used to adorn the edit pages of mainstream English newspapers such as The Times of India, The Statesman, Hindustan Times, The Tribune and many others during the five decades from 1940s to 1990s; the ‘Middles’ brought her much fame and made her a household name.
Nergis first came to Mussoorie in 1943 on her husband Captain Jamshed Dalal’s (Madras Engineers) first posting. It was for the first time that she came in close touch with Nature, and fell in love with the hills. Thereafter she lived in Dehra Dun for many, many years at different points of time because her husband was in the Survey of India from where he eventually retired as the Suveyor General in the rank of brigadier.
In Nergis Dalal’s death , Dehra Dun, nay India, lost a great and fascinating writer who had earned the honorific of ‘Middles’ Queen of India.